HP7, what else?

[manzai]

Did NOT get the book at Midnight Borders Insanity Bracelet Bazaar. DID get the book the next day in the Humongous Pile 'O' Books at the local BJ's Wholesale. IMHO, no one will run out of HP7 books. Ever.

Then I read the book in my own way. This is important, because I've found that I read books differenly from most of the reading public.

My opinion? It was okay. It wasn't teriffic, it wasn't terrible - it was okay. It kept me entertained for several hours, and that's saying a lot. Although Reno 911: Miami! and Snow Cake (which, btw, stars Alan Rickman and Sigorney Weaver and I would HEARTILY recommend people rent/view ASAP) kept me entertained for about the same amount of time.

Would I recommend it? Not if you didn't want to plow through the rest of the series. >_< Meaning, of course, that it won't stand on its own. Other books in the series DO stand on their own, and rather well. This one, however, demands that the reader read most of them, if not each and every frigging one.

Do you like the way it's written? I much prefer Jane Smiley's writing (reference Horse Heaven or A Thousand Acres). It is not a 'great piece of literature' and it never was, nor is it something that will revolutionize reading in the schools. If you're going to point to Harry Potter as the *gasp* REASON! that Johnny decided to START! READING! AGAIN!, then I think everyone who knows Johnny probably couldn't read past Cereal Box Labels One, either. My son happens to like Ender's Game and all its permutations.

It was a fast read. The pacing was okay, action sequences kept moving.

JKR has made, and will make, zillions of dollars from this franchise. There is the potential for at least another seven books here, if not more. Look what Frank Herbert and his progeny did to the Dune series, or what happened to Asimov's Foundation series. Or, for something more along the lines of HP, how about all the Star Wars novels and novellas? That should keep fanficcers in fodder (if not actually employed writing the books) for years.

Now for the spoiler part, so

I don't care for the way JRK treats her female characters. Hermione was shrieking and PMSing the entire time, which grated on my nerves; for some reason, it was OK to have something dire happen to Ariana (sexual assualt, maybe, hmm?) when she was terribly young and never get her any HELP(?), just say, 'oops, she's unbalanced now, lock'er up'? - how, if her family cared for her SO MUCH, would that happen?; have Mrs. Weaseley flip-flop moods until she settled on KillerWeaseley at the end, so it HAD to end up a one-on-one with her and Bellatrix?; even Narcissa's glorious, shining moment (lying to Volde to get Draco) is JKR's take on 'how women should act.'

And while I'm off on a rant about how Dumbledore's backstory includes a sister who probably was raped and needed medical and psychological treatment, does JKR realize she's created a world in which their 'medical community' doesn't TREAT psychological conditions? Considering the person's psychological condition - like, "think happy thoughts to create your patronus" - are intertwined, does this make sense? I didn't think so.

Take a look at what ivyblosom says here, then times it by 1.5 for me. Especially in the parts where she mentions shrieky Herminie, pissy Ron and an incredibly dense Voldemort.

ivyblosom also said about Voldemort (in response to someone saying that Voldemort seemed to be Dumbledore's equal):

I've never felt that he was Dumbledore's equal. He makes way too many mistakes for that. He seems to be just one disaster after another. For some reason he has a lot of followers, and that's the only thing that appears to make him a threat. He's not even Harry's equal, and poor Harry is only 17.

Heh ... so, so, true. Harry is only 17, isn't he?

Always beliving in choice, heykidzcomix offers another review here. This gives you not only a review, but artwork, too ~_^.

And ... gads. There's more, but I can't think of it. @_@