Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Whew, once people went away so I could read it... that was good. My thoughts are still a bit disjointed, but here goes:
Slytherins - Honestly, I was rather disappointed. Although Rowling did have nods towards the Slytherins not being irretrievably evil ("Slytherin House played its part" and Albus Severus in the Epilogue), really there were no great moments. Snape comes the closest, but dies such a wasted death, and no Slytherins have heroic moments at all. We see none of them fight in the final battle (unless Slughorn does in his green pjs?) I suppose that does work in Rowling's view. Slytherins aren't the heroic house; they achieve their aims by other means. But, it does feel unsatisfying, especially with the entirety of Slytherin House filing out of Hogwarts. That bit, in particular, still leaves the same feeling as the rest of the series, that a quarter of children are damned by their choices at 11, especially as, despite Dumbledore's comment "We sort too soon," they're still sorting them 19 years on, and Ron is still passing on the prejudices to the kids. That may be realistic, but it's depressing.
Dumbledore/Grindelwald - OTP, mate, OT-bloody-P. Actually, a brilliant fanfic writer could pull that off, but I won't hold my breath. Seriously, just as OotP made me belatedly love Sirius, DH has done the same for Dumbledore. I still hold he should have been in Slytherin (the Slytherin that should exist where the children aren't born evil followers of the Dark Lord, but just embody the characteristics of the house), but he's real now.
House Elves . I liked the point at which Ron just gets it and suggests that they have to get the House Elves out because they can't order them to fight. That seemed an excellent end to that theme running through the books. Along with Harry finally learning how to treat Kreacher, and having to dig Dobby's grave, it just worked. I'm not sure what I think about the House Elves coming in to fight at the end, though. Opinions?
Gryffindor bullying. Not dealt with. And James Mark II is doing the same thing as his Grandfather. Horrible little brat.
Harry. Is the hero of his own book. One thing that does bother me about Harry is his use of the Unforgiveables. The Imperius was, perhaps, understandable. The use of the Crucio wasn't. Still at least there was no Avada Kedavra. That would have been too much.
Snape. I knew he'd die, but was still annoyed when he did. But then we got his greatest hits, and it was maybe a bit expositiony, but for me it worked. And James did start the enmity, most of which was uncalled for to start with. So he did love Lily, which we all rather suspected, although it was left fairly open as to whether it was romantic love or simply very strong best-friend love. I daresay Rowling meant romantic, but since it is left just possible to read it as best friend, I prefer that interpretation. Poor Snape, he seems to have had a horrible, unloved childhood. And the best-friend (or whatever) thing with Lily was doomed to failure since, whatever it was, she didn't feel as strongly. She did give up on him rather easily. And yes, I know that's no excuse for joining the Death Eaters. But he was incredibly brave, and constant, in the end. Also, one for the Remus/Snape shippers, Snape was aiming for the Death Eater that was gunning for Remus when he took George's ear off. But as Remus died before Snape's role was discovered, that's not much of a consolation.
Lily. One thing I did HATE was that Lily=silver doe. I know it had to be something the reader would associate with Lily, but how sickening is it that her symbol is derived from her husband and not from herself. In fact, Rowling's gender politics leave a lot to be desired. Why is wizard used as the catch-all for both genders, why not witch?
As for the shipping :
Ron/Hermione. Yup. Works well enough. Can see it.
Harry/Ginny. Thing is, I still can't see this. He's replaying his Father's life. But he's really more his Mother. Dumbledore says he is. And, I think that's partly why it seems so wrong. He gets no emotional centre from Ginny. Also, she never feels real, somehow. (All right, I know, it's fiction. They're not real. It's just some characters feel as if they could exist. Even Harry, sort of, does, but Ginny never does).
Remus/Tonks. Okay, I was wrong after HBP. Tonks hadn't been taken over by Death Eaters. Just had a complete personality change at the beginning of HBP from cool, tough Auror to stupid, love-sick, pathetic nothing. Then Remus went to the same personality-change shop. Bah. This relationship makes no sense. Also their deaths were kind of anti-climactic compared with everyone elses'.
Random . "Nutty as squirrel poo" Must use. Nurmengard = Nuremberg? "For the Greater Good" - Never is. Luna was cool, and I hope her Dad was okay. I've been trained by TV to expect at least one outstanding act of bravery leading to redemption for an evildoer. I rather like that we don't get that. Wormtail dies for an involuntary, minuscule act of mercy, and that's the closest. Is Lavender dead or not? Draco does save the stunned Goyle, but that's the only thing he does that's decent. All of the other things are negative - he doesn't like killing, is disturbed by the treatment of Burbage, but does nothing, and doesn't actually fight on either side. Still he seems to do enough for his creator to let him in her Epilogue. I do hope Lucius, at least, was sent back to Azkaban. As for the Epilogue itself. Honestly! Do you suppose brat James's full name is "James Sirius Remus"?
Overall, I loved it. It was engaging, exciting, and a fitting conclusion to her epic.
Slytherins - Honestly, I was rather disappointed. Although Rowling did have nods towards the Slytherins not being irretrievably evil ("Slytherin House played its part" and Albus Severus in the Epilogue), really there were no great moments. Snape comes the closest, but dies such a wasted death, and no Slytherins have heroic moments at all. We see none of them fight in the final battle (unless Slughorn does in his green pjs?) I suppose that does work in Rowling's view. Slytherins aren't the heroic house; they achieve their aims by other means. But, it does feel unsatisfying, especially with the entirety of Slytherin House filing out of Hogwarts. That bit, in particular, still leaves the same feeling as the rest of the series, that a quarter of children are damned by their choices at 11, especially as, despite Dumbledore's comment "We sort too soon," they're still sorting them 19 years on, and Ron is still passing on the prejudices to the kids. That may be realistic, but it's depressing.
Dumbledore/Grindelwald - OTP, mate, OT-bloody-P. Actually, a brilliant fanfic writer could pull that off, but I won't hold my breath. Seriously, just as OotP made me belatedly love Sirius, DH has done the same for Dumbledore. I still hold he should have been in Slytherin (the Slytherin that should exist where the children aren't born evil followers of the Dark Lord, but just embody the characteristics of the house), but he's real now.
House Elves . I liked the point at which Ron just gets it and suggests that they have to get the House Elves out because they can't order them to fight. That seemed an excellent end to that theme running through the books. Along with Harry finally learning how to treat Kreacher, and having to dig Dobby's grave, it just worked. I'm not sure what I think about the House Elves coming in to fight at the end, though. Opinions?
Gryffindor bullying. Not dealt with. And James Mark II is doing the same thing as his Grandfather. Horrible little brat.
Harry. Is the hero of his own book. One thing that does bother me about Harry is his use of the Unforgiveables. The Imperius was, perhaps, understandable. The use of the Crucio wasn't. Still at least there was no Avada Kedavra. That would have been too much.
Snape. I knew he'd die, but was still annoyed when he did. But then we got his greatest hits, and it was maybe a bit expositiony, but for me it worked. And James did start the enmity, most of which was uncalled for to start with. So he did love Lily, which we all rather suspected, although it was left fairly open as to whether it was romantic love or simply very strong best-friend love. I daresay Rowling meant romantic, but since it is left just possible to read it as best friend, I prefer that interpretation. Poor Snape, he seems to have had a horrible, unloved childhood. And the best-friend (or whatever) thing with Lily was doomed to failure since, whatever it was, she didn't feel as strongly. She did give up on him rather easily. And yes, I know that's no excuse for joining the Death Eaters. But he was incredibly brave, and constant, in the end. Also, one for the Remus/Snape shippers, Snape was aiming for the Death Eater that was gunning for Remus when he took George's ear off. But as Remus died before Snape's role was discovered, that's not much of a consolation.
Lily. One thing I did HATE was that Lily=silver doe. I know it had to be something the reader would associate with Lily, but how sickening is it that her symbol is derived from her husband and not from herself. In fact, Rowling's gender politics leave a lot to be desired. Why is wizard used as the catch-all for both genders, why not witch?
As for the shipping :
Ron/Hermione. Yup. Works well enough. Can see it.
Harry/Ginny. Thing is, I still can't see this. He's replaying his Father's life. But he's really more his Mother. Dumbledore says he is. And, I think that's partly why it seems so wrong. He gets no emotional centre from Ginny. Also, she never feels real, somehow. (All right, I know, it's fiction. They're not real. It's just some characters feel as if they could exist. Even Harry, sort of, does, but Ginny never does).
Remus/Tonks. Okay, I was wrong after HBP. Tonks hadn't been taken over by Death Eaters. Just had a complete personality change at the beginning of HBP from cool, tough Auror to stupid, love-sick, pathetic nothing. Then Remus went to the same personality-change shop. Bah. This relationship makes no sense. Also their deaths were kind of anti-climactic compared with everyone elses'.
Random . "Nutty as squirrel poo" Must use. Nurmengard = Nuremberg? "For the Greater Good" - Never is. Luna was cool, and I hope her Dad was okay. I've been trained by TV to expect at least one outstanding act of bravery leading to redemption for an evildoer. I rather like that we don't get that. Wormtail dies for an involuntary, minuscule act of mercy, and that's the closest. Is Lavender dead or not? Draco does save the stunned Goyle, but that's the only thing he does that's decent. All of the other things are negative - he doesn't like killing, is disturbed by the treatment of Burbage, but does nothing, and doesn't actually fight on either side. Still he seems to do enough for his creator to let him in her Epilogue. I do hope Lucius, at least, was sent back to Azkaban. As for the Epilogue itself. Honestly! Do you suppose brat James's full name is "James Sirius Remus"?
Overall, I loved it. It was engaging, exciting, and a fitting conclusion to her epic.