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I managed to read the whole book without being spoiled at all! That's the important thing.
Good book, would probably read again. Nothing happened that can't be easily 'fixed' in fanfic!
Snape is my favorite character, so of course not happy he died. I mean, everything he did was for love, too, so why couldn't it have done him some good in the end like it did Harry? I knew the doe was Snape's patronus. I knew it! But I'm glad JKR explained him the way I (and others) had thought - killing Dumbledore was part of the plan. And Harry understood it and gave him public recognition for it (was afraid Harry would die without telling anyone that SS was a good guy, though the pensieve would still be there for others to see. But still.). Would have liked SS to have one moment of that recognition while he was *still alive*. He certainly deserved it. And as a SS/HP shipper, I would have liked more than 4 words to be spoken between them in the whole book. Fixable, though. Heh. ;)
And Dumbledore, gah! I have long felt that AD wasn't the wonderful person Harry seemed to think he was. Obviously he was using a small child to his own ends, allowing him to be hurt and tortured. I have seen 'Dumbledore plans to sacrifice Harry' done in what would be considered dark-fic, but JKR made it official! Yay on her for that. I do think Harry was a little too forgiving of him. 'Oh, sorry, I couldn't tell you I planned for you to die all along,' 'Oh, well, that's all right.'
And poor Snape. "You used me." Yeah! AD lied to him, used him horribly and discarded him without a backward glance, and is never called to account for it. Grrr. Dumbledore not my favorite person.
I'm going to have to think more about the whole Dumbledore sister thing. I'm not sure yet what the point of all that was, besides having an 'I need to be careful of my ambition' moment. The author spent an awful lot of time on AD's family history to get to that point. And if Grindenwald had the unbeatable wand, how did AD beat him in a duel? And why was Draco's wand the powerful one? Yes, this whole thread may take some re-reading.
I would have liked to see more of what was going on with the Malfoys. Draco is obviously horrified by the violence, but goes along with it all the way through. It's like he's only there to be rescued by everyone. Was there some moment when he redeems himself, and I missed it? It was strange to see Lucius so devastated and out of it after his strong character development in other books. Yes, he'd been in Azkaban, which might do that to a person, but it was just glanced over with no discussion or resolution. But Narcissa rocks! Anything for ickle Draco. Aw! And in her own way Bellatirx rocks, too, character-wise. Or maybe it's that now I'm picturing her as Helena Bonham Carter!
Probably the less said about the Weasley girl the better. But JKR may have got that, because it could have been much worse. Harry thinks of her wistfully as a bit of normalcy amidst the ongoing trauma he calls a life, but at least there were no long, drawn out angsty love scenes. The Weasley girl can very easily be written out in fanfic!
About Ron and Hermione. Well, okay. There was some good stuff there. They stayed very much in character, down to Ron's leaving and Hermione's staying. I'm glad they were with Harry for this last story, and he didn't succeed in being the lone martyr that is his tendency. But they aren't characters that interest me very much.
I admit that I only skimmed the epilogue, because icky het happily-ever-after. But I did notice the baby names, which were good, and Harry saying Snape was the bravest man he ever knew. *Sniff*
All in all, a well-spent 10 hours of my life!
Snape is my favorite character, so of course not happy he died. I mean, everything he did was for love, too, so why couldn't it have done him some good in the end like it did Harry? I knew the doe was Snape's patronus. I knew it! But I'm glad JKR explained him the way I (and others) had thought - killing Dumbledore was part of the plan. And Harry understood it and gave him public recognition for it (was afraid Harry would die without telling anyone that SS was a good guy, though the pensieve would still be there for others to see. But still.). Would have liked SS to have one moment of that recognition while he was *still alive*. He certainly deserved it. And as a SS/HP shipper, I would have liked more than 4 words to be spoken between them in the whole book. Fixable, though. Heh. ;)
And Dumbledore, gah! I have long felt that AD wasn't the wonderful person Harry seemed to think he was. Obviously he was using a small child to his own ends, allowing him to be hurt and tortured. I have seen 'Dumbledore plans to sacrifice Harry' done in what would be considered dark-fic, but JKR made it official! Yay on her for that. I do think Harry was a little too forgiving of him. 'Oh, sorry, I couldn't tell you I planned for you to die all along,' 'Oh, well, that's all right.'
And poor Snape. "You used me." Yeah! AD lied to him, used him horribly and discarded him without a backward glance, and is never called to account for it. Grrr. Dumbledore not my favorite person.
I'm going to have to think more about the whole Dumbledore sister thing. I'm not sure yet what the point of all that was, besides having an 'I need to be careful of my ambition' moment. The author spent an awful lot of time on AD's family history to get to that point. And if Grindenwald had the unbeatable wand, how did AD beat him in a duel? And why was Draco's wand the powerful one? Yes, this whole thread may take some re-reading.
I would have liked to see more of what was going on with the Malfoys. Draco is obviously horrified by the violence, but goes along with it all the way through. It's like he's only there to be rescued by everyone. Was there some moment when he redeems himself, and I missed it? It was strange to see Lucius so devastated and out of it after his strong character development in other books. Yes, he'd been in Azkaban, which might do that to a person, but it was just glanced over with no discussion or resolution. But Narcissa rocks! Anything for ickle Draco. Aw! And in her own way Bellatirx rocks, too, character-wise. Or maybe it's that now I'm picturing her as Helena Bonham Carter!
Probably the less said about the Weasley girl the better. But JKR may have got that, because it could have been much worse. Harry thinks of her wistfully as a bit of normalcy amidst the ongoing trauma he calls a life, but at least there were no long, drawn out angsty love scenes. The Weasley girl can very easily be written out in fanfic!
About Ron and Hermione. Well, okay. There was some good stuff there. They stayed very much in character, down to Ron's leaving and Hermione's staying. I'm glad they were with Harry for this last story, and he didn't succeed in being the lone martyr that is his tendency. But they aren't characters that interest me very much.
I admit that I only skimmed the epilogue, because icky het happily-ever-after. But I did notice the baby names, which were good, and Harry saying Snape was the bravest man he ever knew. *Sniff*
All in all, a well-spent 10 hours of my life!
