Harry Potter
Jul. 16th, 2005 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizalavelleFirst the NON SPOILER part. I promise there isn't even a hint of a spoiler outside of the cut.
Dell and I went up to Yonge and Eglinton to buy the HBP, first we tried Shoppers as they were selling them for 40%off but (big surprise) they were sold out so we hit Indigo which still offered them at 20% off (preorder that!) and we got a gift card good for a mystery amount between 5 and 1000 dollars which we can use in August, woohoo, more books!
The bookstore was crazy stocked with the HBP books, I'm always amused at people who preorder based only on the idea that the bookstores will sell out of the books. There's no chance, they must have stockrooms full of these books.
Then home home home (after getting a Cinnabon) for reading
Okay, everyone has been prewarned, my review will have spoilers so don't read it until you've finished the book. It'll just take away from the effect of reading it.
Well let me start at the most devistating part and work out from that. Dumbledore. Seriously I cried for the last 100 pages of the book, I kept trying to think of ways around it but all I can say is I think the lesson there was more for older readers than for kids. TAKE KIDS (or in this case teenagers) seriously. Hello, Snape = evil. Kids always see more things than adults ever will because they are more open to believing things, this is one of my cherished beliefs and I think that it's shown here even though in a negative way.
I love that we got the innocence of a child playing in an adult world. Draco of course could not commit murder, he was a pampered child playing at a dangerous game. He'd never faced death before really so for him this was the first bit of reality. It reminded me a bit of how in the Sound of Music the young Nazi recruit couldn't kill the Von Trapps in the end. The want to impress and to become a part of something you don't quite understand is there but the passion it takes to take a life is not.
This does not detract from the absolute shock when Snape actually killed Dumbledore.... I don't care if it turns out that he was acting as a true double agent who ultimately had to kill Dumbledore because they agreed on it before or anything, the hell, there's always another way, he could have faked it if that was the case (which is what I was hoping for) but no. It was horrible.
Secondly: The Half Blood Prince. I'd guessed from all of the references to Lily being great at potions that it was going to have been her book.. but no, Snape, I totally misguessed. As soon as that's revealed it is indeed a "duh" moment what with his potions skills. However for the whole book to be named after that... I dunno. It works because the book was featured in a lot of the book but there weren't a lot of Harry/Snape moments, not in the slash sense but just in the sense of the two characters interacting as much as they had done in past books.
Draco: I feel almost bad for his character now, for sure we'll see something of his punishment in the next book no matter how Snape tried to protect him. He was acting in the best interests of his family. Like I said above, he was trying to take on a role he did not yet understand. He was always a brat and a bully but this was him finally trying to step up and not succeeding very well.
Oh all of the 'ships. I personally am a Harry/Ginny shipper so I was thrilled lol. I don't make 'shipping the basis of my fandom but I like it when couples who I like get together lol. I don't care if Ron and Hermione are together or not as much, but I know people will be freaking out about that soon enough lol. Even with H/G splitting up at the end I get the feeling that it's not for good. I can imagine her turning up to fight at some point in the 7th book, she's a stubborn character, fabulous :) I just like really that the kids are growing up and J.K. Rowling has made sure to have that happen but it doesn't dominate her books.
Oh and what I think is brilliant is with the Pensive having Harry learn about his enemy. Not only does it give us a way to figure out what Voldemort is all about but it also brings into play the idea of having to "know" or "love" your enemy in order to destroy them. No matter what, parts of Voldemort's life evoke sympathy. I kept replaying the bit of Buffy from season two in my head "to kill this girl you have to love her" that idea is very present in the book... once you know your enemy you are able to destroy them because you can use their weaknesses.
The only flaw I could really pick out of this book was that we didn't see enough of some characters, but the HP family of characters is so huge now not everyone can be in the limelight all of the time.... but I really wished there was more with Hagrid in particular. I missed him...
For the next book... gah I am glad that it's not just going to be Harry travelling alone, I can't wait to see more outside of Hogwarts stuff... although I wouldn't be surprised if the final battle gets fought there or something... it seems a shame for the school not to come into play at all in the end. But I love reading the stuff that happens outside of Hogwarts, it's fascenating and I can't wait to see how the last book is done (WHICH WILL FEEL LIKE IT"S FOREVER FROM NOW!!!!!!)
For now my hopes for the next book:
I hope it's longer
I hope that we get a good dose of the characters we've met over the last 6 books.
I want it to be a not completely happy ending and like something I've not yet thought of lol.
I want to be able to read it soon... I am so excited to see what she writes next.
Dell and I went up to Yonge and Eglinton to buy the HBP, first we tried Shoppers as they were selling them for 40%off but (big surprise) they were sold out so we hit Indigo which still offered them at 20% off (preorder that!) and we got a gift card good for a mystery amount between 5 and 1000 dollars which we can use in August, woohoo, more books!
The bookstore was crazy stocked with the HBP books, I'm always amused at people who preorder based only on the idea that the bookstores will sell out of the books. There's no chance, they must have stockrooms full of these books.
Then home home home (after getting a Cinnabon) for reading
Okay, everyone has been prewarned, my review will have spoilers so don't read it until you've finished the book. It'll just take away from the effect of reading it.
Well let me start at the most devistating part and work out from that. Dumbledore. Seriously I cried for the last 100 pages of the book, I kept trying to think of ways around it but all I can say is I think the lesson there was more for older readers than for kids. TAKE KIDS (or in this case teenagers) seriously. Hello, Snape = evil. Kids always see more things than adults ever will because they are more open to believing things, this is one of my cherished beliefs and I think that it's shown here even though in a negative way.
I love that we got the innocence of a child playing in an adult world. Draco of course could not commit murder, he was a pampered child playing at a dangerous game. He'd never faced death before really so for him this was the first bit of reality. It reminded me a bit of how in the Sound of Music the young Nazi recruit couldn't kill the Von Trapps in the end. The want to impress and to become a part of something you don't quite understand is there but the passion it takes to take a life is not.
This does not detract from the absolute shock when Snape actually killed Dumbledore.... I don't care if it turns out that he was acting as a true double agent who ultimately had to kill Dumbledore because they agreed on it before or anything, the hell, there's always another way, he could have faked it if that was the case (which is what I was hoping for) but no. It was horrible.
Secondly: The Half Blood Prince. I'd guessed from all of the references to Lily being great at potions that it was going to have been her book.. but no, Snape, I totally misguessed. As soon as that's revealed it is indeed a "duh" moment what with his potions skills. However for the whole book to be named after that... I dunno. It works because the book was featured in a lot of the book but there weren't a lot of Harry/Snape moments, not in the slash sense but just in the sense of the two characters interacting as much as they had done in past books.
Draco: I feel almost bad for his character now, for sure we'll see something of his punishment in the next book no matter how Snape tried to protect him. He was acting in the best interests of his family. Like I said above, he was trying to take on a role he did not yet understand. He was always a brat and a bully but this was him finally trying to step up and not succeeding very well.
Oh all of the 'ships. I personally am a Harry/Ginny shipper so I was thrilled lol. I don't make 'shipping the basis of my fandom but I like it when couples who I like get together lol. I don't care if Ron and Hermione are together or not as much, but I know people will be freaking out about that soon enough lol. Even with H/G splitting up at the end I get the feeling that it's not for good. I can imagine her turning up to fight at some point in the 7th book, she's a stubborn character, fabulous :) I just like really that the kids are growing up and J.K. Rowling has made sure to have that happen but it doesn't dominate her books.
Oh and what I think is brilliant is with the Pensive having Harry learn about his enemy. Not only does it give us a way to figure out what Voldemort is all about but it also brings into play the idea of having to "know" or "love" your enemy in order to destroy them. No matter what, parts of Voldemort's life evoke sympathy. I kept replaying the bit of Buffy from season two in my head "to kill this girl you have to love her" that idea is very present in the book... once you know your enemy you are able to destroy them because you can use their weaknesses.
The only flaw I could really pick out of this book was that we didn't see enough of some characters, but the HP family of characters is so huge now not everyone can be in the limelight all of the time.... but I really wished there was more with Hagrid in particular. I missed him...
For the next book... gah I am glad that it's not just going to be Harry travelling alone, I can't wait to see more outside of Hogwarts stuff... although I wouldn't be surprised if the final battle gets fought there or something... it seems a shame for the school not to come into play at all in the end. But I love reading the stuff that happens outside of Hogwarts, it's fascenating and I can't wait to see how the last book is done (WHICH WILL FEEL LIKE IT"S FOREVER FROM NOW!!!!!!)
For now my hopes for the next book:
I hope it's longer
I hope that we get a good dose of the characters we've met over the last 6 books.
I want it to be a not completely happy ending and like something I've not yet thought of lol.
I want to be able to read it soon... I am so excited to see what she writes next.
