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

[pennski.livejournal.com]

I had fairly low expectations of this one, and so I quite enjoyed reading it. I'm afraid the house-elf thing remained an embarrassing "sensitive" portrayal of slavery.
I did feel that Rowling perhaps enjoyed killing off an awful lot of minor characters. My husband kept saying "has anyone died yet?" so it was great fun to be able to say "yes - page 58 - oh and yes again, page 65".

I've seen the whole "not really dead" thing too many times before. I was glad to see Snape really had been a double agent and not just an unconvincing single agent. I liked the fact that James Potter remains a privileged bully.

And it was nice that our 3 heroes got cheesed off with Dumbledore not explaining things. I felt it was unfair that only Ron suffered from the human trait of being grumpy when tired and hungry.

Hm, think this comment has just turned into a post.

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I kept giving Phredd updates, like, Mad-Eye Moody just got killed. George lost his ear. OMG Hermione is being TORTURED! (& as I forgot to mention in this post, didn't Hermione have any PTSD? I thought it was odd that she cried for a week when Ron left but has no noticeable reaction to being tortured!)

I agree that it was realistic of them to be pissed off w/Dumbledore, but @ the same time I just got tired of them, esp. Harry, whining about it.

[liseuse.livejournal.com]

I found the idea of Hermione being fine, if a bit pale, after torture was deeply strange. It was also one of the least appealing bits of the book. I was all right with the idea of her including the torture because it is war, and these things happen - even though they shouldn't - but the way she glossed over the after-effects was infuriating. Though it does fit inwith her general approach to dreadful events, such as death. Mainly to say that everyone is upset, but never show the upset.

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we see an awful lot of Harry being angsty about various ppl dying, but not too much other stuff from other ppl.

Hermione being tortured was probably the most horrifying bit for me in the book. And to have any sort of after-effect just not visible was so wrong & weird.

[liseuse.livejournal.com]

Well Harry is the one with all these grand ideas and notions, so he has to angst more. Otherwise we, the lowly reader, would never understand that he is the high and mighty one.

It left me with my shoulders somewhere around my ears, and then set my teeth on edge with the lack of follow-through. Ollivander and Griphook get days in bed, but Hermione is so competent that she recovers miraculously. Bah.

[furyofvissarion.livejournal.com]

"but Hermione is so competent that she recovers miraculously"

Seeeee HP isn't sexist @ all! Hermione is a strong woman character! Yeahhhhhh!

:P