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Very similar indeed, Gnomling. I just slogged through the prologue and first chapter. You do have a very good idea, Coni, but you can't let it be the only good idea you've got. The rest is far too similar to Harry Potter, and while that may not have been your intention, it's true. It's okay to get ideas from another work, or to base your work off of another one (within limits), but a lot of what you have is close to fanfiction. Take your idea and make your own world for it, because it is good enough on its own, and does not need the support of the Harry Potter framework.
Now, as for technical stuff. There were a few things that bothere me, especially in introduction and description. You've obviously got the drive to write complete, and lengthy chapters, which is very good. However, you can't simply introduce people by their hair color. As tempting as it is to shorten their descriptions, there just aren't enough hair colors to encompass humankind. With that in mind, it complicated matters that you introduced so many characters at once. I usually have a good mind for this sort of thing, but at a certain point I forgot your main character's name in mix. Just take your time, remember that you've got the entire book to get everyone out into the open. If you -are- looking to other sources for inspiration on that matter, then take notice of how they reserve characters. Your reader, and in fact, your main character, can only keep so much in mind at once, and though the temptation is get all the intros over with, its simply implausible that anyone could remember all that mess at once without careful re-reading.
Now, there's nothing wrong with your prose. In fact, it has great potential, if you'd just slow it down. Your prologue was good, but it moved just as fast as the rest of your piece, and an introduction must either be comprehensible and helpful in the beginning, or a mystery that is to be explained later. Try describing some scenery? Or perhaps, just put in some idle banter, or 'omniscient' observations of the characters. Though things might have been tense, that's no reason to keep your characters bottled in. Let readers get a feel for them, so that when things -do- happen, they will be sympathetic.
Not bad at all, but do keep yourself away from other author's works, and take your time(and don't worry, it's a common bit of advice, and nothing you can't get over).
-Kitten
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Cadmus: Poor child, like a white swan warding its weak old father, why do you clasp those white arms about my neck?
Euripides; 'The Bacchae'
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