queenrikki (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
queenrikki) wrote2005-07-17 02:08 am
queenrikki) wrote2005-07-17 02:08 am
HBP Thoughts
I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might like this book more than the Order of the Phoenix (has been my favourite novel for the last two years). Will check back after my second read next week. I know that as always there will be people who didn't like this book, but...their opinions don't really matter to me, I loved it and I will always love it. I'm not entirely sure that I will be coherent all the way through, but I will try. I've been reading all day and I think I’m going to need a good nights sleep. Well enough about me on to the musings (not a review because I need to do another read before that happens).
The first thing I must say is that I am pretty much the anti-angster. I have no patience with it and I was so glad that there was no endless rehashing of Sirius’s death. I didn’t expect any of that and I was so glad that Jo didn’t disappoint me on that level. I was completely in love with Harry in this book. I remember thinking, “He’s so grown up!” Harry has always been and will always be my favourite character in the series and this book proves why. When he convinced Slughorn to give him the memory, I was totally impressed.
On the shipping front, I’m actually quite pleased. Harry/Ginny is my one true pairing and I’m so glad that Jo went with it. And while I know that many people will not be satisfied with it or with the way Ginny was handled (I wanted more of her but that was only a minor quibble). As soon as it was mentioned that Harry missed Ginny, I knew it was going we were on. From what we saw it was sort of the anti-angst ship (which I one reason I loved it).
Remus/Tonks is my secondary pairing and well…I was sort of waffling about it in canon. A huge part of me thought it would, but there’s always that cautious voice that telling me that I shouldn’t get too attached. But I pretty sure of it when the change in Tonk’s Patronus was mentioned and positive when the speculation she might have been in love with Sirius appeared. Ron and Hermione is a ship that I really only care for in canon. I loved how it developed, but I’m always annoyed by it in fanfiction. But I loved how it developed in this book. The whole Ron/Lavender thing was a stupid idea. Not on the part of Jo Rowling but on Ron’s. Lavender was a means to assuage his ego, which was in very bad form. But all was forgiven. There so many great things, Bill/Fleur (I’ve always been a closet Fleur supporter, but I think I’ll be joined by a few more). And the romance was exactly as I had imagined it—a minor piece of the overall plot. I squeed, I danced, but in the end the shipping was…overshadowed by everything else.
Though there were lots of things that struck me the most about the book, the part where I fell in completely in love (instead of being besotted) was the Harry/Dumbledore interaction. It was wonderful, especially where Dumbledore is consuming the potion. Everything about that scene hit the right notes for me and this is where I started to let go. Dumbledore is one of my favourite characters and I was always hoping that he wouldn’t die, even though I knew he would.
I loved so many things that about the book. Dumbledore’s attitude towards the Dursleys was spot on (I loved his comment about how Harry was spared the damage they did to Dudley). I think Harry’s attitude towards Ron/Lavender and on the same note, the whole feel of the um, “teenagedness”. There was a distinct sense of bitchiness on the part of some of the girl’s comments, but I didn’t hate it, instead I thought it sounded like teenaged girls. Luna’s commentary was funny. Neville becoming his own man (and I especially loved what McGonagall said about his grandmother). Fleur’s reaction to Bill’s wounds was the tops. Oh and I loved the exploration of Riddle’s background (my heart was glad when his family turned out to be, as someone else put it, hillbillies). Oh and I loved that she showed that child!Tom was a little sociopath. It warmed my heart. I’m not sure why I’m admitting this but, the phrase “Tom was a gigolo” kept running through my head after the memory with the old lady (I can’t remember her name and my mother has the book). I know it’s not true, but it came from the fact that he used his good looks and charm to obtain the thing he needed.
I’m not sure what to think about Snape. My first and most persistent reaction to him was “THAT SON OF A BITCH KILLED DUMBLEDORE” (it’s in caps because that’s who I thought about it). I was pretty up in the air about the Half-Blood Prince thing, it in no way surprised me that I t was Snape. I don’t know what’s going on. It seemed pretty straightforward at first, but time seems to add more complications to the mix (though I won’t be surprised if the 'diesnapedie' community grows by leaps and bounds).
The one thing that I thought most often was, I wouldn’t let my (hypothetical) children read it. I’m not sure how they would deal with them. OOH! And I just realize a little while ago that there was no actual Voldemort into the book.
To sum it all up, I’ll describe it the way I described it to my mother when I first bought the book. It was like Christmas morning for a five year-old who has just gotten everything she’s ever wanted.
That’s it for now, I’m tired. More later.
The first thing I must say is that I am pretty much the anti-angster. I have no patience with it and I was so glad that there was no endless rehashing of Sirius’s death. I didn’t expect any of that and I was so glad that Jo didn’t disappoint me on that level. I was completely in love with Harry in this book. I remember thinking, “He’s so grown up!” Harry has always been and will always be my favourite character in the series and this book proves why. When he convinced Slughorn to give him the memory, I was totally impressed.
On the shipping front, I’m actually quite pleased. Harry/Ginny is my one true pairing and I’m so glad that Jo went with it. And while I know that many people will not be satisfied with it or with the way Ginny was handled (I wanted more of her but that was only a minor quibble). As soon as it was mentioned that Harry missed Ginny, I knew it was going we were on. From what we saw it was sort of the anti-angst ship (which I one reason I loved it).
Remus/Tonks is my secondary pairing and well…I was sort of waffling about it in canon. A huge part of me thought it would, but there’s always that cautious voice that telling me that I shouldn’t get too attached. But I pretty sure of it when the change in Tonk’s Patronus was mentioned and positive when the speculation she might have been in love with Sirius appeared. Ron and Hermione is a ship that I really only care for in canon. I loved how it developed, but I’m always annoyed by it in fanfiction. But I loved how it developed in this book. The whole Ron/Lavender thing was a stupid idea. Not on the part of Jo Rowling but on Ron’s. Lavender was a means to assuage his ego, which was in very bad form. But all was forgiven. There so many great things, Bill/Fleur (I’ve always been a closet Fleur supporter, but I think I’ll be joined by a few more). And the romance was exactly as I had imagined it—a minor piece of the overall plot. I squeed, I danced, but in the end the shipping was…overshadowed by everything else.
Though there were lots of things that struck me the most about the book, the part where I fell in completely in love (instead of being besotted) was the Harry/Dumbledore interaction. It was wonderful, especially where Dumbledore is consuming the potion. Everything about that scene hit the right notes for me and this is where I started to let go. Dumbledore is one of my favourite characters and I was always hoping that he wouldn’t die, even though I knew he would.
I loved so many things that about the book. Dumbledore’s attitude towards the Dursleys was spot on (I loved his comment about how Harry was spared the damage they did to Dudley). I think Harry’s attitude towards Ron/Lavender and on the same note, the whole feel of the um, “teenagedness”. There was a distinct sense of bitchiness on the part of some of the girl’s comments, but I didn’t hate it, instead I thought it sounded like teenaged girls. Luna’s commentary was funny. Neville becoming his own man (and I especially loved what McGonagall said about his grandmother). Fleur’s reaction to Bill’s wounds was the tops. Oh and I loved the exploration of Riddle’s background (my heart was glad when his family turned out to be, as someone else put it, hillbillies). Oh and I loved that she showed that child!Tom was a little sociopath. It warmed my heart. I’m not sure why I’m admitting this but, the phrase “Tom was a gigolo” kept running through my head after the memory with the old lady (I can’t remember her name and my mother has the book). I know it’s not true, but it came from the fact that he used his good looks and charm to obtain the thing he needed.
I’m not sure what to think about Snape. My first and most persistent reaction to him was “THAT SON OF A BITCH KILLED DUMBLEDORE” (it’s in caps because that’s who I thought about it). I was pretty up in the air about the Half-Blood Prince thing, it in no way surprised me that I t was Snape. I don’t know what’s going on. It seemed pretty straightforward at first, but time seems to add more complications to the mix (though I won’t be surprised if the 'diesnapedie' community grows by leaps and bounds).
The one thing that I thought most often was, I wouldn’t let my (hypothetical) children read it. I’m not sure how they would deal with them. OOH! And I just realize a little while ago that there was no actual Voldemort into the book.
To sum it all up, I’ll describe it the way I described it to my mother when I first bought the book. It was like Christmas morning for a five year-old who has just gotten everything she’s ever wanted.
That’s it for now, I’m tired. More later.