furyofvissarion: (Default)
furyofvissarion ([personal profile] furyofvissarion) wrote2007-07-22 09:59 am

SPOILERS WITHIN

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling. I was pretty underwhelmed, actually: more relieved that it's just over already! There were bits I really liked--like the resurgence of the DA, & oh, Neville! Neville kicking butt! And Luna--her serenity in the face of everything, & the portraits she had in her room, &, yes.

I hated what was done to Tonks, though--let's make her pregnant & shove her out of the way, & then have her come back after she gives birth, seemingly more interested in protecting Lupin than in fighting Voldemort. And then they both die. And Harry bashing Lupin for leaving Tonks while she's pregnant to go fight? What about all that "for the greater good" stuff you were so into, Harry? What, no one else fighting has kids they're leaving @ home?

I liked the way Dumbledore was shown to not be perfect, no one is good & evil unmixed, & people can change, blah blah. Harry was an annoying git through most of the book, & I'm still annoyed that he did the whole Spiderman thing, breaking up w/Ginny @ the end of the last book. I did think that Ron & Hermione's relationship was fairly realistic, for teenagers under an incredible amount of stress.

I liked getting to see what Snape had been going through, playing his dangerous double game, but I found the whole "I did it all for the love of Lily" thing to be maybe a tad bit overdone, even tho' I liked the general idea.

Was glad as Hermione to see Ron giving a shit about the house elves (poor Dobby! And I loved how they all came out fighting @ the end, led by Kreacher--what happened w/that Death Eater that Hermione accidentally gave access to 12 Grimmauld Place, tho'?).

The whole "Harry dies & chats w/Dumbledore, only he's not really dead" thing confused me, arrrgh. Draco's mom faking out Voldy about Harry being dead was cool, tho'. Harry losing the stone that was part of the Deathly Hallows seems like an open door for some kind of sequel/side book, except I assume Rowling won't do that. Expect the stone to be found & fought over in fanfic. Mrs. Weasley kicking butt over Ginny was fun, & the return of Percy was just great--he's such a prat, but a repentant prat, & that was super sweet. Glad to see he got to see Fred again before he bit it (sniff!!).

I loved pretty much all the Battle of Hogwarts--I just have a kink for big scary endgame battle scenes like that. I thought that showcased the sorts of things Rowling is good @: cute/funny/apt details. She's still not a v. good actual writer--I like her ideas, but some of her descriptions are so clunky, as well as some of her dialogue (tho' some of it's quite funny & sharp). And could we fine her every time she uses a damn ellipsis, please? Also, the epilogue sucked. I really hate books that jump so far ahead @ the end, like it's an afterthought. I was interested to see that apparently Ron & Hermione have not felt like they had to name a child in memory of Fred, which seemed a bit cold.

[identity profile] liseuse.livejournal.com 2007-07-22 02:32 pm (UTC)(link)
The epilogue was hideous. They all fight for the wizarding world, and then go off and have children. What jobs are they doing? What political organisation have they got now? Who else survived? I care not about your stupid children and the dreadful names you gave them. Seriously, Albus Severus Potter. That poor child.

I thought it was weird that Hermione and Ron didn't call a child Fred. Perhaps some other Weasley got their first. Maybe George found someone who would put up with his bad jokes, and he called his child Fred. Or perhaps Percy.

I'd forgotten about the random Death Eater in 12 Grimmauld Place. Perhaps he's still there chatting to Mrs Black, or Kreacher killed him in a fury.

[identity profile] furyofvissarion.livejournal.com 2007-07-22 02:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I guess the epilogue was just to hammer home the point again that it's all about family for Rowling. Which, y'know, great, but... I want to know about all your unanswered questions!

Also, why 19 years?

[identity profile] liseuse.livejournal.com 2007-07-23 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps to reassure people that Harry and Ginny didn't get married, settle down and have children immediately after the war. The oldest of Harry's would be what, 12? 13? So there's at least five or six years of relative freedom in there, and enjoying the new world. Perhaps that's when all the rebuilding and restoring of order and the workaday world took place, and they all only settled down to have children when it was safe and ordered and just as Ron had imagined it to be all his life.

[identity profile] furyofvissarion.livejournal.com 2007-07-28 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe... I have a hard time believing JKR would give that much weight to the importance of convincing folks that her characters didn't just run off & be heteronormative & have kids. I mean, Fleur & Bill got married pretty young... it just doesn't seem like JKR would be all into her characters bothering to live it up before having kids & stuff.

[identity profile] liseuse.livejournal.com 2007-07-29 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I don't know if you've seen this (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/) or not, but it rather addresses the fact that JKR has considered what all her characters are doing in the nineteen years gap, but only wants us to know about their nice family lives. Feh.

[identity profile] furyofvissarion.livejournal.com 2007-08-07 11:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Gah. That is so... ugh. Like badly-written fanfiction.