Yes, yes, just a bit behind schedule here
Jul. 26th, 2007 07:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cahnMore later, but assorted ramblings:
I gave in to temptation and bought it. (I was going to wait for a week and snag the copy D bought. Uh, yeah, right. I just gave away the second copy.) I LOVE it. I love it to tiny bits and pieces. I am still realizing ways in which she has smoothly woven things in so that everything through all the books is consistent and little questions are answered. (Well, okay, except for the EASILY MENDED PLOT HOLES, but that's another story.) We find out what Dumbledore saw in the Mirror of Erised, for cripes' sake! Why the Bloody Baron is bloody! Whatever happened to Aberforth! I mean, good gosh! Even SPEW showed up again!
I had some minor quibbles (e.g., Harry NEVER got CALLED on his occlumency) (and he must have had a "oh wait I was wrong about snape, maybe i'm not Always Right" sequence but we never got to see it, wah) (in general, the whole "why did dumbledore never tell me about himself??" subplot kind of irked me-- we already did this with sirius-- and i wish there had been more harry character development arc instead, like the aforementioned "Hey, maybe I should not be so judgemental as to whether people are evil") but other than that I thought it was COMPLETELY brilliant. I was totally not expecting to have such a strong positive reaction to it, with cap letters and all :)
Also? I was right about everything (well, except my far-out prediction about pettigrew and the dark lord), mwuhahaha! Points for me! I hadn't foreseen that Snape and Lily knew each other as kids, which I thought was really well done (more on that later).
She lost a LOT of points with me with the epilogue, but she had already built up so much credit that it really didn't make that much of a dent.
My least favorite bit: THE HOUSE SYSTEM. IT SUCKS. The whole Slytherin=Evil thing. How Snape and Nigellus and Slughorn DO NOT GET THEIR DUE. How everyone is, like, supporting Harry except the Slytherins. How 19 years later Slytherin is STILL evil.
CAPS LETTERS RULE. Well, ok, maybe not.
Now more positive stuff:
I loved loved loved how Dumbledore had to answer for NEVER TELLING ANYONE ANYTHING, and how he turns out to an INCREDIBLY manipulative old guy. I mean, I liked Crazy!Sweet!Dumbledore, but after books 5 and 6... yeah. Oh, this was just wonderful to see.
I loved how Snape was *not* fond of Harry. (I would have thrown the book across the room had he been all, "Oh, yeah, I HAVE learned to be fond of him!") And that he loved Lily. (I mean, fanfic cliche, I totally guessed that, but I still loved it-- the way she wrote it. it totally makes sense for Snape's horrifically obsessive personality. An unhealthy, obsessive (I loved how he tore the picture apart, and how he hated seeing Potter's face in Harry), but still redeeming love. Just perfect for his character.) I loved how he asked Harry to look at him at the end... so that he could see Lily's eyes before he died. (At least, that's how I read it. I'm such a mushy romantic.) I'm sorry, I'm a squee!Snape fangirl-- but Snape in character, oh *yeah*. I loved how Snape grew up and became a good man, but not a nice one or a likeable one.
I loved how Dumbledore, the old hypocrite, was all disgusted when Snape wasn't concerned with Potter, and then revealed cheerfully that he had been USING Snape and Harry the whole time, and I loved that Snape is horrified-- mostly about Lily's son, but a little, I think, about the whole "pig to slaughter" business. I think Snape is a better man than Dumbledore. It tore my heart apart that Snape would never know why, and that Harry did.
I loved Ron. I loved that he got to save Harry, and that the Horcrux showed tensions and they got them resolved.
I loved a bunch of minor characters to bits and pieces. Luna! I am now firmly on the Harry/Luna ship. *Neville*, for cripes' sake. Aberforth rocked. McGonagall is ALWAYS my favorite. *Scrimgeour*, for goodness sakes.
Oh, Hedwig! DOBBY! I can't believe she actually made me teary-eyed over DOBBY, of all characters. Well done. Fred I mostly thought, "hey, I called that one!" and Lupin and tonks I was all, "oh, okay, whatever." But Hedwig and Dobby I really felt for.
I gave in to temptation and bought it. (I was going to wait for a week and snag the copy D bought. Uh, yeah, right. I just gave away the second copy.) I LOVE it. I love it to tiny bits and pieces. I am still realizing ways in which she has smoothly woven things in so that everything through all the books is consistent and little questions are answered. (Well, okay, except for the EASILY MENDED PLOT HOLES, but that's another story.) We find out what Dumbledore saw in the Mirror of Erised, for cripes' sake! Why the Bloody Baron is bloody! Whatever happened to Aberforth! I mean, good gosh! Even SPEW showed up again!
I had some minor quibbles (e.g., Harry NEVER got CALLED on his occlumency) (and he must have had a "oh wait I was wrong about snape, maybe i'm not Always Right" sequence but we never got to see it, wah) (in general, the whole "why did dumbledore never tell me about himself??" subplot kind of irked me-- we already did this with sirius-- and i wish there had been more harry character development arc instead, like the aforementioned "Hey, maybe I should not be so judgemental as to whether people are evil") but other than that I thought it was COMPLETELY brilliant. I was totally not expecting to have such a strong positive reaction to it, with cap letters and all :)
Also? I was right about everything (well, except my far-out prediction about pettigrew and the dark lord), mwuhahaha! Points for me! I hadn't foreseen that Snape and Lily knew each other as kids, which I thought was really well done (more on that later).
She lost a LOT of points with me with the epilogue, but she had already built up so much credit that it really didn't make that much of a dent.
My least favorite bit: THE HOUSE SYSTEM. IT SUCKS. The whole Slytherin=Evil thing. How Snape and Nigellus and Slughorn DO NOT GET THEIR DUE. How everyone is, like, supporting Harry except the Slytherins. How 19 years later Slytherin is STILL evil.
CAPS LETTERS RULE. Well, ok, maybe not.
Now more positive stuff:
I loved loved loved how Dumbledore had to answer for NEVER TELLING ANYONE ANYTHING, and how he turns out to an INCREDIBLY manipulative old guy. I mean, I liked Crazy!Sweet!Dumbledore, but after books 5 and 6... yeah. Oh, this was just wonderful to see.
I loved how Snape was *not* fond of Harry. (I would have thrown the book across the room had he been all, "Oh, yeah, I HAVE learned to be fond of him!") And that he loved Lily. (I mean, fanfic cliche, I totally guessed that, but I still loved it-- the way she wrote it. it totally makes sense for Snape's horrifically obsessive personality. An unhealthy, obsessive (I loved how he tore the picture apart, and how he hated seeing Potter's face in Harry), but still redeeming love. Just perfect for his character.) I loved how he asked Harry to look at him at the end... so that he could see Lily's eyes before he died. (At least, that's how I read it. I'm such a mushy romantic.) I'm sorry, I'm a squee!Snape fangirl-- but Snape in character, oh *yeah*. I loved how Snape grew up and became a good man, but not a nice one or a likeable one.
I loved how Dumbledore, the old hypocrite, was all disgusted when Snape wasn't concerned with Potter, and then revealed cheerfully that he had been USING Snape and Harry the whole time, and I loved that Snape is horrified-- mostly about Lily's son, but a little, I think, about the whole "pig to slaughter" business. I think Snape is a better man than Dumbledore. It tore my heart apart that Snape would never know why, and that Harry did.
I loved Ron. I loved that he got to save Harry, and that the Horcrux showed tensions and they got them resolved.
I loved a bunch of minor characters to bits and pieces. Luna! I am now firmly on the Harry/Luna ship. *Neville*, for cripes' sake. Aberforth rocked. McGonagall is ALWAYS my favorite. *Scrimgeour*, for goodness sakes.
Oh, Hedwig! DOBBY! I can't believe she actually made me teary-eyed over DOBBY, of all characters. Well done. Fred I mostly thought, "hey, I called that one!" and Lupin and tonks I was all, "oh, okay, whatever." But Hedwig and Dobby I really felt for.
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Date: 2007-08-03 08:27 pm (UTC)Neville, hmm. In one sense this *has* been coming for a while-- he has definitely had something of an arc this way since book 3 or so. And I could see that exactly such a situation could be what was needed to galvanize him into action. It also probably makes a difference that he didn't know, e.g., the Carrows when he was small and more easily cowed. However, I see your point... it was certainly a really large jump from book 6, and one might reasonably have thought that Snape as headmaster would have totally intimidated him.
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Date: 2007-08-07 09:54 pm (UTC)