The Mandatory Harry Potter Review - AKA More Spammage
All the Harry Potter drooly fannishness hidden under the Cut of Doom. (OK, not REALLY drooly fannishness...). More for length and politeness than any actual spoilers, which, in fact, I don't believe there are. Unless you've read the book. But then they wouldn't be spoilers, now would they? *wink*
Well. I picked up my book at about 10:30 (I estimate) on the 21st. It was pre-ordered. The local paper managed to get a picture of me getting the book, which I found rather weird since I wasn't all that obsessive/excited over it anymore. Three (maybe even two) years ago, yeah, but not anymore. We can all blame/thank PotC for that.
Sat down to read it at about 11:00am. Didn't move an inch except to allow the cat to jump up and get comfy (he has a gimped leg- I kind of had too) and once to go perform Nature's necessary duty. Had it finished by quarter after 5- it took me a grand total of 6 hours and ~15 minutes, a record for even me (I hold something of a title when it comes to fast reading). 600 pages in 6 hours? That's 100 pages an hour. Normally a 250-300 page book (think Artemis Fowl) takes me about 4 hours.
So.
Read it. Liked it. Okay, I lie- I LOVED it. Very Very VERY good damn book. Only one part actually jumped out at me as slightly choppy, although there undoubtably were more (at least, according to a review in the paper this morning). First thing I said upon finishing was that Rowling was a frikkin' genius. Which I still hold by. She, at least, didn't bow down to The Establishment and write a piece of crap simply to make the money (Glare: T'n'T). If it was little bit iffy in parts, I shan't blame her- it is only the woman's 7th published book, is it not?
Am now officially in love with Snape. Thought he was awesome, but now... I mean come on, he's got just about every other character I can think of beat and rolled in mud when it comes to Angst. He's my Hero. ^^ Was rather ashamed/giddy/proud of myself for spotting a part that any good slasher would take and turn into slash. Made me chuckle.
Significant portions of the book made me HOWL with LAUGHTER. I'm not even kidding. Scared the wits out of Dad (who as asleep) at one point.
Thought the ending was brilliant- rounded it all out, finished it off, and everything. Yet left about a five/six year period for any hardcore HP fanauthors to play with.
And she gave out a good amount of info that any fanauthor/reader would recognize as being Wonderful News. And she managed to surprise me. I don't know what the spoilers all said, since I didn't read any, but there you have it. She surprised me. I had a BALL reading it. I don't want to over-analyze it so I can just drift along in the happiness that comes of reading a fascinating and fun story.
So yes, Read it. Loved it. Ain't gonna Analyze it.
And the jacket's not bad either. (Black and Red- I am so Dramatic. ^^)