Deathly Hallows, finally
Jul. 27th, 2007 05:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trude
Got the book at noon, read all day and night.
It's been a hell of a ride, and a fun one; thank you for that JKR.
Like the last couple of books, it was wildly uneven ; I loved it up to and including the trios break-in at the ministry, it started to drag a bit during the camping trip, Christmas was great, then it drag a bit more until they came to Hogsmeade and it was wonderful for a while but then it NEVER ENDED. And I’ve always enjoyed these books more for the interactions between more or less well-meaning people than for the fight against nose-less evil, so yes I’m a little disappointed that both the “wizarding world is corrupt” theme and the school theme (grow up, learn, decide who you are and what you want to do with your life) didn’t get any conclusion.
Oh Dumbledore, you’re a truly magnificent bastard. I’m a bit torn about his plotline; it was well-written and engaging - Aberforth’s story was the only thing that made me cry - but I had been hoping that the death of Albus would lead to more pagetime for others.
I didn’t tear up at the deaths, though most of them sadden me. (Except Fred’s, not because I dislike him but because the sibling-dynamic in the Weasley family will be more interesting without him.)
I thought that Remus plotline made a reasonable amount of sense. As Harry’s last remaining mentor/father figure in a novel where Harry shouldn’t have any, JKR could have put him in the background completely, killed him off early on or let him turn evil. Instead she made him fail as a father, in a way that didn’t directly affect Harry, but nevertheless gave him a believable reason to push Lupin away. And his presence in the “Forest”-chapter makes sense to; he’s there as Harry’s first really competent teacher, as the man who taught him to fight dementors. He could have had other, possibly better, ends to his arc, but this wasn’t random.
The problem, though, is that Tonks was turned into a prop in order to give Remus something valuable to die for. Scratch that, the problem is that Tonks was turned into a prop for no good reason at all - she could easily have been given something to do during her pregnancy and a clear (and sensible) motivation at the end without stealing page-time or glory from others.
I believe that the lack of on-screen death for R/T, and the lack of emphasis on Harry’s relationship to Teddy was JKR’s attempt at being subtle. She kind of failed, but I think her intentions were good. (And from a dysfunction-loving shipper’s perspective the brief glimpses we got of their relationship was damn interesting and I hope there will be fic from Tonks’ perspective.)
Hermione became the perfect scary-lovely incarnation of herself and I love her madly.
Little Lily and Sev were so cute together.
Kreacher is my new fandom boyfriend. (Sorry Hagrid, but he had an actual plot, and he can cook.)
OMG NEVILLE! Scruffy rebel Neville! And weird, wise Luna! Only because of them, I want to see the movie. (That, and Molly killing Bellatrix).
Vernon/Kingsley 4EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where the hell was Moaning Myrtle? And Winky?
The epilogue: Liked that Harry got a normal, uneventful life, Ron as a husband and father and driver and Teddy/Victoire, whom I’ve shipped together since late 2005. No, really. (Though they should stop snogging and start solving mysteries together.)
It's been a hell of a ride, and a fun one; thank you for that JKR.
Like the last couple of books, it was wildly uneven ; I loved it up to and including the trios break-in at the ministry, it started to drag a bit during the camping trip, Christmas was great, then it drag a bit more until they came to Hogsmeade and it was wonderful for a while but then it NEVER ENDED. And I’ve always enjoyed these books more for the interactions between more or less well-meaning people than for the fight against nose-less evil, so yes I’m a little disappointed that both the “wizarding world is corrupt” theme and the school theme (grow up, learn, decide who you are and what you want to do with your life) didn’t get any conclusion.
Oh Dumbledore, you’re a truly magnificent bastard. I’m a bit torn about his plotline; it was well-written and engaging - Aberforth’s story was the only thing that made me cry - but I had been hoping that the death of Albus would lead to more pagetime for others.
I didn’t tear up at the deaths, though most of them sadden me. (Except Fred’s, not because I dislike him but because the sibling-dynamic in the Weasley family will be more interesting without him.)
I thought that Remus plotline made a reasonable amount of sense. As Harry’s last remaining mentor/father figure in a novel where Harry shouldn’t have any, JKR could have put him in the background completely, killed him off early on or let him turn evil. Instead she made him fail as a father, in a way that didn’t directly affect Harry, but nevertheless gave him a believable reason to push Lupin away. And his presence in the “Forest”-chapter makes sense to; he’s there as Harry’s first really competent teacher, as the man who taught him to fight dementors. He could have had other, possibly better, ends to his arc, but this wasn’t random.
The problem, though, is that Tonks was turned into a prop in order to give Remus something valuable to die for. Scratch that, the problem is that Tonks was turned into a prop for no good reason at all - she could easily have been given something to do during her pregnancy and a clear (and sensible) motivation at the end without stealing page-time or glory from others.
I believe that the lack of on-screen death for R/T, and the lack of emphasis on Harry’s relationship to Teddy was JKR’s attempt at being subtle. She kind of failed, but I think her intentions were good. (And from a dysfunction-loving shipper’s perspective the brief glimpses we got of their relationship was damn interesting and I hope there will be fic from Tonks’ perspective.)
Hermione became the perfect scary-lovely incarnation of herself and I love her madly.
Little Lily and Sev were so cute together.
Kreacher is my new fandom boyfriend. (Sorry Hagrid, but he had an actual plot, and he can cook.)
OMG NEVILLE! Scruffy rebel Neville! And weird, wise Luna! Only because of them, I want to see the movie. (That, and Molly killing Bellatrix).
Vernon/Kingsley 4EVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Where the hell was Moaning Myrtle? And Winky?
The epilogue: Liked that Harry got a normal, uneventful life, Ron as a husband and father and driver and Teddy/Victoire, whom I’ve shipped together since late 2005. No, really. (Though they should stop snogging and start solving mysteries together.)
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Date: 2007-07-27 07:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-27 08:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-27 01:09 pm (UTC)Reading sentences like this makes me ever so glad you're on my friends list!
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Date: 2007-07-27 02:37 pm (UTC)