Book Review (really more of thoughts): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[evadne_noel]

Well, on the advice of priscillapuck, I decided to go the pedantic route and take notes on my first impressions of Deathly Hallows.

Comments

[marikenobi]

This was great. Thanks for posting it.

[ladynorbert]

Your icon makes me sad. :( Freeeeeeed.

[evadne_noel]

And thank you for reading!

[ladynorbert]

Oh, dear. Don’t taunt the Harmonians, Rowling. I’m surprised Ron didn’t crush the Horcrux with an anvil at this point.

Hahaha! My exact thought when I read the part about "I love her like she's my sister" ran to the effect of: I sense a great disturbance in the fandom...as though thousands of Harry/Hermione shippers screamed out in terror and were suddenly silenced...

I want to know what they’re doing with their lives, other than popping out children.

She actually does tell us, elsewhere! In her first interview after the book, she filled everyone in on what the trio are doing post-war. Hang on, I've got the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/

[evadne_noel]

Sweeeeet. I'm glad she gave an interview. Harry and Ron are doing pretty much what you'd expect, and I'm glad there's still hope for my Hermione as future Minister theory. Yay!

[ladynorbert]

Dam you. Now I have butter bear all over the keyboard.I love my fandoms. *huggles all star wars Lotr and Harry potter fans*

Keep true to your canon and may the force protect you

In Memoriam

[frodo_harry]

Actually the post was me.

I can not believe it is over. It was such a good time. No more standing in front of the book store waiting for the next book to come out, anticipation rising as the hour progressed. No more dressing up in Harry Potter clothes. At least you guys still have the movies to look forward to. This fandom has grown on me. We have laughed together, we cried together we prayed for our heroes to succeed, we defended our canon when some nutter proposed that Harry was a spawn of Satan. I will never the great hours I spend reading HP. After I finish writing this I will go and reread all of the books just to refresh my memory. I refuse to watch the movies, least it will tarnish my memory of the books. Merlin I will miss waiting for the new book. On to the next great adventure Mr Potter.

Good by

[alory_shannon]

Oh, dear. Don’t taunt the Harmonians, Rowling. I’m surprised Ron didn’t crush the Horcrux with an anvil at this point.

Actually, I'm a Harmonian, and as someone on the "inside", I have to say that most of us weren't all that offended: we were too busy being amused by that fact that apparently Voldemort ships HHr. (Because it is SO EVIL. lol)

Also, the "anvil" bit of this particular comment made me laugh. :D

[ctrl_a]

we were too busy being amused by that fact that apparently Voldemort ships HHr. (Because it is SO EVIL. lol)

Y'know, I managed to make it through the entire post at work without making a peep, and then you had to go and ruin it. XP

I admit I had the same reaction as Evadne and others to that part in the book, though: "Oh look, the dreams of HHr shippers shattered forever."

...well, actually, the first time I read that line I didn't read around it carefully enough and got confused as to who was speaking and thus thought, "WHAT?! Ron loves Hermione like a sister?!" Then I reread it several times and finally figured it out. *sheepish*

[alory_shannon]

I *really* don't want to start any wank, but something that someone in one of my Harmony comms pointed out was...Harry is an only child. How does he know what "loving someone like a sister" feels like?

(Lack of response from the chest monster, I would guess.)

*shrugs* Of course, I'm not disputing what's "canon"--I just thought it was an interesting point. XDDD

[evadne_noel]

I suppose living as an eye in a locket gives one plenty of time to formulate shipping theories. Also, you can read fanfiction, even if you have no hands to write it.

Now, an anvil? That would have been taunting.

[tanaraniel]

I do wish Harry and Remus had gotten a chance to interact more in this book so we could get that perspective on James. Alas.

There's also a chat transcript here with Rowling that gives some details about those 19 Years Later among other things.

[evadne_noel]

It would have been nice to see something of James from someone who saw the better sides of him. Since, we have to completely assume that he managed to grow up after Hogwarts. I know it's possible and even probably, but James in general disappoints me.

Thanks for the link! I'm glad there's more to it than just what she wrote.

[royalsongstress]

Well, we do see James chasing after baby!Harry on his broomstick, which shows that he was at least a caring father. It really bugged me that neither he nor Lily were carrying their wands around when Voldy showed up, though. I mean, really? Wouldn't you spellotape them to your freakin' chest at that point?

[cloudswell]

LOLZ my thoughts exactly. I could almost hear Harry thinking: so much for my parent's honorable deaths.

[alory_shannon]

Ah, and I was severely disappointed in the fact that no Slytherins remained also. I mean, come on, SOMEHOW Harry's been beating the odds for all these years, so wouldn't the SMART money be on him? You'd think at least some of them would think so. (Guess it's just another of Rowling's many "ALL SLYTHERINS ARE BAD" messages...despite the fact that the criteria for being Sorted into Slytherin don't necessarily make one evil, just ambitious. OH WELL.)

I kinda wanted to convince myself that when it mentioned Slugworth with the group "storming up the front steps" (734) that some of the members of his House came back with him and fought as well. =\

And YES, I loved it that McGonagall was the first to respond to seeing Harry "dead", as well as the earlier bit where she was so obviously proud that Harry was in her House. :D

[evadne_noel]

I was pleased to see Slugworth again, if just for the presence of one Slytherin who wasn't all bad. Even if everyone he ever taught and mentored turned out to be evil. *sigh*

I always liked McGonagall. I think she's the type of person I would want to be.

Neville was awesome, and he had the farthest to go in terms of character. I'm glad he became so important. I just wish Harry had that much growth.

[alory_shannon]

Hey, guys, it's SlugHORN. ;)

This was one of the many disappointments of the grand finale, I thought, that Slytherin House never really redeemed itself. We weren't shown that any Slytherins were fighting against Death Eaters (I was hanging out for Theodore Nott's moment of glory *sigh* ). The Malfoys continued to act like cowards, although it was clear they didn't hate Harry any more, and Snape didn't get the chance to reveal his true colours before Voldemort so very unceremonially killed him.

On a symbolic level: this time 'round it was the Slytherin hourglass that was smashed (like the Gryffindor one was last year), which seems to imply that the final outcome of the battle was Slytherin getting whipped by the combined force of the other 3 houses. That's not fair. :-(

-JP

[evadne_noel]

Lol, I'd even said it right elsewhere. First time around I had to dig out my book to remember what his name was.

I really don't like the "all Slytherins are evil" implications to the Final Battle (very C.S. Lewis), but I do appreciate that Harry at least considered them changed enough in the future to not be too concerned if his son became a Slytherin.