HP7

[prillalar]

So, I'm back. And I read the book.

SPOILERS OF COURSE

Percy ♥♥♥

Neville ♥♥♥

50% less adverbs ♥♥♥

Otherwise, I was underwhelmed. It felt like a mess of exposition and running around, without a coherent plot, and even the running around took a long time to get going. The ending was unsatisfying, with Harry playing the Aslan "Get Out Of Death Free" card. (It should have been over when Neville killed Nagini. That would have been a scene to go out on.) And Marcus Flint did not show up to play dominance games with Oliver Wood.

Dumbledore and the book in general really hammered home that the good of the many shouldn't outweigh the good of the few. That kind of thinking was almost Dumbledore's fatal flaw. Good thing he learned his lesson in time. And that lesson is: outsourcing.

In actuality, the good of the many does outweigh the good of the few. But it's not "good" or "heroic" to act on that. So Dumbledore outsources that function to Snape. Snape is the one who has to watch good people die and not try to save them. Snape is the one who has to allow Death Eaters to torture students at Hogwarts. He does the dirty work so Dumbledore and Harry can keep their hands clean.

Which, actually, is fairly admirable and I think Harry realises just how much. But I don't think Snape had much of a choice in the matter. I was really rooting for him to be actually evil as the book went on.

There were bright spots in the book, certainly: Luna, darling girl; Viktor Krum; Molly vs Bellatrix; beautiful bespectacled Percy; Harry using Draco's wand; Kingsley kicking so much ass; Dumbledore/Grindelwald; the chariot race (okay, I guess that was Ben Hur). I don't know. I wish I'd liked it more.

And if Dudley Dursley's son had shown up to board the Hogwarts Express in the epilogue, I would have cried with happiness.

Now to catch up with a month of Prince of Tennis...

Comments

[mousapelli.livejournal.com]

HI! ♥♥♥ I felt sort of the same? Like in OotP, there were bits and people that I loved, but overall i didn't come away feeling as happy as PoA makes me, for instance.

I had a story for you! While at the beach, my father, who works in the sports dept of the newspaper here, turns to me and says, "you don't know what a battery is, do you?" and i said, "of course i do! That's like a pitcher and a catcher!" /kagami

but then he said: "well, then i have a story for you. one of our phoners is kind of an idiot. and I overheard him taking box scores from one of the high school baseball teams, and then he says 'batteries? that's not my department!' "

XD actually, i feel like i had another really good hal story too, but i can't think what it is just now.

[prillalar]

The battery love is everywhere! (Except for that stupid guy. *g*) I first got interested in it in KKM, with Yuuri and Konrad. (I just remembered I never finished KKM -- I think I have seven episodes left to go.)

Harry and Ron -- which one is the catcher in their Battery of True Friendship?

[aurianrose.livejournal.com]

My Percy love knows no bounds.

[prillalar]

As well it should!

[priestess123.livejournal.com]

I've tried to avoid all things Harry Potter, I'm sure I'll hear plenty of it from my friends who refuse to answer their cells phones... >_< So instead I've indulged myself into other finer things of life; wine, Doritos, and Louise Rennison books.

In the end, I'll just wait for the paperback to come....=P

[prillalar]

Hee! It may be hard to avoid for a week or two. Good luck!

[darkeyedwolf.livejournal.com]

I was really rooting for him to be actually evil as the book went on.

God, I wanted that too. It would've been so great. *__*

[prillalar]

He should have seized power from Voldemort and ruled the wizarding world with the Cranky Fist of DOOM. Though he probably just wanted to be left alone.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I love it! It's okay! It makes me happy! \o/

PERCY ♥ indeed. I had no idea how much I wanted him back until he reappeared and canon and alskfjldk. WAS SO WONDERFUL. ;___;

[prillalar]

I'm glad for everyone who loves it. :) I'm kind of sad that I didn't.

Percy should marry me. He could organize my sock drawer and then we'd make out.

[meritjubet.livejournal.com]

I loved it when Neville started kicking ass. He was so awesome as he grew up and became his own leader. ♥

Snape really did get the raw deal. All for love... Dumbledore really was being a smart ass when he previously taunted Voldemort about the power of love.

[prillalar]

Neville was freaking awesome! If Snape deserved any of his fate, it was for being mean to Neville. *g*

[sarahofcroydon.livejournal.com]

Hear hear! Snape was really the unsung hero in this... Harry & Dumbly taking all the boons while Snape went as quietly and unpraised as he went about in life.... :(

Now if only he was played by Jeremy Irons instead.

[prillalar]

I can't help thinking that probably all Snape wanted, aside from Lily, was to be left alone. He should have lived to go off into the countryside and be a cranky hermit.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Ah! So Snape = Giles, then?

Sorry you're disappointed, though. I want everybody to be happy happy happy with it.

[not-vacillating.livejournal.com]

So Snape = Giles, then?

Yes. Close enough. And I love them both.

[prillalar]

Meh. I'm not unhappy, just not frothy with love. Maybe I'm becoming a curmudgeon!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I kind of look forward to curmudgeondom, myself. It may be inevitable. Embrace your inner old coot!

[cesario.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore and the book in general really hammered home that the good of the many shouldn't outweigh the good of the few. That kind of thinking was almost Dumbledore's fatal flaw. Good thing he learned his lesson in time. And that lesson is: outsourcing.

In actuality, the good of the many does outweigh the good of the few. But it's not "good" or "heroic" to act on that.

You know, I thought that the point being made was sort of the opposite, really---namely that Dumbledore in his youth was justifying the privilege of the few at the expense of the many by *pretending* he was putting the many over the few. Wizarding dominance over Muggles being effectively the dominance of a tiny technocracy over a much much larger population.

[prillalar]

Hmm, maybe so. I confess, I didn't analyse it too carefully. :) The outsourcing point stands, though.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

I didn't really rate it.

To be honest, I felt like the whole Snape/Lily thing being SO prominent (and while I quite liked Snape in all the books, I was never OMG TEH LUFF over him or into shipping him, so this isn't 'Boo hoo! My baby loves another!' sour grapes) sort of flattened Snape's character.
In previous books he seemed to have some kind of moral compass and feeling for people - the rivalry/hatred of MWPP, the odd relationship with Dumbledore, some kind of affection/friendship with the Malfoys.
Here it basically seemed to be that he didn't care about anyone beyond Lily and that his feelings for her dictated his morals - he never really got over the whole racism issue or felt bad about getting James killed, his doing good was to make up for her dying.

I just hated the Slytherin resolution. I thought she could have done so much with them, especially Draco post-HBP and what she boiled it down to was that they were all either evil (Crabbe and Goyle go from looking lonely at the end of HBP to being Draco's 'colleagues' and suddenly insane killers; most every Slytherin including little weepy, pink-frills, likes-unicorns Pansy goes to Voldemort), or weak and amoral (Slughorn) or weak and amoral but capable of love (the Malfoys, Snape.)
The houses never united, Snape gets a stupid death, Draco's last spoken scene is ridiculous 'comic relief' cowardice...

And if Dudley Dursley's son had shown up to board the Hogwarts Express in the epilogue, I would have cried with happiness.

ITA.

[prillalar]

I think if Snape had really been in the book to a significant degree, that would have helped a lot. And I SO agree with you about the Slytherins. I was expecting to see them all begin to pull together, but no.

[froglivers.livejournal.com]

I'm getting over my initial "eh" to remember all the good bits in the middle. :D

Also, do you know if they've subbed the National OVA 12? We have 11,13, and 14, but argh, not the D1. Sad.

And if Dudley Dursley's son had shown up to board the Hogwarts Express in the epilogue, I would have cried with happiness.

Yes. Hee. :D

[froglivers.livejournal.com]

ah, and as I'm catching up with PoT manga bigtime, uh... the Inui grill incident. MEAN!

[prillalar]

There were a lot of little things to love -- I'm remembering more as I go as well.

Dunno about OVS subs -- I'm up to date with the raws but I haven't checked for subs yet. And poor Inui!

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

And that lesson is: outsourcing.

So true. It was nice that Harry got what Snape had been doing all that time, though he did have to be bombarded with fact for it to happen. But Harry's never exactly been the brightest bulb.

Now to catch up with a month of Prince of Tennis...

It'll be pretty quick. Konomi took a two-week hiatus in there, too. I was starting to think maybe the two of you had run off together.

[prillalar]

Oh, Harry! Yes, it was good that he figured it out. I'm not quite sure Dumbledore ever did.

Re Konomi, I never kiss and tell.

[mahoshi.livejournal.com]

How come I never noticed you were a Percy fan? ♥

This said, I haven't read the book, so I shall shut up now, ha ha.

[prillalar]

Hee! Probably because my HP phase was a long time ago and even then I mostly showed my Percy love by writing him and Snape in the kind of stories that LJ doesn't want us to post any more.

[chzbrgr-of-doom.livejournal.com]

It would have been so much easier to really love it without the stupid epilogue.

Snape was brilliant ♥ And I almost forgive Percy, lol.

[prillalar]

It sure wasn't any Scouring of the Shire.

There's nothing to forgive Percy *for*! *loves on him*

[alice-and-lain.livejournal.com]

I should comment on the content of this post but really, I'm just glad to see you back. About a week ago, I thought about emailing you to see if you were okay but I was relatively certain you were just taking an unannounced break.

[prillalar]

Aw, thank you! Yeah, I was just really busy and stressed out and making myself crazy about how behind with fandom I'd got, so I figured it was best to just stay away for a while. Nothing more drastic than that and I'm glad to be back. It felt like my life was missing a whole dimension without fandom. (Even if I did try to fill that void with Dog the Bounty Hunter.)

[candy-marie-55.livejournal.com]

*chills @ Dudley's son comment*

[innerslytherin]

Randomly, just came from reading "Misanthropy, Lycanthropy, and the Pursuit of Knowledge" at your website, and had to track you down and let you know how very VERY much I loved it. I loved the atmosphere, I loved the dialogue, and being a complete nerd, I loved the treatises and the realistic academic-lurve. This is definitely a fic I'm going to tell other Snupin fans to read. ^_^