Deathly Hallows stuff
I've just taken eight hours to finish the entire thing. I've been at it since 12am last night. Or was that earlier this morning? My eyes are falling out, I swear.
BECAUSEOHMYGOD.
So now I'm combing over past entries on the flist for the reviews I know I've been seeing since the book came out (some of you work fast, don't you?? *wink*), just to see what you guys think.
I'd actually forgotten most of what's happened in Half-Blood Prince, though. Didn't have a clue what was happening. So I nipped over to Wikipedia. *laugh* Ahh, the wonders.
It wasn't such an enormous waste of time as Half-Blood Prince was, at least. It was fun, and interesting, and funny, and because I'm still the utter sap I was at twelve, of course I cried at parts of it.
Okay, it was terrific. That too. Inspite of the numerous little flaws that made me go, "Oh. Right", I was practically itching to turn to the last page before I was up with the first five. The suspense was amazing, the action brutal, and some moments were (bearably) sweet. When HBP came out, and with it the notion that the three would be dropping out of school the next year to look for Horcruxes, I'd sort of wondered how Rowling was going to get her story moving, what with Hogwarts--the prominent setting for the past six books--gone.
But Rowling's got a talent for simple-but-brilliant, for both plot and storytelling. Death Eaters crashing Bill and Fleur's wedding was a nice segue from calm to utter chaos.
I love Hermione. I love Ron. More than I ever have before. The book played out their strengths, something like but definitely beyond the chess-and-potion thing in the first book. The little emphasis on their value to Harry, here and there, the odd compliment for each other. "You were brilliant, Hermione." Or "That was great, Ron." I like how well-matched they seem for each other, and they're such a sweet couple.
And, okay, I refuse to not bitch about Ginny. Granted, I'm a Harry/Draco fan and frankly wouldn't want Harry with anyone else (uh. It's the rivals thing, you know? It has potential). And I really don't like Ginny all that much. But it's not just that. I hate how Ginny towed Harry into her room to give him "a present". I swear, she crooked the finger, and I was like "Wait. Isn't this book for kids?" (even though, with all the Dark stuff and the deaths...probably not anymore) And I don't want to go into how I could practically feel myself snarling whenever Harry makes the eyes at her, or thinks things about how 'beautiful' she is, in the middle of a bloody WAR.
Just like HBP. What a nightmare. Too much fan influence, I swear. While everyone's off fighting giants and who-knows-what, Harry's trying to ignore the 'monster' in his chest. It's out of place. It doesn't feel right.
It's too convenient for me, too. Fall in love with the best mate's sister, who's been a fan since forever. Have kids, name them Albus Severus and James and Lily and whatnot. I thought some fan'd written up one of those fairytale endings and snuck it in at the tail-end of the book at the printing press. Plus it gives the feeling that Ginny's not actually useful for anything in the book except giving Harry the best snog of his life. (Big deal. It's not like he's got a great track record.) Oh, and having his babies.
That's just stupid. Ginny needs a better backstory, more fleshing out, and a worthier partner, not one stuck on her just for the sake of it.
So SCREW THE EPILOGUE.
Although the part about Snape being the bravest man Harry'd ever known was nice.
What else? Oh, I don't like how Draco's part is small. Okay, fine, in theory, it's pretty big, what with the Big Evil Wand thing he had going on. But I wanted more than the few little sentences Rowling tucked in here and there. I wanted him to reconcile with the Golden Trio. I wanted him to be mouthy, and insult Harry, and whine more. Waaaah. ;_; *unabashed Draco fan* And I love Narcissa. Lucius also deserves a kick in the butt.
I LOVE Luna. I got teary-eyed at the bit where Harry's in her room, and he sees the paintings of their faces, interlocked with the words Friends? *sigh*
We saw a lot of minor and not-so-minor characters' pasts unfold here, too. The Gray Lady, the Bloody Baron...Snape's, of course. How much he'd loved Lily...it just killed me. Then, Dumbledores. That backstory helped me understand the fact that he wasn't invincible, that he was human and yes, he could and had actually died.
We've got characters coming back, like Umbridge, the old hag, and Krum (I actually thought he was crushing on Luna before I figured out he was glaring at Xeno).
Neville's grandmother. Kicked. ASS.
Liked Remus/Tonks. Hated it when they died. Argh. WHY?? Just when they'd had a kid, and an entire new life ahead of them... Spiraling depression there. Because it'd been too short, too disjointed for me. Suddenly, they're married, suddenly Tonks is pregnant, suddenly Remus is moping, suddenly Tonks has given birth and Harry's godfather...
And the part where Percy'd stumbled into the Room of Requirement, and Lupin was waving his photograph around? Too cute for words. I love how the man's never made such an awkward, gooey fumble before that, and suddenly he's trying to distract them all with a picture of turquoise-haired little Teddy.
I kinda wish not so many died. Dobby. Fred. Remus. Tonks. Sirius. Mad-Eye. Dumbledore. Snape. My God.
I kinda wish the epilogue hadn't existed, either. I was hoping for more of an open ending (please, PLEASE give the fans something to do...not that the stupid epilogue's gonna stop us though). That sort of thing's infinitely more preferable than the "Happily ever after" or even the "19 years later". *wince*
I kinda wish Snape hadn't died like that. Poisoned by big, ugly snake. Not after all he went through. Losing his best friend, his love-for-life, to the guy he hated with a passion (or at least thoroughly detested), betrayed by the man he'd pledged his life to, killing the man who protected his last tie to the woman he loved. The doe Patronus? So sweet. And how he wanted to look at Harry's eyes, Lily's eyes, just before he died. Heartbreaking.
I was split on Snape's alliances though. He was so mean. ;_;
Last thoughts: Harry should stop feeling so sorry for himself. Made me want to kick him, he did. Goyle and Crabbe? Not doomed to play the part of Malfoy's sidekicks forever. Look at how Goyle squashed Malfoy like a bug when they were in the Room of Hidden Things (speaking of which, what kinda name is that?). Trelawney is brilliance, lobbing her crystal balls. And Neville? With his Tentacula wrapping contentedly around the nearest Death Eater? GENIUS. And my heart broke for Dudley, how he was, "I don't think you're a waste of space."
“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a -- a --”
“Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” said Fred.
Percy swallowed.
“Yes, I was!”
Oh, Percy. *__*
Another favorite line was when Harry was telling Ron and Hermione about how they should tell him when they were going to defeat Voldemort, shortly before infiltrating the Ministry of Magic.
One word: Brill!
BECAUSEOHMYGOD.
So now I'm combing over past entries on the flist for the reviews I know I've been seeing since the book came out (some of you work fast, don't you?? *wink*), just to see what you guys think.
I'd actually forgotten most of what's happened in Half-Blood Prince, though. Didn't have a clue what was happening. So I nipped over to Wikipedia. *laugh* Ahh, the wonders.
It wasn't such an enormous waste of time as Half-Blood Prince was, at least. It was fun, and interesting, and funny, and because I'm still the utter sap I was at twelve, of course I cried at parts of it.
Okay, it was terrific. That too. Inspite of the numerous little flaws that made me go, "Oh. Right", I was practically itching to turn to the last page before I was up with the first five. The suspense was amazing, the action brutal, and some moments were (bearably) sweet. When HBP came out, and with it the notion that the three would be dropping out of school the next year to look for Horcruxes, I'd sort of wondered how Rowling was going to get her story moving, what with Hogwarts--the prominent setting for the past six books--gone.
But Rowling's got a talent for simple-but-brilliant, for both plot and storytelling. Death Eaters crashing Bill and Fleur's wedding was a nice segue from calm to utter chaos.
I love Hermione. I love Ron. More than I ever have before. The book played out their strengths, something like but definitely beyond the chess-and-potion thing in the first book. The little emphasis on their value to Harry, here and there, the odd compliment for each other. "You were brilliant, Hermione." Or "That was great, Ron." I like how well-matched they seem for each other, and they're such a sweet couple.
And, okay, I refuse to not bitch about Ginny. Granted, I'm a Harry/Draco fan and frankly wouldn't want Harry with anyone else (uh. It's the rivals thing, you know? It has potential). And I really don't like Ginny all that much. But it's not just that. I hate how Ginny towed Harry into her room to give him "a present". I swear, she crooked the finger, and I was like "Wait. Isn't this book for kids?" (even though, with all the Dark stuff and the deaths...probably not anymore) And I don't want to go into how I could practically feel myself snarling whenever Harry makes the eyes at her, or thinks things about how 'beautiful' she is, in the middle of a bloody WAR.
Just like HBP. What a nightmare. Too much fan influence, I swear. While everyone's off fighting giants and who-knows-what, Harry's trying to ignore the 'monster' in his chest. It's out of place. It doesn't feel right.
It's too convenient for me, too. Fall in love with the best mate's sister, who's been a fan since forever. Have kids, name them Albus Severus and James and Lily and whatnot. I thought some fan'd written up one of those fairytale endings and snuck it in at the tail-end of the book at the printing press. Plus it gives the feeling that Ginny's not actually useful for anything in the book except giving Harry the best snog of his life. (Big deal. It's not like he's got a great track record.) Oh, and having his babies.
That's just stupid. Ginny needs a better backstory, more fleshing out, and a worthier partner, not one stuck on her just for the sake of it.
So SCREW THE EPILOGUE.
Although the part about Snape being the bravest man Harry'd ever known was nice.
What else? Oh, I don't like how Draco's part is small. Okay, fine, in theory, it's pretty big, what with the Big Evil Wand thing he had going on. But I wanted more than the few little sentences Rowling tucked in here and there. I wanted him to reconcile with the Golden Trio. I wanted him to be mouthy, and insult Harry, and whine more. Waaaah. ;_; *unabashed Draco fan* And I love Narcissa. Lucius also deserves a kick in the butt.
I LOVE Luna. I got teary-eyed at the bit where Harry's in her room, and he sees the paintings of their faces, interlocked with the words Friends? *sigh*
We saw a lot of minor and not-so-minor characters' pasts unfold here, too. The Gray Lady, the Bloody Baron...Snape's, of course. How much he'd loved Lily...it just killed me. Then, Dumbledores. That backstory helped me understand the fact that he wasn't invincible, that he was human and yes, he could and had actually died.
We've got characters coming back, like Umbridge, the old hag, and Krum (I actually thought he was crushing on Luna before I figured out he was glaring at Xeno).
Neville's grandmother. Kicked. ASS.
Liked Remus/Tonks. Hated it when they died. Argh. WHY?? Just when they'd had a kid, and an entire new life ahead of them... Spiraling depression there. Because it'd been too short, too disjointed for me. Suddenly, they're married, suddenly Tonks is pregnant, suddenly Remus is moping, suddenly Tonks has given birth and Harry's godfather...
And the part where Percy'd stumbled into the Room of Requirement, and Lupin was waving his photograph around? Too cute for words. I love how the man's never made such an awkward, gooey fumble before that, and suddenly he's trying to distract them all with a picture of turquoise-haired little Teddy.
I kinda wish not so many died. Dobby. Fred. Remus. Tonks. Sirius. Mad-Eye. Dumbledore. Snape. My God.
I kinda wish the epilogue hadn't existed, either. I was hoping for more of an open ending (please, PLEASE give the fans something to do...not that the stupid epilogue's gonna stop us though). That sort of thing's infinitely more preferable than the "Happily ever after" or even the "19 years later". *wince*
I kinda wish Snape hadn't died like that. Poisoned by big, ugly snake. Not after all he went through. Losing his best friend, his love-for-life, to the guy he hated with a passion (or at least thoroughly detested), betrayed by the man he'd pledged his life to, killing the man who protected his last tie to the woman he loved. The doe Patronus? So sweet. And how he wanted to look at Harry's eyes, Lily's eyes, just before he died. Heartbreaking.
I was split on Snape's alliances though. He was so mean. ;_;
Last thoughts: Harry should stop feeling so sorry for himself. Made me want to kick him, he did. Goyle and Crabbe? Not doomed to play the part of Malfoy's sidekicks forever. Look at how Goyle squashed Malfoy like a bug when they were in the Room of Hidden Things (speaking of which, what kinda name is that?). Trelawney is brilliance, lobbing her crystal balls. And Neville? With his Tentacula wrapping contentedly around the nearest Death Eater? GENIUS. And my heart broke for Dudley, how he was, "I don't think you're a waste of space."
“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a -- a --”
“Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” said Fred.
Percy swallowed.
“Yes, I was!”
Oh, Percy. *__*
Another favorite line was when Harry was telling Ron and Hermione about how they should tell him when they were going to defeat Voldemort, shortly before infiltrating the Ministry of Magic.
One word: Brill!