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lyoreJust finished.
It is... surprisingly good. I'm sure you all know about the my opinions of the last two (especially OotP), so my expectations were exceedingly low, but overall I liked it.
First of all, the bitching. Killing Lupin and Tonks off screen? After being the subject of the HP universe's most badly written romances, they deserved better. I thought Lupin's characterisation was interesting - not inconsistent with what has been shown before, butnot really what I was expecting. I'll be honest and say that, up until he married Tonks, I had him marked to die - as a father-figure and mentor to Harry, and as the last of the marauders,I figured he was toast. So I feel more sorry for Tonks - it seems she was killed by association.
Still not liking the typecasting of the Slytherins, either. Not one of them chose to stay? Ambitious doesn't have to mean evil. *sigh*
That epilogue... Albus Serverus?! Scorpius?!. She was doing so well, and then she just lost the plot. And Snape being the bravest man Harry ever knew?
I'll 'fess up to still not being in the Snape-fan brigade, even thought he should, on paper, be one of the characters I'm all over. And JKR keeps telling me that he's a brave, good-underneath-it-all guy, but I'm still not really getting it, even after the flashbacks and the memories. I don't find the 'Snape at school' thing particularly affecting, although as one of the terminal outsiders at my school I'm presumably exactly the type of person who should sympathise. I guess it's because, while he's victimised by James, etc, for the way he looks/dresses, none of his school-day actions show a person worth empathising with. All of these flashback scenes (speaking generally about the series, not just this book), have had far more of an effect on my opinions of the Marauders than Snape.
He betrayed Voldemort because he loved Lily? OK, leaving aside that all of fandom had that figured after book one, I could get behind that if Voldemort's threat to her meant he woke up and started to see the effect on other people, but I still don't really get that from him. He's still protecting Harry because he loved his mother, not because he disagrees with Voldemort's beliefs or because he thinks that it's the right thing to do. (And even as headmaster he still doesn't show concern for the students.)
I guess the reason Snape doesn't appeal to me like he should is that all the moral ambiguity he should have ends up in Dumbledore instead. I've been a fan of manipulative!Dumbledore for a while, 'cause (to me) the only other choice was believing he was completely incompetent. It was nice to see that addressed in this book - an acknowledgment that Dumbledore not only was he not as saintly as he appeared, but that he had deliberately endangered Harry to get the outcome he wanted. So yeah, I liked Dumbledore in this one, mostly. (Some of his plan was still a bit shite, though.)
There were a few to many ridiculous plot holes (Ron can speak Parseltongue just by listening to Harry?!), and Harry's plans are as useless as ever (but at least that is consistent *g*), and it still doesn't justify some of the pointless dren in book five, for instance (explain to me why we just couldn't have Harry able to block his mind under extreme emotional distress?), but overall, it didn't distract too much from the story.
The good stuff:
- Hermione kicks ass! I lost track of the number of times she saved the day.
- And so does Neville! *waves Neville pompoms* (And I'm not even a Nevillle fan!)
- Luna decorating her rooms with pictures of the Trio and Neville and Ginny *sniff* sweet, and yet sad. *waves Neville/Luna flag*
- Molly taking on Bellatrix - I think I like this. About time Molly got to show her stuff.
- Also, I love Ron. Just needed to get that out there.
OK, there was a lot more, but I need to end this entry up.
OK guys, what are your thoughts?
It is... surprisingly good. I'm sure you all know about the my opinions of the last two (especially OotP), so my expectations were exceedingly low, but overall I liked it.
First of all, the bitching. Killing Lupin and Tonks off screen? After being the subject of the HP universe's most badly written romances, they deserved better. I thought Lupin's characterisation was interesting - not inconsistent with what has been shown before, butnot really what I was expecting. I'll be honest and say that, up until he married Tonks, I had him marked to die - as a father-figure and mentor to Harry, and as the last of the marauders,I figured he was toast. So I feel more sorry for Tonks - it seems she was killed by association.
Still not liking the typecasting of the Slytherins, either. Not one of them chose to stay? Ambitious doesn't have to mean evil. *sigh*
That epilogue... Albus Serverus?! Scorpius?!. She was doing so well, and then she just lost the plot. And Snape being the bravest man Harry ever knew?
I'll 'fess up to still not being in the Snape-fan brigade, even thought he should, on paper, be one of the characters I'm all over. And JKR keeps telling me that he's a brave, good-underneath-it-all guy, but I'm still not really getting it, even after the flashbacks and the memories. I don't find the 'Snape at school' thing particularly affecting, although as one of the terminal outsiders at my school I'm presumably exactly the type of person who should sympathise. I guess it's because, while he's victimised by James, etc, for the way he looks/dresses, none of his school-day actions show a person worth empathising with. All of these flashback scenes (speaking generally about the series, not just this book), have had far more of an effect on my opinions of the Marauders than Snape.
He betrayed Voldemort because he loved Lily? OK, leaving aside that all of fandom had that figured after book one, I could get behind that if Voldemort's threat to her meant he woke up and started to see the effect on other people, but I still don't really get that from him. He's still protecting Harry because he loved his mother, not because he disagrees with Voldemort's beliefs or because he thinks that it's the right thing to do. (And even as headmaster he still doesn't show concern for the students.)
I guess the reason Snape doesn't appeal to me like he should is that all the moral ambiguity he should have ends up in Dumbledore instead. I've been a fan of manipulative!Dumbledore for a while, 'cause (to me) the only other choice was believing he was completely incompetent. It was nice to see that addressed in this book - an acknowledgment that Dumbledore not only was he not as saintly as he appeared, but that he had deliberately endangered Harry to get the outcome he wanted. So yeah, I liked Dumbledore in this one, mostly. (Some of his plan was still a bit shite, though.)
There were a few to many ridiculous plot holes (Ron can speak Parseltongue just by listening to Harry?!), and Harry's plans are as useless as ever (but at least that is consistent *g*), and it still doesn't justify some of the pointless dren in book five, for instance (explain to me why we just couldn't have Harry able to block his mind under extreme emotional distress?), but overall, it didn't distract too much from the story.
The good stuff:
- Hermione kicks ass! I lost track of the number of times she saved the day.
- And so does Neville! *waves Neville pompoms* (And I'm not even a Nevillle fan!)
- Luna decorating her rooms with pictures of the Trio and Neville and Ginny *sniff* sweet, and yet sad. *waves Neville/Luna flag*
- Molly taking on Bellatrix - I think I like this. About time Molly got to show her stuff.
- Also, I love Ron. Just needed to get that out there.
OK, there was a lot more, but I need to end this entry up.
OK guys, what are your thoughts?
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no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 02:46 pm (UTC)We may have to disagree on the Snape part - that was the one aspect of DH that *really* didn't work for me. Snape didn't learn anything, didn't grow, just switched sides 'cause this time it affected him personally. OK, I could even go with that, but for this highschool non-relationship to be his only motivation for all his actions? Bah. (And I don't even like Snape!)
I liked manipulative Dumbledore, have for a while. It explains one of the more significant weaknesses of the books, IMO. But I do think he genuinely cared about Harry, just that it wouldn't stop him from doing what was required. I should also add I don't think that is a bad thing, in this situation - after all, he is trying to plot the salvation of the wizarding world and all.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 03:12 pm (UTC)Okay, I see the thing about Snape and Lily being that they were friends and shared the joy and magic of Lily's introduction to magic. I think it was that friendship more than the non-reationship to be his motivating factor, and also the fact that he had thought he could trust Voldemort not to harm Lily, but it turned out that he couldn't.
But yeah, I think in terms of a basis for Snape being 'good' it's pretty weak. But I think that Snape isn't really 'good', he just chose the side that good was on. If that makes any sense.
I think, in that case, that we do agree on Dumbledore, we just say it in different words.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 03:25 pm (UTC)I see what you're saying about Snape. My read on the character was always that he was a not-particularly-nice guy who made a lot of mistakes in his youth, but then genuinely repented and joined the good guys. While I could never really warm to the character (too many abuse of power issues in his behaviour), I liked the idea that we had a genuinely unpleasant good guy. Now that we know 'morally right' had little to do with his decisions, that facet of the character is gone.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 03:40 pm (UTC)Yeah, I really liked that aspect of Snape, too. I suppose one could stretch it and say that it was the threat to Lily that made him realise it was OMG WRONGZ, but then again, he really does have a warped sense of morality even for a good guy. Now, if Lily had managed to make him question himself, like when she was saying she didn't like his Death Eater friends (which I kind of liked) and then he'd turned good, we could have kept that element. Maybe JKR meant to do that and it didn't come out properly, but I don't know.
no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 03:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-21 04:46 pm (UTC)9ambook 7!