(SPOILER)The present was pretty clearly just some kissing. If you're reading more into it, you're a dirty pervert.
Edit: Whoo, first post on page 4
(SPOILER)The present was pretty clearly just some kissing. If you're reading more into it, you're a dirty pervert.
Edit: Whoo, first post on page 4
Before I make this massive post with my extensive take on the book, I'd like to say that I was wrong about that one spoilers. I was right about the rest, but unfortunately the biggest, baddest one turned out to be true. So sue me for trying to keep the magic alive. But for those of you trying to rub it in, I laugh. Yeah, I'm glad that you had the book ruined for you. I also admire how you tried to spoil it for everyone else. And I'm terribly sorry that I tried convincing you otherwise, as an attempt to maybe give you some hope. Oops. But even though I knew who would die, that did not dampen the book whatsoever. This was the best of the series, BY FAR, filled with everything a good book should have. Along with my thoughts, I will post my top three characters, and my bottom three characters, in this book.
(SPOILER)First off, one thing I really enjoyed about the book is all the random popping-ups of Death Eaters. The first, and the best being as Harry left Privet Drive. I thought the ambush was well planned, and even though I knew that Moody would die, as well as Hedwig, those deaths still managed to shock me. The only down part of this was I expected to see Moody as an Inferi somewhere. Unfortunately, not a single Inferi was seen in the entire book, and was only mentioned through Kreacher, and Grindelwald.
Secondly, I LOVED all the deaths. Like I said before, knowing about them did nothing. All of them.
Now, for the bottom three characters of the book:
NUMBER THREE:
Bellatrix. I love her character, but she was such a freak, that at one point you're like "WOW SHE'S BADASS", and next she's "oh wtf what a wimp". She was a wicked-cool witch, I just really hated when she became such a pussy.
NUMBER TWO
Lupin. I loved the character, but not the way he composed himself throughout the book. To me, it didn't really seem like Lupin at all, and I feel that as the book progressed (except after he has the baby), he wasn't as cool as he used to be. He was a coward, and overly aggressive for no reason. He was cool after the baby though.
AND THE WORST CHARACTER OF THE BOOK
Fenrir Greyback. Like what the hell was the point of this guy. Half man, half wolf, all rapist? He's a savage who still isn't good enough to be a Death Eater. His character was useless, and I took satisfaction when he got taken down.
Now, the BEST THREE CHARACTERS OF THE BOOK.
NUMBER THREE
The first is a tie between Percy, and Aberforth. I loved the insight on Aberforth's character, and I especially loved the way Percy reformed in the end, as well as the way he quit, and took down his former boss.
NUMBER TWO
Speaking of reforming, I think Kreacher became an integral character in the book. I was surprised and happy when he suddenly became nice and sane and started helping them and serving dinner and stuff. Kreacher was awesome
THE BEST CHARACTER OF THE BOOK
Easiest choice ever. Molly Weasley. No contest. I loved that she killed Bellatrix, but I think the best part of the book, and a line that will be forever etched in my mind is "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!"
Awesome.
(SPOILER)the most random death was Fred! he was the charrictor that she didnt want to kill. because it would be the best way to motivate the rest
also i agree witth Doomie!
BEST BOOK EVA
(SPOILER)Molly was pure awesome. I loved the way that the conflict brought out the weakest in people (Lupin to an extent) AND the strongest in them (Molly)
Also, I loved the way that Bella's death mirrored that of Sirius. And in the Snape and Lily flashback, did anyone else notice that what James said mirrored what Malfoy said when Harry first met him?
"Imagine being in Hufflepuff,/Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"
Spoilering the whole post.
(SPOILER)
* I LOVED Dumbledore's story. Not in any of the other books has Rowling ever shown Dumbledore to be -- so flawed as she did in this book. He's always been the omniscient, omnipotent one and all of a sudden he's dead and BAM. BAM BAM BAM. Did he kill his sister? Was he an evil guy? She just made him, as foa said, so human, it was great.
* I thought she worked pretty well with Snape too; I kept hoping, all the way through, that Snape would be shown to be good, to be good, but no, he's getting eviller and eviller, he's doing bad things to the kids at Hogwarts -- this is something that confuses me, though; if Snape was still on Dumbledore's side at heart, how the smurf could he stand doing that to all the kids at Hogwarts? Couldn't he have found some way to keep the Carrows out? Or were all the kids just sacrifice for...uhm...the greater good? (if those words be permitted)
* Maybe this book read way too much like a film and lacked some of the finesse a novel should have had; it was composed so hugely in flashbacks and penseive memories and action-packed what the whats -- that scene inside the Lestrange's Gringott's vault lost me completely. All I recall is them getting burned and me getting irritated at Rowling; it was a lousy bit. And the bits about Snape and the penseive (am I even spelling this right?) were nice, but they were so BAM BAM BAM in your face -- like she'd meant to tell us all along but it was too late now so she had to shove it in our faces in curt little snippets. I dunno.
* The epilogue was rubbish. She was just trying to stuff everybody in, like they do in the last episode of any TV series -- here's Ron, Hermione, here's Harry and Ginny and all the good people! Look! Professor Longbottom! Awww (cue the reader feeling warm and fuzzy, because Neville Longbottom has truly achieved in life, truly achieved! He teaches Herbology at Hogwarts!) It was horrible. Not to mention the fact that -- Harry and Ron and Hermione and all just weren't believable as adults. They might have been thirty-six in the book, but Ron and Hermione were acting exactly the same. The best thing about that was the very last line, though -- "All was well." I liked that
* It seems kinda strange to me that the three of them would just -- go into the Ministry of Magic in the guise of three Ministry workers, without thinking of what would happen if people actually saw them. I mean, the bit worked and stuff, and it'll be great when they make the movie; real thrilling stuff -- but it just didn't seem so very plausible? Although maybe hey this is Harry Potter and I'm just a lousy nit-picker O_O
* Hagrid -- UNDERCUT.
* Snape -- UNDERCUT (until the BAM BAM BAM anyways)
* Malfoy -- w-wha...??? She didn't go either way with him; if he was going to turn good, he didn't really show it -- she just kinda made him snivelly. A drip. I think she could have made more of him, but eh.
* The Shell Cottage bit really was lovely Dobby's death was incredibly tragic and ohhhh that bit about the stars reflecting on his dead eyes it cut my heart.
* I don't really dispute any of her deaths; she kills Lupin and Tonks, fine (although she sure did it in a weird way; I had to read the line over about five times to make sure that yes, they were actually dead). It was war, and it's only natural that everyone isn't going to come out unscathed. I'm glad she did what she did. Although I kinda wish she'd killed George instead of Fred though; he'd already lost an ear. At least Fred was whole.
* I agree with foa on the Percy hopping in thing xD wtf. That was the most...un-Percy-like thing ever. "I was a pompous prat..." (or something to that effect) -- what?! Gah!!!!
* Bellatrix was definitely diminished imho. She was so -- so beautifully wicked in the past few books that it was quite disappointing to see her lose her cool like that.
I know I sound really critical xD but it's always easier to pick out the bad stuff than the good. It was a great book; much better than the previous two -- I loved the way she tried to bring everybody together one last time -- the appearance of Oliver Wood!? xD Brilliant. (And she did it so well throughout the book, so seamlessly -- the epilogue was skewered!)
I was so caught up in the awesomeness of the (SPOILER)Bellatrix/Molly duel that I COMPLETELY forgot the second best moment of the book. *Ahem*
(SPOILER)
And he spat in her face.
Harry pulled the cloak off himself, raised his wand and said, 'You shouldn't have done that.'
As Amycus spun around, Harry shouted, 'Crucio!'
[...]
'Potter!' whispered Professor McGonagall, clutching her heart. 'Potter - you're here! What -? How -?' She struggled to pull herself together. 'Potter, that was foolish!'
'He spat on you,' said Harry.
Doomie, even though you are the epitome of beauty, strength and wit, SPOILER TAGS - Psy.
Last edited by Doomie; 07-24-2007 at 02:17 AM.
I would say that
(SPOILER)The deaths of Lupin and Tonks were underdone. 2 of the best characters in the stories and they were just thrown in as a side comment 'oh yeah, and lupin and tonks looked asleep and harry walked from the room'
Dobbys death was done really well.
i agree with Resha on the bit in Gringotts, it was done very shabbily
Also, they Epilogue was crap, she could have just done snippets of all the characters lives rather than that crap bit
overall it was an amazing book though
I liked what she did with Malfoy. It made him more human.
(SPOILER)I also think that living undecided is nothing more than he deserves, because he is too afraid to stand for anything.
Also, doomie's bit, I actually had a mental image of McGonagall going "...that was very GALLANT of you, but-"
McGonagall was excellent in this book. Absolutely loved her and her thundering herd of desks.
secondedOriginally Posted by Resha
there was a picture here
I was gripped throughout the whole book, afraid to miss out even a line. I was almost about to cry when (SPOILER)Dobby died.
My favourite character throughout the book was Hermione. Without her, Harry and Ron wouldn't have noticed quite a lot of important things. She always has her opinion. Sexy too.
The below sentence is true.
The above sentence is false.
Well, finally got done reading it. (SPOILER)I can see how the epilogue might seem tacked on to some people, although I'm personally a sucker for cheesy endings so I actually enjoyed it.
My favorite part of the book would when everyone's fighting at Hogwarts. It seemed a bit sudden, since they were all 'well, let's sneak into Hogwarts and find the Horcrux, even though we have no idea where it is or what it could be', and then everyone decides to fight. In fact, finding the Horcruxes in itself seemed kinda silly, although I'm happy that it seemed a bit more realistic than I was expecting. Still, McGonagall and Molly Weasley displayed the maximum amount of awesomeness.
Some of the scenes really felt that there was no way they could possibly escape a situation (until I have to remind myself that there are still 400 more pages to go or so), like that whole Lestranges' vault thing. Escaping on the dragon was pretty badass though. I mean I've been waiting for someone to ride on a dragon through all other sorts of magical creatures in the series.
I was hoping Umbridge and Rita Skeeter would get owned in this book, but that never happened. :/ I guess a Stupefy is all I get.
That bit with Snape, Lily, and Petunia was really emotional to me. We finally get to have some development with Petunia (what I was waiting for awhile), and I felt really sad for Snape in the end.
100% Awesomeness:
-Molly Weasley
-Professor McGonagall
-Neville
-Neville's Grandma xD This is the first we really see of her, isn't it? "Now if you'll excuse me I must go join him".
So yeah, I really liked the book. It's interesting to see how dark the series has evolved from the innocent early novels...
Who did JK say would exhibit magical tendencies later in life?