my first reactions to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

[ratcreature]

So, like many other people I spent much of today (well technically yesterday) reading the new Harry Potter book.


First, I'm really glad that I managed to remain completely unspoiled, as I enjoyed the twists, and the tension and suspense worked for me, even though I never thought Harry would die, so I wasn't afraid of that when he confronted Voldemort.

Overall I'm happy with this conclusion. It's not that I wouldn't have liked Remus, Tonks, Fred, Dobby and Snape to survive (though I was rather resigned to the likelihood of Snape's death), but if nobody (or only "red shirts") had died, the story would have been much less powerful and the conflict kind of cheapened. I was happy that Snape was on Dumbledore's side, which I hoped for, but I wasn't 100% sure. The pensieve chapter was heart-wrenching. And I thought it was awesome that Harry named one of his sons after both Dumbledore and Snape in the end despite his conflicted history with both.

I liked the additional background we got for Dumbledore and Grindelwald, that Dumbledore wasn't perfect, but still a decent person, even though his brother was understandably bitter with him. I thought Aberforth was great here throughout, btw. Also, with his love for goats. *hearts* I loved seeing the glimpses of Snape's past history with Lily and Lily's with Petunia. When first seeing the doe I didn't guess that it was Snape, but I really liked that it turned out that way.

The Goblins' position on the sword and the inheritance of artifacts made actually sense to me,and explains much about the constantly mentioned past wizard-goblin conflicts. As for the house elves, I liked that Kreacher was somewhat "rehabilitated" but still mostly cooperated and fought out of his attachment for Regulus, and that Dobby played a crucial role too.

I thought Harry, Ron and Hermione on their quest were great, that they were alternating between hope and frustration, that things didn't really work like they expected, that Ron left, but came back, all of that really worked for me. And I was happy to get glimpses at least of how all the others also fought in various ways, that Neville, Luna and Ginny organized a resistance, that Lee Jordan produced underground radio broadcasts... *flail!* I have so much love for all those characters and look forward to the ton of fanfic telling their resistance stories in more detail.

There were some smaller things I didn't get, like why Hermione said she had never performed a memory charm, when they modified the Death Eaters' memories, while earlier she said she messed with her parents' minds, also, that the snake-animated Bathilda was supposed to only speak Parseltongue, well that explains why Hermione jumped when she heard the "Come!" from the next room, but not why she didn't mention to Harry that she heard loud hissing, which it must have sounded like for her.

But overall I had a lot of fun reading, and I thought the thing with the wand, stone and cloak that complicated their decisions to "just" search for the horcruxes was quite cool.

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

I agree with basically everything you just said here! I'm glad I wasn't spoiled; it was really fun reading through the twists and turns, and I'm glad I was able to have that experience.

I especially liked how she handled Albus (and Aberforth, too!), and I liked that the doe was Snape's Patronus.

All in all, it felt like a really good conclusion to a good series.

[ratcreature]

I really enjoyed how much more of a complete person Dumbledore became for me with these insight into his past. I felt actually the whole wizarding world history and politics seemed to become even more complex and real with all the glimpses we got in DH, without weighing the plot down. I thought the symmetry that in t he last book we got more of Voldemort and in this one more of Dumbledore was rather cool.

[elynross.livejournal.com]

I was happy that Snape was on Dumbledore's side, which I hoped for, but I wasn't 100% sure.

I was absolutely sure, going in, that he was on the side of good, but then partway through started doubting, and that just made it all even better!

When first seeing the doe I didn't guess that it was Snape, but I really liked that it turned out that way.

I didn't either, but then later I went "Hmmm, doe, stag, Tonks's patronus changed..." Of course, now I wonder what Snape's was before Lily died...

What I loved about how we just got bits of what Luna and Neville were doing, and the underground radio, where we only "heard" one episode, was that Rowling does a great job of hinting that life is ongoing beyond whatever we're focusing on in the book. I was one of the few people I know who wasn't bothered that the Remus/Tonks in the last book came out of "nowhere," because it didn't, for me -- it came out of the fact that these people continued to live and do things that didn't involve Harry, while Harry was busy, and all we see are what Harry sees. It's not all laid out, but it hints at so much going on all the time.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, my doubt of Snape grew through the book too, which made the revelation much better.

I didn't mind Remus/Tonks, either. I mean, in a way I liked that it wasn't some kid of epic romance (even in the background), but just two people getting together after they spend lots of time in each others company due to their circumstances, kind of a more mundane love story story.

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

I was spoiled for Fred's death and am still very bitter about it. What's making it harder for me is a) Fred was no red shirt, but did Rowling kill him because he was "safe"? We still get George, so don't cry? b) no follow-up on George.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, it would have been nice to get a line that he continued on their shop with Percy or something.

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

WORD on the not being spoiled. It was worth all the paranoia! ;-D

I agree with you about Snape's death. I figured that he would die protecting our heroes, but this manner of death seemed a lot more realistic, given everything that had happened and what we learned. I enjoyed reading about him as a young man, more so than ever before. His reasons for working with Dumbledore were remarkably clear, too, and the "love" thing didn't seem as hackneyed as I thought it would be.

The Golden Trio truly were great. I hadn't anticipated Ron walking off on them for so long, but when we saw the Horcrux/locket taunting him, everything made sense. Their friendship made Harry's power over Voldemort all the stronger and more plausible.

I think Hermione never wanted to perform a memory charm after learning that Lockhart had memory-charmed all the subjects of his books.

[ratcreature]

and the "love" thing didn't seem as hackneyed as I thought it would be.


yeah. I thought it was cool that while he did have a crush on her, it wasn't one of these "crush from afar" things, but that rather she was his best friend first.

I think Hermione never wanted to perform a memory charm after learning that Lockhart had memory-charmed all the subjects of his books.

okay, but what she did to her parents was a memory charm too, no? Not just what she did to the DEs?

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

Love your Snape icon! (First time I've seen it.)

Yes, the best-friend first thing made more sense than a puppy love type of situation. I was also impressed that she pointed out where he was going wrong and this was what broke them up, not James Potter sweeping her off her feet.

What I meant about the memory charms was that previously the only experience Hermione had with them was Lockhart, and she found this rather horrifying; but in this book, I got the feeling that she realized the gravity of the situation and performed charms that she wouldn't have normally considered. Harry did so, too, the imperius curse (for good reason) and the crucio (for a little less good reason.)