Rationalist Lord of the Rings fanfiction, newly translated from Russian

I think you are right on with:

So, what does unify the set of stories we're talking about? Seems to me that it's their themes: empiricism, respect for the scientific method (as opposed to the trappings of science, Michael Crichton-style), and a belief in focused introspection. The use of an existing setting serves to play up the contrast between those themes and the assumptions of conventional genre literature, but it's not necessary, and the themes could work just as well without it.

But a thing I think unifies much of it (given that my four closest friends are both rationalists and deveoping authors) is what I like to call "Teapot Smashing":

Teapot Smasing: Activity. Using what you know to get what you want, with expreme prejudice. Comes from the proverb "Any fictional system of physics can be broken like a teapot."

In most of Rationalist fiction, the recurring Ultimate Motivations of the characters is almost exclusively Anti-Deathism and Fun For Everyone. Thus many of the themes involve gaming estabilshed setting rules to enter a feedback loop leading to godhood.

The reason why Fanfic is popular here is that it spares you inventing your own universe to game.

The other plus point for MoR is that J.K. Rowling is not that great at shaping sentences unsupervised. I only continued past HP book four so I could find out how it ended - books 5-7 serve mostly as cautionary examples as to why immunity to editors is not such a great idea in some cases. Possibly I am oversensitive to appalling sentence construction, but then again if I'm reading something it's my own responses I'm most interested in.

JRRT's sentence shaping is way better than JKR's and the English translation of this Russian fanfic is not too bad (allowing for grammatical hiccups) - different to JRRT, but not clearly better.

at least I know one person who likes LotR and has poor opinion about HP

I like HP and have a poor opinion about LotR, if you're interested in an opposite data point.

In terms of loyalty to canon etc. I love the alternative take in MOR. There's only one thing that really bugs me on that front, which is the use of American language throughout. Astonishing how much it rankles for Harry to say he's 'gotten' something.

This is certainly bugging me also, and I'm an American. Given how many people have commented about this, I have to ask if it would take Eliezer that much effort to have a British friend skim through it before Eliezer posts them? The effort level doesn't seem to be that high.

(Incidentally, I have other objections also, I think Eliezer underestimates the amount in canon which the wizarding world is influenced by the enlightenment- there are mentions in canon of research of journals (beginning of book three for example).)

And Hermione eating cinnamon toast.

I will note that I was talking about "the best things I've read", as opposed to "the best things ever." With "best" being defined as "the things I'm most glad to have read."

I'm reading Moby Dick, and I've read a few "good classics," and I can understand why they have the respect they do, and I can learn some important things about writing from them, and they're still good centuries after the fact, so they clearly did something right.... but I really don't enjoy them at all.

I don't like having to "translate" an earlier/different version of the English language just to understand the story (though I understand why literature buffs feel enriched by it). And often the themes of the story have since become so ingrained in our culture that by the time I read the original version I feel let down.

I comprehend their majesty, but they aren't the works that particularly impact me.

HP:MoR happened to come at a time in my life when I was receptive to its message, and before I had really read anything that even attempted to be inspirational on the order that HP:MoR attempts to be inspirational. I don't know how much of my appreciation for the work has to do with the context I read it in. I'm specifically looking for other inspirational works so I can try and evaluate it properly against its peers/superiors.

Ignoring the propaganda side of it, it's still one of the most enjoyable works I've read. For the humor, and the depth of the characters, and the seriousness with which certain issues are tackles. Some people criticize the uneven-ness of the writing style, but I think the way it seesaws between hilariousness and solemnity is one of the best things about it. I also identified a lot of literary techniques that were well executed and rewarded deeper analysis.

I totally get that it's not for everyone though. Some of the characters are developed awkwardly in the beginning. One of my biggest issues with it is that Eliezer unnecessarily narrows his target audience by focusing/ignoring certain things (as well as by sounding preachy, even when Harry's actually supposed to be wrong).

Being aware of the Western canon is pretty much the place to start for a serious discussion on best things ever in literature, even though you might end up preferring stuff that's quite different from it.

I strongly disagree, actually. Works that're part of the Western canon aren't necessarily the best in the Western literary tradition, and they aren't necessarily read for their quality -- although many of them genuinely are very good. They're defined more by being influential, and reading them is more about gaining a better understanding of the context of literature: its history and the mechanics of its evolution. People like Shakespeare are to English literature what people like Aristotle are to Western philosophy: not the best by some set of quasi-objective standards, nor the most gratifying to taste, but the headwaters from which later traditions flow. There's a certain amount of survivorship bias involved, too; Sappho for example was arguably the best Classical Greek poet by her contemporaries' standards, and we can be almost sure of her influence, but so little of her stuff is left that she's not a major part of the canon.

There's an argument to be had over whether this is necessarily the best way to teach or learn about literature, of course, just as we could have the same argument over philosophy. But that's not really the point.

The book is from a hobbits-eye-view. That's quite explicit. I'm not sure why bringing it up would be pushing for a preconceived conclusion, and I think it's more helpful than treating a text as the product of an undefined 'people', given it refers to events involving many different races and nations who are portrayed as significantly different from each other.

But to take back to the context of this, for a fanfic what's important is plausibility, and so rationalisation of a kind is actually fine: the point is whether you can tell a consistent story wherein Lord of the Rings is propaganda and this other account more accurate.

I'm not sure about your point on species. We don't know what Middle Earth is like, so we can only understand it by using our maps, albeit with less certainty and more care, surely?

You described LOTR as morally advanced, and for me that's got a severe tension with racism.