first, was i the only one who thought the Deathly Hallows were going to be a place? well, i guess i knew it wouldn't be that simple. It is JKR after all.
Secondly, i read *way* too much fic. (not that i have any intention of changing that, lol) But you know how you read really good fic and think "hmmm... does that really fit with canon/is that how it happened? i'll have to go back and check" well, i was doing that with DH. It was like i would forget i was reading JKR's book and was trying to see if this fit with canon! crazy me, huh?
Tho, having read a few other reviews it does point out that this book (and HBP in my opinion) have a very different feel to them compared to the books before that. Maybe that change in tone is why i kept forgetting that i *was* reading JKR- on the other hand it's a good thing that i lost myself i think, says good things about the book
and really there were alot of the 'little things' that i loved. For example i was ECSTATIC to find out that the Leaky is in Charing Cross. I've *always always always* wanted to know where things like that and the ministry and Grimmauld Place (and Privet Drive and Spinner's End, etc but those are outside of London) are because then i *know* where they are! Damn if this book'd come out 6 months ago while i was living in London i'd be up and down the streets trying to figure out JKR's inspiration (translation: trying to get into Diagon)
hmmm... now for the real review...
Let's start with harry. At my house we had to get 2 copies so my mum could read at the same time as me (on way were either of us waiting) and she thought that harry was really annoying, whiny. I really didnt think so- or at least not compared to OOTP. tho... i did get behind in my pre-reading and am still stuck in the middle of OOTP so it was quite refreshing to jump to this harry. Also, if he was somewhat bitchy in DH, well, i felt like he had reason to be!
and ron. well, i really cant hold it against him that he left. once he came back and explained. i love ron. i didnt always actually (and i *hate* ron/harry *shudder*...) But i feel like without him nothing would have worked out. he ended up holding them all together... he seems like the heart of the group to me (harry's to self-involved to be so) *And* ron does a great job of balancing out....
...Hermione. Oh. My. God. I wanted to kill that girl. all those things that Trelawny (who i loved with her crystal ball-bombs, by the way) and Luna and Mr Lovegood said about her being close-minded really are true. i've seen it before but it really shown through here. Also i think she does a really good job of demonstrating the precise problem that voldy and the DE's and wizarding society in general have with muggles and muggle-borns. She's so *set* in a certain way of thinking- deep down, it's all logic and science for her. *that's* why she's such a good student, because if she studies the why and how of a spell or whatever then she can *rationalize* it away, can make it fit into a box and forget it. (plus i think this is why she's so good in potions- it's so close to chem and science in general) But then something like the deathly hallows comes along and it doesnt make RATIONAL sense. Hello! it's
MAGIC! magic doesn't have to make sense. Her entire attitude in this book just made me want to
*strangle* her! there were even parts where i almost hoped she'd get caught.
speaking of which... did Polyjuice get improved at some point? did i miss that part? cuz they were certainly disguised for more than an hour more than once, and i kinda thought it had to be fresh. but they were lugging it around for like an entire year!
Dumbloredore/Grindlewald? SOOO didn't see that coming, but from the very first chapter when i saw Rita's book i *knew* it would be bad. Honestly, i've never trusted Dumbledore. anyone who seems that happy and all-knowing, all the time... just no. Nor did i ever understand why everyone (or almost everyone) automatically trusted him/believed everything he said. I was quite frustrated with him, but at the same time it's all you expect from him. what i really wanted was to read the biography and it was there that harry's denial started to upset me. Honestly, when all the details point to there being things you dont know... read the damn book! and harry sat there frustrated that people were just saying to ignore it and not let it change his view of dumbledore, well i understand harry getting upset with that approach but if he wants to make his own decisions....why would he turn aside information? *sigh* even Mione read it and she didnt want to believe bad of him. But like i said i never liked/trusted Dumbly, on the other hand....
Snape. lets just start by saying "NOOOOOOO*sob*OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
*sniff*" ok, so i was pretty sure she'd kill him, she kinda had to but, but to leave everyone thinking he was evil till the last minute?!?! bitch. I was rather upset we didn't get to see him more. Snape is a part of HP. i saw another review that said DH wasn't right without hogwarts; that harry is hogwarts and hogwarts is harry, but for me it's snape and draco. i just felt like something was missing the whole time when they weren't there. I am however really glad that harry did finally learn the truth. the idea that sev'd use his last seconds to make sure that harry knew.... it was perfect. and it proved that sev really was a good guy. everything he ever did was for Lily (also expalins even more why he hated James (he took Lily) and then harry (either 'should've been *my* son OR just as more proof that he lost Lily)) And the way Dumbledore treated Snape had me SO upset, I wanted to just reach into the book and throttle that man!
and Albus Severus! i loved that tho, of course, i'd have preferred Severus Albus.
oh, and that doe. Did anybody else realize like *that (snaps)* that it was Sev? I knew, just *knew* right away. Granted i always maintained he was a good guy but i just got it.
(however, was Lily's Patronus a Doe? cuz one of my friends said they read 'somewhere' in 'one of the books' that it was but i was just thinking that "If James was a Stag then of course Lily would be a Doe, so the Doe must represent Lily.... and Sev is the only one that might have such a connection to Lily, so..." Plus, remember when Tonks' became a wolf after she fell for Remus)
And Draco. And the other Malfoys. I Loved that Lucius was out of prison and in the end, it really was draco and cissa that let harry win. if not for draco's disarming in HBP... and because of Cissa's love for draco...without those two harry might well have been screwed. i dont understand the original plan to get harry the Elder wand cuz if sev had it harry would've had to take it (and lets be honest, he wanted to kill sev) so sev might not have been able to tell harry anything/everything anyway. i loved (well no, it was awful) that the malfoys were so obviously unhappy. Lucius looked terrible and was wandless the whole time, draco was terrified and being forced to do the Dark Lord's dirty work, and cant you just see Narcissa- the strong, capable, Black- going insane (symbolically, not like Bella, lol) not being able to do anything. I was so happy to see them as a family, to see that there was real love and caring beneath that aristocratic veneer. In the final battle where Luc and Cissa don't even try to fight; all they want is to find Draco. It was a great sub-plot and i think it echoes Harry's family too. The idea that they would do anything- Cissa does risk death and torture- to save draco. Just look at Draco in earlier books "when my Father hears..." over and over. If your father doesn't care you wouldn't boast about him; Lucius does care and i thought that that relationship was really well done, but without being too in-your-face or interrupting the rest of the plot.
As for the plot itself... (i think that's all the characters i wanted to cover)
the deaths- Im really not surprised by the number of deaths that happened. actually i kinda thought there'd be more. what did they say at the end that there were something like 50 non-main characters plus Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and one of the Creevys? thats really not so many. Fred's death was very upsetting and i think had one of the greatest impacts (right after Sev's i'd say) because it splits up the twins! they were always one unit and that there's now only George... for me that drove it home. Severus' death was just so abrupt- though i did find it surprising that voldemort almost apologized- could he have really cared? (probably not but,... maybe) That was the one that hurt most, for me. and it was just *wrong*! No big showdown, no duel, flash of green light, nothing! just "Here Nagini, sorry Snape; it's gotta be done" *thud* That whole scene before the death, where Snape's asking to go find harry, i knew he was good still (yes i maintained it for the whole book, but) i *knew* there was something he needed to tell him. and the fact that Lucius wanted to go to- that they both were behaving so similarly says, to me at least, that Lucuis wasn't gonna kill Harry either; he wanted to find Harry so he could find Draco. I thought it drew a nice parallel between Snape and Lucius; that they each have some they care about and that person is, somehow, tied to harry.
As for Mad-eye, it was too abrupt to be really awful (for the reader) but it did set the tone well for the book, that this woud be very serious and dangerous in away the others hadn't been.
Tonks and Remus- Im sorry, i didnt want them to die, but ya kinda saw it coming. And it makes little Teddy become a nice Echo of Harry's childhood situation. but...
What's up with Teddy if Tonks and Remus are dead and he's not living with Godfather Harry? (in the epilogue)
Voldy as Dictator-
I did appreciate seeing a Vodemort who was finally worth fearing. Seeing him take the ministry, and all in one fell swoop was impressive and it finally seemed like the UK had something to worry about. My problem was that from Harry and friends POV we really didn't get to see much of it. Sure there were glimpses- in the ministry, on
Potterwatch, at Hogwarts (tho part of that was probably snape trying to keep the kids away from Amycus and Alecto), and after Ron came back, but we never really got what it was like to live under his regieme and i feel like that was a big failing on JKRs part
the Horcuxes-
just 2 things
1) why does it always (and i mean in fic too) take them SOOOOO long to remember the basilisk rotting away in the basement, full of fangs, full of poison, that we
*know* kills horcruxes?
2)I
*HATE* the Harry-as-Horcrux plot! and she did it! grrr, maybe it's only cuz i've read so much fic but it so, so trite and predictable!! All i can say is that at least it wasn't "the scar" it was just a bit of voldy stuck in harry somewhere. tho i did think that the idea that the bit of harry in voldy from his resurrection prevented him from killing harry, but the curse had to kill *something* and -oh,look- there's this ectra bit of something else floating around in Harry so voldy's curse killed that bit- which happens to be a piece of himself! oh, look --> Irony (note my sarcasm)
3)oops i lied, i've got another point. tho this is more of a question. how did neville kill nagini? If Griphook took the sword from Harry at Gringotts (BTW- dragon in the basement? soo sad, but also such a great idea and well done- Loved it! Tho i do feel bad for the blind, tortured dragon. I feel like Charlie should go find him and take care of him)
*anyway* My theory is that the problem was that nagini was alive (this theory works for harry too) The thing is that all the other Horcruxes weren't "alive" so that if you, say, broke the cup or ring or ripped a page out of the diary- whatever- but then repaired it the object (cup, diadem, etc) would still be the same. But in killing Nagini, she *DIES*; magic
might be able to reconnect her head to her body but she'd still be dead. And since we've covered that you can't really bring anyone/thing back from the dead then the integral structure of the body has been changed and can no longer sustain the horcrux that was bound to the original structure. So the horcrux dies/is destroyed.
Did that make any sense?
The other (simpler) possibility is that by creating a horcrux out of a living object the two "life-forces" are tied together; so the horcrux (being part of the 'eternal soul') would sustain Nagini basically forever but if Nagini dies then so does the Horcrux
The Deathly Hallows
It's an interesting sub-plot but i dont really know why it matters, well yes i do, but i don't think it was necessarily vital to the novel that they be there. Basically they just serve to tie things together, like why Dumbledore and Grindlewald bonded (and more? i smell plot-bunnies) so well and quickly, it explains Harry's cloak and what happened to Dumbledore's hand, which then leads into the Severus-you-have-to-kill-me thing, i suppose it also explains why Albus was so powerful if he's been using the Elder Wand all these years.... But really i think the story could have survived without the Hallows and i agree with someone who already summed it up and, with my spin, they were 'interesting but really not enough to name the book after'.
but then, im sure the title appealed to JKR/her publisher/editor because we wouldn't know what it meant. The mystery is something inherent in all her titles.
hmmm... well this is roughly 12 hours after i finished. read all Sat afternoon to like 230sunday morning, restarted sunday noonish, had to stop to babysit for 5 hours sunday nite and finished about 1 this morning... so maybe i'll have more to say after more time to absorb things. (and once i've figured out what's going on at work- i think i might be in trouble)
feedback makes me happy! let me know if you agree or not or if there's something i forgot
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
calm
restless
thoughtful
accomplished
hot!!
curious
