Alright everyone. It's time to leave your review of HBP. Since we've discussed all of the books, feel free to include your assessment of the entire series. Predictions of what you think will happen in HBP are, of course, encouraged.
The Cliff Notes version, because I have a sinus headache:
--Horocrux stuff::very cool. --Backstory on Riddle::also very cool. But I'm a historian. I like that stuff. --Christmas party::best laughs of the book. --Everything else::blah. Just blah.
The end. Can we cut through the crap and get to Book 7? 'kthanx.
Okay, so overall, I really enjoyed the book. But then again, there are very few books that leave me with that, "eh, that was ok" feeling, and this was, thankfully, not one of them. I liked it a lot. The relationship stuff didn't really bother me, as I'm not much of a shipper. Maybe I just haven't read it thoroughly enough for things to bother me yet. (I've only read it 2x as of now... stupid school reading.)
There is less than no pre-HBP canon evidence for some of these things, and fandom still managed to predict them. But maybe that's just a function of a fandom as large as HP's, and the fact that we have to wait years for new canon. Not only that, but these ideas have been written in a more exciting way in fanfic - much of HBP dragged and I kept waiting for JKR to show me something instead of just telling me. So, leaving the total lack of interesting/original/twisty plot aside...While reading the book this was my biggest problem. I need to re-state that I am a R/Hr shipper and still feel the same way sar sunshine does regarding some of the plot in this book
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Book 7 is going to have to be massive. I never felt as though the Mauraders and Lily and even the past members of OotP were touched upon enough to give us the resolve we were told we would recieve.
It's going to have to be at least as large as OotP, and significantly lacking in the same useless dronage that we got in that book, if she is going to satisfy enough people with the backstory she has been promising us for ages.
It's pretty weird, for us and the characters, that we know so little about the past generation(s) of this world, when so much of the story seems to hinge on it. That's why I'm absolutely convinced that the seventh book will be very much centric on the past. This makes sense to me: how much could the kids have learned about this past when they were stuck at Hogwarts? And what is the purpose of having them go questing, instead of tracking down the Horcruxes from the school (as Dumbledore apparently did)? They're searching for more than just the pieces of Voldemort's soul.
I have high hopes that book 7 will make HBP a lot more acceptable. I still see HP as Emma meets alchemy, and feel sure twists and deceptions will be revealed
( ... )
I think The Interview was engineered to mislead us from seeing the set up of twists she’s going to spring on us.That would be very brave of her (and you for suggesting it). I very much barrack for H/Hr, and think she could have gotten a lot more out of mining that relationship than the OBHWF solution she set up in HBP, but I can't see her doing a U-turn on her position as established in The Interview. Although I'd *love* to see it happen ... can you imagine the backlash? The furore? Wow. Melissa and Emerson would never be seen again on the web. Given all of JKR's "out of band" interviews and such, has there been situations in the past where she's deliberately *lied*, or gone against what she's said to the fans before? Because she was pretty clear in The Interview as to Ginny's being perfect for Harry, etcetera. And JKR wouldn't have been affected by any love potion when she was having her comfy cuddle with her sycophantic interviewers
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But there is a big difference between Jane Austen and JK Rowling, and I'm not just talking about talent. Emma's 'deception' was encapsulated in one book, not seven. JA didn't tease her readers through interviews but let her complete work speak for itself. IF JKR is going to pull an Emma then she shouldn't have answered any shipping questions at all, or better yet, not do interviews at all.
If she has an "Emma" moment in seven that ends up pairing Harry and Hermione, she will lose all credibility, at least with me. It's bad enough what she and the interview did to part of fandom, but to lead another part on for years, thinking that the question had been answered then to say, "nope! I fooled you" would be beyond cruel. And really, to what point? To throw us off the track? To manipulate us even more? Maybe I'm clinging to the shred of respect that remains from my pre-HBP opinion of JKR, but I don't think even Her Arrogance has that in her.
Summarize HPB. I won’t say I didn’t enjoy some of it because I did. The characters are too well-known and loved to me now to not enjoy some of the scenes written out in HBP. It still isn’t my least favorite book, (CoS is), but it’s really close. Some of these points, I’ve made elsewhere, so they may seem familiar
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Comments 35
--Horocrux stuff::very cool.
--Backstory on Riddle::also very cool. But I'm a historian. I like that stuff.
--Christmas party::best laughs of the book.
--Everything else::blah. Just blah.
The end. Can we cut through the crap and get to Book 7? 'kthanx.
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It's going to have to be at least as large as OotP, and significantly lacking in the same useless dronage that we got in that book, if she is going to satisfy enough people with the backstory she has been promising us for ages.
It's pretty weird, for us and the characters, that we know so little about the past generation(s) of this world, when so much of the story seems to hinge on it. That's why I'm absolutely convinced that the seventh book will be very much centric on the past. This makes sense to me: how much could the kids have learned about this past when they were stuck at Hogwarts? And what is the purpose of having them go questing, instead of tracking down the Horcruxes from the school (as Dumbledore apparently did)? They're searching for more than just the pieces of Voldemort's soul.
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If she has an "Emma" moment in seven that ends up pairing Harry and Hermione, she will lose all credibility, at least with me. It's bad enough what she and the interview did to part of fandom, but to lead another part on for years, thinking that the question had been answered then to say, "nope! I fooled you" would be beyond cruel. And really, to what point? To throw us off the track? To manipulate us even more? Maybe I'm clinging to the shred of respect that remains from my pre-HBP opinion of JKR, but I don't think even Her Arrogance has that in her.
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