Obligatory Harry Potter Post.
I got it on Saturday, finished it late Monday night. I successfully avoided all spoilers this time around. I really dodged a bullet on fi-uh. (I had a bad feeling about that thread and stayed away until I was done with the book.)
The following is something I posted to a thread on Tangency Other Media the other night. Some of what I wrote was prompted by other comments in that thread. It includes both praise and criticisms, questions and observations. After a day or two, and as I read other people's comments and thought about it some more, the things I didn't like faded in importance and I appreciated the good parts more and more.
Somebody else (who goes by the username "Something Else," funnily enough) said:
"Did anyone else feel like Dumbledore was an ass, and Snape really cared more for Harry? After all, Snape was the one who objected to the whole "let's let Harry die" plan..."
Then I said:
I thought it was made pretty clear that Snape did not like Harry. Let's not forget that Snape displayed a lot of petty cruelty and bad attitudes throughout the series. I don't believe that it was an elaborate "cover," either. There are several scenes of him trash-talking Harry in private with Dumbledore, and he also appeared to be jealous of Harry's relationship with Dumbledore. I think he primarily cared about Harry as a way for him to redeem himself to Lily's memory. Even his love for Lily was portrayed as a little creepy at times. He didn't love her enough to stop being a Death Eater when she repeatedly asked him to, and he had to be shamed by Dumbledore into giving a crap about James or Harry's lives once she was in danger.
Was he indeed brave, and fighting on the right side? Yes. Does that make him a really great guy? I'm not sure. At the very least he was a jerk, albeit a jerk who was capable of feeling love, remorse, loyalty and gratitude towards certain people.
(For all that, I totally called that the doe was his Patronus, and even why. For some reason I associated it with Lily immediately, and assumed that I had read somewhere in an interview that her Patronus was a doe. Apparently JKR had never revealed that before, though. Maybe I subconsciously associated it with James' stag? Or maybe I figured that the only "interesting" owner of the doe would have been Snape, and the only reason he would have such a gentle creature would be because of Lily? I'd long believed that he was in love with her.)
Anyway, all of this stuff demonstrates one of the cool things about the series, the characters are all very interesting mixes of admirable traits and flaws. (Save Voldemort, who really has no good qualities whatsoever. Hell, one thing that struck me in this book was that he's not even really a "cool" kind of Dark Lord...he often acts and thinks in very childish ways.) While the plot threads are all wrapped up in exceedingly neat packages, the character development arcs are not.
That's why I also think it was cool that Draco didn't go full-blown evil, nor did he really "redeem" himself. He was an asshole and a coward in over his head, but all indications are that he is against murder, even when he can get away with it or profit by it. I suspect that, as an adult, he was grateful to Dumbledore and Harry for keeping him from going over the brink, but also ashamed and eager to just forget the past and get on with being a rich guy.
Other observations:
- I'm glad Hagrid didn't die, but disappointed that he didn't get more to do. When he jumped on that broom in the beginning, I felt conflicting pangs of, "Shit, not Hagrid!" and "YES! Hagrid goes out like a hero!"
- I am bummed that Lupin went out offscreen. I can understand how JKR wanted to show that sometimes shit happens and not in a dramatic way that would be satisfying in a book, though. (See also: Tonks, Mad-Eye, etc.) I did really like how his fight with Harry was resolved.
- On the one hand, I love shout-outs, callbacks, and cameos. On the other hand, the involvement of just about every person, place, or thing from the previous 6 books felt forced at times.
- At first I enjoyed the intensity of "goddammit, there are bad guys everywhere and the situation is very bad." After a while, though, I came to expect everything to always go horribly wrong and for Death Eaters to jump out at them. I lost that feeling of intensity for a while after that. ("Ho-hum, here come the Death Eaters, on cue.") This problem went away after Malfoy Manor, though.
- Everything with Dobby was great. I was pretty sure that he was going to die after making such a heroic stand. Everything about Harry dealing with (and learning from) Dobby's death was pure gold.
- I know that expository chapters where someone explains everything, and sudden revelations of convenient, previously unknown rules of magic are HP staples, but I felt that this one had more than its fair share.
- I think Fred's death shocked me most of all. I never considered him to have plot immunity or anything, but I never really considered the possibility of his death, either. Perhaps I subconsciously figured George's ear was enough of a "Weasley twin tragedy" that their quota had been met. He wasn't one of my favorite characters or anything, but there he was doing his Fred thing, and then BAM! War is hell, I guess. I'm glad he went out with a laugh, though.
- I could've done with something really awful (and preferably embarrassingly pathetic) happening to Umbridge. Given how much JKR hates her, I kind of expected it. I suppose the book is not about revenge, though.
- Everything going through Harry's head as he marched off to his death? Brilliant. I loved it. His sort of hyper-awareness of being alive and savoring his last moments? How, even though he was committed, he couldn't summon a Patronus and needed help? All great.
- While JKR was generally effective at creating a "nobody is safe" atmosphere, I was quite certain that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had plot immunity. I thought it unlikely that Harry would die, but I felt that it was on the table.
- I know Voldemort is ridiculously arrogant, but really, how did he think a massive mountain of crap got into the Room of Requirement if nobody else knew about it? I mean, he's also ridiculously paranoid...
- I had been wondering how Harry would strike the final blow. I had a hard time imagining an appropriate or satisfying scene. Obviously he wasn't going to be, like, "Hasta la vista, Voldy!" and blow his head off. The way it worked out was perfect (especially in light of Lupin's earlier criticism of Harry's tendency to use Expelliarmus a lot).
- Dumbledore had been my favorite character for a while, but sometimes I did feel like, "it seems a little lazy to pick the perfect guy who is a walking plot device as your favorite character." But now he's got real flaws (other than "being too nice") and inner conflict and a dark past so it's okay. I've always liked his refusal to seek, or even accept, power over others despite his amazing talents, but this book shed very interesting light on that part of his personality.
- How do those headmaster portraits work anyway? Is it the real person? If so, how is that different than using the Resurrection Stone? Or being a ghost? Is the Dumbledore in the painting the same Dumbledore Harry spoke to in "King's Cross?" If not, what is it? A perfect copy? Just an imprint with some personality and memories? If so, it's a pretty damned good imprint, plotting away and dispensing wisdom like the real thing.
The following is something I posted to a thread on Tangency Other Media the other night. Some of what I wrote was prompted by other comments in that thread. It includes both praise and criticisms, questions and observations. After a day or two, and as I read other people's comments and thought about it some more, the things I didn't like faded in importance and I appreciated the good parts more and more.
Somebody else (who goes by the username "Something Else," funnily enough) said:
"Did anyone else feel like Dumbledore was an ass, and Snape really cared more for Harry? After all, Snape was the one who objected to the whole "let's let Harry die" plan..."
Then I said:
I thought it was made pretty clear that Snape did not like Harry. Let's not forget that Snape displayed a lot of petty cruelty and bad attitudes throughout the series. I don't believe that it was an elaborate "cover," either. There are several scenes of him trash-talking Harry in private with Dumbledore, and he also appeared to be jealous of Harry's relationship with Dumbledore. I think he primarily cared about Harry as a way for him to redeem himself to Lily's memory. Even his love for Lily was portrayed as a little creepy at times. He didn't love her enough to stop being a Death Eater when she repeatedly asked him to, and he had to be shamed by Dumbledore into giving a crap about James or Harry's lives once she was in danger.
Was he indeed brave, and fighting on the right side? Yes. Does that make him a really great guy? I'm not sure. At the very least he was a jerk, albeit a jerk who was capable of feeling love, remorse, loyalty and gratitude towards certain people.
(For all that, I totally called that the doe was his Patronus, and even why. For some reason I associated it with Lily immediately, and assumed that I had read somewhere in an interview that her Patronus was a doe. Apparently JKR had never revealed that before, though. Maybe I subconsciously associated it with James' stag? Or maybe I figured that the only "interesting" owner of the doe would have been Snape, and the only reason he would have such a gentle creature would be because of Lily? I'd long believed that he was in love with her.)
Anyway, all of this stuff demonstrates one of the cool things about the series, the characters are all very interesting mixes of admirable traits and flaws. (Save Voldemort, who really has no good qualities whatsoever. Hell, one thing that struck me in this book was that he's not even really a "cool" kind of Dark Lord...he often acts and thinks in very childish ways.) While the plot threads are all wrapped up in exceedingly neat packages, the character development arcs are not.
That's why I also think it was cool that Draco didn't go full-blown evil, nor did he really "redeem" himself. He was an asshole and a coward in over his head, but all indications are that he is against murder, even when he can get away with it or profit by it. I suspect that, as an adult, he was grateful to Dumbledore and Harry for keeping him from going over the brink, but also ashamed and eager to just forget the past and get on with being a rich guy.
Other observations:
- I'm glad Hagrid didn't die, but disappointed that he didn't get more to do. When he jumped on that broom in the beginning, I felt conflicting pangs of, "Shit, not Hagrid!" and "YES! Hagrid goes out like a hero!"
- I am bummed that Lupin went out offscreen. I can understand how JKR wanted to show that sometimes shit happens and not in a dramatic way that would be satisfying in a book, though. (See also: Tonks, Mad-Eye, etc.) I did really like how his fight with Harry was resolved.
- On the one hand, I love shout-outs, callbacks, and cameos. On the other hand, the involvement of just about every person, place, or thing from the previous 6 books felt forced at times.
- At first I enjoyed the intensity of "goddammit, there are bad guys everywhere and the situation is very bad." After a while, though, I came to expect everything to always go horribly wrong and for Death Eaters to jump out at them. I lost that feeling of intensity for a while after that. ("Ho-hum, here come the Death Eaters, on cue.") This problem went away after Malfoy Manor, though.
- Everything with Dobby was great. I was pretty sure that he was going to die after making such a heroic stand. Everything about Harry dealing with (and learning from) Dobby's death was pure gold.
- I know that expository chapters where someone explains everything, and sudden revelations of convenient, previously unknown rules of magic are HP staples, but I felt that this one had more than its fair share.
- I think Fred's death shocked me most of all. I never considered him to have plot immunity or anything, but I never really considered the possibility of his death, either. Perhaps I subconsciously figured George's ear was enough of a "Weasley twin tragedy" that their quota had been met. He wasn't one of my favorite characters or anything, but there he was doing his Fred thing, and then BAM! War is hell, I guess. I'm glad he went out with a laugh, though.
- I could've done with something really awful (and preferably embarrassingly pathetic) happening to Umbridge. Given how much JKR hates her, I kind of expected it. I suppose the book is not about revenge, though.
- Everything going through Harry's head as he marched off to his death? Brilliant. I loved it. His sort of hyper-awareness of being alive and savoring his last moments? How, even though he was committed, he couldn't summon a Patronus and needed help? All great.
- While JKR was generally effective at creating a "nobody is safe" atmosphere, I was quite certain that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had plot immunity. I thought it unlikely that Harry would die, but I felt that it was on the table.
- I know Voldemort is ridiculously arrogant, but really, how did he think a massive mountain of crap got into the Room of Requirement if nobody else knew about it? I mean, he's also ridiculously paranoid...
- I had been wondering how Harry would strike the final blow. I had a hard time imagining an appropriate or satisfying scene. Obviously he wasn't going to be, like, "Hasta la vista, Voldy!" and blow his head off. The way it worked out was perfect (especially in light of Lupin's earlier criticism of Harry's tendency to use Expelliarmus a lot).
- Dumbledore had been my favorite character for a while, but sometimes I did feel like, "it seems a little lazy to pick the perfect guy who is a walking plot device as your favorite character." But now he's got real flaws (other than "being too nice") and inner conflict and a dark past so it's okay. I've always liked his refusal to seek, or even accept, power over others despite his amazing talents, but this book shed very interesting light on that part of his personality.
- How do those headmaster portraits work anyway? Is it the real person? If so, how is that different than using the Resurrection Stone? Or being a ghost? Is the Dumbledore in the painting the same Dumbledore Harry spoke to in "King's Cross?" If not, what is it? A perfect copy? Just an imprint with some personality and memories? If so, it's a pretty damned good imprint, plotting away and dispensing wisdom like the real thing.