Deathly Hallows: Initial reaction
Well, I'm on my break from work, and I finished it. I have yet to go read everyone else's reactions, for the most part, but here we go. SPOILERS!!! FOR THE WHOLE DAMN BOOK. And yes I'm talking about Harry Potter. Ungh.
I loved it.
I really did. I doubt I'll ever love any of the books as much as I did Prisoner of Azkaban, because there is something so utterly badass about that one without it being downright hard to read (in terms of feeling anxious/upset for the characters, on my part) but I thought it a very good end to the series. I think I'll have to sit and digest it and think about it awhile longer before I get a complete reaction, and at some point I REALLY want to go back through and re-read EVERYTHING, from Book 1 to Book 7, because I am the kind of person who likes to know everything and then go through it again so I can see how it all fits together now that I know where it goes. This is why I loved watching The Prestige a second time so much, by way of example.
I also want to say, first of all, how much respect I have for Miss Rowling. Ten years it's taken this series to come to its conclusion! Holy shit, man. Talk about a long time to spend with characters you love. It must be such a weight—and a relief—to finally part ways with them. I've had to cut loose storylines before, too, and abandoning beloved characters is EXTREMELY hard, so I can kind of maybe guess at how emotionally wrenching this must be, for her, to finally be done with this. And in my opinion the series was extremely well pulled-off.
+ The Weasleys! I totally cried when Fred died, oh my god, I knew we had to lose one of the Weasleys, but I admit I was praying for Charlie or Bill or hell, even Percy, because that'd hurt less, which is silly, I know, and prrrrobably why she didn't do it. But still! Maim George, then kill Fred? I HURT. Mrs. Weasley was NINE KINDS OF BADASS, though. I thought it was awesome that she kicked off Bellatrix, though I kind of expected that honor to go to Tonks.
+ I admit to being kind of pissed about the treatment of Tonks and Remus in the story. Remus was always one of my favorite characters in the series, along with Sirius (and I wasn't even that much of a puppy shipper, I just loved them both to pieces), and I was so hoping he'd get to pick up the pieces and have a semblence of a happy life, but no. And Tonks definitely got the short shift, too. I was really bummed when they died, even though I can kind of see why Jo did it. Ah, well.
+ I kiiiiiind of wish Luna and Harry had ended up together. I love Ginny TO PIECES, more so especially since OotP, but I do get the vibe that I suspect a lot of other people will share, which is us, the fandom, wondering why she's so hell-bent on everyone ending up with their childhood sweethearts?
My answer to this, that I'm more or less satisfied with (your mileage may vary): Wizards grow up faster. Not that Muggles don't have plenty to deal with (we do) but I doubt many of us have the kinds of immediate dangers presented to students in a wizarding world, or at least, the wizarding world that Harry grew up in, with war hovering on the horizon and getting closer and closer to home. And it doesn't seem like there's any type of upper-level education beyond those 7 years at Hogwarts (or Durmstrang, or wherever), and I believe, IIRC, that lasting marriages right out of high school have proportionally decreased in the past 50 years or so, as more and more people attain post-high school education. Also? Remember the Baby Boom? Right after a huge, life-altering war, hundreds of thousands of people came home and GOT NAKED and made babies. Well, I can totally see that happening for Harry and all of his generation who survived Voldemort. It's kind of human nature. We take a long, self-fulfilling personal life before marriage a little more for granted when OUR immediate survival is not threatened in violent and painful ways on a regular basis.
So, while it bugs me a bit (kind of too "shiny happy people holding haaaaaaands"), it doesn't seem necessarily like it has to be a reflection of anything on the author's part. Maybe? But it's also not too forced or unrealistic, IMHO.
+ I loved the depth we saw in Dumbledore's character. I hate Rita Skeeter (naturally) and I would've loved to have some vengeance brought down upon her for her nassssty lies, precious, but what can you do. I DO love that the thing we always heard about Dumbledore being most famous for (his duel with the wizard Grendelwald) finally got some substance and backstory. This was fantastic.
+ Yay for Neville Longbottom. Talk about character development being brought to fruition. A+, Neville. But if he winds up as a professor, who do y'all think the new Headmaster was? Did I just miss that?
+ Snape. Ohhhh, Severus Snape. Talk about a complicated character. I SO CALLED it that Dumbledore made Snape promise to kill him when the time came, but I was completely taken aback (pleasantly so) that Dumbledore was already dying because of a curse. At least now we know what exactly happened when he got that stupid ring. Anyway, finding out Snape's backstory was a real tear-jerker for me. He's always seemed so human to me, possibly more so than some of the other characters/caricatures in the books (a boy named "Remus Lupin" BEFORE he was ever mauled by a werewolf? No...wait, really?), and his backstory really cinched it for me. I just, just re-read HBP the day before I got my paws on "Deathly Hallows" and I vividly recall Snape screaming at Harry for calling him a coward. Ouch. No kidding, Severus.
+ I, personally, would have liked some introspection from Harry (or someone else) on how the trio used the Unforgiveable Curses (with the exception of the Killing Curse). I mean, we already had SO MUCH Harry introspection, so more would have been kind of overkill, but...um... seriously. He's supposed to be this amazing person, right? And yes, he is, I am not amongst those who thinks Harry is stupid, inept, or an asshole—I really love him, actually, along with Ron and Hermione—but those are called the Unforgiveable Curses for a REASON. Because they are HORRIBLE, no matter who you're inflicting them on. Right? And I guess there's a whole meditation there on relative morality and when something becomes an acceptable price to pay for peace or an end to violence or what have you, and I'm not saying Harry shouldn't have used them when he did, because I personally saw no other alternative, but come on: a little consideration of the fact that he DID use them, please.
And there's more, but I have to eat and get back to work so I should go. I'll respond to comments tonight, I swear. Gah. ♥
I loved it.
I really did. I doubt I'll ever love any of the books as much as I did Prisoner of Azkaban, because there is something so utterly badass about that one without it being downright hard to read (in terms of feeling anxious/upset for the characters, on my part) but I thought it a very good end to the series. I think I'll have to sit and digest it and think about it awhile longer before I get a complete reaction, and at some point I REALLY want to go back through and re-read EVERYTHING, from Book 1 to Book 7, because I am the kind of person who likes to know everything and then go through it again so I can see how it all fits together now that I know where it goes. This is why I loved watching The Prestige a second time so much, by way of example.
I also want to say, first of all, how much respect I have for Miss Rowling. Ten years it's taken this series to come to its conclusion! Holy shit, man. Talk about a long time to spend with characters you love. It must be such a weight—and a relief—to finally part ways with them. I've had to cut loose storylines before, too, and abandoning beloved characters is EXTREMELY hard, so I can kind of maybe guess at how emotionally wrenching this must be, for her, to finally be done with this. And in my opinion the series was extremely well pulled-off.
+ The Weasleys! I totally cried when Fred died, oh my god, I knew we had to lose one of the Weasleys, but I admit I was praying for Charlie or Bill or hell, even Percy, because that'd hurt less, which is silly, I know, and prrrrobably why she didn't do it. But still! Maim George, then kill Fred? I HURT. Mrs. Weasley was NINE KINDS OF BADASS, though. I thought it was awesome that she kicked off Bellatrix, though I kind of expected that honor to go to Tonks.
+ I admit to being kind of pissed about the treatment of Tonks and Remus in the story. Remus was always one of my favorite characters in the series, along with Sirius (and I wasn't even that much of a puppy shipper, I just loved them both to pieces), and I was so hoping he'd get to pick up the pieces and have a semblence of a happy life, but no. And Tonks definitely got the short shift, too. I was really bummed when they died, even though I can kind of see why Jo did it. Ah, well.
+ I kiiiiiind of wish Luna and Harry had ended up together. I love Ginny TO PIECES, more so especially since OotP, but I do get the vibe that I suspect a lot of other people will share, which is us, the fandom, wondering why she's so hell-bent on everyone ending up with their childhood sweethearts?
My answer to this, that I'm more or less satisfied with (your mileage may vary): Wizards grow up faster. Not that Muggles don't have plenty to deal with (we do) but I doubt many of us have the kinds of immediate dangers presented to students in a wizarding world, or at least, the wizarding world that Harry grew up in, with war hovering on the horizon and getting closer and closer to home. And it doesn't seem like there's any type of upper-level education beyond those 7 years at Hogwarts (or Durmstrang, or wherever), and I believe, IIRC, that lasting marriages right out of high school have proportionally decreased in the past 50 years or so, as more and more people attain post-high school education. Also? Remember the Baby Boom? Right after a huge, life-altering war, hundreds of thousands of people came home and GOT NAKED and made babies. Well, I can totally see that happening for Harry and all of his generation who survived Voldemort. It's kind of human nature. We take a long, self-fulfilling personal life before marriage a little more for granted when OUR immediate survival is not threatened in violent and painful ways on a regular basis.
So, while it bugs me a bit (kind of too "shiny happy people holding haaaaaaands"), it doesn't seem necessarily like it has to be a reflection of anything on the author's part. Maybe? But it's also not too forced or unrealistic, IMHO.
+ I loved the depth we saw in Dumbledore's character. I hate Rita Skeeter (naturally) and I would've loved to have some vengeance brought down upon her for her nassssty lies, precious, but what can you do. I DO love that the thing we always heard about Dumbledore being most famous for (his duel with the wizard Grendelwald) finally got some substance and backstory. This was fantastic.
+ Yay for Neville Longbottom. Talk about character development being brought to fruition. A+, Neville. But if he winds up as a professor, who do y'all think the new Headmaster was? Did I just miss that?
+ Snape. Ohhhh, Severus Snape. Talk about a complicated character. I SO CALLED it that Dumbledore made Snape promise to kill him when the time came, but I was completely taken aback (pleasantly so) that Dumbledore was already dying because of a curse. At least now we know what exactly happened when he got that stupid ring. Anyway, finding out Snape's backstory was a real tear-jerker for me. He's always seemed so human to me, possibly more so than some of the other characters/caricatures in the books (a boy named "Remus Lupin" BEFORE he was ever mauled by a werewolf? No...wait, really?), and his backstory really cinched it for me. I just, just re-read HBP the day before I got my paws on "Deathly Hallows" and I vividly recall Snape screaming at Harry for calling him a coward. Ouch. No kidding, Severus.
+ I, personally, would have liked some introspection from Harry (or someone else) on how the trio used the Unforgiveable Curses (with the exception of the Killing Curse). I mean, we already had SO MUCH Harry introspection, so more would have been kind of overkill, but...um... seriously. He's supposed to be this amazing person, right? And yes, he is, I am not amongst those who thinks Harry is stupid, inept, or an asshole—I really love him, actually, along with Ron and Hermione—but those are called the Unforgiveable Curses for a REASON. Because they are HORRIBLE, no matter who you're inflicting them on. Right? And I guess there's a whole meditation there on relative morality and when something becomes an acceptable price to pay for peace or an end to violence or what have you, and I'm not saying Harry shouldn't have used them when he did, because I personally saw no other alternative, but come on: a little consideration of the fact that he DID use them, please.
And there's more, but I have to eat and get back to work so I should go. I'll respond to comments tonight, I swear. Gah. ♥