Harry Potter Book 7
So, I just finished book 7. Here are my thoughts:
I generally don't get very emotional with books, little really affects me most of the time. This time was no different. The first death shocked me, because really, how many people expected Rowling to kill Hedwig? The other deaths, unfortunately...didn't really do anything for me. Snape and Wormtail, definitely dead, no surprise, Harry being a horcux and being killed, also predicted, the others...eh, something about them, they just didn't affect me that much.
I do want to rant about the Slytherins. Totally intriguing and wasted potential. Through all the books, the Slytherins get painted as two-dimensional 'baddies' all grouped in the same house. In books five and six, it looks like Draco and the other Slytherins are being set up to be redeemed somewhat in #7 and join up with the rest of Hogwarts. What happens? The entire Slytherin house abandons the fight, except for the ones who sneak back in, on the Death Eaters' side. The hell? What was all that with the Sorting Hat's song in book 6, about banding together to survive, and all about Slytherins aren't all bad and we should work together with them? Way to undermine that. :/
The only Slytherin to be shown any redemption is Snape, and it implies that he could have been a Gryffindor. Come on, where's the respect for Slytherin as it is? Cleverness and ambition aren't evil in themselves, why's it the dumping ground for all the unpleasant characters, while all the Gryffindors are bright and good. For that matter, why can't we see more about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? It's too black and white.
One thing I admit I liked, the Malfoys are loyal to their family first, and will do whatever it takes to protect each other, and everyone else can go hang. I never liked them so much before. :)
Luna is, once again, awesome. Neville kicks butt finally, I kinda thought he should've killed Bellatrix, but hey, Molly was freaking awesome too, so no complaints. I found the Lupin/Tonks relationship rather lacking, perhaps because we weren't shown much of it. I didn't see a whole lot of actual affection or love for each other when they were together, Lupin especially, I'd half expected him to betray them in the end. I didn't think I could ever like Kreacher, but I do, and Regulus too. :)
There seemed to be a lot of stuff left out of this book, stuff that Rowling said in interviews and things that were going to be revealed, but I guess were forgotten or deleted from the final draft, or something. Like, what about all that stuff in the Department of Mysteries and the veil? Wasn't that supposed to be important? A couple other things mentioned in interviews, not as important but I still would've liked to know.
And the epilogue...well, I'm rather ambivalant about the epilogue. At first glance, it seems rather cheesy (I've seen way too many fanfics that look exactly the same, including children named James, Lily, and Rose.) and it doesn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the book. On the other hand, I'm sure having a family and a normal life is exactly what Harry wants, so I suppose it's nice seeing him getting that and having a glance at where things end up. I think it would have been better though, to focus more on the aftermaths of the war and leave the future up to speculation more.
Anyway, I don't care what anyone else says, I like the name Scorpius, and I think Hugo is exactly the sort of name Hermione would give her kid. :) I think it also offers another opportunity of redeeming Slytherin, and seeing as I enjoy reading fanfiction muchly, I'm interested to see what people do with it. So, yeah, it's not all bad.
Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. Somewhere around third favorite or so, after Prisoner of Azkaban and Chamber of Secrets. Maybe Half-Blood Prince, but not sure.
I generally don't get very emotional with books, little really affects me most of the time. This time was no different. The first death shocked me, because really, how many people expected Rowling to kill Hedwig? The other deaths, unfortunately...didn't really do anything for me. Snape and Wormtail, definitely dead, no surprise, Harry being a horcux and being killed, also predicted, the others...eh, something about them, they just didn't affect me that much.
I do want to rant about the Slytherins. Totally intriguing and wasted potential. Through all the books, the Slytherins get painted as two-dimensional 'baddies' all grouped in the same house. In books five and six, it looks like Draco and the other Slytherins are being set up to be redeemed somewhat in #7 and join up with the rest of Hogwarts. What happens? The entire Slytherin house abandons the fight, except for the ones who sneak back in, on the Death Eaters' side. The hell? What was all that with the Sorting Hat's song in book 6, about banding together to survive, and all about Slytherins aren't all bad and we should work together with them? Way to undermine that. :/
The only Slytherin to be shown any redemption is Snape, and it implies that he could have been a Gryffindor. Come on, where's the respect for Slytherin as it is? Cleverness and ambition aren't evil in themselves, why's it the dumping ground for all the unpleasant characters, while all the Gryffindors are bright and good. For that matter, why can't we see more about Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? It's too black and white.
One thing I admit I liked, the Malfoys are loyal to their family first, and will do whatever it takes to protect each other, and everyone else can go hang. I never liked them so much before. :)
Luna is, once again, awesome. Neville kicks butt finally, I kinda thought he should've killed Bellatrix, but hey, Molly was freaking awesome too, so no complaints. I found the Lupin/Tonks relationship rather lacking, perhaps because we weren't shown much of it. I didn't see a whole lot of actual affection or love for each other when they were together, Lupin especially, I'd half expected him to betray them in the end. I didn't think I could ever like Kreacher, but I do, and Regulus too. :)
There seemed to be a lot of stuff left out of this book, stuff that Rowling said in interviews and things that were going to be revealed, but I guess were forgotten or deleted from the final draft, or something. Like, what about all that stuff in the Department of Mysteries and the veil? Wasn't that supposed to be important? A couple other things mentioned in interviews, not as important but I still would've liked to know.
And the epilogue...well, I'm rather ambivalant about the epilogue. At first glance, it seems rather cheesy (I've seen way too many fanfics that look exactly the same, including children named James, Lily, and Rose.) and it doesn't quite seem to fit with the rest of the book. On the other hand, I'm sure having a family and a normal life is exactly what Harry wants, so I suppose it's nice seeing him getting that and having a glance at where things end up. I think it would have been better though, to focus more on the aftermaths of the war and leave the future up to speculation more.
Anyway, I don't care what anyone else says, I like the name Scorpius, and I think Hugo is exactly the sort of name Hermione would give her kid. :) I think it also offers another opportunity of redeeming Slytherin, and seeing as I enjoy reading fanfiction muchly, I'm interested to see what people do with it. So, yeah, it's not all bad.
Overall, though, I enjoyed the book. Somewhere around third favorite or so, after Prisoner of Azkaban and Chamber of Secrets. Maybe Half-Blood Prince, but not sure.