DH first thoughts
Jul. 22nd, 2007 04:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selene_13Before I go off to plunge myself into the fandom response, I am writing some thoughts down here, of course, behind a spoiler cut:
I am actually a bit on the fence. Bewildered maybe. A little satisfied at how certain things turned out, and disappointed by others. But I am very happy that this book hasn’t left me in a disillusioned rage like HBP did.
To start, I think JKR managed a pretty good conclusion. There was a lot of exposition at the end (I was waiting for someone to holler “Enough with the monologueing!” during the final duel), but I don’t refute that it needed to be said. I was happy with the Snape explanation and the redemption it brought Slytherin House, even though I had expected it. I wasn’t one of those who thought that Snape was in love with Lily (though everyone should be in love with Lily, so why wouldn’t he be?), so I was surprised by his exposition. It was well-written, and explained him a lot, though.
The deaths were pretty much what I expected (Lupin, one Weasley after all, aurors). I knew the sextet would be safe. However, when Harry went off to find Voldemort to get killed, my heart was in my throat for him. I was sure there was a loophole and he’d survive, but his deathmarch to find Voldemort, using the stone to bring his loved ones near him, was heartfelt. I liked the conclusion, I thought JKR had a good grasp of the action (this will make an awesome movie and the moviemakers must be rubbing their hands in glee), and DD’s expanded characterisation made him humanly fallible and therefore much more real than the unrealistic paragon he's been to now. I loved that Ron, Hermione and Neville all got to end a Horcrux. Nice inclusion of Grindelwald too.
The Deathly Hallows: I was thinking they'd prove to be a deus ex machina (look, it's the miracle wand, hidden in the fortress of fortitude, which is the only hope of defeating evil!), but that turned out all right. They were actually a nice balance in the Voldemort/Horcruxes and Dumbledore/Hallows scale (desire, power, corruption and who can resist it), and in the end didn't prove to be the be-all and end-all. Or, at least, they weren't written to be so to Harry even if they were kinda that.
There were some downsides to the book. The middle part, in the tent in the woods, dragged on, and Hermione was crying an awful lot (thanks, JKR, for anvilling that Harry doesn’t like crying girls and that Ginny doesn’t), and why did they need 7 Harry’s to confuse Death Eaters when they all could have disapparated (which is apparently untraceable) like Mundungus at any second, even from within the no. 4 safety spell boundary? Seems like a waste of life and ears.
Fred dying was sort of a surprise, but not too much. I thought JKR was going for Percy because of his noble turnaround. I wished she's left Percy in the dark, or at least in the middle of the conflict, so we wouldn't have the whole of the Weasley clan squeaky clean and noble. I liked that Percy (used to) proved that not every Weasley is predictable, and that every family has their black sheep. It's so black-and-white with JKR and this family.
And that brings me to the shipping, which I still hate. I am very, very happy that Ginny was invisible for most of this book. She got to do absolutely nothing, and I’m grateful. However, it makes Harry’s love very anti-climactic, like it’s not even important who he based his affection on. That might have been JKR’s intent as she wanted to focus on the Voldemort/Harry confrontation, but I find it not very satisfying when I think of what Harry deserves. I still think that Hermione, without whom he would not be alive, without whom he could not have won, without whom the entire plot would have unravelled, has been written and developed as the perfect partner and complement to Harry. Harry may need Ron’s friendship, but he didn’t need Ron personally to finish the quest. Yet he would have failed without her. The way they were together at that graveyard where his parents lie, that was lovely. Her breaking down over Ron the ass, that was pathetic.
Ron was much nicer to Hermione this book, that is certain, but I still greatly dislike him. He is a quitter and always has been. When the going gets tough, he blames it on the other and abandons them. He did it to Hermione in PoA, to Harry in GoF, and he did it to both of them in this book. He always has an excuse (My rat, My pride, My jealousy, My failing, My hunger, My wearing a cursed object), but neither Harry nor Hermione have ever succumbed to this: It is always Ron and his excuses. Sure, he always comes back… but he leaves first, leaving the other crushed. So, sure, he is a good laugh and a brave friend, but he is loyal to himself first, and that annoys me. Hermione deserves better than Ron. Of course JKR brings him back with saving Harry’s life (how else can she possibly redeem him), but that doesn’t change his 7 book long behaviour in my eyes.
At least H/Hr got one scene with them getting it on. This locket-phantom will probably play hotter than any R/Hr or H/G on screen. While reading Harry’s response to it, I could imagine JKR wielding her anvil quite gleefully, but then, I hadn’t expected any different. She’s just bad at understanding it herself.
We predicted Weasley babies right? I counted five at the end. The OBHWF quartet started producing them in their mid-twenties (younger than I am now). The brilliant Hermione too. Yuck. What’s the rush, really? What’s wrong with living a little first, maybe go to university, have a career, see the world. There’s time enough for all of it. I guess Harry and Ginny needed to start early, after all, they’re still missing a Sirius, a Remus and a Cedric. You’d think Ron and Hermione would have helped share the naming load!
I’ve generally hated epilogues, and this one was just too sugary sweet. I like to leave the story at the true finish of it, and prefer to envision my own future for the characters. The future is always uncertain, and I like it to be no different for the people I’m reading and caring about. I have my own imagination, and I prize it.
Sooo, concluding (cause my mind is blank now), I think JKR wrote a pretty decent climax, but her shipping still sucks. If one ignores the shipping (which can be done) the book was quite good, a lot better than HBP, and pretty exciting action-wise. Thank god Harry wasn’t the dumb ass he was in HBP. I loved him again, and for that I can ignore a lot of what I'd otherwise wrinkle my nose at.
ETA: Harry nearly swallowing the Snitch in his first game... isn't that movie canon?
ETA2: Aren't unforgivable curses, you know, unforgivable.
ETA3: I just realised how many post-epilogue fics are going to appear about Potter: The Next Generation. The horror!
And now, I'm off into the wild. I'll be back.
I am actually a bit on the fence. Bewildered maybe. A little satisfied at how certain things turned out, and disappointed by others. But I am very happy that this book hasn’t left me in a disillusioned rage like HBP did.
To start, I think JKR managed a pretty good conclusion. There was a lot of exposition at the end (I was waiting for someone to holler “Enough with the monologueing!” during the final duel), but I don’t refute that it needed to be said. I was happy with the Snape explanation and the redemption it brought Slytherin House, even though I had expected it. I wasn’t one of those who thought that Snape was in love with Lily (though everyone should be in love with Lily, so why wouldn’t he be?), so I was surprised by his exposition. It was well-written, and explained him a lot, though.
The deaths were pretty much what I expected (Lupin, one Weasley after all, aurors). I knew the sextet would be safe. However, when Harry went off to find Voldemort to get killed, my heart was in my throat for him. I was sure there was a loophole and he’d survive, but his deathmarch to find Voldemort, using the stone to bring his loved ones near him, was heartfelt. I liked the conclusion, I thought JKR had a good grasp of the action (this will make an awesome movie and the moviemakers must be rubbing their hands in glee), and DD’s expanded characterisation made him humanly fallible and therefore much more real than the unrealistic paragon he's been to now. I loved that Ron, Hermione and Neville all got to end a Horcrux. Nice inclusion of Grindelwald too.
The Deathly Hallows: I was thinking they'd prove to be a deus ex machina (look, it's the miracle wand, hidden in the fortress of fortitude, which is the only hope of defeating evil!), but that turned out all right. They were actually a nice balance in the Voldemort/Horcruxes and Dumbledore/Hallows scale (desire, power, corruption and who can resist it), and in the end didn't prove to be the be-all and end-all. Or, at least, they weren't written to be so to Harry even if they were kinda that.
There were some downsides to the book. The middle part, in the tent in the woods, dragged on, and Hermione was crying an awful lot (thanks, JKR, for anvilling that Harry doesn’t like crying girls and that Ginny doesn’t), and why did they need 7 Harry’s to confuse Death Eaters when they all could have disapparated (which is apparently untraceable) like Mundungus at any second, even from within the no. 4 safety spell boundary? Seems like a waste of life and ears.
Fred dying was sort of a surprise, but not too much. I thought JKR was going for Percy because of his noble turnaround. I wished she's left Percy in the dark, or at least in the middle of the conflict, so we wouldn't have the whole of the Weasley clan squeaky clean and noble. I liked that Percy (used to) proved that not every Weasley is predictable, and that every family has their black sheep. It's so black-and-white with JKR and this family.
And that brings me to the shipping, which I still hate. I am very, very happy that Ginny was invisible for most of this book. She got to do absolutely nothing, and I’m grateful. However, it makes Harry’s love very anti-climactic, like it’s not even important who he based his affection on. That might have been JKR’s intent as she wanted to focus on the Voldemort/Harry confrontation, but I find it not very satisfying when I think of what Harry deserves. I still think that Hermione, without whom he would not be alive, without whom he could not have won, without whom the entire plot would have unravelled, has been written and developed as the perfect partner and complement to Harry. Harry may need Ron’s friendship, but he didn’t need Ron personally to finish the quest. Yet he would have failed without her. The way they were together at that graveyard where his parents lie, that was lovely. Her breaking down over Ron the ass, that was pathetic.
Ron was much nicer to Hermione this book, that is certain, but I still greatly dislike him. He is a quitter and always has been. When the going gets tough, he blames it on the other and abandons them. He did it to Hermione in PoA, to Harry in GoF, and he did it to both of them in this book. He always has an excuse (My rat, My pride, My jealousy, My failing, My hunger, My wearing a cursed object), but neither Harry nor Hermione have ever succumbed to this: It is always Ron and his excuses. Sure, he always comes back… but he leaves first, leaving the other crushed. So, sure, he is a good laugh and a brave friend, but he is loyal to himself first, and that annoys me. Hermione deserves better than Ron. Of course JKR brings him back with saving Harry’s life (how else can she possibly redeem him), but that doesn’t change his 7 book long behaviour in my eyes.
At least H/Hr got one scene with them getting it on. This locket-phantom will probably play hotter than any R/Hr or H/G on screen. While reading Harry’s response to it, I could imagine JKR wielding her anvil quite gleefully, but then, I hadn’t expected any different. She’s just bad at understanding it herself.
We predicted Weasley babies right? I counted five at the end. The OBHWF quartet started producing them in their mid-twenties (younger than I am now). The brilliant Hermione too. Yuck. What’s the rush, really? What’s wrong with living a little first, maybe go to university, have a career, see the world. There’s time enough for all of it. I guess Harry and Ginny needed to start early, after all, they’re still missing a Sirius, a Remus and a Cedric. You’d think Ron and Hermione would have helped share the naming load!
I’ve generally hated epilogues, and this one was just too sugary sweet. I like to leave the story at the true finish of it, and prefer to envision my own future for the characters. The future is always uncertain, and I like it to be no different for the people I’m reading and caring about. I have my own imagination, and I prize it.
Sooo, concluding (cause my mind is blank now), I think JKR wrote a pretty decent climax, but her shipping still sucks. If one ignores the shipping (which can be done) the book was quite good, a lot better than HBP, and pretty exciting action-wise. Thank god Harry wasn’t the dumb ass he was in HBP. I loved him again, and for that I can ignore a lot of what I'd otherwise wrinkle my nose at.
ETA: Harry nearly swallowing the Snitch in his first game... isn't that movie canon?
ETA2: Aren't unforgivable curses, you know, unforgivable.
ETA3: I just realised how many post-epilogue fics are going to appear about Potter: The Next Generation. The horror!
And now, I'm off into the wild. I'll be back.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-25 08:00 pm (UTC)Thanks for clearing that up about the Snitch, I guess the movie-moment stood out so clear for me, but now I remember: what was different about it was the surfing. :)
Of course it's a personal decision when you're going to have children, but I'm 27, and so are 6 of my closest girlfriends, and everyone at my job who is around my age (about 5 girls, 2 boys), and all of my brother's friends (he's 26) except for this one guy, none of us have kids yet. I have one girlfriend who is married. All of us went to university, or another school to further our education. All of these people are just starting out in life, finding their own way, finding themselves (and a partner), moving in together, going on amazing holidays and trips around the world... Getting kids in your early or mid-twenties seems more like my mom's generation. Now, it's more early thirties. I don't want to start until late, if ever. What's the rush anyway? And not every girl is dreaming about the day she can have kids either. There actually is other things in life too.
I don't think Hermione is less "brilliant", but I bet her career is suffering for having two kids at her age. It's just not what I, personally and in my very own opinion, imagined for this character. I would rather imagine her going to university and having a career before a family, which can happen a later in life too. Honestly, I (that means for me, not for everyone) think having kids in your early twenties is very limiting, and very old-fashioned, and I didn't like to see it in a "modern" book like HP. But to each their own.
This book, though heavy on the action, had too many problems to be my favourite. That would be PoA for me.