Harry Potter
Made the terrible mistake of not going to Border's until 11:45. Didnt get my book until 2. Came home and read until 5, at which point I could not stay awake any longer, and slept until 11:30. Woke up, resumed reading, Finished at 5pm or so.
I think most of us know that JK Rowling is not an amazing writer. An amazing STORYTELLER, yes, but not a great writer. I thought pretty much all of the deaths, which were supposed to be tragedies, were emotionally underdeveloped. By a lot. As I read scenes where characters died, I would kind of think "oh, that's sad", but I definitely didn't have a screaming, crying, emotional breakdown like when Sirius died. The saddest part of the book, for me, the only part I really cried hard at, was seeing Snape's memories, and maybe a little when Dumbledore appeared to Harry in a...dream or whatever it was. It was the only part that had ANY EMOTIONAL WEIGHT AT ALL--it was the only thing Harry reacted to, it was the only thing that seemed like Rowling actually cared to write more than a fucking sentence about.
(But even Harry's magical transformation to a Snape lover was underdeveloped. It's like, you see the memories, things are sad and begin to make sense, and then Harry's just like "jk lol ilu" without any thought toward the fact that Snape was a total ASS to him for six years? And tried to kill his godfather? Fucking SERIOUSLY?)
Other assorted complaints:
- As lizzypaul pointed out, the way JK treated Tonks was fucking ridiculous. She went from being an ass-kicking Auror to her entire storyline consisting of getting pregnant and then dying.
- Ron was more annoying than ever. He treated Hermione like some delicate rose whom he could flirtily manipulate. I've always HATED Ron, but I was very disappointed that he didn't die. At least then maybe it would've shown that he wasn't a perpetually jealous, emotionally idiotic, ignorant waste of space. God, Hermione is just so much BETTER than all of that, and I hate that she became this emotionally pliant, weepy wimp.
- There was a shitton of backstory. I mean, there always is, but this one was especially convoluted, I thought. Especially when things were getting explained at the end, and it was like...mother's protection/horcrux/wand/scar business. It was like puzzle pieces rained from the sky and I had to put the book down and put them together before I could move on. Plus all the weird Dumbledore shit that got thrown in, and it was just too much.
Things that were cool:
- Neville. I don't think I have to say any more. And McGonagall at the end.
- The final duel thing. Especially Harry's taunting (calling by muggle name = burn), and Mrs. Weasley finally being a total badass instead of a stereotypical clucky hen mummy figure.
- The Bathilda Bagshot scene was very creepy. In a good way. I mean, bad that Harry almost died, but awesome. Possessed snakes coming out of corpses and suffocating the protagonist? Sweet.
- Draco not being as evil as previously portrayed. He came off as a scared little boy who didn't really WANT to be on Voldemort's side. As a former D/H shipper, I knew the whole time that he was sensitive and damaged, deep inside.
- Aww, Kreacher! I didn't think I could ever come to love Kreacher, but I totally did.
In conclusion: Not my favorite HP book. Not my least favorite (because seriously, Goblet of Fire was just boring), but definitely not my favorite. I thought the epilogue was stupid. It was just stupid. And cheesy. Like, who the fuck thinks Albus Severus Potter is a SENSICAL name? And SCORPIUS Malfoy?
What I liked so much about books 3 and 5 was the emotional development. In the former, Harry discovers tons of repressed emotions about home and family, and in the latter, Harry struggles with his burdensome destiny and romance and all sorts of other heavy shit. And this book was emotionally dead. So, that's my take.
I think most of us know that JK Rowling is not an amazing writer. An amazing STORYTELLER, yes, but not a great writer. I thought pretty much all of the deaths, which were supposed to be tragedies, were emotionally underdeveloped. By a lot. As I read scenes where characters died, I would kind of think "oh, that's sad", but I definitely didn't have a screaming, crying, emotional breakdown like when Sirius died. The saddest part of the book, for me, the only part I really cried hard at, was seeing Snape's memories, and maybe a little when Dumbledore appeared to Harry in a...dream or whatever it was. It was the only part that had ANY EMOTIONAL WEIGHT AT ALL--it was the only thing Harry reacted to, it was the only thing that seemed like Rowling actually cared to write more than a fucking sentence about.
(But even Harry's magical transformation to a Snape lover was underdeveloped. It's like, you see the memories, things are sad and begin to make sense, and then Harry's just like "jk lol ilu" without any thought toward the fact that Snape was a total ASS to him for six years? And tried to kill his godfather? Fucking SERIOUSLY?)
Other assorted complaints:
- As lizzypaul pointed out, the way JK treated Tonks was fucking ridiculous. She went from being an ass-kicking Auror to her entire storyline consisting of getting pregnant and then dying.
- Ron was more annoying than ever. He treated Hermione like some delicate rose whom he could flirtily manipulate. I've always HATED Ron, but I was very disappointed that he didn't die. At least then maybe it would've shown that he wasn't a perpetually jealous, emotionally idiotic, ignorant waste of space. God, Hermione is just so much BETTER than all of that, and I hate that she became this emotionally pliant, weepy wimp.
- There was a shitton of backstory. I mean, there always is, but this one was especially convoluted, I thought. Especially when things were getting explained at the end, and it was like...mother's protection/horcrux/wand/scar business. It was like puzzle pieces rained from the sky and I had to put the book down and put them together before I could move on. Plus all the weird Dumbledore shit that got thrown in, and it was just too much.
Things that were cool:
- Neville. I don't think I have to say any more. And McGonagall at the end.
- The final duel thing. Especially Harry's taunting (calling by muggle name = burn), and Mrs. Weasley finally being a total badass instead of a stereotypical clucky hen mummy figure.
- The Bathilda Bagshot scene was very creepy. In a good way. I mean, bad that Harry almost died, but awesome. Possessed snakes coming out of corpses and suffocating the protagonist? Sweet.
- Draco not being as evil as previously portrayed. He came off as a scared little boy who didn't really WANT to be on Voldemort's side. As a former D/H shipper, I knew the whole time that he was sensitive and damaged, deep inside.
- Aww, Kreacher! I didn't think I could ever come to love Kreacher, but I totally did.
In conclusion: Not my favorite HP book. Not my least favorite (because seriously, Goblet of Fire was just boring), but definitely not my favorite. I thought the epilogue was stupid. It was just stupid. And cheesy. Like, who the fuck thinks Albus Severus Potter is a SENSICAL name? And SCORPIUS Malfoy?
What I liked so much about books 3 and 5 was the emotional development. In the former, Harry discovers tons of repressed emotions about home and family, and in the latter, Harry struggles with his burdensome destiny and romance and all sorts of other heavy shit. And this book was emotionally dead. So, that's my take.