Harry Potter
Um. Wowza. She really pulled out all the stops this time, didn't she?
Still, verdict: NEEDS MOAR SNAPE
More seriously, I'm pretty torn... I'm feeling rather vindicated in certain regards (Snape, Dumbledore, Petunia, Dudley), but pretty bothered by some others (Snape, Slytherin, SNAPE). Overall I think she did a good job tying up loose ends, and I think the writing was a considerable improvement over the previous installments (though this might be because I don't remember the previous books all that well).
I mean, I'm not asking for Snape and the Slytherins to be all of sudden revealed as perfect saints, but come on. Snape's death was just... look, I totally expected him to die, and I realize that if he had died any other way he'd probably have usurped Harry's position as hero of the series... but okay, I'll say it, it was just lame. (Just for the record, have been assuming Snape/Lily since OoTP at least, if not earlier. It was SO OBVIOUS that I almost expected that she'd turn the tables on us and reveal that it was something else. And as much as I've always liked the idea of Snape/Lily, I really wish she'd come up with something more interesting and less cliched... as it is we STILL don't know why Voldemort decided to spare her, of all people, and why her sacrifice worked, and not anyone else's. Surely she was not the first witch or wizard in history to have willingly made the choice to sacrifice herself for someone.)
I still firmly believe that it would have been far more interesting and complex to have let Snape survive (and certainly much more difficult to write, but hey.) I do seriously think JKR just decided to take the easy way out, as she did with Regulus. And I wanted at the very least to see a face-to-face confrontation between the two after the truth had been revealed. But no, Snape isn't allowed even that. (if Dumbledore gets to have his little "beyond-the-veil" confrontation, then why not Snape? I was SO hoping that he would at least get to show up during that scene.) He just gets offed unceremoniously, without anyone having even acknowledged the immense sacrifice, the *many* immense sacrifices he has clearly been making all along. Well, except Harry. And Dumbledore. Sort of. Meh.
Similarly, the Slytherins are apparently STILL inherently evil. Though Harry sort of defends them in the epilogue. Still, though. Yeeeesh. And Pettigrew! Meh. He's so undeveloped it hurts.
Also, Voldemort was laaaaame. I was sorely disappointed that, after showing that she perfectly well can write complex and interesting villains in form of Grindelwald... Voldemort remained little more than a 2d, overconfident, almost *childish*, even, sociopath. Speaking of Grindelwald, her Dumbledore family/Grindelwald story was most excellently concocted! Very much gray, very complex, very satisfying. I don't see WHY she couldn't do that again with Voldemort, who was just utterly laughable. (The final confrontation was disappointingly anticlimactic, despite the excellent build up.) Good lord, I can't believe Nagini really was one of the Horcruxes. Unless I missed something there. Duuude.
BTW, Ginny. I expected her to play a larger role, but nope, guess not. She's just there as the prize. Adored Ron though, the boy finally got his day. And Percy, yay. I can't believe she killed off Lupin and Tonks though... I keep getting the feeling like it was supposed to be meaningful somehow, but meh.
You know what, I had more to rant about (for example, the seriously contrived insertion of the Hallows, among other things; random threads that apparently didn't end up going anywhere, etc....) But there is so much random clutter that I just don't feel like it.
Instead, I will reiterate that the best part of the book for me definitely was Grindelwald and the Dumbledore backstory. Totally awesome.
So, verdict: "Almost but not quite." Meh. I was really enjoying the book (and I mean *really* enjoying it -- I thought it was shaping up to be the best of the series, as it was far more interesting and well-written than the previous books), until it started kind of falling apart for me near the end. All in all there weren't too many real surprises -- most of the stuff that happens is fairly easy to guess. However: Dumbledore. Backstory. Win. And still NEEDS MOAR SNAPE.
I may or may not have more to say over the next few days, as everything sinks in.
Still, verdict: NEEDS MOAR SNAPE
More seriously, I'm pretty torn... I'm feeling rather vindicated in certain regards (Snape, Dumbledore, Petunia, Dudley), but pretty bothered by some others (Snape, Slytherin, SNAPE). Overall I think she did a good job tying up loose ends, and I think the writing was a considerable improvement over the previous installments (though this might be because I don't remember the previous books all that well).
I mean, I'm not asking for Snape and the Slytherins to be all of sudden revealed as perfect saints, but come on. Snape's death was just... look, I totally expected him to die, and I realize that if he had died any other way he'd probably have usurped Harry's position as hero of the series... but okay, I'll say it, it was just lame. (Just for the record, have been assuming Snape/Lily since OoTP at least, if not earlier. It was SO OBVIOUS that I almost expected that she'd turn the tables on us and reveal that it was something else. And as much as I've always liked the idea of Snape/Lily, I really wish she'd come up with something more interesting and less cliched... as it is we STILL don't know why Voldemort decided to spare her, of all people, and why her sacrifice worked, and not anyone else's. Surely she was not the first witch or wizard in history to have willingly made the choice to sacrifice herself for someone.)
I still firmly believe that it would have been far more interesting and complex to have let Snape survive (and certainly much more difficult to write, but hey.) I do seriously think JKR just decided to take the easy way out, as she did with Regulus. And I wanted at the very least to see a face-to-face confrontation between the two after the truth had been revealed. But no, Snape isn't allowed even that. (if Dumbledore gets to have his little "beyond-the-veil" confrontation, then why not Snape? I was SO hoping that he would at least get to show up during that scene.) He just gets offed unceremoniously, without anyone having even acknowledged the immense sacrifice, the *many* immense sacrifices he has clearly been making all along. Well, except Harry. And Dumbledore. Sort of. Meh.
Similarly, the Slytherins are apparently STILL inherently evil. Though Harry sort of defends them in the epilogue. Still, though. Yeeeesh. And Pettigrew! Meh. He's so undeveloped it hurts.
Also, Voldemort was laaaaame. I was sorely disappointed that, after showing that she perfectly well can write complex and interesting villains in form of Grindelwald... Voldemort remained little more than a 2d, overconfident, almost *childish*, even, sociopath. Speaking of Grindelwald, her Dumbledore family/Grindelwald story was most excellently concocted! Very much gray, very complex, very satisfying. I don't see WHY she couldn't do that again with Voldemort, who was just utterly laughable. (The final confrontation was disappointingly anticlimactic, despite the excellent build up.) Good lord, I can't believe Nagini really was one of the Horcruxes. Unless I missed something there. Duuude.
BTW, Ginny. I expected her to play a larger role, but nope, guess not. She's just there as the prize. Adored Ron though, the boy finally got his day. And Percy, yay. I can't believe she killed off Lupin and Tonks though... I keep getting the feeling like it was supposed to be meaningful somehow, but meh.
You know what, I had more to rant about (for example, the seriously contrived insertion of the Hallows, among other things; random threads that apparently didn't end up going anywhere, etc....) But there is so much random clutter that I just don't feel like it.
Instead, I will reiterate that the best part of the book for me definitely was Grindelwald and the Dumbledore backstory. Totally awesome.
So, verdict: "Almost but not quite." Meh. I was really enjoying the book (and I mean *really* enjoying it -- I thought it was shaping up to be the best of the series, as it was far more interesting and well-written than the previous books), until it started kind of falling apart for me near the end. All in all there weren't too many real surprises -- most of the stuff that happens is fairly easy to guess. However: Dumbledore. Backstory. Win. And still NEEDS MOAR SNAPE.
I may or may not have more to say over the next few days, as everything sinks in.