HP 7 - All this being said, it has never felt MORE like reading fanfiction

[timepiececlock]

I read it! I read it!

I read it in two days, exactly. Evening to evening. It was quite absorbing, at many times moving ahead by the pure momentum of its own existence as much as the plot events itself.

I enjoyed it, though I won't say it was perfect. Overall it exceeded my expectations while giving me a few things to shake my head regretfully over. It was like most of the books, that way.



Way too many people lived! I mean, yeah I regretted the loss of Lupin, but he was a supporting character and Tonks and Fred were minor characters, whereas none of the major characters except Snape and very few of the supporting characters died. None of the sextet died (the sextet lives again! I love Neville and Luna and I love Mrs. Weasley too).

There's something odd about my disappointment here. After the end of Full Metal Alchemist, I was beside myself with joy that "Everyone didn't die!". At the end of this epic series, I'm a little let down. For all the darkness here, all the torture and pain... not that many important people died.

And I wish she hadn't written the epilogue. It was too... neat. I can't buy into it: that everyone married their high school sweetheart, that a nice, nucleic family and a happiness and forgiveness completes the circle of what a good life should be. Sure, Harry got the family he wanted... but come on! Life is not a neat little package. I'd rather see him in an "unconventional" family. The rest of this book was so very much about that idea: that no one is perfect, that nothing is simple, and then it concludes in this cookie-cutter future of the most banal predictions possible. Yeah, some people died, but everyone ended up married with kids, teaching at Hogwarts, etc etc etc. Blah! I wanted them all, particularly Hermione, Harry, and Ron, to have a crazy-ass adventurous future life beyond that mundane destiny.

The idea of being trapped in the same pattern as the previous generations is just... bleg! Where's the fun of that? I get that it's a major theme of the series, that becoming his father and duplicating te family he lost is Harry's greatest dream, that obsession with and emulating the parents, no matter how grave their mistakes, is what drives many characters in Potterverse. But to have that kind of settling as a desireable end goal... LAME. LAME, I SAY.

I wanted the this quest to be the first great adventure of their lives, not the last. I wish she hadn't written the epilogue, because without it we could have imagined whatever future we wanted, taken it any direction we wanted, and in our heads each fan could have their idea of that future in their own imagination.

GOD (of the internets): ARE YOU SAYING THAT YOU DIDN'T LIKE THE EPILOGUE BECAUSE IT ROBBED YOU OF THE OPPORTUNITY OF FANFICTION?
Rashaka: ...Yes?
GOD (of the internets): ME TOO.

The only thing I really liked about the epilogue was that his second son was named Albus Severus. Whee.

Other than that? Awesome! I really enjoyed reading it. Though with the first half of the book I was pretty skeptical, getting a bit tired of the patterns, it soon flourished into something very exciting. For once, I have no complaints about the pace of the book. It was speedy. And I loved the backstories of Dumbledore and of Snape. I'm really going to enjoy the next few movies, because the current actor for Dumbledore will be able to nicely embody the subtle menaces that Harry's early view of Dumbledore hid. And Snape! Ahh, Snape. You achieved the hero status, but at such a price! Your soul is a high price indeed. I think it's very ironic indeed that Dumbledore found in Snape the exact man he needed: someone with a brave heart, but not necessarily a good one... someone who could be motivated to do the right thing, but who would willingly do many bad things to get there. Someone who would be loyal no matter what was asked of him. Dumbledore, being willing to exploit that, was just as guilty as Snape when it came to what Snape did for the Death Eaters.

I liked the battle. It was big, and fun, and full of good fights. I love that Luna, Neville, and Ginny kept the DA alive and led such an organized revolt. I loved that Neville killed the snake, the last Horcrux: his status as a parallel to Harry, though almost ingored in the 6th book, shone in the 7th. He got to use the sword! That's awesome.

Speaking of swords and battles, JKR tipped her hand as a Tolkien fan with this book. The fight bore a striking resemblance to the Battle of Five Armies from The Hobbit, and the way Neville beheaded the snake took me right back to that awesome moment of Eowyn defeating the Witch King riding on a Nazgul.

Random thought: Harry declaring that Draco Malfoy was the true master of the Elder Wand was just about the funniest thing ever. The most unintentionally hilarious line of the whole book.

I'm a little sad about my OTP (Harry/Luna) not being OTP, but not too much. I enjoyed the H/G stuff more this book than in the 6th book, and that helped a lot in making up for it. I only wish that we hadn't gotten that stupid epilogue, it basically blocks any non-canon OTPs from the potential future. Not just mine, but others too. Still, Harry and Luna had strong interactions this book, and I loved Luna's character as always.

There were more ups and downs, but that's all I have energy for tonight.

But, at the end of it all, I look and I think, "Well, that was a fun fanfic to read. Good times! I should probably write a review. Now when does the seventh book come out?"

Comments

[fadingembers.livejournal.com]

Speaking of non-traditional families, what if Ginny and Harry go home after dropping the kids off at Hogwarts, and the two of them and Luna have wild games of "find the crumpled-horn snorcack"? WIZARD ORGY.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Me :heart: you.

[mswyrr]

I only wish that we hadn't gotten that stupid epilogue, it basically blocks any non-canon OTPs from the potential future. Not just mine, but others too. Still, Harry and Luna had strong interactions this book, and I loved Luna's character as always.

Lots of people in D/Hr and SS/HG fandom have been talking about the time between the last chapter and the epilogue as a good space for WOE SO TRAGIC tales of love, and also of the possibilities of death and divorce. People are saying things like, "There's no proof that Hermione and Ron haven't been over for a while and he's just dropping their kids off while she's at work or something!"

So, there's still some canonical wiggle room, for them that wants it. And there's always AU?

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

People are saying things like, "There's no proof that Hermione and Ron haven't been over for a while and he's just dropping their kids off while she's at work or something!"

Oddly that thought did cross my mind. Not because I particularly prefer a different Hermione pairing, but because I imagine her having a romantic, exciting adventure life where maybe, OH NOES, she doesn't have kids... or waits until she's like 38 to do so.

There is always AU!

[mswyrr]

Oddly that thought did cross my mind. Not because I particularly prefer a different Hermione pairing, but because I imagine her having a romantic, exciting adventure life where maybe, OH NOES, she doesn't have kids... or waits until she's like 38 to do so.

((nod)) I would have liked that for her as well. But I can see why she would cling to Ron, and family life, and normalcy after the war, especially since she pretty much lost her own family, but I can't see her being satisfied with that forever. Or with Ron. After a while she'd chafe, and sometime after that she'd give herself permission to want more, maybe when the kids were old enough to go off to school? But I am veddy, veddy biased, I admit. ;)

There is always AU!

Amen!

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

But her family lived! She just finds them afterward and un-erases their memories, remember? that was her whole plan.

[mswyrr]

This is where I reveal that while I've been spoiling myself silly and reading pages from the carpet book, I haven't read DH all the way through yet.

I was assuming the memory altering she did wouldn't be easily reversible. My bad.

[mswyrr]

Also. Harry and Luna were wonderful together in the movie. Which I saw, thanks to your rec!

((sets out hunting for Harry/Luna fic))

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Check my Memories, under "Rec Bitch", and do a word-find for "H/L" or "Luna". You'll find some good ones there to start you off!

Also, I just made a post about HP pairings in my mental canon post-movie, with my theory on H/L.

[mswyrr]

Check my Memories, under "Rec Bitch", and do a word-find for "H/L" or "Luna". You'll find some good ones there to start you off!

Woot! Thank you very much.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything in this post. XD; Though I also thought, since J. K. did think to include the epilogue, that she should have at least have talked about what the Trio + Ginny did for living -- surely that's as important who they're married to and how many kids they have. (Though maybe harder to work in? Anyway, she's been talking her head off in interviews, so if you want things kept open you'll have to convince the fans that those aren't canon.)

I'm a little sad about my OTP (Harry/Luna) not being OTP

Yeah. ;_; Though they were great together in the movie, and Luna is awesome no matter what.

Dumbledore, being willing to exploit that, was just as guilty as Snape when it came to what Snape did for the Death Eaters.

I hadn't thought about that, but you're right.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

The whole epilogue thing reminded me of the last episode of Digimon. They did the same thing.

Though they were great together in the movie, and Luna is awesome no matter what.

I expected the movie to have less Luna and more Ginny, given that the writers would already know that Harry gets with Ginny and want to lead up to that. But the totally didn't! If you were just going by the movies, you'd think Harry was going to date Luna the next year.

[sub-divided.livejournal.com]

I was kind of wishing it would be like Digimon, since Digimon split up characters who had been together, and put together others who hadn't. It was an ending that said: fifteen years is a long time, a lot can happen and life doesn't always turn out like you'd expect. Nothing changes in Harry Potter, from the last chapter to the epilogue is a straight line.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I *loved* the epilogue of Digimon, especially that the ex-villain boy married the geeky smart girl. I thought it was awesome. This one? Not so much. Like you said... a straight line with no deviations.

I think i'd have liked it better if other pairings were in the epilogue, even if they weren't my preferred pairings. At least it'd be less fanficcy.

[donna-c-punk.livejournal.com]

I'm really going to enjoy the next few movies, because the current actor for Dumbledore will be able to nicely embody the subtle menaces that Harry's early view of Dumbledore hid.

So freaky because I was watching GOF on HBO today and had the exact same thought. God rest his soul, but Richard Harris was way too grandfatherly as D-Dore to pull that off. Gambon? He will be excellent.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

He will definitely be.

[itachitachi.livejournal.com]

Harry declaring that Draco Malfoy was the true master of the Elder Wand was just about the funniest thing ever. The most unintentionally hilarious line of the whole book.

You don't know me, and I don't know you, but I came across this post and I just had to say that finally, I have found someone who agrees with me on this. I came to that line and actually burst out laughing. And then I couldn't stop for a while because it was just... really funny.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

It was. I giggled.

[jade-sabre-301.livejournal.com]

I have to confess (and I know you're a Harry/Luna fan, but bear with me) that I have a little theory going on with Neville and Luna. It basically boils down to Neville being the straight-laced, good-natured and very platonic Herbology professor at Hogwarts (kinda like Lupin, without all of the are-he-and-Sirius-shacking-up tension, just the nice old bachelor professor), and Luna traveling the world doing work for the Quibbler and such. But every three or five years or so Luna takes a brief holiday to Hogsmeade and Neville disappears for a few days and the two of them have wild, fantastically hot sex over the weekend and Neville comes back really cheerful, but no one (aside from maybe a few other teachers) has any idea what's going on, and they're all thinking did he just get laid? but, due to Neville's total platonic nature, they're unable to follow that train of thought. Especially his students. And he goes back to his teaching and Luna goes back to her traveling, and all is well.

This idea makes me cackle with glee every time I consider it.

Can I join in on the unable-to-fanfic disappointment? Aside from the AUs! Yay AU! But AU takes so much effort because you have to set up what's happened to make your story different and I am le tired.

As for Tolkien, nevermind the "wearing this thing around my neck makes me feel evil!" shtick. And Snape! I love Snape!--
ooh, I was talking to my dad about Snape, and we were going on about how obvious it is in HBP that Snape isn't evil, because even as he's fleeing Hogwarts he still manages to give Harry advice (wrapped up, as his advice always is, with lots of hate and bitterness), and how Snape's always helped him--and then I realized that Snape was Harry's ultimate helper because he's the one who taught him Expelliarmus in the first place. This is still blowing my mind with how heart-breakingly awesome it is. Especially considering how unintentional it was on anyone's part that the Disarming spell would end up being that important. But I could go on for days about how much I love Snape, so I'll stop now.

*breathes*

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I prefer Harry/Luna, but I've got nothing really against Luna/Neville. I didn't care for it before because it felt like a pairing that was purely convenience for a fan trying to pair people off, both of them being socially awkward characters. But given that they and Ginny led a resistance movement, there's certainly a whole untold story here that could involve Luna/Neville.

Or... Oh my. It could involve Ginny/Neville.

Oh wow... wouldn't that be AWESOME. Imagine the angst. Ginny being in love with Harry from a distance, but he left her to do his hero thing, and meanwhile she's working with Neville, who has grown up into a damn awesome and noble fighter for the side of good...who is like Harry in so many ways, but is also nicer, more reliable, and less of an inconsistant asshole (I love Harry, but he's made a horrible boyfriend you gotta admit), and while the year goes on, something is building between Ginny and Neville, and neither confronts it, but it's building and it might be amazing, and while Ginny never forgets Harry or the pain he's going through, she knows that they're not together anymore, that Harry sent her away, and what she feels with Neville is so very different (she doesn't assist him or learn from him, she and Neville and Luna lead the DA together, as equals), and then just when it's getting really crazy, and things are happening, she and Neville finally break and something happens (a kiss? this is HPverse, after all, and pretty tame), and then BAM! Harry's back, and Harry is Neville's hero/idol in the war, and there's the invasion and the battle and the death, and Harry Potter is here, and what can she do?


Ooohhh.... I like that a lot.

Sorry, tangent thought over now. MMmmmmmmm....


As for Tolkien, nevermind the "wearing this thing around my neck makes me feel evil!" shtick.

Of course! That bugged me too... why did they have to wear it? They didn't!


he's the one who taught him Expelliarmus in the first place. This is still blowing my mind with how heart-breakingly awesome it is. Especially considering how unintentional it was on anyone's part that the Disarming spell would end up being that important.

I hadn't remembered that... I thought he learned it in DADA class?

I don't *love* Snape, really, he's too much of a bastard personality for me to love. And while he is brave, he didn't do it for love of Harry or as the right thing, he did it for the love of a memory. There's also the fact that while headmaster he let the two terrible siblings torture students, which Dumbledore told him explicitly that he didn't want to happen. I respect Snape's motivation and I'm proud of him for sticking to it to teh very end, and I think he's definitely an interesting and fun character, but not the kind fo character I can love.

[serhenya.livejournal.com]

I know we don't know each other, but I'm a friend of catystorm and that's how I came across this post. I see that you are also a Harry/Luna fan and just want to let you know that I'm a little sad as well that they didn't get together.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

Thanks for stopping by!

[purple-quill.livejournal.com]

Regarding the "epilogue" (it goes by an altogether less dignified name at L&L), I've decided to simply ignore it for my future fanfics -- given that the last chapter ends in 1998, the epilogue would therefore take place in 2017, which, according to my calendar, hasn't happened yet...

The future's not set :)

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just going to ignore it too. I'm betting a lot of shippers will, from all different pairings.

And watch the 5th movie again. :)

I just made a post with how I imagine Harry/Luna might start, about four years after the 7th book.

[mildmay.livejournal.com]

Okay, this is late, but I'm catching up on my flist and need to comment. :)

And Snape! Ahh, Snape. You achieved the hero status, but at such a price! Your soul is a high price indeed. I think it's very ironic indeed that Dumbledore found in Snape the exact man he needed: someone with a brave heart, but not necessarily a good one... someone who could be motivated to do the right thing, but who would willingly do many bad things to get there.

You said that so well. I've seen so much debate (and wank) around the fandom lately about Snape and whether he was good or bad and everyone is taking a very black and white view of him and his actions. But he's not a black and white character. It's so nice to know someone else realizes that, as well as the significance of it.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

I think we needed to know all this new stuff about Dumbledore before we could understand Snape. I'm guessing Dumbledore didn't look at Snape and hypothesize whether he was good or evil; he looked at Snape and weighed how much use he could be to their side, and how to manipulate Snape in order to get the most out of him. I think that's really become clear in this book, the way that the kids see the world versus how the adults see it. Dumbledore and Voldemort and probably to a degree Remus (based on his trust of Snape via Dumbledore's trust of Snape, in book 6, and his association with werewolf recruiting) see it as "us" versus "them", not "good people versus bad people." Sure they're on the side of good, but it's not the people who are good or bad, it's just the actions they perform. Look at how both sides scrambled for allies amongst the magical races. And people like Snape or M. Fletcher, or even Harry at the end... all are tool essentially. They're measured by value and use expectancy: what they can do for the cause, and how long their loyalty will keep them doing it. It's a more adult perspective... to recognize a crime for itself (and the measure of guilt that accompanyies it) rather than whether that crime labels a person as "good" or "evil". Most adults don't go around labelling every person they meet in one of those two categories. It's not which side they are, it's which side they choose right now, and how long they'll hold to it.

The Trio, probably because they're still young, have to label it that way, though. So when Stan Shunpike is revealed as a death-eater Harry is torn up over not being able to "see" it coming, and when Harry finds out that Snape did all the horrible things he did while under Dumbledore's orders, that makes Snape a "good" character in Harry's mind and worthy naming his kid after. One detail changes the entire way he viewed Snape, because to him Snape had to be one or the other. And having this one aspect be good apparently negates all the bad that Snape did as well.

[hex-the-ex.livejournal.com]

But, at the end of it all, I look and I think, "Well, that was a fun fanfic to read. Good times! I should probably write a review. Now when does the seventh book come out?"

This is the sum total of the entire book for me! (not that I wasn't extremely fond of it mind you, apart from the epilouge) It wasn't even the ending, the entire thing seemed like fanfiction. I'd read a new plot line or twist and say, "wait, where have I seen this before? Oh wait, its a typical fandom twist or angle" I mean I know JKR likes fanfiction, but did she borrow from that too, as well as everyone else? I kinda think she did.

But all in all, I think the Weasleys came out as the most awsome family in existence, and way too much cool concetrated into such a small house. I was rather pleased with the change in Ron post-dramatic-typicalRonesque-exit and tantrum that he throws every book. He came back and started making defined changes and was no longer goofy incompetent sidekick by the end. And Luna and Neville get super love for complete awsomess as well(though not necesarilly together, I compeltely agree about Ginny/Neville) Although the end did sort of seem to hint at something with Luna/Dean, which was pretty random, since Dean's been know not to be the most open-minded Gryffindor. And I want a diadem of Rowena too.

[jakia.livejournal.com]

WHAT ABOUT LUPIN/TONKS? WHY THE FUCK DID SHE HAVE TO KILL THEM? THEY WERE MY FAVORITES!

AND NOW TEDDY IS A LONELY ORPHAN METAMORPHAGUS/WEREWOLF ORPHAN BABY AND IT'S SAD ::emotear::