Well no spoilers from me as of yet. But this entry certainly will do so, so turn back now if you don't want to be spoiled.
But seriously, I spent all night reading it (watched Iris vs GGPlay soon after), and I was all "wtf" for a lot of the book.
For some reason, it didn't have the same zing as the rest of the books, and I found some parts to be quite lame.
Of course, there were brilliant moments of writing, but this book didn't quite have the quick wit and whimsical nature of the first six books.
Rowling certainly did a good job of tying up loose ends, but it still left something to be desired.
And what was with those last three words in the book? (Look them up, if you're done.) I love simplicity, but I think it could have at least been rephrased better to leave an impression; seeing as book finishes a series of phenomenal reknown.
As with the movies, Book 7 left me underwhelmed and mildly disappointed.
And for people that mistakenly clicked the blog link, the rest is in spoilers.
So what's the point of making new magical theories and "laws" in the 7th book? It was supposed to wrap things up; not add more confusion. Sure, the 6th book brought us Horcruxes, but it was obvious that those were planned from the start. We have the diary, the sword with basilisk venom playing a key role (both from CoS), Nagini, the locket (mentioned in OotP) and the diadem (I believe mentioned in OotP as well).
The "Deathly Hallows" only seem to be mentioned in book one, but no one speculates why Harry has such a pwnage cloak. Rowling said it would be important, but who would have dreamed of this? It seems as if she bullshat the other two Hallows, as they have never been mentioned. It is as if Rowling planted the clues early on (PS/SS) such as Grindelwald, but the series did not go quite as planned. She had to pull back and get back on course for the 7th book to make sense. I believe she became too confident in her writing capability, and thought she could finish everything in 600 pages flat. But this element of magic (the Hallows) was not brilliantly foreshadowed by Rowling in any other books, as far as I can find.
Two loose ends that piss me off:
Firstly, in HBP, Snape shoots a red beam of light at Dumbledore. That was not Avada Kedavra (although he said it), as we know from its characteristic green flash. So we know that Snape did not truly want to kill Dumbledore (Moody mentions unforgivables in GoF). So how the hell did he do it?!?
Next, what happened to everyone's families? Fuck their kids. How are their parents?
Damn. "all was well". Could you get any more lame? How about "and the pain and suffering of all people, Muggle and Wizard alike, had finally ended. Harry's scar had not bothered him for 19 years, and so it was to remain." Would that really have been so hard?
Lastly. What is with all this Elder Wand bullshit? Harry won his last battle simply because of the wand he was (or wasn't, really) using? Way to go, Potter. Brave. Courageous.
Concerning deaths in the book: (I add yet another spoiler for dipshits that ventured this far) + Show Spoiler +
Why did no one important die? It was way too perfect. Harry almost died (which would have been a good ending), Ron ran away initially (BUT DIDN'T DIE) and everyone was "an inch from death".
"Great evil comes at a cost. People will have to die." -JKR
She said this herself.
We lost Mad-Eye, Tonks, Lupin, Snape, and Fred (EDIT: Colin, Hedwig). No problem telling the twins apart now.
We should have lost (imo, obviously): Hagrid (He almost died at the beginning. I thought that would have been great.) Hermione or Ron (Or else it's too sappy) Mr or Mrs Weasley (Let's hit home a bit more during the epic fight) Another teacher we didn't hate so much (Snape's death was initially pleasing, until it turned out he was good after all. I called him being good btw.) McGonagall or Flitwick would have done nicely. Neville, Luna, Ernie, Cho or any of the DA except Ginny (I now understand why JKR kept Ron and Hermione; they had to have babies in her epilogue.)
So Book 7 didn't necessarily suck, but I was not as impressed as I have been in the past. Don't get me wrong. I am still a great fan of the HP books. (Movies can suck my dick.) I was just- "underwhelmed".
I'm pretty sure you can kill someone without the killing curse. With a frail old man like Dumbledore, Snape might as well have said "renus failus" and given the same effect
I agree, someone important had to die, and the fact that no one died pissed me off So is the fact that draco wasn't in jail. He tried to kill harry AGAIN
I've got the N. American version. A red beam of light hits Dumbledore, so I assume Snape didn't want to kill him (Moody mentions the class pointing wands at him and him only getting a nosebleed GoF). So did do it nonverbally?
And why bother mentioning nonverbal spells in HBP if they don't do anything in DH?
LR, I really don't know. That's one loose end that really needed to be explained.
you can kill someone without the killing curse.. fred died....i think the non verbal bit was to cover for levicorpus... but heres my rant: the most anticipated duel in the history of the series... turned out less than epic. Harry basically TALKED voldy into submission.. like WTF. then they each fire 1 spell and voldy gets fucking owned???? the greatest dark wizard of all time, the terrifying he who must not be named typed fucking GG in 2 seconds? thats fucking bullshit there should have been at the very least and awesome battle.... though harry should have definatly died.... would have made the book a lot better.... that king's cross bullshit was utterly dumb... Personally, i think the chapter called the Prince's tale (i think) was very well done... and the epilogue can suck my balls for all i care... Albus Severus Potter... like serously?? come on thats sooo homo......
On July 21 2007 22:43 Monoxide wrote: the most anticipated duel in the history of the series... turned out less than epic. Harry basically TALKED voldy into submission.. like WTF. then they each fire 1 spell and voldy gets fucking owned???? the greatest dark wizard of all time, the terrifying he who must not be named typed fucking GG in 2 seconds? thats fucking bullshit there should have been at the very least and awesome battle....
that pretty much summarizes what I am feeling about the ending
it would have been good if he gave up his life to end the war.. and someone else fucking owned the snake... but....harry didn't fuckign die.. that was stupid..ahhhhhhhhhh she should have just left it with the green light and it was all over bit.. fucking king's cross........ harry should have taken the train... and just moved on..
On July 21 2007 22:43 Monoxide wrote: you can kill someone without the killing curse.. fred died....i think the non verbal bit was to cover for levicorpus... but heres my rant: the most anticipated duel in the history of the series... turned out less than epic. Harry basically TALKED voldy into submission.. like WTF. then they each fire 1 spell and voldy gets fucking owned???? the greatest dark wizard of all time, the terrifying he who must not be named typed fucking GG in 2 seconds? thats fucking bullshit there should have been at the very least and awesome battle.... though harry should have definatly died.... would have made the book a lot better.... that king's cross bullshit was utterly dumb... Personally, i think the chapter called the Prince's tale (i think) was very well done... and the epilogue can suck my balls for all i care... Albus Severus Potter... like serously?? come on thats sooo homo......
On July 21 2007 22:43 Monoxide wrote: you can kill someone without the killing curse.. fred died....i think the non verbal bit was to cover for levicorpus... but heres my rant: the most anticipated duel in the history of the series... turned out less than epic. Harry basically TALKED voldy into submission.. like WTF. then they each fire 1 spell and voldy gets fucking owned???? the greatest dark wizard of all time, the terrifying he who must not be named typed fucking GG in 2 seconds? thats fucking bullshit there should have been at the very least and awesome battle.... though harry should have definatly died.... would have made the book a lot better.... that king's cross bullshit was utterly dumb... Personally, i think the chapter called the Prince's tale (i think) was very well done... and the epilogue can suck my balls for all i care... Albus Severus Potter... like serously?? come on thats sooo homo......
neville killed it with the gryffindor sword.. wtf reading comprehension? lol
oh and alffla, expelliarmus is harry's trademark spell. remember that's how he was singled out during the decoy action scene. it makes sense that harry's trademark spell would be one that is only meant to disarm -- to stop the violence without causing any harm
Right when I read about the silver doe, I knew Snape was a good guy. I sorta just figured that he liked Lily and his patronus would be a doe. And how the hell did Neville get the sword, I thought griphook had it? Maybe I missed something..
On July 22 2007 10:53 lesser_good wrote: in the version of the book i have . Snape clearly says avada kedavra when he kills dumbledore..
now that i think about it. i have no idea how neville got the sword
Yes, he says AK. But the beam he shoots is red, and Dumbledore falls. What we know of AK is that there is a GREEN flash of light and the opposing body simply crumples, lifeless.
On July 22 2007 12:51 KOFgokuon wrote: It dropped out of the sorting hat The sword comes to those in need and have valor or something to that effect, I forget
just like when harry got it in the second book
the book was about as good as i was expecting so w/e
On July 22 2007 12:51 KOFgokuon wrote: It dropped out of the sorting hat The sword comes to those in need and have valor or something to that effect, I forget
On July 22 2007 16:47 kdog3683 wrote: the prince's tale was by far the best chapter in both content and writing style
Oh yes, definitely.
As to this being a children's book, I think that the complexity and style grew up with the kids. I was 10 when the books came out in North America, so I'm 17 now, and it adjusted nicely to my age.
10 year olds now can probably get through the first 4 books, but I think it starts to darken too much for kids to fully understand. I think that most the kids are movie fans, and they think that the books are a similar experience.
On July 22 2007 16:47 kdog3683 wrote: the prince's tale was by far the best chapter in both content and writing style
Oh yes, definitely.
As to this being a children's book, I think that the complexity and style grew up with the kids. I was 10 when the books came out in North America, so I'm 17 now, and it adjusted nicely to my age.
10 year olds now can probably get through the first 4 books, but I think it starts to darken too much for kids to fully understand. I think that most the kids are movie fans, and they think that the books are a similar experience.
Well, to me Harry Potter is, and always has been, about entertainment. It's not the most brillant book series ever, but reading it is very enjoyable. Even though the later books are supposed to be dark, they're still very humorous and light in general. Making the end too dark would, in my opinion, not have fitted in with the general tone of the rest of the series.
On July 22 2007 23:50 Orome wrote: Oh and letting Harry sacrifice himself for the rest of the world would've been extremely cliché and corny.
Better than having him conquer his archnemesis and saving the world.
And yes, I miss the whimsical tone of the other 6 books. That's why I thought, in the direction 7 was going, that Harry should have died.
Epilogue for the lose, btw.
man i like the book quite a bit, even the epilogue i didn't mind! But the fucking last line seemed so forced lol. It should have ended with "I know he will." ( or no epi I guess.)
snape says avada kedavra.... but an unforgivable curse u have to mean it.... remembber when moody was teaching dada... he told the students to use ak on him... he said it would give him notihing more than a nosebleed..
I liked the book. But I actually didn't read 1-6 so I had no burden of expectations. I just got caught up in the hype 'oooh final Harry Potter book' so I read it. Actually given my situation it shows that the book can stand up on its own, though I did review the plots of the previous books with wikipedia, hah.
On July 22 2007 10:53 lesser_good wrote:now that i think about it. i have no idea how neville got the sword
If you're talking about the time Harry and Ron nab the sword from the frozen lake, later on when Harry looks at Snape's memories with the pensieve, we know Dumbledore told Snape to get the sword into Ron's hands, while making it seem like a brave action. As well, Snape's patronus is the doe (same as Lily Potter's), which Ron/Harry saw before finding the lake with the sword.
On July 22 2007 10:53 lesser_good wrote:now that i think about it. i have no idea how neville got the sword
If you're talking about the time Harry and Ron nab the sword from the frozen lake, later on when Harry looks at Snape's memories with the pensieve, we know Dumbledore told Snape to get the sword into Ron's hands, while making it seem like a brave action. As well, Snape's patronus is the doe (same as Lily Potter's), which Ron/Harry saw before finding the lake with the sword.
He's not talking about that. He was answered, anyway
Even though I felt that Rowling could've done this more properly by making it around 1200 pages instead of 600, she did it right.
She got must of saying "I KNEW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEND!" and moments after, something that we weren't predicting at all where facing us.
I mean hands up, who actually didn't have the theory about Harry being the last horocrux, and had to die? I sure as hell knew I did, and when he "died" I was a bit reliefed, disappointed and yet I felt like "okay well it was meant to be..." only to find myself quite surprised about the twist she managed to pull off. The whole thing involving Voldemort taking Harrys blood.
Just finished the book, and I'm a bit overwhelmed. I must agree that the beginning of it wasn't that great, but the end made it all worth.
So forgive me if I can't dive deeper into the discussion right now, I feel that my head is full of words and confused thoughts at the moment.
Harry didn't win because he had the Elder Wand; Voldemort had the Elder Wand. Voldemort lost because the wand wouldn't attack its true master (Harry) so the curse rebounded on him.
On July 24 2007 11:56 SigrUn wrote: Harry didn't win because he had the Elder Wand; Voldemort had the Elder Wand. Voldemort lost because the wand wouldn't attack its true master (Harry) so the curse rebounded on him.
That's what I meant. I should really get to editing that.
Or it reboundend because harry used his deffensive spell?
The wand was perfectly fine with "killing" Harry in the forest, I don't see how it wouldn't have let it happend again unless Harry did something about it.
On July 21 2007 22:33 mikeymoo wrote: I've got the N. American version. A red beam of light hits Dumbledore, so I assume Snape didn't want to kill him (Moody mentions the class pointing wands at him and him only getting a nosebleed GoF). So did do it nonverbally?
And why bother mentioning nonverbal spells in HBP if they don't do anything in DH?
LR, I really don't know. That's one loose end that really needed to be explained.
snape didnt use the killing curse because he didnt wanna tear his soul\
Allow me to bump this thread since I just finished reading HP7.
I believe that the book, overall, was well written. There were a few minor flaws such as the somewhat hasty pace of the book and the neglection of the "fillers" (what happens to the less major characters and the such), but I overlooked those in the light of the long-awaited ending to the series that lasted over half my life. The one major element of the story that left me melancholy was + Show Spoiler +
when I finally learned of Snape's history and true intentions. I even found myself wishing Snape would've survived to...well, it woulda been too late for him to do anything for Lily since she died as a sacrifice for Voldemort, wouldn't it?
Anyway, Harry lives, Snape comes out a hero, and everything's supposedly set for the wizarding world at the dramatic (imo) conclusion of the Harry Potter series. Now...we only need to put up with the rather headshort expectations of the movies. Looking forward to the last movie, however, for I have a feeling the last battle at Hogwarts will be quite a blast (Hopefully).
EDIT: Oh, this wasn't a forum thread, so no bump - -;
I was shocked when I read where Snape's true loyalties lay. And of course... The ending... I mean the epilogue felt rushed and had the lamest, most boring sentence I've ever read to end a series.
Also, I really think the book would've been so much better if Harry HAD died when Voldemort had struck him with the death curse. After the shocking revelation of Snape's and Dumbledore's well.... humanity. Snape's love for Lily was immeasurable. He did so much, endured so much suffering...for her. In the end HE was the hero. HE had the most selfless intentions in his heart. And then there was Dumbledore. He expected Harry to die from the beginning.
In fact he prepped and pruned Harry to die from the start. To accept the inevitability of death and to carry out his mission calmly. This was not malevolent. It was simply cold and calculating. A numbers game. By giving Harry this mission, and he alone he somehow reasoned that he would MINIMIZE the total number of deaths. Maybe his brother was right after all...As great of a wizard Dumbledore was he still had deep flaws as a human being. It was just another little one of his schemes.
So at this point Harry's personal vision of Dumbledore, infallible and all-knowing is shattered and at the same time Snape is vindicated. Harry is deeply confused. But he doesn't even have time to grasp everything that's been revealed to him in the last few minutes. He realizes what he must do. He marches to his own death. There WILL NOT be any closure or long goodbyes to Hermoine or Ron, filling them in on why he has to do this. He walks by Ginny who's literally a breath away from him and no matter how much his heart lurches, how much his skin craves for her soft touch, he drags his feet towards the forbidden forest. He's crestfallen. And he takes the lonliest walk he's ever taken in his life towards Voldermort. At this point... my heart was breaking and I actually had tears in my eyes.
But as you all know, deus ex machina. Harry is killed and then ressurected, Dumbledore IS all knowing after all and explains his grand plan to Harry while they wait in limbo... And Harry at the end even manages to beat Voldermort in a final duel. Everything is tied up neatly... "All is well" FUUUUUUUU!!! I felt cheated.
How much more poignant would it have been if Dumbledore WAS not perfect? Just a mere mortal who had an imperfect plan to beat the Darklord that had gone awry? If Harry deviated from this plan of his own accord. If Harry had died. So voldemort taunts the remaining survivors of the resistance crowding in the front of the castle with Harry's dead body. This only enrages them. Neville leads the way, jsut like in the book in he kills the last Hocrux with a swing of the sword. Centaurs unexpectedly flank the death eaters from behind, while every man and woman with a wand, from town and all around the country rallies behind the whittled down resistance.
They take heavy losses but with their combined might they take down the death eaters and corner Voldemort in the end. Many wizards duel him at once and he simply cannot block 20 curses coming from all sides. This way, we'd get to read dozens of pages dedicated to the reactions of Hermoine, Ron, Ginny and the Weasley's. I wish the author would have given as much effort writing about the reactions, implications and fallout of the war as she did writing that memory scene and Harry's walk through the woods, .... She lierally glossed the ending over, probably dedicating a meager 8 pages to the aftermath of it all. ):
It's been a while since I've read book 7, but I thought it was pretty clear Harry wasn't going to die. I mean, it just doesn't make much sense to give him such a fucked up life (parent's killed at birth, living with relatives who don't want him, killing off two of his closest friends and father figures in Sirius and DD, killing his pet at the end that has been with him since book one - useless slaughter, and probably many more important points I can't remember right now) and then to top off his shitty life by killing him at the end just seems nonsensical.
I do agree with you though, that it would have been interesting to see a flawed DD and reveal him as not being the perfect wizard as everyone thought him to be. And yeah, the epilogue was a corny joke and could have read less like a classic Disney ending, but what can you do about it. The series overall was really entertaining though and Rowling did a good job keeping the books enjoyable reads even if they lost momentum towards the end.
I felt like there were too many useless deaths in this book. Like she just randomly killed off a bunch of people in the final battle which was totally weird. I get that some people have to die, but why tonks and lupin and fred? and why hedwig (wtf?)? Anyway, I missed the whole hogwarts thing in this book, its what made harry potter books harry potter.
I'll agree the last chapter was extremely corny, but you're trying to make HP something it isn't if you really wanted Harry to be killed. Even if its tone has become pretty dark in the last 3 books Harry Potter is still a children's book.
Rowling's talent and the reason why HP is so immensely successful has always lain in her ability to make her books entertaining to read. HP's morals are very obvious and nothing particularly interesting for an adult, the story-telling is good but nothing ground-breaking and there are so many plot holes it's ridiculous. (I probably know the books better than almost anyone since it's become my habit to listen to the audio books with every tedious task I have to do and whenever I have trouble falling asleep. I've heard books 1-5 at least 25 times each.)
By wanting Snape to be the hero (he could never be that btw, all he cares about is Lilly, he doesn't give a shit about anyone else), Dumbledore to betray Harry and Harry to die, you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book. Killing off Harry would go completely against the spirit of the earlier books and the light tone of all the books would suddenly seem completely out of place in a series that ends in tragedy.
Ugh, reading through this blog reminds me of the constant grimace I wore while reading through the later third or so of that book. The incredibly corny epilogue was particularly cringe-worthy. I'm convinced that the entire drivel is of inferior quality to some of the fan fiction out there
The fact that I read the whole book in one day didn't really help with how quickly everything seemed to just occur. Felt like the whole adventure could have been dragged out in a few more books.
And Harry basically trash talked Tom Riddle into defeat :/ It's like "lol you're such a pos ... i'm the true owner you dipshit lololololol" .... then Voldermort was like "ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" ... then Harry's like "d-matrix lolol <3" ... then the Dark Lord is like "noooooooooooooooooooooooooo /die" ...
On January 05 2010 00:08 Orome wrote: ...you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book.
But it is a masterpiece in its own right. Not because it's a deep and intellectual story, but because it successfully managed to appeal to all audiences. Do you have any idea how hard storytellers have been trying to do that for thousands of years? It's a masterpiece in the sense that she bridged the gap. Are there any other stories that can truly say that?
On January 05 2010 00:08 Orome wrote: ...you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book.
But it is a masterpiece in its own right. Not because it's a deep and intellectual story, but because it successfully managed to appeal to all audiences. Do you have any idea how hard storytellers have been trying to do that for thousands of years? It's a masterpiece in the sense that she bridged the gap. Are there any other stories that can truly say that?
I would say that it had the makings of a masterpiece, but it petered out at the end.
On January 05 2010 00:08 Orome wrote: ...you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book.
But it is a masterpiece in its own right. Not because it's a deep and intellectual story, but because it successfully managed to appeal to all audiences. Do you have any idea how hard storytellers have been trying to do that for thousands of years? It's a masterpiece in the sense that she bridged the gap. Are there any other stories that can truly say that?
Oh common. All children's stories have this characteristic. Hell, even Douglas Adams can say that about his books, and he wrote science fiction, possibly the most niche genre in existence.
Do you have any idea what you're talking about? Rowling is a result of great marketing and great timing, not particularly great story telling.
Here's another story that appeals to pretty much everyone: StarWars. Even among girls, it's pretty hard to find people who don't like the original series. There's probably more people who hate Harry Potter than do StarWars.
On January 05 2010 00:08 Orome wrote: I'll agree the last chapter was extremely corny, but you're trying to make HP something it isn't if you really wanted Harry to be killed. Even if its tone has become pretty dark in the last 3 books Harry Potter is still a children's book.
Rowling's talent and the reason why HP is so immensely successful has always lain in her ability to make her books entertaining to read. HP's morals are very obvious and nothing particularly interesting for an adult, the story-telling is good but nothing ground-breaking and there are so many plot holes it's ridiculous. (I probably know the books better than almost anyone since it's become my habit to listen to the audio books with every tedious task I have to do and whenever I have trouble falling asleep. I've heard books 1-5 at least 25 times each.)
By wanting Snape to be the hero (he could never be that btw, all he cares about is Lilly, he doesn't give a shit about anyone else), Dumbledore to betray Harry and Harry to die, you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book. Killing off Harry would go completely against the spirit of the earlier books and the light tone of all the books would suddenly seem completely out of place in a series that ends in tragedy.
This is true. I actually haven't read any of the books prior to book 7 so I can't say I even know what the overarching theme is to the series. I started out just following the movies, filling in my gaps of knowledge with what scraps I could find from wikipedia, until I saw the Order of the Phoenix. After that I downloaded the Half Blood Prince. And after THAT, I just couldn't wait for another year to find out how it all ended so instead of waiting for the next movie to come out (Which would have been physically impossible) I downloaded the audiobook. Anyways, it may be a childrens book but there are pllenty out there that have complex, satisfying and ambiguous endings, like LOTR as you mentioned. I feel that it COULD have been a grand story-driven masterpiece (A notch or two below LOTR's that is), and that everything was building up to a climax but then it just sort of petered out at the end.
It's not the best written book out there but for some reason I still care deeply about the characters. In fact more so than the characters in any of the "literary masterpieces" that I've read. It's strange.
Even if Harry had lived on.... I think it would have been a lot more satisfying if Dumbledore had been flawed. I mean that and an extra chapter or three on the aftermath of the battle would've been great. Hermoine and Ron get like two lines of dialogue thrown in afterwards... wtf?? I need closure!!!!! FFUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Rowling. I'm hoping that at least the final movie will address THAT at least.
I would also like to post my thoughts, but forgive me if I make a few factual errors. It's been months since I've last read the book. And as a disclaimer, I am a terrible writer.
I felt the book was a bit too rushed, especially at the end. I mean, just look at the length of time it took to destroy each Horcrux. The locket took a shitload of time to kill, the cup maybe half the time, and then the diadem, snake, and scar took less time to destroy collectively than the locket. I'm not just talking about the Horcruxes, either. As someone else mentioned, the deaths of major characters were just meaningless. With the exception of Dobby, I didn't even feel sad when anyone died. While authors usually take the opportunity of character deaths to say make a deep statement about the character, Rowling just kill characters off in the vague idea of protecting the good wizarding world. I felt especially disappointed in Lupin's death, who dies simply by fighting for the cause of "good", when he could've died for the specific cause of transcending discrimination.
I would post more, but I'm tired from swim practice. Thanks for reading if you did.
A large portion of Harry Potter's appeal lies in its quirky and whimsical atmosphere. In the later books, Rowling tried to shift the tone dramatically and make the series dark and serious. Unfortunately, this change robbed the series of much of its original appeal. At the same time, not nearly enough effort was put into making the plot tighter or the characters more complex as would befit the new atmosphere. Overall, Rowling is just not that good of a writer.
My main problem with the seventh book was the sudden appearance of the Hallows (I'm convinced that she made all that stuff up over the summer that she wrote book 7), and I agree with pretty much everyone has already said.
After being massively disappointed, I delved into the dangerous land of HP fanfiction. I'm not talking about Harry-on-Draco-action fanfiction, but the actual diamonds in the rough. I've waded through terrible, terrible fanfics to get to this stuff:
Harry Potter and the Enemy Within and Harry Potter and the Chained Souls, by Theowyn. The ending actually makes sense, since the author had to use books 1-5 to come up with plausible theories for books 6 and 7.
Alternatively, Prince of a Dark Kingdom is a really good books 1-7 series, once you get past the weird German in the beginning (it makes sense later). It's an extremely well-plotted universe, and has a little bit more flesh in it than the original HP.
On January 05 2010 12:48 hazelynut wrote: My main problem with the seventh book was the sudden appearance of the Hallows (I'm convinced that she made all that stuff up over the summer that she wrote book 7), and I agree with pretty much everyone has already said.
After being massively disappointed, I delved into the dangerous land of HP fanfiction. I'm not talking about Harry-on-Draco-action fanfiction, but the actual diamonds in the rough. I've waded through terrible, terrible fanfics to get to this stuff:
Harry Potter and the Enemy Within and Harry Potter and the Chained Souls, by Theowyn. The ending actually makes sense, since the author had to use books 1-5 to come up with plausible theories for books 6 and 7.
Alternatively, Prince of a Dark Kingdom is a really good books 1-7 series, once you get past the weird German in the beginning (it makes sense later). It's an extremely well-plotted universe, and has a little bit more flesh in it than the original HP.
Lol.... Harry on Draco fanfiction.... WTF. Like, where would you even find something like this? Seriously? Like what is the link? Ewww.... Yeah, so what's the link? And do you have any links to Harry/Hermoine fanfiction??
On January 05 2010 12:48 hazelynut wrote: My main problem with the seventh book was the sudden appearance of the Hallows (I'm convinced that she made all that stuff up over the summer that she wrote book 7), and I agree with pretty much everyone has already said.
After being massively disappointed, I delved into the dangerous land of HP fanfiction. I'm not talking about Harry-on-Draco-action fanfiction, but the actual diamonds in the rough. I've waded through terrible, terrible fanfics to get to this stuff:
Harry Potter and the Enemy Within and Harry Potter and the Chained Souls, by Theowyn. The ending actually makes sense, since the author had to use books 1-5 to come up with plausible theories for books 6 and 7.
Alternatively, Prince of a Dark Kingdom is a really good books 1-7 series, once you get past the weird German in the beginning (it makes sense later). It's an extremely well-plotted universe, and has a little bit more flesh in it than the original HP.
Lol.... Harry on Draco fanfiction.... WTF. Like, where would you even find something like this? Seriously? Like what is the link? Ewww.... Yeah, so what's the link? And do you have any links to Harry/Hermoine fanfiction??
Fanfiction.net has almost everything. Quite an extensive collection they have there. Just stay away from the Malfoy/Snape slash fictions.
On January 05 2010 00:08 Orome wrote: ...you're trying to turn HP into a grand story-driven masterpiece (like LOTR, which I love) that it can't be, beacuse it just isn't that kind of book.
But it is a masterpiece in its own right. Not because it's a deep and intellectual story, but because it successfully managed to appeal to all audiences. Do you have any idea how hard storytellers have been trying to do that for thousands of years? It's a masterpiece in the sense that she bridged the gap. Are there any other stories that can truly say that?