Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Jul. 21st, 2007 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
herzverstreut_buAlmost 12 hours of non-stop reading later... I'm extremely torn. In fact, I don't think I was ever as torn about any of the Harry Potter books than about this one.
Some parts I loved - the reunion of Dumbledore's army, the battle of Hogwarts, background stories on Snape, an on his history with Lily, and on Dumbledore, and on the house ghosts. Ron/Hermione. Neville getting to be at least a bit of a hero. The way she showed a more human side of the Malfoys, without redeeming them. Kreacher. The scene with Ron destroying the locket. The way she put everything together while the Trio was on the run, with the occasional news snippets, book extracts and radios providing some sense of what was going on elsewhere. Dudley. The bits of Harry/Luna - I never expected them to sail, but they'll always be my OTP. Percy redeeming himself, although it happened way too rushed and randomly (it seemed a bit like she suddenly remembered she had forgotten someone and needed to bring him in at the last minute). Ron being very awesome. Luna being my one true love forever.
Some parts, unsurprisingly, made me sad - FRED! LUPIN! SNAPE! *cries forever* I called those three (well, Lupin, Snape, and at least one Weasley), but that doesn't make it better. Plus, I really wanted all of them to have more heroic deaths, though Snape's wasn't bad. Surprisingly, Fred's death made me sadder than Remus', I honestly cried for five minutes or so and kept hoping for *something* to turn it around. Maybe Remus' death just hasn't really sunken in yet, or maybe because it hurts so, so much to think about the effect this must have on George - at least Tonks got to die with Lupin. And poor Colin, and Tonks, and Mad-Eye, and Hedwig, and Dobby, and Daddy Tonks, and even Crabbe. Dear JKR, please stop watching "24", not that it matters now. *cries some more* Also, I'm a bit sad because I wanted Neville to play a bigger part, especially to get his revenge on Bellatrix.
Some parts, I disliked - The really, really bad pacing, especially in the first half of the book; some of it seemed to drag on endlessly for no good reason. The way many parts just seemed very forced, like she had to have some characters show up or get paired off or get their five minutes of fame, just because. The deus-ex-machinas, not that that's new. Hermione breaking out in tears all the time, WTF? The overdone hero-worship for Harry in the end, even from his own point of view. Harry being a horcrux (didn't JKR say he wasn't? Because it was so predictable.) Him getting out of his death so easily - I still haven't quite understood the explanation for that, need to re-read when I'm calmer.
Some parts, I loathed - WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH THAT "19 YEARS IN THE FUTURE" CHAPTER? I'm not necessarily against the OBHWF solution, but that chapter was straight out of a bad, bad, BAD fanfic. Honestly. I like happy endings as much as the next person, but that was so sickeningly sweet and overdone (Lily? James? Albus Severus ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??) Why not leave it at the open end and leave it to readers to make up their mind about what happened next? I'm not a person to let one chapter ruin a book for me, but this came close.
It also made me realize the one huge, huge flaw of the book, maybe even of the whole series: On the one hand, it was all about how seemingly bad people can be redeemed (Dudley, the Malfoys) and how seemingly good people can have their hidden agendas (Dumbledore), and how we should all just get along - but then Dumbledore is revealed as actually having been the good person everyone thought he was (with the requisite remorse over his youth), Harry is the big hero that can do no wrong, and everyone's kids are cheerfully encouraged to continue the divide between "good" (Gryffindor) and "bad" (Slytherin). What's the point?
All in all, as I said: Torn. I had a lot of fun reading, although some parts bored me almost to the point of stopping, I'm sad it's over (but I don't regret having read it all in one go, immersing myself completely in the world makes for the best experience), and it was definitely better than book six. Still, it left a bit of a sour aftertaste.
Now off to see if anyone else it finished, and if I'm alone in my opinion.
Just in case you're insanely spoilerphobic, the icon's not a statement, it's the only HP icon I have left. ;)
Some parts I loved - the reunion of Dumbledore's army, the battle of Hogwarts, background stories on Snape, an on his history with Lily, and on Dumbledore, and on the house ghosts. Ron/Hermione. Neville getting to be at least a bit of a hero. The way she showed a more human side of the Malfoys, without redeeming them. Kreacher. The scene with Ron destroying the locket. The way she put everything together while the Trio was on the run, with the occasional news snippets, book extracts and radios providing some sense of what was going on elsewhere. Dudley. The bits of Harry/Luna - I never expected them to sail, but they'll always be my OTP. Percy redeeming himself, although it happened way too rushed and randomly (it seemed a bit like she suddenly remembered she had forgotten someone and needed to bring him in at the last minute). Ron being very awesome. Luna being my one true love forever.
Some parts, unsurprisingly, made me sad - FRED! LUPIN! SNAPE! *cries forever* I called those three (well, Lupin, Snape, and at least one Weasley), but that doesn't make it better. Plus, I really wanted all of them to have more heroic deaths, though Snape's wasn't bad. Surprisingly, Fred's death made me sadder than Remus', I honestly cried for five minutes or so and kept hoping for *something* to turn it around. Maybe Remus' death just hasn't really sunken in yet, or maybe because it hurts so, so much to think about the effect this must have on George - at least Tonks got to die with Lupin. And poor Colin, and Tonks, and Mad-Eye, and Hedwig, and Dobby, and Daddy Tonks, and even Crabbe. Dear JKR, please stop watching "24", not that it matters now. *cries some more* Also, I'm a bit sad because I wanted Neville to play a bigger part, especially to get his revenge on Bellatrix.
Some parts, I disliked - The really, really bad pacing, especially in the first half of the book; some of it seemed to drag on endlessly for no good reason. The way many parts just seemed very forced, like she had to have some characters show up or get paired off or get their five minutes of fame, just because. The deus-ex-machinas, not that that's new. Hermione breaking out in tears all the time, WTF? The overdone hero-worship for Harry in the end, even from his own point of view. Harry being a horcrux (didn't JKR say he wasn't? Because it was so predictable.) Him getting out of his death so easily - I still haven't quite understood the explanation for that, need to re-read when I'm calmer.
Some parts, I loathed - WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH THAT "19 YEARS IN THE FUTURE" CHAPTER? I'm not necessarily against the OBHWF solution, but that chapter was straight out of a bad, bad, BAD fanfic. Honestly. I like happy endings as much as the next person, but that was so sickeningly sweet and overdone (Lily? James? Albus Severus ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME??) Why not leave it at the open end and leave it to readers to make up their mind about what happened next? I'm not a person to let one chapter ruin a book for me, but this came close.
It also made me realize the one huge, huge flaw of the book, maybe even of the whole series: On the one hand, it was all about how seemingly bad people can be redeemed (Dudley, the Malfoys) and how seemingly good people can have their hidden agendas (Dumbledore), and how we should all just get along - but then Dumbledore is revealed as actually having been the good person everyone thought he was (with the requisite remorse over his youth), Harry is the big hero that can do no wrong, and everyone's kids are cheerfully encouraged to continue the divide between "good" (Gryffindor) and "bad" (Slytherin). What's the point?
All in all, as I said: Torn. I had a lot of fun reading, although some parts bored me almost to the point of stopping, I'm sad it's over (but I don't regret having read it all in one go, immersing myself completely in the world makes for the best experience), and it was definitely better than book six. Still, it left a bit of a sour aftertaste.
Now off to see if anyone else it finished, and if I'm alone in my opinion.
Just in case you're insanely spoilerphobic, the icon's not a statement, it's the only HP icon I have left. ;)
