Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
#1
I just finished my 7 hour read-a-thon from when I picked up the book at midnight. I'm not quite sure how to react to the end...

Maybe I should've gotten some sleep before starting a topic, but I will say this: it is entirely the opposite of what I expected. With J.K. Rowling's statements that "blood will be spilled" I was expecting death and destruction to hit a little bit closer than it did.

The chapter King's Cross also through me off. I have no idea what to make of most of that.

Gah.

I am flabbergasted right now.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Baylan
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#2
Quote:I just finished my 7 hour read-a-thon from when I picked up the book at midnight. I'm not quite sure how to react to the end...

Maybe I should've gotten some sleep before starting a topic, but I will say this: it is entirely the opposite of what I expected. With J.K. Rowling's statements that "blood will be spilled" I was expecting death and destruction to hit a little bit closer than it did.

The chapter King's Cross also through me off. I have no idea what to make of most of that.

Gah.

I am flabbergasted right now.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Baylan

I actually thought she neatly tied up most of the burning questions at the end of the 6th book. Go read from about 600 on again.:P

--Mav
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#3
Given the almost impossible expectations tied to such a hyped book, I think Rowling did an excellent job of introducing some new mysteries, while still answering almost all of the questions readers might have by the end (even if some fairly hefty chunks of exposition were required).
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#4
All of my opinions and theories were vindicated; I stand completely satisfied with the entire process.

So there.
Garnered Wisdom --

If it has more than four legs, kill it immediately.
Never hesitate to put another bullet into the skull of the movie's main villain; it'll save time on the denouement.
Eight hours per day of children's TV programming can reduce a grown man to tears -- PM me for details.
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#5
Quote:All of my opinions and theories were vindicated; I stand completely satisfied with the entire process.

So there.


Well, fine then. You can stand satisfied. I'll be somewhat confused and bewildered.
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#6
Quote:Well, fine then. You can stand satisfied. I'll be somewhat confused and bewildered.

I'm afraid I find myself in the same boat as Nicodemus Phaulkon.

What are you confused about? As far as I can tell, Rowling lined the pins up in 6, and knocked 'em over in 7.

As for blood spilled, there are a rather substantial number of bodies that piled up by the end, including about a half-dozen characters who are of importance.

-Jester
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#7
Just stating the obvious here, and posters so far have been good about it.

No spoilers please. I don't read Harry Potter, but many do, and would be quite upset by a "I can't believe so-and-so died" post.

-Bolty
Quote:Considering the mods here are generally liberals who seem to have a soft spot for fascism and white supremacy (despite them saying otherwise), me being perma-banned at some point is probably not out of the question.
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#8
Quote:I just finished my 7 hour read-a-thon from when I picked up the book at midnight. I'm not quite sure how to react to the end...

Maybe I should've gotten some sleep before starting a topic, but I will say this: it is entirely the opposite of what I expected. With J.K. Rowling's statements that "blood will be spilled" I was expecting death and destruction to hit a little bit closer than it did.

The chapter King's Cross also through me off. I have no idea what to make of most of that.

Gah.

I am flabbergasted right now.

Anyone else have any thoughts?

-Baylan
Too many pages for not enough story. A bit of repetition of some of the plot from books 5 and 6.

SPOILER



SPOILER



SPOILER



Don't read Further if you don't want a


SPOILER


1. Snape's true motivations revealed, though she tries a head fake early on, only to nicely play it out as ambiguous. Trouble is, the motivation is mindlessly simplistic/dramatic/schmaltzy romantic tripe, and actually takes a three dimensional character, Snape, and squashes him to almost two dimensions. Booo. Hisssssss.

2. Albus Dumbledore's eye fooled me. Barman at Hogsmead struck me as a detail that should have been easily uncovered in books two through six. Hmmmmmm.

3. Harry's horcrux link to Voldemort was explained in book six, and re explained in book seven. Waste of pages.

4. Godric Griffindor's sword returning via the choosing cap after a Goblin had recaptured was a deus ex machina that rather floored me. Indeed, the entire foray into Gringots struck me as zero value added. While the Gringot's adventure had potential, it was resolved rather clumsily.

5. Sorry to see the dead red head. A favorite character of mine.

6. Ginny-Harry romance was almost an afterthought. OK, good enough, Rowling was not trying to steam up the novel. Perhaps a hurrah for that.

7. The time line of Harry and Ron and Hermione's continually being 'on the run' after Voldemort takes over the Ministry, with him being public enemy number one, was an absurdity. See also the arrival of Voldemort in Godric's Hollow: Harry and Hermione escape, even though Voldemort has them on the run and in his sights, and Harry's wand is cracked, and Voldemor later shows command of incredibly powerful magic. Major inconsistency. The later discussion of Voldemort's uncertainty about wand tech almost covers it, I guess. Uh, no, it doesn't.

8. Lupin got screwed, IMO.

And on and on.

The whole thing is loosely constructed, and had a page count about 100 to 200 more than I think the content required, to include the overly schmaltzy ending at the train station.

Glad I got it out of the way, and glad I read fast. I read as I watched the British Open Golf Championship, so at least I got two things done at once.

For fans, a must, on its own, a doorstop.

Occhi
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
In War, the outcome is never final. --Carl von Clausewitz--
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
John 11:35 - consider why.
In Memory of Pete
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#9
I got my copy two days early.

I have to say, the book sort of, well, blows.

Order of the Phoenix was such a great book... Half Blood Prince sort of dragged on.

Deathly Hallows seems to have an identity crisis going on. It can not decide what it is trying to be. The train station thing just screams "MATRIX!"

BTW, I got mine through Amazon on pre order. No idea why it came early.
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.

And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.

"Isn't this where...."
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#10
Quote:It can not decide what it is trying to be.
As far as I've been able to determine it tries to be a conclusion.
Hugs are good, but smashing is better! - Clarence<!--sizec--><!--/sizec-->
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#11
Hi,

I just finished the book, and am quite disappointed. It was a nice read, but (along with book 6) pales in comparison to Rowling's creative writing and nice ideas from books 1-5. I'm not disappointed because my expectations were too high (they weren't), but because she had resorted to such a large amount of cheap plagiarism, like most of the rest of today's fantasy literature.

*** SPOILER

***

***

*** WARNING, SPOILER AHEAD

***

***

*** SPOILER

- Voldemort immortal because he stored his life into several Horphylacterycruxes, like some cheap AD&D lich? Bah.

- Gandambledore tempted to use the power of the One, uh, Three hallows? The One Hallow becoming heavy and uncomfortable when worn, corrupting the mind of the bearer? Yay, how imaginative.

- Limbo for Harry actually being a train station, like in the Matrix? C'mon, I know Rowling can do better than this!

- Way too much action for my taste, compared to the previous books. "You've got half a dozen wands pointing at you"?!? For a moment I thought I was reading the latest Terry Pratchett...at least I got a laugh out of that, although probably not intended by the author.

Still, I found reading the book entertaining and exciting nonetheless, and I'm glad it's over now. Won't watch the movie though; gave up after the first two and found them not worth it.

-Kylearan
There are two kinds of fools. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - John Brunner, The Shockwave Rider
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