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The one post on Deathly Hallows
Yes, at 2:45am. I just finished not half an hour ago. You can rest assured that there are spoilers inside, but nothing in the way of substantive commentary.
YAY YAY YAY RON DIDN'T DIE!
I just had to say that. Cough.
Anyway, I got the book and began reading not really expecting to like it much. HBP had been a disappointment for me, and anyway, my interest in the series had really peaked somewhere between GoF and OotP. I picked up HBP mostly because my sister demanded that I do so, so we could talk about it, and I did pretty much the same thing with DH.
That said, I quite liked it. Mostly because Ron didn't die.
No, really. Taken as a whole, as something that addresses the bulk of the mysteries that have haunted the series--the nature of Harry's relationship to Voldemort, Snape, what Dumbledore's really like behind the nice old man, Aberforth, the importance of wands (*cough*)--I found it satisfying. Sad, in the way most endings are sad, but satisfying. I wouldn't set it next to LotR for the kind of ending that makes me want to simultaneously curl up and cry and sing for happiness, but it sent me away thinking, Yes, this was a good thing to live in for a while.
Highlights: Ron not dying, MRS. WEASLEY PWNING BELLATRIX, the trip down into the Gringott's vaults, the battle, which was absolutely marvelous, Dean!!!! Dean and Seamus!!!!1!eleven! Lee Jordan's wizarding radio underground! Neville! Luna! Snape's role in everything, which I and a zillion other people had figured out but it's nice to be right, Xenophilius Lovegood's name (lover of strange things indeed), Ron saving Harry from a frozen, watery grave and finally managing to conquer his insecurities, Narcissa deciding her son is more important than Death Eater loyalties, which I liked very much.
Not so much: Remus and Tonks's marriage--seriously, where did it come from? I wonder if JKR wasn't trying to set up some parallel between Remus/Tonks and James/Lilly, with Ted being, like Ron, Harry, and Hermione, born at a time when the entire Wizarding world is in peril, but still... Much of the endless wandering around got tedious, though a lot of it set up characters and circumstances that become crucial later (Dean, Snape's Patronus [Patrona?], the sword)... The last chapter, which felt extremely tacked on and last-minute, and closes off the future too much for my taste--I like endings open, after the conclusion of the main action so I can stay and imagine a bit more... Hedwig dying... Fred dying... Lupin dying... Draco's bizarre importance/nonimportance at the end. He's there and yet he isn't.
Going back to the good things, the philosophy of death and love is something interesting, and that I like. Human history has spent a significant amount of energy trying to control death or overcome it, and the idea that love and death and life are all kind of the same thing, and to violate the terms of one is to violate those of the others... It's kind of shopworn, but it's always worth saying again.
So, yeah. Good stuff. Chaucer seal of approval.
It's over now, though :/
YAY YAY YAY RON DIDN'T DIE!
I just had to say that. Cough.
Anyway, I got the book and began reading not really expecting to like it much. HBP had been a disappointment for me, and anyway, my interest in the series had really peaked somewhere between GoF and OotP. I picked up HBP mostly because my sister demanded that I do so, so we could talk about it, and I did pretty much the same thing with DH.
That said, I quite liked it. Mostly because Ron didn't die.
No, really. Taken as a whole, as something that addresses the bulk of the mysteries that have haunted the series--the nature of Harry's relationship to Voldemort, Snape, what Dumbledore's really like behind the nice old man, Aberforth, the importance of wands (*cough*)--I found it satisfying. Sad, in the way most endings are sad, but satisfying. I wouldn't set it next to LotR for the kind of ending that makes me want to simultaneously curl up and cry and sing for happiness, but it sent me away thinking, Yes, this was a good thing to live in for a while.
Highlights: Ron not dying, MRS. WEASLEY PWNING BELLATRIX, the trip down into the Gringott's vaults, the battle, which was absolutely marvelous, Dean!!!! Dean and Seamus!!!!1!eleven! Lee Jordan's wizarding radio underground! Neville! Luna! Snape's role in everything, which I and a zillion other people had figured out but it's nice to be right, Xenophilius Lovegood's name (lover of strange things indeed), Ron saving Harry from a frozen, watery grave and finally managing to conquer his insecurities, Narcissa deciding her son is more important than Death Eater loyalties, which I liked very much.
Not so much: Remus and Tonks's marriage--seriously, where did it come from? I wonder if JKR wasn't trying to set up some parallel between Remus/Tonks and James/Lilly, with Ted being, like Ron, Harry, and Hermione, born at a time when the entire Wizarding world is in peril, but still... Much of the endless wandering around got tedious, though a lot of it set up characters and circumstances that become crucial later (Dean, Snape's Patronus [Patrona?], the sword)... The last chapter, which felt extremely tacked on and last-minute, and closes off the future too much for my taste--I like endings open, after the conclusion of the main action so I can stay and imagine a bit more... Hedwig dying... Fred dying... Lupin dying... Draco's bizarre importance/nonimportance at the end. He's there and yet he isn't.
Going back to the good things, the philosophy of death and love is something interesting, and that I like. Human history has spent a significant amount of energy trying to control death or overcome it, and the idea that love and death and life are all kind of the same thing, and to violate the terms of one is to violate those of the others... It's kind of shopworn, but it's always worth saying again.
So, yeah. Good stuff. Chaucer seal of approval.
It's over now, though :/
no subject
I'd have to say my favorite bit was that Percy was in it. (And that he didn't die) The same goes for Draco, although I share your "he was in it but not" stance. His importance at the end left me a bit confused. Though I did love that his parents seemed more concerned for their son than their allegiance to the Dark Lord. I squeed over it rather embarrassingly. (Though not as much as I squeed over Percy’s appearances/mentions/subsequent not dying) My heart broke a little for Snape, what with Lily and their childhood friendship.
For things I didn't like the marriage between Remus and Tonks was seriously up there, completely tweaked. And not just because I'm a Sirius/Remus OTP supporter but because I’ve never found there to be much basis for the relationship to begin with. The hokey ending with all the next generation left a foul taste because the naming of the kids after others--cute for one or two but when I have to sit there and literally go decode the characters--- through a checklist of "no that person's dead--oh they mean the daughter who is apparently named after her...she's uh not going to Hogwarts yet, yeah ok" and it's not really even all that important, well. It's more brainpower than I had after the roller coaster that was the last few chapters. Draco and Percy showed up in the epilogue so it wasn't total rubbish, heh.
Yes, the constant camping seem ridiculous to me as well. I was flabbergasted when it mentioned it was March already, I can barely stand a week at Girls’ Camp let alone months. *shudders*
Snape having the doe to Harry’s stag was a little creepy. Awesome fodder for those in the SS/HP ship, but sorta creepy for those not.
Molly Weasley shouting out BITCH made my day. :)
Over all, this was of the good. The last two books were wonky, and I didn't like where the author went with them. The first and the seventh may just be my favorites. And I was embarrassingly dorky enough to log a commentary for each chapter of this final book so I could post it once I was all done reading. *shakes head & grins*
no subject
But on the whole I loved it. It wrapped up most stuff pretty well, cut me into tiny pieces without completely breaking my heart and was heroic without being massively Mary-Sueish.
And Molly FTW. Forever and always. Although Lee Jordan and Neville and their underground resistance movements for the second win.
no subject
Ted seemed more like Neville Longbottom to me - his grandmother was still alive; his parents heroically fighting Voldemort and paying the price for it, etc.
no subject
And: "I didn't want to be Rodent! I wanted to be Rapier!" That was the bit where my two friends (reading with me in the room) were like: "WILL YOU STOP GIGGLING PLEASE?!"
Also, it was funny to go through it afterwards and replace "wand" with "wang"... so Harry won Draco's wang from him. Voldemort couldn't use the Elder Wang... etc.
Oh! I liked Grindelwald! (That was his name, yes?) I liked how Dumbledore and Grindelwald were in cahoots. And Dumbledore finally has a backstory. And a sister.
And yes, that's all.
no subject
This is why I love you. Well, there are other reasons too.
Remus and Tonks's marriage--seriously, where did it come from?
Well, out here in NJ we call it LEFT FIELD. UGH.
Am too stunned to say anything else at this moment though.
no subject
*dies laughing*
OK, NOW the series is worth it, for me.
*Win!*
no subject
*also win, for Harry Potter being over*
Are you sad? I'm a little sad. Then again, there's always fanfiction.
no subject
Wang.
I'm a little sad in that it's nice to see people get so excited about books. I'm really not sad in that it means that I can finally stomach the fandom. I found it very hard to really get into the fanfiction, knowing that it could all be rendered AU without notice. I've had little plotbunnies nibble at me, but I have never even gotten to the point of opening a word processing document to type so much as an idea, because I knew it was relatively futile.
(For reference, the only fandom I've really written is LotR, so I tend to operate exclusively in closed canons. All y'alls with your TV fandoms are nucking futs.)
no subject
You think so? Really?? (I've only ever posted anything in TV fandom, lol.)
I, also, really like it when people get excited over books. It's a little weird to go to buy a book and stand in line behind Lucius Malfoy, though. Especially since he had boobs.
I don't think that fanfiction written before a series ends is futile! I think it's great to read and great to make friends with, because there are undoubtedly other people out there that agree with you on what should happen or shouldn't happen, or whatever. (My brain's not working right, at the moment... I'm sick and I think I have a fever, but I don't want to go home from work.)
Also, it's really fun to predict what's gonna happen in Harry Potter, or I should say it *was* really fun. It's neat to see who got what right, in the end.
Yep. Gotta go stack some boxes, now. <3