Am I the last one? Probably. *snerk* (Potter)
Just finished Harry Potter & the Deathly Hollows, literally fifteen minutes before typing this. I got up, took a deep breath, put the book away, and woke up my computer--which was pretty sluggish, after 3 days of neglect as I hid from the cunning Spoilers.
So what did I think?
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. And a highly fitting end to the saga.
More details behind the spell-cut: This was...so very much a Potter book. Twisted, complex, hilarious (especially Ron, double-especially Ron both times they save Draco's life!), painful, beautiful, and so gorgeously human. And the kids really do grow up, and step up to face the world, and kick so, so much @$$. And the world kicks their butts right back, of course...but Rowling gets it right. It's what I love about Farscape, or the works of Joss Whedon: sure, I get kicked in the nads again and again, but it never feels less than real.
This is a war story, and so there are casualties. And this is me reading the story, so yes, I did what the Doctor did in my icon, many times. :?P Rowling got me with Hedwig first--such an evil twist! And so perfect, setting the tone early, making that first crazy flying fight so powerful. I was sure Hagrid was gone there, when he took his berserker leap off the bike (SO COOL!). Instead we lost George's ear, and my boy Mad-Eye. And then Dobby (*bawls!*), and Fred (*bawls more*)--even though I knew that was coming. I've known probably all along one of the twins would go in the final battle, it just made too much story-sense for one to have to go on without the other, and once George was marked I suspected it would be the unscathed one to die. But at least he got to die laughing at a joke from Percy, eh? A wondrous thing that--and Percy, too, got me cheering with his berserker rage, as Neville and Hagrid had before him. (Loved the throwaway in the end, too, about Percy and Arthur kicking bottom side by side.)
I apologize for the disjointedness of these thoughts, but I expect I'll be reading similar from several of you when I finally catch up on my flist now, so I imagine you'll understand. :?P
I hated, hated, hated losing Remus and Tonks. I've loved them both as long as we've known each of them. I was shipping for them in book 5, and I've dressed as and played Lupin for each of the three Potter book releases in which I've participated at Borders (more on the latest of those after the cut again!). I wanted so, so badly for Lupin to finally have to allow himself to make a life in a post-war world. But I get why it works for the story, why it's *right*. It made sense at first for the cross-generational mirror--that Harry will get to be the godfather Sirius never had the chance to be. And then when I got to the gorgeus, gorgeous scene with the ghosts in the Forbidden Forest, I knew it couldn't really go any other way. The four--James, Lily, Sirius and Remus--needed to be there together with Harry.
That made me bawl like nothing else, probably even more than the Dumbledore's office scene at the end of Book 5. I'd been waiting for that scene since book one, for Harry to finally, truly get to see his parents, hear them tell him how much they loved him. "And you'll stay with me?" "Until the end." I sobbed loudly enough that Rachael, napping next to me, woke up and wrapped her arms around me. She cuddled me, and grabbed a tissue from the dresser, and wiped my face as I kept reading.
I don't know if I ever quite cried for Severus, because his death was at once long-expected and so sudden, and because I was waiting to hear his final thoughts in the pensieve. But his story rocked as well. I was pleased how much I'd guessed, fascinated just how long he'd known her, and LOVED his attitude in the scenes with Dumbledore set during book 6--how he snarked on Dumbledore when D said he'd have to kill him. How incensed he was, even if it wasn't necessarily for the right reason (or is there a right reason, does it matter if his love was for Lily or Harry?) when he found out Harry was meant to die. And I love his namesake.
I was a bit fascinated by a non-death, too: that Lucius Malfoy should be allowed to survive. I liked that, though--that his and Narcissa's and even Draco's role should be so much more subtle here than I was expecting. (I'd expected Voldemort to kill Narcissa, and Draco to more decisively join Harry's side.) It made sense, though--Slytherins aren't evil, just self-interested, and it's a fine distinction. (Love that Slughorn actually came back with cavalry, by the way!)
At this point all I can think is to point out more things that I loved. Harry, Ron & Hermione on the quest and dealing with the world as adults, but still with their angsts and their questions...how bloody complicated it is to figure out your own fate...that's a given. Kreacher! One of my favorite little bits, actually...how this poor abused creature came to love Harry so much, and after we'd hated him so much in book 5. It made sense, though; House-Elves are abused slaves, they can't afford to build allegiances more complex than following their masters and being kind if their masters show them kindness.
Speaking of abuse...whoa on Dumbledore's backstory. Again, though, so real. For all those who've feared Dumbledore was too perfect and wise...SO much dimension is given to him here. I loved especially that no trick explained away his wanting to conquer Muggles as a young man. Again, it simply fit...Muggles did those horrible things to his sister because they didn't understand the magical world, and he felt if the wizards conquered them, ended the stupid divisions, everyone would be better off. Think of the Healing powers wizards have, how they could change our Muggle lives? Except it couldn't work like that, and Dumbledore simply had to grow up to realize it--and realize why he didn't trust himself with power. Which was even more fascinating to me as a Lord of the Rings fan. It felt like a fleshing out of Gandalf's backstory--Gandalf was also offered the leadership of the Wizard Council, but turned it down, and power was taken by the eventually-corrupt Saruman. And of course he too was tempted by a ring, and decided he couldn't be trusted to bear it...
Actually, that wasn't the only place I was reminded of LOTR. I loved Hermione insisting they take wearing the horcrux in shifts. It was like, "Here's what happens when you're smart enough to bring a woman in the Fellowship, Frodo". *snerk*
More loves: Neville and the newer, punkier Dumbledore's Army (still recruiting); Neville and the sword (!)...Harry gives him a job and he really wastes no time; everybody and everybody showing up at the end, including Kreacher again, and Oliver Wood and the old Gryffindor Quidditch team (who, in my head, were totally wearing their Quidditch robes because they felt right for battle, and kicking butt from their broomsticks); MOLLY F*CKING WEASLEY (and I bawled more as I read her kicking that @$$, just thinking of everything she was feeling in that moment, the grief behind her wand)...
I'm sure there's so much more I'm forgetting. I just loved this ride, as I've loved all the books preceeding, and probably even more so. As I love Return of the Jedi (still my favorite Star Wars), as I love The Peacekeeper Wars...the heroes step up, they grow up, they put to rest the world that's been and we see a glimpse of the world to come. Good old JK!
Oh, and for those who are still doing like the Doctor just because there's no Book 8? Don't count it out too soon. WOOT!
So yes, start your wishlists now. Me, I want to see James, Sirius, Lily and Remus at school...more of Harry etc. all's kids at school...more about Luna post-book 7...
And hey, if nothing else, the fan-ficcers will be having more of a field day than ever these days. Here's a thought I had partway through: can you imagine the choice Harry would have faced if Hermione hadn't survived? In the wake of Voldemort's death, should he go to Hermione's parents, let them know again how amazing their daughter had been? Or leave them to the peaceful life Hermione chose for them? Scary stuff. (But how much do I love Hermione for doing that?)
Ok, ok, I'm really done now. :?P
Oh, and the Borders release party for this one was the best yet, I think. I found a brown pinstripe three-piece suit at Goodwill for $10...and it *fit*. The pants were long, which is easily enough fixed, but everything else was perfect, and worked nicely for Remus Lupin, with my wand in hand. I got to the event and found out I had been made host of the Great Snape Debate, and had an absolute blast with that, giving kids and adults a chance to compare their perspectives (I had such a great group of fans, with some really awesome ideas), while also entertaining everybody through the wait for midnight. I think I was channelling Eddie Izzard at points there, as I paraphrased points for the crowd in my booming stage-voice. ("So you see this as an after-school special, really. Dumbledore came to Snape and said, 'you're hanging out with a bad crowd, that likes to kill people on the weekends. But you don't have to kill people on the weekends. We...have punch. You can come over here and have punch, with us!' And Snape said, 'I like punch!'.)
After midnight and the book release, I ended up spending most of the rest of the night standing up in the window-well behind the register, opening boxes and setting the books out on the shelf behind the cashiers as fast as I could. Quite a work-out! I was insanely enjoying it, though. chickwithmonkey (who showed up a little after midnight dressed as Tonks, fresh from covering another Potter event for her paper) held on to my coat, tie, and wand, so I was looming over the registers in my shirtsleeves and waistcoat, a proper wizardly bookshop attendant...I was amused at how many cameras were snapping in my direction.
And at last, around 3 am, all the customers were gone and Rachael and I were free to drive off with our books. We started them as soon as we got home, and read until we passed out...
Which kind of brings this post full circle, huh?
So what did I think?
Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant. And a highly fitting end to the saga.
More details behind the spell-cut: This was...so very much a Potter book. Twisted, complex, hilarious (especially Ron, double-especially Ron both times they save Draco's life!), painful, beautiful, and so gorgeously human. And the kids really do grow up, and step up to face the world, and kick so, so much @$$. And the world kicks their butts right back, of course...but Rowling gets it right. It's what I love about Farscape, or the works of Joss Whedon: sure, I get kicked in the nads again and again, but it never feels less than real.
This is a war story, and so there are casualties. And this is me reading the story, so yes, I did what the Doctor did in my icon, many times. :?P Rowling got me with Hedwig first--such an evil twist! And so perfect, setting the tone early, making that first crazy flying fight so powerful. I was sure Hagrid was gone there, when he took his berserker leap off the bike (SO COOL!). Instead we lost George's ear, and my boy Mad-Eye. And then Dobby (*bawls!*), and Fred (*bawls more*)--even though I knew that was coming. I've known probably all along one of the twins would go in the final battle, it just made too much story-sense for one to have to go on without the other, and once George was marked I suspected it would be the unscathed one to die. But at least he got to die laughing at a joke from Percy, eh? A wondrous thing that--and Percy, too, got me cheering with his berserker rage, as Neville and Hagrid had before him. (Loved the throwaway in the end, too, about Percy and Arthur kicking bottom side by side.)
I apologize for the disjointedness of these thoughts, but I expect I'll be reading similar from several of you when I finally catch up on my flist now, so I imagine you'll understand. :?P
I hated, hated, hated losing Remus and Tonks. I've loved them both as long as we've known each of them. I was shipping for them in book 5, and I've dressed as and played Lupin for each of the three Potter book releases in which I've participated at Borders (more on the latest of those after the cut again!). I wanted so, so badly for Lupin to finally have to allow himself to make a life in a post-war world. But I get why it works for the story, why it's *right*. It made sense at first for the cross-generational mirror--that Harry will get to be the godfather Sirius never had the chance to be. And then when I got to the gorgeus, gorgeous scene with the ghosts in the Forbidden Forest, I knew it couldn't really go any other way. The four--James, Lily, Sirius and Remus--needed to be there together with Harry.
That made me bawl like nothing else, probably even more than the Dumbledore's office scene at the end of Book 5. I'd been waiting for that scene since book one, for Harry to finally, truly get to see his parents, hear them tell him how much they loved him. "And you'll stay with me?" "Until the end." I sobbed loudly enough that Rachael, napping next to me, woke up and wrapped her arms around me. She cuddled me, and grabbed a tissue from the dresser, and wiped my face as I kept reading.
I don't know if I ever quite cried for Severus, because his death was at once long-expected and so sudden, and because I was waiting to hear his final thoughts in the pensieve. But his story rocked as well. I was pleased how much I'd guessed, fascinated just how long he'd known her, and LOVED his attitude in the scenes with Dumbledore set during book 6--how he snarked on Dumbledore when D said he'd have to kill him. How incensed he was, even if it wasn't necessarily for the right reason (or is there a right reason, does it matter if his love was for Lily or Harry?) when he found out Harry was meant to die. And I love his namesake.
I was a bit fascinated by a non-death, too: that Lucius Malfoy should be allowed to survive. I liked that, though--that his and Narcissa's and even Draco's role should be so much more subtle here than I was expecting. (I'd expected Voldemort to kill Narcissa, and Draco to more decisively join Harry's side.) It made sense, though--Slytherins aren't evil, just self-interested, and it's a fine distinction. (Love that Slughorn actually came back with cavalry, by the way!)
At this point all I can think is to point out more things that I loved. Harry, Ron & Hermione on the quest and dealing with the world as adults, but still with their angsts and their questions...how bloody complicated it is to figure out your own fate...that's a given. Kreacher! One of my favorite little bits, actually...how this poor abused creature came to love Harry so much, and after we'd hated him so much in book 5. It made sense, though; House-Elves are abused slaves, they can't afford to build allegiances more complex than following their masters and being kind if their masters show them kindness.
Speaking of abuse...whoa on Dumbledore's backstory. Again, though, so real. For all those who've feared Dumbledore was too perfect and wise...SO much dimension is given to him here. I loved especially that no trick explained away his wanting to conquer Muggles as a young man. Again, it simply fit...Muggles did those horrible things to his sister because they didn't understand the magical world, and he felt if the wizards conquered them, ended the stupid divisions, everyone would be better off. Think of the Healing powers wizards have, how they could change our Muggle lives? Except it couldn't work like that, and Dumbledore simply had to grow up to realize it--and realize why he didn't trust himself with power. Which was even more fascinating to me as a Lord of the Rings fan. It felt like a fleshing out of Gandalf's backstory--Gandalf was also offered the leadership of the Wizard Council, but turned it down, and power was taken by the eventually-corrupt Saruman. And of course he too was tempted by a ring, and decided he couldn't be trusted to bear it...
Actually, that wasn't the only place I was reminded of LOTR. I loved Hermione insisting they take wearing the horcrux in shifts. It was like, "Here's what happens when you're smart enough to bring a woman in the Fellowship, Frodo". *snerk*
More loves: Neville and the newer, punkier Dumbledore's Army (still recruiting); Neville and the sword (!)...Harry gives him a job and he really wastes no time; everybody and everybody showing up at the end, including Kreacher again, and Oliver Wood and the old Gryffindor Quidditch team (who, in my head, were totally wearing their Quidditch robes because they felt right for battle, and kicking butt from their broomsticks); MOLLY F*CKING WEASLEY (and I bawled more as I read her kicking that @$$, just thinking of everything she was feeling in that moment, the grief behind her wand)...
I'm sure there's so much more I'm forgetting. I just loved this ride, as I've loved all the books preceeding, and probably even more so. As I love Return of the Jedi (still my favorite Star Wars), as I love The Peacekeeper Wars...the heroes step up, they grow up, they put to rest the world that's been and we see a glimpse of the world to come. Good old JK!
Oh, and for those who are still doing like the Doctor just because there's no Book 8? Don't count it out too soon. WOOT!
So yes, start your wishlists now. Me, I want to see James, Sirius, Lily and Remus at school...more of Harry etc. all's kids at school...more about Luna post-book 7...
And hey, if nothing else, the fan-ficcers will be having more of a field day than ever these days. Here's a thought I had partway through: can you imagine the choice Harry would have faced if Hermione hadn't survived? In the wake of Voldemort's death, should he go to Hermione's parents, let them know again how amazing their daughter had been? Or leave them to the peaceful life Hermione chose for them? Scary stuff. (But how much do I love Hermione for doing that?)
Ok, ok, I'm really done now. :?P
Oh, and the Borders release party for this one was the best yet, I think. I found a brown pinstripe three-piece suit at Goodwill for $10...and it *fit*. The pants were long, which is easily enough fixed, but everything else was perfect, and worked nicely for Remus Lupin, with my wand in hand. I got to the event and found out I had been made host of the Great Snape Debate, and had an absolute blast with that, giving kids and adults a chance to compare their perspectives (I had such a great group of fans, with some really awesome ideas), while also entertaining everybody through the wait for midnight. I think I was channelling Eddie Izzard at points there, as I paraphrased points for the crowd in my booming stage-voice. ("So you see this as an after-school special, really. Dumbledore came to Snape and said, 'you're hanging out with a bad crowd, that likes to kill people on the weekends. But you don't have to kill people on the weekends. We...have punch. You can come over here and have punch, with us!' And Snape said, 'I like punch!'.)
After midnight and the book release, I ended up spending most of the rest of the night standing up in the window-well behind the register, opening boxes and setting the books out on the shelf behind the cashiers as fast as I could. Quite a work-out! I was insanely enjoying it, though. chickwithmonkey (who showed up a little after midnight dressed as Tonks, fresh from covering another Potter event for her paper) held on to my coat, tie, and wand, so I was looming over the registers in my shirtsleeves and waistcoat, a proper wizardly bookshop attendant...I was amused at how many cameras were snapping in my direction.
And at last, around 3 am, all the customers were gone and Rachael and I were free to drive off with our books. We started them as soon as we got home, and read until we passed out...
Which kind of brings this post full circle, huh?