at the close...
I spent all day yesterday reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows rather than fleshing out my thesis plan. Bad me.
So now I have fannish ramblings to fling at you!
I really enjoyed book 7, moreso than the other books. It was very different from the others, in that it wasn't set in Hogwarts, there was action all throughout it, and most of the time we were only focused on 2-3 main characters. The action was very cleverly paced, with long, boring, tense waiting periods cut out (unlike in HBP, where Harry spends ages pacing outside the Room of Requirement grumbling that nobody believes him about Draco being up to something!), and near-misses punctuated by small triumphs and info-dumps. It kept me on my toes.
I loved how Dumbledore was almost completely re-characterised, both in that JKR used the revelations about Grindelwald and the Dumbledores (and a NDE vision, FFS!) to keep Dumbledore in the story, and in that it really broke down the mystery of the wizard figure. It made Harry's foray in the Forbidden Forest seem a little less like Frodo going into Mordor with Gandalf off somewhere being marginally effective. In many ways, Dumbledore was the patriarch of Hogwarts, and the fact that JKR undid his myths by exposing the amorality and power-driven motives of young Dumbledore really did underscore the point of the whole story.
I want to know more about Grindelwald (I'm expecting lotsa Dumbledore/Grindelwald fic, both slashy and otherwise -- my brain has already been broken regarding HP pairings), because it was always something alluded to but not spoken about. You'd think that learning the methods of one Dark Wizard's defeat would help you defeat another, but noooo....
And I loved Aberforth!
I already loved Hermione, and now I love her some more. Hermione as Bellatrix made me grin like mad. She had some mad lines! XD
Dobby and Kreacher are merely convenient to Harry. Even Dobby's death should've been more meaningful in some way other than making Harry look good. I'm not into this whole thing of non-human species being used as a cipher for people of colour, especially when poc are so marginalised in the series.
There was a lot of politics in the Wizarding world that we missed out on because the story is told from Harry's PoV. Those politics are what I find really interesting -- the fact that there's political (as well as magical) resistance, the relations between Wizards and other magical species, disappearances, Snatchers, interrogations... this stuff is fascinating! I appreciate that JKR didn't write about it in DH, though, because she really isn't that good at writing about politics. I'm really looking forward to Potterwatch, Quibbler, and Order-centric fanfic that fleshes this stuff out, though!
I did cry. I cried first when Dobby died. That was so senseless.
I cried second when I thought Harry was going to die. I swore at JKR for making me read about a seventeen-year-old boy walking willingly into death. That part of the story was so gruesome.
Despite the fact that I wanted to slap Harry at several times during DH (although his mania about the Hallows and other various moodiness was understandable given sub-standard nutrition, running-for-your-life tension levels, sleep deprivation, and general teenageness), I still think of him like a younger brother. The combination of a Harry-centric PoV, watching him grow up, and seeing him in a lot of dangerous/unfair situations where the books make you fear for his safety or take his side means a lot of sympathy for the kidlet. I must be getting old, cos my maternal instincts are kicking in and I'm starting to see seventeen-year-olds as far too young to do anything dangerous. I spent a lot of DH thinking "These are just little kids! They don't stand a chance! They shouldn't be out there!"
I wasn't shocked that Remus died. After Wormtail went, I knew that, as the last Marauder with a whole lotta self-hate, Remus wouldn't last too long. He died fighting, like he wanted to. Like Sirius. The fangirl in me thought he was miserable because he was still in love with Sirius, and Tonks just wasn't measuring up...
But I was a bit appalled that Tonks died, what with a newborn and all. It was rather too... poetic. Harry as reckless godfather to a child with both Order parents dead... I thought the point was that the badness ends with Harry? No more history repeating!
And why wasn't Andromeda in the Order? Are Teddy Lupin and Scorpius Malfoy gonna have to fight for Grimmauld Place?
I also have to applaud JKR for naming Bill & Fleur's daughter Victoire. It almost makes up for her turning Fleur into another domestic goddess. Even though I always secretly shipped Fleur/Krum (and I liked him even more in DH!).
I'm also expecting lotsa fluffy, silly fanfic involving the Trio returning to Hogwarts to finish their N.E.W.T.s. And, of course, getting into trouble.
That's about all I can think of to say right now. There's prolly more, but my brain is now over writing about it. I should work on my thesis.
So now I have fannish ramblings to fling at you!
I really enjoyed book 7, moreso than the other books. It was very different from the others, in that it wasn't set in Hogwarts, there was action all throughout it, and most of the time we were only focused on 2-3 main characters. The action was very cleverly paced, with long, boring, tense waiting periods cut out (unlike in HBP, where Harry spends ages pacing outside the Room of Requirement grumbling that nobody believes him about Draco being up to something!), and near-misses punctuated by small triumphs and info-dumps. It kept me on my toes.
I loved how Dumbledore was almost completely re-characterised, both in that JKR used the revelations about Grindelwald and the Dumbledores (and a NDE vision, FFS!) to keep Dumbledore in the story, and in that it really broke down the mystery of the wizard figure. It made Harry's foray in the Forbidden Forest seem a little less like Frodo going into Mordor with Gandalf off somewhere being marginally effective. In many ways, Dumbledore was the patriarch of Hogwarts, and the fact that JKR undid his myths by exposing the amorality and power-driven motives of young Dumbledore really did underscore the point of the whole story.
I want to know more about Grindelwald (I'm expecting lotsa Dumbledore/Grindelwald fic, both slashy and otherwise -- my brain has already been broken regarding HP pairings), because it was always something alluded to but not spoken about. You'd think that learning the methods of one Dark Wizard's defeat would help you defeat another, but noooo....
And I loved Aberforth!
I already loved Hermione, and now I love her some more. Hermione as Bellatrix made me grin like mad. She had some mad lines! XD
Dobby and Kreacher are merely convenient to Harry. Even Dobby's death should've been more meaningful in some way other than making Harry look good. I'm not into this whole thing of non-human species being used as a cipher for people of colour, especially when poc are so marginalised in the series.
There was a lot of politics in the Wizarding world that we missed out on because the story is told from Harry's PoV. Those politics are what I find really interesting -- the fact that there's political (as well as magical) resistance, the relations between Wizards and other magical species, disappearances, Snatchers, interrogations... this stuff is fascinating! I appreciate that JKR didn't write about it in DH, though, because she really isn't that good at writing about politics. I'm really looking forward to Potterwatch, Quibbler, and Order-centric fanfic that fleshes this stuff out, though!
I did cry. I cried first when Dobby died. That was so senseless.
I cried second when I thought Harry was going to die. I swore at JKR for making me read about a seventeen-year-old boy walking willingly into death. That part of the story was so gruesome.
Despite the fact that I wanted to slap Harry at several times during DH (although his mania about the Hallows and other various moodiness was understandable given sub-standard nutrition, running-for-your-life tension levels, sleep deprivation, and general teenageness), I still think of him like a younger brother. The combination of a Harry-centric PoV, watching him grow up, and seeing him in a lot of dangerous/unfair situations where the books make you fear for his safety or take his side means a lot of sympathy for the kidlet. I must be getting old, cos my maternal instincts are kicking in and I'm starting to see seventeen-year-olds as far too young to do anything dangerous. I spent a lot of DH thinking "These are just little kids! They don't stand a chance! They shouldn't be out there!"
I wasn't shocked that Remus died. After Wormtail went, I knew that, as the last Marauder with a whole lotta self-hate, Remus wouldn't last too long. He died fighting, like he wanted to. Like Sirius. The fangirl in me thought he was miserable because he was still in love with Sirius, and Tonks just wasn't measuring up...
But I was a bit appalled that Tonks died, what with a newborn and all. It was rather too... poetic. Harry as reckless godfather to a child with both Order parents dead... I thought the point was that the badness ends with Harry? No more history repeating!
And why wasn't Andromeda in the Order? Are Teddy Lupin and Scorpius Malfoy gonna have to fight for Grimmauld Place?
I also have to applaud JKR for naming Bill & Fleur's daughter Victoire. It almost makes up for her turning Fleur into another domestic goddess. Even though I always secretly shipped Fleur/Krum (and I liked him even more in DH!).
I'm also expecting lotsa fluffy, silly fanfic involving the Trio returning to Hogwarts to finish their N.E.W.T.s. And, of course, getting into trouble.
That's about all I can think of to say right now. There's prolly more, but my brain is now over writing about it. I should work on my thesis.