(no subject)
Okay, I was initially going to wait until tomorrow to do my review, but I decided I would go ahead and post tonight. These are just my original impressions of OotP. They may change later.
Incredible. I think it is by far the best book in the series (not really the popular belief, but anyway...) The book is gripping. I could not put it down and I read it straight through. Seven and a half hours of non-stop reading. I laughed. I cried. I screamed. It was a blast. Addressing different matters as they occur to me:
Ginny: Okay, some people find her transformation unrealistic. I don't. She's a teenage girl. There was more to her life than mooning over Harry. The books are told from Harry's limited perspective, so we didn't get to see that until now. She's got over her little crush on Harry. (And is ironically is getting more action than any of the trio. Micheal Corner and Dean Thomas?!? She 'ditched' Micheal because he was mopey when Ravenclaw lost. I like this. She doesn't take shite. I think she's going to be a strong character in the books. She already has the guts to stand up to Harry in his new snarky I wanna be Draco moods.
Ron: Poor Ron. I winced every time quidditch was mentioned. He sucked. Prefect!Ron, I was surprised at this too. Ron cleary doesn't have the prefect attitude, although that may be because he's not comfortable bossing his older brothers around. Maybe next year he'll be more comfortable in his roll. I'm a huge Ron fan (as littletort knows) but all these things just made me love him more. Everyone is becoming more powerful and Ron is the same. (Xander in Buffy anyone?!?) He'll grow up. He'll get more secure about everything.
Hermione: Okay, J.K. has been threatening to lighten up Hermione for years. And she did. It's not an overnight unrecognizable thing, but Hermione is gradually becoming more understanding. She gets shirty with Harry. Which, I would too. Harry took his snarkiness to the extreme with Ron and Hermione. He vented frusturation on both of them, where it was not rightfully deserved. Hermione had the grace to clue Harry in on his Cho problems (more on THAT relationship later).Boys are truly clueless. Hermione filled in things to Harry that were blatantly obvious to me. (coffee shop scene)
R/Hr: HA! I think we all set ourselves up for this one. Even the H/Hr shippers where preparing themselves for eminent R/Hr moments in OotP. I think the ship debate for R/Hr is back at square one, because nothing has changed since GoF. About ten minutes after I finished OotP, sat thinking over everything. I started laughing hysterically because fandom is so focused on ships that it starts to define who you are. R/Hr is the obvious canon ship, H/Hr is the mature adult friendly ship, H/G is the fluffy feel good(labled as delusional) ship. You are herded into categories based on who you believes belong together, and in the book NONE of that was relevant. I believe that many were looking to OotP for solid proof that their ship was truly right, and they got none. This is a war. They are fifteen. Were we really expecting happy ever after true love? Many were, because that's what nearly *all* our fanfics are filled with. I guess it's not the first time J.K. has surprised us. ;-)
My Ron/Hermione shipping: I'm not jumping ship. I actually think it's better in the long run that nothing serious developed in book 5. If it had, it would've been more likely to be written off later as raging hormones, best friend crush syndrome. If a relationship happens later, when Ron and Hermione are more mature it will be more likely to stick. I'm not saying it will happen. I'm just saying that J.K. did leave indications that Ron and Hermione still have more than strictly best friends feelings for each other. Hermione blushing and kissing Ron's cheek was a favorite moment, especially when he brought his hand up to touch where she kissed. Oh that was priceless(Sorry Kristen, I can see you reading this and yakking right now)
Harry/Cho: Was any relationship more doomed from the start? I knew that she couldn't sort all her grief our about Cedric and play happy little girlfriend to Harry at the same time. I hate the girl, but even *I* don't think she's that heartless. Harry's got too much grief about Cedric, too. He couldn't stand to hear his name brought up. He's got enough on his plate he doesn't need another reminder of his tragic life.
Harry in general: I loved him. He was snarky. He was a bastard at times. He was HUMAN. He was so achingly real that I wanted cuddle him and feed him warm chicken soup.
Sirius: I just can't talk about his death right now. It's too hard. I was spoiled. I knew it was going to happen, but when it did... I can't put it into words right now, I'll try later.
Dumbledore: Harry got pissed at Dumbledore. I can see why, but I never did. I knew there was a reason for his detachment from Harry. In the end I was crying over Sirius and Harry's grief, but I cried for Dumbledore too. He's proud of Harry and he loves him. He wanted to spare him hurt and screwed everything up in the process.
The Prophecy: Did anyone in fandom not see that coming? Honestly. The Neville part of the prophecy surprised me a bit, but in the end you think," Is that it? Voldemort and Harry. One of them will kill the other. DUH!" I thought this was made very clear in the first four books. Plus the prophecy thing is a little done. To applaud J.K. at least she didn't make Harry the Heir of Gryffindor... yet.
Neville: I always knew Neville's character was down-played. There is a reason the boy was sorted into Gryffindor. Some may say that Neville's change was unrealistic, but... anger can do that to someone. He is determined to become someone his parent's would've been proud of. He wants to fight the people who were responsible for his parents worse than death condition.
I have much more to say. But I doubt that ANYONE made it this far through my ramblings already, and bed is calling. I'll post more on OotP tomorrow, there is an infinite number of things to be said.
ISN'T GREAT TO HAVE NEW CANON?!?!?
Incredible. I think it is by far the best book in the series (not really the popular belief, but anyway...) The book is gripping. I could not put it down and I read it straight through. Seven and a half hours of non-stop reading. I laughed. I cried. I screamed. It was a blast. Addressing different matters as they occur to me:
Ginny: Okay, some people find her transformation unrealistic. I don't. She's a teenage girl. There was more to her life than mooning over Harry. The books are told from Harry's limited perspective, so we didn't get to see that until now. She's got over her little crush on Harry. (And is ironically is getting more action than any of the trio. Micheal Corner and Dean Thomas?!? She 'ditched' Micheal because he was mopey when Ravenclaw lost. I like this. She doesn't take shite. I think she's going to be a strong character in the books. She already has the guts to stand up to Harry in his new snarky I wanna be Draco moods.
Ron: Poor Ron. I winced every time quidditch was mentioned. He sucked. Prefect!Ron, I was surprised at this too. Ron cleary doesn't have the prefect attitude, although that may be because he's not comfortable bossing his older brothers around. Maybe next year he'll be more comfortable in his roll. I'm a huge Ron fan (as littletort knows) but all these things just made me love him more. Everyone is becoming more powerful and Ron is the same. (Xander in Buffy anyone?!?) He'll grow up. He'll get more secure about everything.
Hermione: Okay, J.K. has been threatening to lighten up Hermione for years. And she did. It's not an overnight unrecognizable thing, but Hermione is gradually becoming more understanding. She gets shirty with Harry. Which, I would too. Harry took his snarkiness to the extreme with Ron and Hermione. He vented frusturation on both of them, where it was not rightfully deserved. Hermione had the grace to clue Harry in on his Cho problems (more on THAT relationship later).Boys are truly clueless. Hermione filled in things to Harry that were blatantly obvious to me. (coffee shop scene)
R/Hr: HA! I think we all set ourselves up for this one. Even the H/Hr shippers where preparing themselves for eminent R/Hr moments in OotP. I think the ship debate for R/Hr is back at square one, because nothing has changed since GoF. About ten minutes after I finished OotP, sat thinking over everything. I started laughing hysterically because fandom is so focused on ships that it starts to define who you are. R/Hr is the obvious canon ship, H/Hr is the mature adult friendly ship, H/G is the fluffy feel good(labled as delusional) ship. You are herded into categories based on who you believes belong together, and in the book NONE of that was relevant. I believe that many were looking to OotP for solid proof that their ship was truly right, and they got none. This is a war. They are fifteen. Were we really expecting happy ever after true love? Many were, because that's what nearly *all* our fanfics are filled with. I guess it's not the first time J.K. has surprised us. ;-)
My Ron/Hermione shipping: I'm not jumping ship. I actually think it's better in the long run that nothing serious developed in book 5. If it had, it would've been more likely to be written off later as raging hormones, best friend crush syndrome. If a relationship happens later, when Ron and Hermione are more mature it will be more likely to stick. I'm not saying it will happen. I'm just saying that J.K. did leave indications that Ron and Hermione still have more than strictly best friends feelings for each other. Hermione blushing and kissing Ron's cheek was a favorite moment, especially when he brought his hand up to touch where she kissed. Oh that was priceless(Sorry Kristen, I can see you reading this and yakking right now)
Harry/Cho: Was any relationship more doomed from the start? I knew that she couldn't sort all her grief our about Cedric and play happy little girlfriend to Harry at the same time. I hate the girl, but even *I* don't think she's that heartless. Harry's got too much grief about Cedric, too. He couldn't stand to hear his name brought up. He's got enough on his plate he doesn't need another reminder of his tragic life.
Harry in general: I loved him. He was snarky. He was a bastard at times. He was HUMAN. He was so achingly real that I wanted cuddle him and feed him warm chicken soup.
Sirius: I just can't talk about his death right now. It's too hard. I was spoiled. I knew it was going to happen, but when it did... I can't put it into words right now, I'll try later.
Dumbledore: Harry got pissed at Dumbledore. I can see why, but I never did. I knew there was a reason for his detachment from Harry. In the end I was crying over Sirius and Harry's grief, but I cried for Dumbledore too. He's proud of Harry and he loves him. He wanted to spare him hurt and screwed everything up in the process.
The Prophecy: Did anyone in fandom not see that coming? Honestly. The Neville part of the prophecy surprised me a bit, but in the end you think," Is that it? Voldemort and Harry. One of them will kill the other. DUH!" I thought this was made very clear in the first four books. Plus the prophecy thing is a little done. To applaud J.K. at least she didn't make Harry the Heir of Gryffindor... yet.
Neville: I always knew Neville's character was down-played. There is a reason the boy was sorted into Gryffindor. Some may say that Neville's change was unrealistic, but... anger can do that to someone. He is determined to become someone his parent's would've been proud of. He wants to fight the people who were responsible for his parents worse than death condition.
I have much more to say. But I doubt that ANYONE made it this far through my ramblings already, and bed is calling. I'll post more on OotP tomorrow, there is an infinite number of things to be said.
ISN'T GREAT TO HAVE NEW CANON?!?!?