Deathly Hallows Review
Well, now it's finally over and hence discussion ensues. I survived spoiler-free, whoo!
I was thoroughly satisfied with the beginning with the exception of the lengthy ramblings at the Dursleys. I was touched by Dudley's change of heart but Petunia should have said something more. I feel The Dark Lord Ascending conveyed an ominous atmosphere followed by an engaging dose of action (The Seven Potters). "Wow! We're identical" is priceless. However, Hedwig dying = WTF, mate. She didn't do anything to anyone. Whoa, Moody? I enjoyed the wedding for the most part albeit slightly long. And just how far was Ginny planning to go with Harry there?
After excessive theorising, R.A.B. turned out to be quite predictable which I suppose undervalued that plotpoint but nonetheless cool to read that part as well as amusing to witness Kreacher's pleasantness. When Lupin said "grave mistake" I couldn't help but feel sympathetic to those Remus/Sirius shippers.
I am not a fan of the middle chunk of the book, I must say. It was excruciatingly sluggish how Harry was on the run in a tent without any direction for the horcrux hunt. I believe they should have gone to Godric's Hollow and Xenophilius's sooner. I admit at some point I was *kinda* bored. I mean it's the last book and there's the trio isolated without the readers seeing Hogwarts at all. If it hadn't been for the fact that Harry had been transformed into Undesirable No.1, I would go as far as saying that Harry should have gone on to his seventh year and the horcrux hunt could have gone on during his holidays if JKR could master the timeframe in this sense.
Anyone notice the strong political parallels to Nazi Germany? Nice touch. But I never imagined Grindelwald was relevant to the series especially because I was under the impression that he was dead according to that interview after HBP. Potterwatch included the shampoo joke, yes!
Godric's Hollow: indubitably amazing all the way from the memorial right down to the Nagini-possessed Bathilda Bagshot. Hermione's reaction towards Harry was so touching and reflective of their relationship. Sigh, at least I have that H/Hr moment. While JKR has sunk my OTP ship countless times beyond hope particularly on page 378 with those words that stung my eyes (She's like a sister), my delusional side immensely appreciated the horcrux version of HMS Pumpkin Pie. Ha!
Xeno's house: Aawwww, Luna and her room. Man, did that Deathly Hallows plotline smack me blindly in the face or what. I was initially upset that this concept was introduced so late in the series until the hallows were explained.
Malfoy Manor: I was so psyched that we got to visit since I'm such a Draco Trilogy fangirl. The randomness was superb: white peacocks & Dobby, etc. Pettigrew: laaaaaaame. JKR had already told us the silver hand wouldn't kill Lupin but Wormtail could have at least done us a favour in doing away with Greyback.
Speaking of Dobby, how dare JKR kill off one of my favourite characters? Oh, did I sob.
Gringotts was fantastic with the dragon and everything. For some reason it hadn't crossed my mind that a horcrux could be there but yeah, not surprised in the least. One detail bothered me though: Harry using Unforgivable Curses. On goblins no less.
So the two way mirror did come into use after all! Wow, it turns out Dumbledore is human in the end. I feel the fandom needed that. Otherwise Dumbly would be interpreted as a near perfect being, an utterly unrealistic character. Being who he is, it would be a crime for JKR to deny us a backstory. Personally, I've been dying to know more about Dumbledore for years.
The Battle of Hogwarts is wow all over the place. Go, Neville & Dumbledore's Army! Everything blew me away! It wouldn't have been a bad idea to include the Giant Squid and the Inferi as a podcast mentioned. Percy redeemed rocks! Is it just me or were Draco and Ginny considerably downplayed? I wish so much that Draco could have distinctly chosen the good side or become closer to Harry. Also, Ginny is not a child. She can fight, too! She did not show up AT ALL in the horcrux hunt, hmph. Hmm, I was so sure Neville would take down Bellatrix but I'm alright with this scenario not turning into reality since Mrs. Weasley took over. "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" is hands down DH's best line ever!!!
Parselmouth!Ron amused me to no end. I enjoyed the diadem subplot. I was going to be so annoyed if JKR didn't designate Ravenclaw an artifact. I gotta say as an H/Hr shipper, I thought Ron and Hermione's transition into a couple with the kiss was grand.
Poor Fred. It was highly probable that a Weasley would kick the bucket but it's so painful to see it be a twin. I mean, that's such a strong bond. It's a shame I couldn't feel the loss for Lupin and Tonks. They deserve death scenes, me thinks. I know JKR wanted a parallel with Teddy becoming an orphan but it wasn't necessary. See Epilogue thoughts.
The Prince's Tale: I was having a heart attack when Snape died because first of all, his allegiance was yet to be determined. He made up for it though. Those memories were so cute. It got to me considerably when I found out Snape and Lily were childhood friends. I always had a hunch Snape loved Lily but to think they knew each other since before Hogwarts. It was silly to assume Snape ever liked Harry but he had me going there for a second and then he conjured the doe. Oh, the doe and the "always" and the looking into Harry/Lily's eyes...~emotion overload~ I recognise romance is not JKR's expertise but this ship was genuinely heart-breaking and handled so well.
Oh, and Snape was good! I knew it! I'm so glad I had changed my mind after reading the series right before DH. DH was pulling mind tricks on me but I'm glad I figured out his loyalties. It's a shame Snape had to die and in vain at that. In my eyes, he is the epitome of respected anti-hero (however ironic it may be that he would have never been a triple agent had it not been for Lily).
I was so relieved when all the horcruxes were revealed in Voldemort's mind. There were all six and it meant Harry was homefree. Then it hit me like a bulldozer: Oh. My. God. Harry was an unintentional horcrux. Dumbledore raised a pig to be slaughtered. When Harry was walking towards his death I was bawling uncontrollably. It took me forever to make it through those pages.
King's Cross was...spiritual and creepy at the same time. I considered the place ultimately as a type of purgatory-limbo. YET I can't help but feel JKR wrote herself in a rut by killing Dumbledore in HBP. I mean, somehow or other Dumbledore still needed to explain everything at the end. Figures. As such, the portrait strikes me as astoundingly too real ordering Snape around. JKR owes us a proper explanation on portraits.
Ha! I was spot on about Harry dying and living again! I mentioned before I wanted that to happen and wild as it is, it came true! ~VINDICATION~
Whoa, Narcissa! Yay, Hagrid. If he hadn't died by HBP, I knew he was safe.
The Flaw in the Plan: I was so confunded by the end with Harry returning to life and the wand transfer. Originally, I understood that Harry had become the master of death not just metaphorically by dying willingly and selflessly but by having united the hallows and therefore Harry would be immortal but apparently it was because of the blood protection Lily had embedded and been passed on to LV back in Goblet of Fire. But how does the blood protection still work seeing the blood or the ancient magic had reached the 17 year mark?
I honestly thought Voldemort was not that stupid. Exactly how many of his plans backfired? What made him think no Ravenclaw would ever go into the room of requirement to hide something?
I was like "eh?" when Harry stated the Elder Wand was Draco's. Harry calling LV Tom Riddle was so cool. I had to chuckle when Harry defeated Voldemort with Expelliarmus. Everyone always told Harry disarming wouldn't get in anywhere, lol. If he didn't stoop so low as to use AK, Harry should not have performed Crucio or Imperio.
You know, the funny thing is that other than himself arguably, Harry did not do off with a single horcrux in this book. Nor did he ever really kill Voldemort. AND Harry dies. It sounds misleading when it's put that way, doesn't it?
I'm a bit disconcerted that we barely saw any Death Eaters chuck it compared to the good guys. As I reflect on it, JKR wiped out half or more of all the intriguing characters. Phoo. Who would have thought Mr. Weasley was the reprieve?
Epilogue: I am pretending it does not exist. No one's saying Harry doesn't deserve some peace and happiness but the epilogue was simply too childish. Okay, so the style is understandable since she wrote it over a decade ago but it still required heavy editing. We all pretty much assumed H/G and R/Hr would be for life, that they would go on to have kids and so on. Teddy Lupin in the end was raised by his loving grandmother Andromeda so the paralled subplot was sort of lost there even with Harry as a godfather. I would have loved a ten years later (it'd be 2007!). I'd much more cherish a few months/years later to clear up what they did to Voldemort, how the Ministry was purified after Harry and Ron becoming Aurors, who else died, everyone's futures, etc. In my opinion, I have trouble seeing Ron as an Auror and I would have liked Harry to have done some pro-Quidditch. I also think JKR could have cleverly fit in Albus Severus another way. That line was precious and it made me teary. All in all, the kids did not need to be there (Hugo? Rose?). On top of it, we now have a ship called HMS Ass. Way to go, JKR.
P.S. I'm definitely choosing to believe mini-James's middle name is Sirius.
Did anyone else get bit by false promises? I shall remain restless until I know what James and Lily did for a living. What about the veil?!?!?!? And I'm not even a Sirius fan in particular. I used to think a wonderful tie-in would be that Luna's mother died having experimented with the veil, an act that would reveal the nature of the veil but I suppose the veil is in the Department of Mysteries for a reason. There's magic late in life person or person at Godric's Hollow except for the cat, yeah. What happened to the cat anyway?
I am wondering: Would Snape had had the same fate if he had never loved Lily, had followed up LV and the Unbreakable Vow's terms of killing Dumbledore? Snape would not have been good but he would have been accused of being the rightful owner of the Elder Wand and killed by LV, right? Ironic, no?
Also wondering: If Voldemort took over the Ministry (hence his DE's taking over the Department of Transportation, couldn't they monitor Apparition? If people are out there apparating without licenses (Harry and Ron), then this is obviously a ministry violation. Or could the DE's only keep track of Apparators with licenses?
Overall impression: Despite what comes off as a bunch of criticisms, I loved Deathly Hallows. The rest of the book compensates perfectly for the sucky middle. Book 7 can easily become one of my top favourites over time.
As I was putting on the bookjacket back after reading DH, I literally stared at it for a minute until it finally occurred to me what scene was depicted. Tricky GrandPré.
They are so going to mess up the movie.
I truly hope that book 8 the encyclopedia will be published because I happen to be one of those fans who needs to know the middle names of Harry's great-great-grandparents. JK.
Now I'm off to read a Ass fic (I'm curious, here). 'Cuz your ship can kiss mine.