SPOILERS WITHIN

[furyofvissarion]

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.

Comments

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

Yes re: the house elves! I hated how they were always just treated as another way that Hermione was too nerdy/girly/emotional/over the top to be believed. I still am not really sure that the rest of the wizarding world will come to see that the treatment of house elves is problematic, tho'. I remember getting annoyed @ the house elf thing several books back, & someone on the DWJ mailing list (which I unsubbed from ages ago b/c the ppl on it were annoying) said that they thought Rowling would have a clever plan to show that Hermione was right & that Rowling wasn't just making a dumb analogy to slavery w/o thinking about its real implications, & I was dubious, & I still am.

I think the stone was lost in the forest? Can't remember exactly. :P

[nevers.livejournal.com]

no, i didn't get the impression that the wizarding world is going to release all their house elves after this book. but at least the elves showed that they have feelings that ought to be taken into account, and can be helpful in major, not just minor, ways. they were certainly humanized.

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

Well, I suppose if dunderhead Ron has finally started seeing them as more than just little automatons that bring him his pumpkin juice, then there's hope...

[wrdnrd]

It was lost in the forest, just as he stepped forward to confront Voldemort. And Harry telling Dumbledore's portrait that he doesn't know where he lost it? HE LIES! He *knew* where he was when he dropped it and confronted Voldemort, but, i guess maybe he forgot or something and "forgot" now equals "i don't KNOW"?? As Harry approaches Voldemort he knows that it's where Aragog used to live. Okay, now maybe Harry won't remember how to get back there, but HAGRID will, and if it would really be better for the ring to be destroyed, Hagrid and Harry could certainly go back there and get it. Rowling has been pretty good about filling in plot holes, but there have been a few, and this was a GLARING one, that she's left open that just *mystify* me.

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's not so much that Harry lies as JKR & her editors didn't catch that--after all, they had so much other sludge to wade through. Clearly they missed all the commas that ought to have been semicolons, & all the damn ellipses (I only caught one typo, tho': "vice" for "vise").