Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Last night was crazy, fun, and exhausting. I managed to snag wristband #341 at the Union Square Barnes & Noble and with the craziness the Marauders would appreciate, I got copies for raelala, regala_electra and myself, so we were out of the store by 12:30 A.M., but waiting was a whole uh, experience -- funnily enough, more crowded but faster than last time and cooler, especially the part where they asked for people under #400 and the crowd parted to let me down the escalator. While dressed like Sirius Black. (Or, girly fanon one with boobs, anyway).
The view from the escalator while waiting to get to the 2nd floor from the 3rd floor and trying not to topple over.
It's like a weird deer/jackalope/jingle-bell covered thingy on stilts, which was TOTALLY better than the woman on stilts last time (though it was fun hearing raelala & regala_electra trying to ask it what it was, and Reg suggested 'yak' or 'impala' and I WONDER WHAT FANDOM SHE'S IN, HUH. It was so cute, I wanted it so I could have it wander through my house and like, when I'm in the kitchen getting orange juice, it'll come in, I'll pet it, and then it'll wander off. And oh my god, I kept babbling on about how Jared would see it from afar and be like "OMG! A SPARKLY PONY! WITH JINGLE BELLS!11!!" And then try to ride it or hump it. Though this is after Reg said it was Jared and I don't think she was far off because that thing was tall. Ginormous, you know.
Finished the book hours ago. Overall, I have a mixed reaction to this book -- for more than half the book I just kept screaming because it felt like nothing. was. happening. It seemed to drag on. Oh, sure, things happened, but all of the stuff with the Trio just migrating from place to place and plotting was Not Entertaining and I was bored as hell. And I just felt like, "uh, this is going on for 20 pages, dude, this is the last book, does this all have a, you know, point?"
And then the damn book got interesting in the last few hundred pages. Damn it.
Feel free to discuss the book or link reviews. Spoilers in the comments!
p.s. I love going on LJ and seeing this (interview with Kripke, slight spoilers for S3). ahhh. SPN: it's like pushing the pleasure button. Only, you know, not as dirty.
The view from the escalator while waiting to get to the 2nd floor from the 3rd floor and trying not to topple over.
It's like a weird deer/jackalope/jingle-bell covered thingy on stilts, which was TOTALLY better than the woman on stilts last time (though it was fun hearing raelala & regala_electra trying to ask it what it was, and Reg suggested 'yak' or 'impala' and I WONDER WHAT FANDOM SHE'S IN, HUH. It was so cute, I wanted it so I could have it wander through my house and like, when I'm in the kitchen getting orange juice, it'll come in, I'll pet it, and then it'll wander off. And oh my god, I kept babbling on about how Jared would see it from afar and be like "OMG! A SPARKLY PONY! WITH JINGLE BELLS!11!!" And then try to ride it or hump it. Though this is after Reg said it was Jared and I don't think she was far off because that thing was tall. Ginormous, you know.
Finished the book hours ago. Overall, I have a mixed reaction to this book -- for more than half the book I just kept screaming because it felt like nothing. was. happening. It seemed to drag on. Oh, sure, things happened, but all of the stuff with the Trio just migrating from place to place and plotting was Not Entertaining and I was bored as hell. And I just felt like, "uh, this is going on for 20 pages, dude, this is the last book, does this all have a, you know, point?"
And then the damn book got interesting in the last few hundred pages. Damn it.
- So basically, lots of characters and things I like were pointed at and gone, "ha, no! Too bad!" and... yeah, I'd come up with a better pun, but wow. The parts regarding the Marauders' behavior didn't feel right, as did the Harry & Ron explanation of "she's like a sister!" sequence because hey, yeah, I'm all for H/Hr and that's never gonna happen but it felt so heavy-handed like for the sake of quelling arguments in fandom. As did the epilogue, because that was entirely necessary (I say, sarcastically) -- sure, of course there's gonna be a happy ending as it's a children's book but body count. Hmm.
- I liked that there was an explanation for Snape's behavior even though my eyes glazed over and I thought I had read this already in a fanfic. Much like the epilogue. Ha.
- I was talking to regala_electra earlier (or more like me shouting because that was during the first few hundred pages of no action) and she brought up how it seemed like everything occured off-screen -- and it did. Especially listening to stuff related when Harry would hear from Ted & Dean (me? so fucked up I was all "DEAN!" and then "...oh, right, not that one."), or the radio thingy.
- Hi, I would like multiple fics of Bill/Fleur being awesome, okay? Okay. HELLO, BILL.
- I think I went and finally started to love the Weasleys because they kicked ass in this. Up 'til now I didn't really care about them either way but Fred! And George! I loved them.
- I disliked the way the Remus/Tonks part was handled because it just sort of... happened. Within weeks, and Remus regretting it -- I could understand his reasons fine, but since we're going on Harry's POV, I didn't like that part.
- Semi-crying part: Dobby. ♥
- Full-blown, ridiculous crying hysterics: the walk in the woods with James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus. Fucking hell, you go and make the book awesome for the last few hundred pages and then THAT. jesus.
- I am awaiting sitting in the theater and mentally fast-forwarding to the ending battle scenes. SO, SO FREAKING COOL.
- I loved the little references to all of the past books, however big or small. Those were nice.
- Sometimes the monologuing gets a little repetitive but I do not care when it came to Harry and Voldemort's showdown. "Tom Riddle." HAH.
- Harry is a Horcrux. Well, no one saw that coming.
- Scorpius, really? (I'm sorry, I'll shut up about that.)
- I feel like I had a lot more to say but right now I'm totally wasted. Um, I love Neville, and Luna, and Dean, and Seamus.
- The Deathstick? Really?
Feel free to discuss the book or link reviews. Spoilers in the comments!
p.s. I love going on LJ and seeing this (interview with Kripke, slight spoilers for S3). ahhh. SPN: it's like pushing the pleasure button. Only, you know, not as dirty.