HPB Review
Okay, I liked it. I wasn't expecting to, after reading some initial spoilers, but there was definitely some semblence of the old HP books in this. The characters felt relatively like themselves again, the plot was tighter and actually made sense this time, and the humor had returned. It wasn't perfect, of course, nor JKR's best (imo), but this book was a far cry from the hunk of wasted paper we got two years ago. Most of my cirticisms here are subjective ones as opposed to the huge, gapping objective ones I had for OotP. After reading this book, the more I'm convinced that book5 was utter crap and merely a means to get to this one. At the very least, I felt that JKR had returned to her element in HBP. Having said that though...
Sadly, the "magic" still wasn't there anymore. Although I really enjoyed this book--honestly, I did--something felt lacking. As pure entertainment, I could enjoy it, but the sheer excitement and complete engagement I had in this universe, I'm afraid to say, is gone for good. There was just too much damage done in OotP, and I don't just mean R/S. So much of what was special to me about this series was, for lack of a better word, destroyed in that book; and although JKR (thankfully) attempted to remedy a lot of that in HBP, I couldn't disregard what came before it. The characters, as I knew them, as I envisioned them after GoF, was so altered after book5 that there was no turning back. I couldn't go home again. They were gone. And that's okay. After this book, I've accepted it. Books 1-4 will always have a very special place in my heart.
Now, for specifics...
The Good:
Harry: He was Harry again. Thank god, because I don't think I could sit through another book of screaming boy. It wasn't difficult to root for him this time around.
Dumbledore: Boy, did JKR do some major damage control on this guy. I always liked Dumbeldore up until book5. I didn't think it possible I could actually care about him again after OotP, but I did. His death was sad, and his sacrifice worthy of the character he was drawn to be...unlike someone else we all know .
Draco: At last! Some character development! Some dimension! More please, more!
Plot: I was just thankful it made relative sense, but the soul spliting was totally cool. Loved how it all tied in with the diary from CoS, and the immortality motif so dear to Voldie. I also loved the penseive journey into Riddle's past, especially the scene where he's first told he's a wizard. The parallel to Harry's similar experiences was a nice effect. And the note from "R.A.B"...the obvious guess is Regulus, of course. It'll be fun to see where he comes in.
Slughorn: Nicely drawn character. Kinda disappeared toward the end, but nothing too major.
Molly: She still annoys me, but thankfully JKR toned her down in this book.
Luna: Like Ron, she's grown on me--a lot. I went back through OotP to read her scenes and gained a surprisingly new appreciation for her. And her doing Quidditch commentary was brilliant. Was it me, or did anyone else feel she had more chemistry with Harry in her few scenes than all the H/G scenes combined? I'm not saying I'm a Harry/Luna fan now, although that would be interesting.
Humor: Lots and lots of great jokes to enjoy in this book. One of its saving graces. U-NO-POO...HA!
Snape: She made him interesting again, although it's pretty obvious to me that Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him. The benefits of such an act are too blatant to really believe Snape is just a bad, bad man. I highly doubt Rowling would give him so much mystery and backstory, only to say in the end, "Yep, you were right all along--he is just evil shit." Then again, I couldn't believe she flippantly killed Sirius after giving him all that backstory from PoA. *shrugs* Overall, I thought this was handled very well.
And...the bad:
Sirius: Why no further explanation of his death? Again, nothing about that stupid veil was explained. Yes, he's dead, but at least don't insult our intelligence and expect us to believe Harry would just willingly accept that his godfather had died from falling behind a curtain.
Harry's Creek???: What was with all the shipping? I felt I was watching a bad teen drama. We get nothing for practically five books, then suddenly people are snogging each other left and right. No adequate setup...especially the Ron/Lavender thing. WTF? Where did that come from? Since when has Lavender ever expressed an interest in Ron? Since when have *WE* ever expressed an interest in Lavender? Get her off the page, JK. She's taking up valuable space...speaking of which...
Tonks: What is the point of this character? What? WHAT?!?!? Tell me, please. Surely having pink hair isn't enough to justify giving this pointless creation actual lines.
Ron and Hermione: I'm a big R/H fan, and although it's quite clear they'll be together eventually, haven't we had enough of the "Ron and Hermione try to make each other jealous" routine. We get it. They like each other...can we get some progress going?
Ginny: Admittedly, I've never been a fan of hers, but could JKR have made her more of a Mary-Sue? So, let's see...after 4 books of never really seeing her, she's now apparently a great Quidditch player, a beautiful girl that all the boys want to shag, and she's (surprise, surprise) gotten Harry to fall in love with her. It might have worked if Rowling started her character development sooner, but now that she just threw it in out of nowhere, she'll always be a Mary-Sue in my eyes.
Harry/Ginny: Bleh, for reasons above. I literally felt like I was reading bad H/G fic in their moments together. Everything was so contrived. Harry's rushed feelings for her, Ginny's "Oh, no you didn't" attitude speeches to Ron and everyone else, all the blatant hints dropped in Harry's presence about how popular and wonderful Ginny is, Ginny telling how she waited for him...the list goes on. Although I hated the idea, I knew H/G was going to happen from the 1st book (despite my intense hope otherwise), but I thought Rowling would be a little more creative than this. As it is, I'd say some of the H/G writers in the fandom are entitled to some copyrights for this portion of HBP.
And, last but certainly not least:
Remus/Tonks: Again, WTF??? Setting aside the fact that we've never seen these two interact in any intimate manner, let alone a romantically intimate one, but what the hell was Rowling smoking when she interjected that awkward moment into what was the most inappropriate time and setting? One minute we’re devastated for Bill's mangled mug and then, out of nowhere, everyone starts trying to pimp Tonks onto Remus. Again, WTF? I mean, you wouldn't even do that with characters who actually had a history together, let alone two who didn't. Obviously, this was wrong on so many levels. Bad writing, bad characterization, bad judgment, bad everything. On the upside, it's not too severe that we can't perfectly explain it away.
But knowing Rowling's penchant to shit all over R/S, R/T will probably be married in book 7. But as it stands now, in the words of Homer Simpson: "It's still good, it's still good." :)
Okay, that's enough for now...will post more as I think of more. Gotta go. Hope you all enjoyed the book to some extent.
Sadly, the "magic" still wasn't there anymore. Although I really enjoyed this book--honestly, I did--something felt lacking. As pure entertainment, I could enjoy it, but the sheer excitement and complete engagement I had in this universe, I'm afraid to say, is gone for good. There was just too much damage done in OotP, and I don't just mean R/S. So much of what was special to me about this series was, for lack of a better word, destroyed in that book; and although JKR (thankfully) attempted to remedy a lot of that in HBP, I couldn't disregard what came before it. The characters, as I knew them, as I envisioned them after GoF, was so altered after book5 that there was no turning back. I couldn't go home again. They were gone. And that's okay. After this book, I've accepted it. Books 1-4 will always have a very special place in my heart.
Now, for specifics...
The Good:
Harry: He was Harry again. Thank god, because I don't think I could sit through another book of screaming boy. It wasn't difficult to root for him this time around.
Dumbledore: Boy, did JKR do some major damage control on this guy. I always liked Dumbeldore up until book5. I didn't think it possible I could actually care about him again after OotP, but I did. His death was sad, and his sacrifice worthy of the character he was drawn to be...unlike someone else we all know .
Draco: At last! Some character development! Some dimension! More please, more!
Plot: I was just thankful it made relative sense, but the soul spliting was totally cool. Loved how it all tied in with the diary from CoS, and the immortality motif so dear to Voldie. I also loved the penseive journey into Riddle's past, especially the scene where he's first told he's a wizard. The parallel to Harry's similar experiences was a nice effect. And the note from "R.A.B"...the obvious guess is Regulus, of course. It'll be fun to see where he comes in.
Slughorn: Nicely drawn character. Kinda disappeared toward the end, but nothing too major.
Molly: She still annoys me, but thankfully JKR toned her down in this book.
Luna: Like Ron, she's grown on me--a lot. I went back through OotP to read her scenes and gained a surprisingly new appreciation for her. And her doing Quidditch commentary was brilliant. Was it me, or did anyone else feel she had more chemistry with Harry in her few scenes than all the H/G scenes combined? I'm not saying I'm a Harry/Luna fan now, although that would be interesting.
Humor: Lots and lots of great jokes to enjoy in this book. One of its saving graces. U-NO-POO...HA!
Snape: She made him interesting again, although it's pretty obvious to me that Dumbledore ordered Snape to kill him. The benefits of such an act are too blatant to really believe Snape is just a bad, bad man. I highly doubt Rowling would give him so much mystery and backstory, only to say in the end, "Yep, you were right all along--he is just evil shit." Then again, I couldn't believe she flippantly killed Sirius after giving him all that backstory from PoA. *shrugs* Overall, I thought this was handled very well.
And...the bad:
Sirius: Why no further explanation of his death? Again, nothing about that stupid veil was explained. Yes, he's dead, but at least don't insult our intelligence and expect us to believe Harry would just willingly accept that his godfather had died from falling behind a curtain.
Harry's Creek???: What was with all the shipping? I felt I was watching a bad teen drama. We get nothing for practically five books, then suddenly people are snogging each other left and right. No adequate setup...especially the Ron/Lavender thing. WTF? Where did that come from? Since when has Lavender ever expressed an interest in Ron? Since when have *WE* ever expressed an interest in Lavender? Get her off the page, JK. She's taking up valuable space...speaking of which...
Tonks: What is the point of this character? What? WHAT?!?!? Tell me, please. Surely having pink hair isn't enough to justify giving this pointless creation actual lines.
Ron and Hermione: I'm a big R/H fan, and although it's quite clear they'll be together eventually, haven't we had enough of the "Ron and Hermione try to make each other jealous" routine. We get it. They like each other...can we get some progress going?
Ginny: Admittedly, I've never been a fan of hers, but could JKR have made her more of a Mary-Sue? So, let's see...after 4 books of never really seeing her, she's now apparently a great Quidditch player, a beautiful girl that all the boys want to shag, and she's (surprise, surprise) gotten Harry to fall in love with her. It might have worked if Rowling started her character development sooner, but now that she just threw it in out of nowhere, she'll always be a Mary-Sue in my eyes.
Harry/Ginny: Bleh, for reasons above. I literally felt like I was reading bad H/G fic in their moments together. Everything was so contrived. Harry's rushed feelings for her, Ginny's "Oh, no you didn't" attitude speeches to Ron and everyone else, all the blatant hints dropped in Harry's presence about how popular and wonderful Ginny is, Ginny telling how she waited for him...the list goes on. Although I hated the idea, I knew H/G was going to happen from the 1st book (despite my intense hope otherwise), but I thought Rowling would be a little more creative than this. As it is, I'd say some of the H/G writers in the fandom are entitled to some copyrights for this portion of HBP.
And, last but certainly not least:
Remus/Tonks: Again, WTF??? Setting aside the fact that we've never seen these two interact in any intimate manner, let alone a romantically intimate one, but what the hell was Rowling smoking when she interjected that awkward moment into what was the most inappropriate time and setting? One minute we’re devastated for Bill's mangled mug and then, out of nowhere, everyone starts trying to pimp Tonks onto Remus. Again, WTF? I mean, you wouldn't even do that with characters who actually had a history together, let alone two who didn't. Obviously, this was wrong on so many levels. Bad writing, bad characterization, bad judgment, bad everything. On the upside, it's not too severe that we can't perfectly explain it away.
But knowing Rowling's penchant to shit all over R/S, R/T will probably be married in book 7. But as it stands now, in the words of Homer Simpson: "It's still good, it's still good." :)
Okay, that's enough for now...will post more as I think of more. Gotta go. Hope you all enjoyed the book to some extent.