HBP
I sat on the couch reading another book all freaking morning, watching for the UPS truck. At about one, I came into the computer room to check my email and check on things in the MLB world, and to check a couple other things on the computer, but to STAY THE HELL AWAY from LJ and journalfen and yahoo and everywhere else, because I knew if I didn't, I'd get spoiled. And then I'd have been a Very Unhappy Camper.
The doorbell rang and I raced to answer it. Alas! It was the postal carrier with a certified letter for my parents. Hopes dashed! Went back into the computer room to finish doing what I'd been doing.
After an hour or an hour and a half, I decided to head back into the living room to wait for the UPS truck some more. On a whim, I decided to check the front porch, thinking, "It couldn't possibly be there... there was no doorbell, or even a knock."
The book was sitting on the freaking doormat.
*rage*
Not even a fucking knock on the door! Aarrrggh!
So I ripped it open and started reading. And I just finished about fifteen minutes ago.
Long, incoherent, spoilerific rambling behind the cut.
I loved it.
I don't care what anyone else says, I loved this one. I even loved the cover. Despite what many think about it, I like the green, and I like the purple text! So there! *g*
I loved this one the way I loved GoF. OotP was long, and it was whiny, and overly complicated and there was too damn much CAPSLOCK OF RAGE AND WOE! It felt too much to me like JKR was forcing us into the Age of Teenage Wangst. All of the tension was forced and dragged out.
This book is beautiful. I love how it goes into the story of Voldemort, and the idea that to defeat one's enemy, you must know him. And yes, I think Dumbledore knows he won't be around to help Harry in the final battle, and has given him here everything he needs for that battle. His students, and his school, and his world, it's all safe, in Harry's hands.
And I was flat-out, tears coursing down my face, hair askew, hands over my mouth devastated at the end. I didn't believe she was going to do it, but she did it. And dammit, it hurt. And it bewildered me, which is much more than Sirius' death ever did.
I'm sorry to those of you who love him, but I never could get into Sirius -- perhaps it was the way his death was written, or even the way his life was written in the few glimpses that we saw of him, but I never bonded with him. I saw how his death hurt Harry, and that affected me, but the death itself didn't really affect me.
Not the way Dumbledore's did. I don't know where it came from, if it was fic or other people's opinions, or something I picked up somewhere else, but I felt myself not letting go, just not trusting Dumbledore this book. Maybe it was because of his aloofness in OotP, which I just reread, but I spent the whole time this book watching Harry get closer and closer together, and I was going, "Don't trust him!" Maybe it was just, like neverneverfic said, he was revealing his plans, and that was enough of a death knell that I didn't want Harry getting closer.
His death threw me for a loop though. I was going, "He's not dead. Fawkes was waiting for him, and swooped him out of harm's way. Snape only pretended to curse him, for looks! He apparated away before it hit him!" And then it was real, and I was crying. And I was crying not only for him, but for everybody in their world, and I was saying, "Now what are they going to do?" He really was invincible, in their eyes and in mine, and their world is reeling now.
The escalation of the war is handled well, I think. It's never out of sight. People's aunts and uncles and mothers and little brothers are dying, but they're safe at Hogwarts. And then, they're not. The war has finally hit, and can no longer be ignored, by anybody.
I find the idea of the horcruxes fascinating -- that you can put aside a little bit of your soul to be immortal, but that you have to basically rip your soul in half for that to be possible. It's a scary thought, it really is. And I think that, just like the idea of who a vampire in the Whedonverse chooses to kill, or chooses to kill first, tells us something about him/her, the objects that an evil wizard chooses to put some of their soul in says something about them. It identifies their wants and fears, their desires and their dreads. It's interesting.
As for Snape... I'm not sure what to think about him. He's been so delightfully ambiguous about his loyalties... for him to come out and so viciously show them, it just seems so blunt. And to show us them from the very beginning of the book... although that is perhaps why she did so, knowing that otherwise, if we had not seen the forming of the unbreakable vow, it might be harder to believe. But I don't know. I still don't know. But as I said, the war is truly happening now, and there's no longer any need to hide one's loyalties to Voldemort. We'll see.
I still don't think that Dumbledore was pleading for his life. I don't. I don't know if he was asking for death, or what he was asking, but he wasn't pleading with Snape for his life. Everything we've ever seen in him goes completely against that.
Malfoy isn't as evil as we'd like to think, or as we've been led to believe, through Harry's eyes. He wasn't acting under his own will, or under his own desire to defeat Dumbledore, but under duress and out of fear for his own life and the lives of his family. I'm not a reformed!Draco fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think we've seen the last of him yet, and I'm not sure that the next time we see him will be as we've been expecting to.
All the shippiness was a bit distracting at times, but they are teenagers, and love and romance in this world are very much like love and romance in the Whedonverse. Who one loves and trusts is not a simple matter -- and it can be a cause of life-changing, world-changing events.
I've heard a few comments that the Harry/Ginny seemed to come out of nowhere... I haven't read the earlier books in a while, so I can't say anything on that front. But he's sixteen, and she's fifteen, and for love -- or like, or lust, or whatever -- to come out of nowhere isn't uncommon. It isn't uncommon for a kid at that age to look at the person sitting next to them in a group at the movies and go, "Hey... it'd be kinda nice to kiss him/her." Even if just on the other side of them, holding their hand, is another friend. So even if it did come out of nowhere, I can't say it's all that unrealistic.
Remus/Tonks was the only ship that made me go "eh." I can see him not wanting her to be a part of his Dark, Tainted by Evil life (he's been watching too much S3 and S4 BtVS, methinks), but she's just so... not Tonks. Everything we saw of her in OotP -- which granted, wasn't much -- she was so lively, and spirited, and here she was so drab and mousy. Boring. Not the Tonks I liked.
As for Ron/Hermione... well, that's been building. For a loooooong time now. So I wasn't surprised, and I'm very glad they're not being blind about it anymore. They're going to need each other and Harry's going to need them. I think Ginny's gonna find away to tag along on their quest too. And Neville, of course -- and it looks like Luna as well. Scoobies on their way to fight the First.
Harry and his friends are wizards now. They're not students, or wizards in training, or children. Hermione and Ron are already of age, and at the end of HBP, Harry is only a month or so away from being an adult in the wizarding world. It's amazing to think that.
I think that's enough rambling for now. I may have something more coherent to say tomorrow. Off to bed now.
We have to wait how long until book seven?!
The doorbell rang and I raced to answer it. Alas! It was the postal carrier with a certified letter for my parents. Hopes dashed! Went back into the computer room to finish doing what I'd been doing.
After an hour or an hour and a half, I decided to head back into the living room to wait for the UPS truck some more. On a whim, I decided to check the front porch, thinking, "It couldn't possibly be there... there was no doorbell, or even a knock."
The book was sitting on the freaking doormat.
*rage*
Not even a fucking knock on the door! Aarrrggh!
So I ripped it open and started reading. And I just finished about fifteen minutes ago.
Long, incoherent, spoilerific rambling behind the cut.
I loved it.
I don't care what anyone else says, I loved this one. I even loved the cover. Despite what many think about it, I like the green, and I like the purple text! So there! *g*
I loved this one the way I loved GoF. OotP was long, and it was whiny, and overly complicated and there was too damn much CAPSLOCK OF RAGE AND WOE! It felt too much to me like JKR was forcing us into the Age of Teenage Wangst. All of the tension was forced and dragged out.
This book is beautiful. I love how it goes into the story of Voldemort, and the idea that to defeat one's enemy, you must know him. And yes, I think Dumbledore knows he won't be around to help Harry in the final battle, and has given him here everything he needs for that battle. His students, and his school, and his world, it's all safe, in Harry's hands.
And I was flat-out, tears coursing down my face, hair askew, hands over my mouth devastated at the end. I didn't believe she was going to do it, but she did it. And dammit, it hurt. And it bewildered me, which is much more than Sirius' death ever did.
I'm sorry to those of you who love him, but I never could get into Sirius -- perhaps it was the way his death was written, or even the way his life was written in the few glimpses that we saw of him, but I never bonded with him. I saw how his death hurt Harry, and that affected me, but the death itself didn't really affect me.
Not the way Dumbledore's did. I don't know where it came from, if it was fic or other people's opinions, or something I picked up somewhere else, but I felt myself not letting go, just not trusting Dumbledore this book. Maybe it was because of his aloofness in OotP, which I just reread, but I spent the whole time this book watching Harry get closer and closer together, and I was going, "Don't trust him!" Maybe it was just, like neverneverfic said, he was revealing his plans, and that was enough of a death knell that I didn't want Harry getting closer.
His death threw me for a loop though. I was going, "He's not dead. Fawkes was waiting for him, and swooped him out of harm's way. Snape only pretended to curse him, for looks! He apparated away before it hit him!" And then it was real, and I was crying. And I was crying not only for him, but for everybody in their world, and I was saying, "Now what are they going to do?" He really was invincible, in their eyes and in mine, and their world is reeling now.
The escalation of the war is handled well, I think. It's never out of sight. People's aunts and uncles and mothers and little brothers are dying, but they're safe at Hogwarts. And then, they're not. The war has finally hit, and can no longer be ignored, by anybody.
I find the idea of the horcruxes fascinating -- that you can put aside a little bit of your soul to be immortal, but that you have to basically rip your soul in half for that to be possible. It's a scary thought, it really is. And I think that, just like the idea of who a vampire in the Whedonverse chooses to kill, or chooses to kill first, tells us something about him/her, the objects that an evil wizard chooses to put some of their soul in says something about them. It identifies their wants and fears, their desires and their dreads. It's interesting.
As for Snape... I'm not sure what to think about him. He's been so delightfully ambiguous about his loyalties... for him to come out and so viciously show them, it just seems so blunt. And to show us them from the very beginning of the book... although that is perhaps why she did so, knowing that otherwise, if we had not seen the forming of the unbreakable vow, it might be harder to believe. But I don't know. I still don't know. But as I said, the war is truly happening now, and there's no longer any need to hide one's loyalties to Voldemort. We'll see.
I still don't think that Dumbledore was pleading for his life. I don't. I don't know if he was asking for death, or what he was asking, but he wasn't pleading with Snape for his life. Everything we've ever seen in him goes completely against that.
Malfoy isn't as evil as we'd like to think, or as we've been led to believe, through Harry's eyes. He wasn't acting under his own will, or under his own desire to defeat Dumbledore, but under duress and out of fear for his own life and the lives of his family. I'm not a reformed!Draco fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think we've seen the last of him yet, and I'm not sure that the next time we see him will be as we've been expecting to.
All the shippiness was a bit distracting at times, but they are teenagers, and love and romance in this world are very much like love and romance in the Whedonverse. Who one loves and trusts is not a simple matter -- and it can be a cause of life-changing, world-changing events.
I've heard a few comments that the Harry/Ginny seemed to come out of nowhere... I haven't read the earlier books in a while, so I can't say anything on that front. But he's sixteen, and she's fifteen, and for love -- or like, or lust, or whatever -- to come out of nowhere isn't uncommon. It isn't uncommon for a kid at that age to look at the person sitting next to them in a group at the movies and go, "Hey... it'd be kinda nice to kiss him/her." Even if just on the other side of them, holding their hand, is another friend. So even if it did come out of nowhere, I can't say it's all that unrealistic.
Remus/Tonks was the only ship that made me go "eh." I can see him not wanting her to be a part of his Dark, Tainted by Evil life (he's been watching too much S3 and S4 BtVS, methinks), but she's just so... not Tonks. Everything we saw of her in OotP -- which granted, wasn't much -- she was so lively, and spirited, and here she was so drab and mousy. Boring. Not the Tonks I liked.
As for Ron/Hermione... well, that's been building. For a loooooong time now. So I wasn't surprised, and I'm very glad they're not being blind about it anymore. They're going to need each other and Harry's going to need them. I think Ginny's gonna find away to tag along on their quest too. And Neville, of course -- and it looks like Luna as well. Scoobies on their way to fight the First.
Harry and his friends are wizards now. They're not students, or wizards in training, or children. Hermione and Ron are already of age, and at the end of HBP, Harry is only a month or so away from being an adult in the wizarding world. It's amazing to think that.
I think that's enough rambling for now. I may have something more coherent to say tomorrow. Off to bed now.
We have to wait how long until book seven?!