(no subject)
My gosh! HBP! *dies* I read it once all through, and spent the rest of the time glossing over my fav parts. :p
Overall, the book was surprisingly enjoyable, and infinitely better than OotP. I found it odd that the book was the same size of GoF. I was expecting it to be a bit smaller.
I found the romantic moments in the book unnecessary, but I suppose that's just because I was seething at the Harry/Ginny pairing. It got better the second time around, but I still think it was just too sudden, too forced. Even now, it is just tolerable. In my view, JKR seemed to only have thought of the pairing as viable in the fifth book, because that was when Ginny started becoming supergirl. (eyeroll). I'm hoping she snuffs it. I was never that big a fan of the Weasleys, or let's just say, the younger Weasleys. Fred and George are terrific, and the whole Bill/Fleur marriage is very cute as well. I'm starting to like Ron just a little (but not enough to like the R/Hr pairing), but Ginny is just nauseous.
I find it sad that Hermione is become merely secondary though. Well, that's what it feels like. I think her jealousy of the R/L relationship, and the why she dealt with her feelings trivialised the braininess of her character, and her complaining about the amount of homework she recieved... that was very odd as well.
As for Dumbledore dying and Snape's betrayl, it was very predictable, but it didn't make it any less sad. That's all I really have to say about that, though.
My favourite part of the book was the scenes with the Felix Felicis. The concept of 'liquid luck' is a wonderful one. I also enjoyed the Advanced Potion's book (Snape's book!). The whole HBP thing was quite smart. While Snape betraying the 'Light side' is predictable, his reasoning was not.
The most enjoyable thing about HBP was the characterisation. While I think most of us expected Draco to be every bit as pathetic as he was in HBP, it was nice to see it elaborated. While it does mean D/Hr doesn't have much premise anymore (which is okay, I'm shipping Draco/Myrtle! ;p) there's still the wonderful concept of fandom. The development of Blaise was great! While I honestly didn't expect him to be a 'tall, black boy' with nice cheek bones and slanted eyes, the other aspects of him, including the one about his mother... (seven husbands who all 'mysteriously' died...) is very interesting. I can't wait to rewrite the little plot bunny I've been pondering on for a long time. The various HBP revelations have been very helpful!!
Out of five stars, I think I'd be giving HBP four and a half...