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Deathly Hallows
Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Reactions (including spoilers for Serenity - don't ask) below.
If you'd asked me a week ago - hell, 24 hours ago - I would have said I was functionally out of the Harry Potter fandom. I wasn't seeking out spoilers, but my life wouldn't have been ruined if I'd come across them. I was planning to read the book, but could easily have waited to do so. I had no particular desire to write HP fanfic, participate in meta, etc. I was ... if not over it, then overwhelmingly (underwhelmingly?) unenthused.
Now? I have no words. Except that I do, actually, have quite a lot of words.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was, I think, the strongest of all seven books, and definitely my favourite. It was well written. The characterisation was mature and, in many cases, nicely underplayed. The plot was engaging, the backstory illuminating, and the pace brisk and involving. Of all the books, it's the one I'd read over and over again.
I commented, when it happened, that Fred's death was Wash's death. It marked the beginning of the climax, the point in the book when everything was heating up and spiralling just a little out of control. It told us that no-one was safe; that this was real, and we were playing for keeps.
But really, I think Hedwig's death was Wash's death. And - perhaps because it was the first death that was supposed to mean something to us, or perhaps because, come on, you're going for the owl? - it was the death that hit me hardest. And this was the point where I realised that, Deathly Hallows? So not a children's book.
Regardless, it was a brilliant death. It raised the stakes right from the start; it pulled no punches. It started the book with a bang, and a promise that, I believe, it delivered.
Loved? Dudley's farewell to Harry. Who knew the boy had layers? I loved that his and Petunia's farewell was underplayed nicely; I think she got her familial moment in OoTP, so it didn't need to be repeated here, and her character development later in the book made up for her lack of a real role in the beginning.
George losing an ear. And his and Fred's reactions to him losing an ear. Making me laugh out loud in the aftermath of (and during) quite a bit of tragedy was really quite brilliant, and the work of a better (or perhaps just different) writer than I had thought Rowling to be.
Krum! Love love love the cameo, and confirmation that, yes, he's definitely one of the good guys.
Luna. She didn't get a huge amount of face time in the book, but from her appearance at the wedding, what she did have was excellent, and so very Luna. Another character who was nicely underplayed, and the scenes with her father let her fully Luna-ish quirkiness shine while allowing most of her actual scenes to be quite normal.
The interruption of the wedding. It was important to have some happy shiny downtime after the early climax of Harry's getaway, and having it end abruptly and in confusion prevented it from being an unimportant fluff section just for the sake of balance, and prevented us losing the earlier built-up tension altogether. (In fact, that may be one reason why the epilogue didn't work for me; the rest of the book was remarkably cohesive in tone and structure, and the epilogue, in the wake of that, felt more tacked-on than anything. But, I digress.)
Lupin. How wonderfully grey he was, how so un-heroic. I might regret that nothing - not even his marriage and child, things that should have been a bright spot in an otherwise fairly crappy life - was ever really easy or good for him, but really, I don't. I don't know. But I did like it, regardless.
Kreacher! Oh, how I despised him in OoTP, and how I loved him in this book. Regulus was fleshed out to be a wonderful, layered, sympathetic character, and I'm glad that we got that. I don't think R.A.B. came as a surprise to anyone, but I liked that Rowling didn't try too hard to make it one. I loved Harry's treatment of Kreacher (and his reflection on his and Sirius' earlier treatment of him), and I loved - here, and in the scenes with Griphook - that S.P.E.W. was important in some context. And I loved that he re-emerged at the end, fighting against Voldemort in Regulus' name.
Ooh, the Muggle-born registration! Chilling, and interesting to see how a situation often explored in fanfic actually played out in canon. Very well, I thought. This, like the resulting changes at Hogwarts, could easily have been too heavy-handed or repetitious of OoTP, and likely would have been had Harry returned to Hogwarts for his seventh year, but I thought the way they played out strongly in the background was just right - and awesome fic fodder, too.
Ron/Hermione. Loved the growing maturity of their relationship, Ron's jealousy of Harry, Harry's explanation of his relationship with Hermione as brother/sister (which did not - obviously, to me - detract from the inherent shippiness of the trio scenes), and the OT3 like whoa. Cuaron's PoA really sold it for me, and I loved the way that really came through - if you chose to read it - in the actual book text.
(And, speaking of shippiness - wow. This book has it by the bucketloads. Harry/Draco, especially with the whole wand thing? Harry/Ron/Hermione? Dumbledore/Grindewald? Bellatrix/Hermione? Snape/Lilly? Pick a pairing, and DH has probably got it.)
Oh, and Ron offering to tell people Hermione was his cousin? So funny.
Hermione was terrifying, in the most awesome way. Ron was endearingly imperfect, and I don't think it harmed his character to give him a moment (or more) of genuine doubt.
Dumbledore ... I was never a huge Dumbledore fan, but making him less sympathetic made me like him a whole lot more. He became real in a way that I think he hadn't been before, and I think everything put into his backstory really fits his characterisation in earlier books, and fleshed him out in an appropriately satisfying way. And, since this is getting to be kind of a theme, I should probably just say now: the shades of grey in this book? Hands down, the best thing about it, and the reason why I think it's far and away the best of the series.
The actual Deathly Hallows I quite liked, but then, I'm a sucker for fairy tales.
The return to Hogwarts was perfect and fitting for the climax. Really, really perfect.
Oh, the little things ... the "password" to the Ravenclaw common room. How underage magic is detected. The Grey Lady and Bloody Baron backstory - awesome.
Slughorn. Snape aside, I was glad to see one - if only one, which was a little disappointing - Slytherin representative fighting against Voldemort.
Zacharias Smith - Hufflepuffs aren't always nice, or even good on the inside.
Snape/Lily I always believed was canon, but I loved the way it played out here. That Snape and Lily were not occasional friendly-ish study partners, but childhood friends; that her defense of him in Snape's Worst Memory was not done out of pity or general goodwill, but was genuine partiality on behalf of a good friend; and that it was his worst memory not because he was embarrassed, nor because he was embarrassed in front of her, but because that's the moment he lost his best friend? Awesome.
Actually, Snape in general was just plain awesome, and I say that as someone who never really liked him - as a character, or as a person - before. I never believed that he was evil, but I loved that he wasn't good. Bravely working on the side of good to bring down Voldemort, yes, but good? No. I loved that, even after being acknowledged as a hero, he was still morally grey (hee); I liked that his motivations for "turning" were as selfish and as human as his feelings for Lily.
Petunia! Writing to Dumbledore to beg admission at Hogwarts! Oh, loved, loved, loved.
Harry as a Horcrux(ish): I liked the way it played out. Having him be not one of the six deliberate Horcruxes, but a seventh, accidental Horcrux of sorts, worked for me, as did Voldemort possessing a part of him, in turn. I'm not sure I liked the whole dreamy-limbo-death-train-station thing, but I'll accept it.
Neville! Neville as a true Gryffindor! I had pretty much zero expectations for the book; one was that Neville be ... well, pretty much everything he turned out to be. A hero.
The other was Draco. I wasn't hoping for a schmoopy fanficc-y redemption scenario, but I didn't want him to be really evil; and the way he ended up, bad but still (dark) grey, was perfect. Ditto for Lucius and Narcissa - I now have immense Malfoy!love.
Kingsley as (acting) Minister for Magic - hell, yeah!
... Oh, and Harry himself. I've never been his biggest fan; at times (*cough* OoTP *cough*) I really couldn't stand him. In DH, I genuinely liked him; I thought he came across as human; flawed, but not annoyingly so, less self-centred, mature and generally worthy of the role thrust upon him. I was genuinely cheering for him throughout.
Not so much loved? The epilogue. In a word, it was unnecessary. We got it, already - OBHWF. And yes, I'm a supporter. But ... seriously? The list of children's names read like so much bad fanfiction. As a reader (and not as someone involved in fandom/fanfiction) I can see how it may have been nice; I did like Harry's (final) acceptance that Slytherin ≠ evil. Oh, and Neville as a Hogwarts professor ("I can't walk into Herbology and give him love.") was totally sweet. But the rest of it, I really could have (and would rather have) lived without. But if that's my only major gripe (and one that is very easily solved by, well, perhaps not reading the epilogue every time), I'm going to say that Deathly Hallows worked for me on a major level. And now, I may just be off to write some Harry Potter fanfic ...
If you'd asked me a week ago - hell, 24 hours ago - I would have said I was functionally out of the Harry Potter fandom. I wasn't seeking out spoilers, but my life wouldn't have been ruined if I'd come across them. I was planning to read the book, but could easily have waited to do so. I had no particular desire to write HP fanfic, participate in meta, etc. I was ... if not over it, then overwhelmingly (underwhelmingly?) unenthused.
Now? I have no words. Except that I do, actually, have quite a lot of words.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was, I think, the strongest of all seven books, and definitely my favourite. It was well written. The characterisation was mature and, in many cases, nicely underplayed. The plot was engaging, the backstory illuminating, and the pace brisk and involving. Of all the books, it's the one I'd read over and over again.
I commented, when it happened, that Fred's death was Wash's death. It marked the beginning of the climax, the point in the book when everything was heating up and spiralling just a little out of control. It told us that no-one was safe; that this was real, and we were playing for keeps.
But really, I think Hedwig's death was Wash's death. And - perhaps because it was the first death that was supposed to mean something to us, or perhaps because, come on, you're going for the owl? - it was the death that hit me hardest. And this was the point where I realised that, Deathly Hallows? So not a children's book.
Regardless, it was a brilliant death. It raised the stakes right from the start; it pulled no punches. It started the book with a bang, and a promise that, I believe, it delivered.
Loved? Dudley's farewell to Harry. Who knew the boy had layers? I loved that his and Petunia's farewell was underplayed nicely; I think she got her familial moment in OoTP, so it didn't need to be repeated here, and her character development later in the book made up for her lack of a real role in the beginning.
George losing an ear. And his and Fred's reactions to him losing an ear. Making me laugh out loud in the aftermath of (and during) quite a bit of tragedy was really quite brilliant, and the work of a better (or perhaps just different) writer than I had thought Rowling to be.
Krum! Love love love the cameo, and confirmation that, yes, he's definitely one of the good guys.
Luna. She didn't get a huge amount of face time in the book, but from her appearance at the wedding, what she did have was excellent, and so very Luna. Another character who was nicely underplayed, and the scenes with her father let her fully Luna-ish quirkiness shine while allowing most of her actual scenes to be quite normal.
The interruption of the wedding. It was important to have some happy shiny downtime after the early climax of Harry's getaway, and having it end abruptly and in confusion prevented it from being an unimportant fluff section just for the sake of balance, and prevented us losing the earlier built-up tension altogether. (In fact, that may be one reason why the epilogue didn't work for me; the rest of the book was remarkably cohesive in tone and structure, and the epilogue, in the wake of that, felt more tacked-on than anything. But, I digress.)
Lupin. How wonderfully grey he was, how so un-heroic. I might regret that nothing - not even his marriage and child, things that should have been a bright spot in an otherwise fairly crappy life - was ever really easy or good for him, but really, I don't. I don't know. But I did like it, regardless.
Kreacher! Oh, how I despised him in OoTP, and how I loved him in this book. Regulus was fleshed out to be a wonderful, layered, sympathetic character, and I'm glad that we got that. I don't think R.A.B. came as a surprise to anyone, but I liked that Rowling didn't try too hard to make it one. I loved Harry's treatment of Kreacher (and his reflection on his and Sirius' earlier treatment of him), and I loved - here, and in the scenes with Griphook - that S.P.E.W. was important in some context. And I loved that he re-emerged at the end, fighting against Voldemort in Regulus' name.
Ooh, the Muggle-born registration! Chilling, and interesting to see how a situation often explored in fanfic actually played out in canon. Very well, I thought. This, like the resulting changes at Hogwarts, could easily have been too heavy-handed or repetitious of OoTP, and likely would have been had Harry returned to Hogwarts for his seventh year, but I thought the way they played out strongly in the background was just right - and awesome fic fodder, too.
Ron/Hermione. Loved the growing maturity of their relationship, Ron's jealousy of Harry, Harry's explanation of his relationship with Hermione as brother/sister (which did not - obviously, to me - detract from the inherent shippiness of the trio scenes), and the OT3 like whoa. Cuaron's PoA really sold it for me, and I loved the way that really came through - if you chose to read it - in the actual book text.
(And, speaking of shippiness - wow. This book has it by the bucketloads. Harry/Draco, especially with the whole wand thing? Harry/Ron/Hermione? Dumbledore/Grindewald? Bellatrix/Hermione? Snape/Lilly? Pick a pairing, and DH has probably got it.)
Oh, and Ron offering to tell people Hermione was his cousin? So funny.
Hermione was terrifying, in the most awesome way. Ron was endearingly imperfect, and I don't think it harmed his character to give him a moment (or more) of genuine doubt.
Dumbledore ... I was never a huge Dumbledore fan, but making him less sympathetic made me like him a whole lot more. He became real in a way that I think he hadn't been before, and I think everything put into his backstory really fits his characterisation in earlier books, and fleshed him out in an appropriately satisfying way. And, since this is getting to be kind of a theme, I should probably just say now: the shades of grey in this book? Hands down, the best thing about it, and the reason why I think it's far and away the best of the series.
The actual Deathly Hallows I quite liked, but then, I'm a sucker for fairy tales.
The return to Hogwarts was perfect and fitting for the climax. Really, really perfect.
Oh, the little things ... the "password" to the Ravenclaw common room. How underage magic is detected. The Grey Lady and Bloody Baron backstory - awesome.
Slughorn. Snape aside, I was glad to see one - if only one, which was a little disappointing - Slytherin representative fighting against Voldemort.
Zacharias Smith - Hufflepuffs aren't always nice, or even good on the inside.
Snape/Lily I always believed was canon, but I loved the way it played out here. That Snape and Lily were not occasional friendly-ish study partners, but childhood friends; that her defense of him in Snape's Worst Memory was not done out of pity or general goodwill, but was genuine partiality on behalf of a good friend; and that it was his worst memory not because he was embarrassed, nor because he was embarrassed in front of her, but because that's the moment he lost his best friend? Awesome.
Actually, Snape in general was just plain awesome, and I say that as someone who never really liked him - as a character, or as a person - before. I never believed that he was evil, but I loved that he wasn't good. Bravely working on the side of good to bring down Voldemort, yes, but good? No. I loved that, even after being acknowledged as a hero, he was still morally grey (hee); I liked that his motivations for "turning" were as selfish and as human as his feelings for Lily.
Petunia! Writing to Dumbledore to beg admission at Hogwarts! Oh, loved, loved, loved.
Harry as a Horcrux(ish): I liked the way it played out. Having him be not one of the six deliberate Horcruxes, but a seventh, accidental Horcrux of sorts, worked for me, as did Voldemort possessing a part of him, in turn. I'm not sure I liked the whole dreamy-limbo-death-train-station thing, but I'll accept it.
Neville! Neville as a true Gryffindor! I had pretty much zero expectations for the book; one was that Neville be ... well, pretty much everything he turned out to be. A hero.
The other was Draco. I wasn't hoping for a schmoopy fanficc-y redemption scenario, but I didn't want him to be really evil; and the way he ended up, bad but still (dark) grey, was perfect. Ditto for Lucius and Narcissa - I now have immense Malfoy!love.
Kingsley as (acting) Minister for Magic - hell, yeah!
... Oh, and Harry himself. I've never been his biggest fan; at times (*cough* OoTP *cough*) I really couldn't stand him. In DH, I genuinely liked him; I thought he came across as human; flawed, but not annoyingly so, less self-centred, mature and generally worthy of the role thrust upon him. I was genuinely cheering for him throughout.
Not so much loved? The epilogue. In a word, it was unnecessary. We got it, already - OBHWF. And yes, I'm a supporter. But ... seriously? The list of children's names read like so much bad fanfiction. As a reader (and not as someone involved in fandom/fanfiction) I can see how it may have been nice; I did like Harry's (final) acceptance that Slytherin ≠ evil. Oh, and Neville as a Hogwarts professor ("I can't walk into Herbology and give him love.") was totally sweet. But the rest of it, I really could have (and would rather have) lived without. But if that's my only major gripe (and one that is very easily solved by, well, perhaps not reading the epilogue every time), I'm going to say that Deathly Hallows worked for me on a major level. And now, I may just be off to write some Harry Potter fanfic ...
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And I was loudly cheering on Molly Weasly. Hell yes, love her :D
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