somersaulter: (hp; hogwarts)
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posted by [personal profile] somersaulter at 08:44pm on 25/07/2007 under , ,
Yes, took me long enough to re-surface from reading hibernation. One part of me wanted to take my time with the book, another part of me was desperate to know the ending and terrified of being spoiled. But yes, I'm finally finished with it.

Some real-time reactions, as I can best recall.

DUDLEY.
"You're not a waste of space." Never in a million would I have thought Dudley would make me cry. (Well, in my defense, I was emotional throughout the book.)

HEDWIG. How can you kill a poor owl? EVIL, ROWLING, EVIL.

OH GEORGE. "I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?" "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?" You twins are the best.

OH RON.
How could you walk out on them? But I understand that it must happen, and I love you for regretting it almost immediately. And that part where he comes back, where he saves Harry and destroys the locket, where it is asserted that he is not just a sidekick, that he matters, that he is just a big a hero as Harry. Freaking awesome.

OH DOBBY. It's a glorious way to go down though.

OH RON/HERMIONE. That whole kissing and Harry's awkward and indignant "Oi! There's a war going on here!" cracked me up so bad.

OH FRED. NONONONO. Fred's eyes stared without seeing, the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face. *bawls*

LUPIN AND TONKS. *bawls more*

NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM. You kick ass.

OH SNAPE I LOVE YOU. A lot of people had tried to convince me Snape was good, and although some part of me wanted to believe that, the cynical side of me could never fathom the reason behind helping Harry and Dumbledore instead of Voldemort. Snape/Lily, however, was genius. Bloody genius. I know it has been speculated upon, but well, now that it's canon, it's bloody genius.

I'm still slightly confused though, about the true character of Albus Dumbledore and James Potter. I suppose Dumbledore is still the kind and wise, powerful wizard as he has always been, but just a little flawed, as all of us are. He has his weakness, the temptation of power drove him to make some of the biggest mistakes of his life. The difference between him and Voldemort, however, is perhaps, remorse. I must admit, seeing him again in King's Cross made me all weepy, even though I was so infuriated that previously, it was implied that he was sending Harry off to die, like a pig to slaughter. I need to re-read that chapter, and perhaps the whole book. That King's Cross chapter made little sense to me. As for James Potter, I would really love to know how he won Lily's heart. He seemed like a typical school bully, but I suppose that was just Snape's point of view. I think he was just playful and meant no real harm, and he grew up to be a wonderful man.

But Snape, oh Severus.

And Harry being a Horcrux. I did see that coming, but Harry coming to terms with his own death was heartbreaking. It is in his blood to always fight back, to go down fighting. Having to stand in front of Voldemort willingly without his wand in his hand must have taken so much of his willpower, with thoughts of Ron, Hermione and Ginny both pulling him back and pushing him forward. Such a painful struggle. Bringing his parents and Sirius and Remus back was such a poignant move on JK's part. "You'll stay with me?" "Until the very end." Ah. How many litres of tears all over the world have split over this book?

Oh, and I wanna know what happened to Luna. I got a feeling she hooked up with Dean Thomas, or maybe Neville.

And George. What happened to him then? I hope he continued with the shop even without Fred. Fred would have wanted him to. But ah, it would be so difficult for him to come to terms with Fred's death. It's like losing one half of oneself. *is all teary-eyed again*

And I wonder if Harry ever visited the Dursleys again? Oh and what are their jobs? Neville is teaching at Hogwarts, yes, but what about all the others?

Also, if there was one thing I didn't like about the book, it was the treatment of Draco. Granted, he was never a hero, but I would love to see him rise up to something bigger than himself, like what Snape had done. Hm, wait. Snape/Lily. Draco/Hermione. *runs away with my OTP* However, the love the Malfoys have for one another is touching. Lucius Malfoy might have willing given his services to the Dark Lord previously, but following that, it seems all the Malfoys want is to have one another safe. Draco only did what he did in Half Blood Prince because Voldemort threatened his family, and Narcissa helped Harry so she could get into Hogwarts to see her son. Also, Draco refused to give confirmation of the trio's identities in the manor. However, I still wish Draco played a bigger part in bringing down Voldemort.

Expect random spurts of posting as I re-read or remember stuff from the book.

Also, I refuse to think of it as an ending. Yes, there was a perfect ending, but the voice of Harry Potter will definitely echo for generations to come and the characters will continue to live in fanfiction. There will never really be a proper ending. *waits for Albus/Scorpius/Rosie fic* WIN.

I want a hot fudge sundae (comfort food).


So. Anyone has any good Harry Potter fics to rec? No matter what timeline, what pairing, I'm open to all (although some D/Hr would be perfect). After two weeks of nothing but Harry Potter, I'm a little lost now with nothing to read. Also, link me to your reviews, will ya? I'm not quite willing to go back 52804578247509 pages of my friends' page.
Music:: explosions in the sky; remember me as a time of day
Mood:: 'melancholy' melancholy
There are 30 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] lalita82.livejournal.com at 05:00pm on 25/07/2007
Cool, I just finished reading it too. Everything you said that what I felt reading the book.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 05:17pm on 25/07/2007
*sighs* Still can't really wrap my head around the fact that it's over. =(
 
posted by [identity profile] hautebeau.livejournal.com at 06:10pm on 25/07/2007
IT'S NOT OVER!

J.K. is writing a HP Encyclopedia. She's taking a break before jumping into it, though. It will be probably 20 years before we get to learn all of the characters backgrounds. D:
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 06:51pm on 25/07/2007
Oh yes I heard about that, but bah, no more trio's adventures and stuff like that. It's kinda depressing. And as you said, J.K. is probably gonna take forever writing that encyclopedia. =(
 
posted by [identity profile] believe-thelies.livejournal.com at 06:59pm on 25/07/2007
Yep - you pretty much described exactly what I was thinking whilst reading HP&TDH.

Especially Fred's death description, which made me bawl so badly, I couldn't read anymore because my eyes were so watery.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 07:22pm on 25/07/2007
Oh yes. There was so many times I had to stop myself crying so I could continue with the book, especially that Fred part. =(
 
posted by [identity profile] chiyofuzzy.livejournal.com at 08:23pm on 25/07/2007
Yesssss. :-D
I agree with pretty much everything you said. Really.
But I didn't see Harry as a horcrux coming.
And I was so sad and shocked when Snape died, even though I'd never really liked him before. I never would've thought that he was good. Ever. :-O
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 08:41pm on 25/07/2007
Heh, I've always been a Slytherin girl, so Draco and Snape pwn all. But I kinda hated how Snape died. After doing so much for the good side, he got killed by Voldemort because of the stupid Elder Wand. Bah. =(
 
posted by [identity profile] carrine.livejournal.com at 09:33pm on 25/07/2007
God, the book was so intense. I was so emotional throughout. All of the deaths were so heartbreaking!

Here's my review. But be warned, it's pretty scattered and not very deep. :)

As for fanfiction, I'm desperately looking for a place with good Harry Potter fiction. None of the harry potter fanfiction sites are easy to use at all. They're all laid out so badly. But I think [livejournal.com profile] dh_fanfic has some pretty good stories and ficlets to provide some much needed closure.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 11:05am on 03/08/2007
Yeah, I was emotional right at the start when Hedwig died, and I was pretty much bawling at the end. It was really quite an intense ride.

Thanks for the comm link. I really do need closure. *sighs*
 
posted by [identity profile] lookat-thestars.livejournal.com at 12:17am on 26/07/2007
I can't believe Dudley made me tear up!

When Fred died I really started getting emotional. It was all downhill from there.

I read that JK cried and cried over the part when Harry brings back his parents, Lupin and Sirius. It was such a sad part, I can understand why.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 11:12am on 03/08/2007
I KNOW. Weird, right?

Fred's death was so sudden and so wrong. Urgh. Damn. Too cruel, JK, too cruel.

I love that chapter. Harry coming to terms with his own death with the help of his parents and Sirius and Lupin was absolutely heartbreaking. =(
 
posted by [identity profile] heybritney.livejournal.com at 12:39am on 26/07/2007
i was really sad about fred as well. that's my most upsetting death by far. and the worst part is, i think it was a write in, since she was planning on killing arthur and george loosing his ear... it makes some sense.
i think draco was redeemed in the Room of Requirement, and his intentions were made clear. he switched sides and finally had the strength and got over his cowardice to do that. which was amazing, and i think one of the reasons DD didn't want draco to commit murder and snape to do it instead. he wanted to preserve the part of draco that would be human and see past all of this. interestingly, i wonder if lucius would ever have revolted against voldemort the way narcissa and draco did, just because of his whole killing stuff.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 11:36am on 03/08/2007
Fred is my most upsetting death too. I hate to think how George cope with his death. They were inseparable. Their hopes and dreams were tied together as one. Their lives were one. =(

I would love to think that of Draco, but I think he never really switched sides, because he never really took one. Sure, he helped the Deatheaters, but it was reluctantly so. ANd he was never really evil, nor did he kill anyone. I think that was crucial. That very first kill. And you're right about Dumbledore wanting to help Draco. I think Lucius probably gave in to the first kill, and got numb after that.
 
posted by [identity profile] heybritney.livejournal.com at 08:02pm on 03/08/2007
i just think that draco made a choice about what side he was on by finally making a choice - it just ties into what the series message is
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 09:35am on 04/08/2007
Yeah, I'm glad he never made the choice to go over to the dark side like his friends did.
 
posted by [identity profile] heaven-eyes.livejournal.com at 01:19am on 26/07/2007
This isnt really a review, more of an initial reaction post here . I wrote it just after reading the book! I dont know if I have time for a proper review lol maybe!

And hmmm Id totally love some good HP fic to read too! I actually went back and started re-reading old HP fic before DH came out..it was great. Anyways, omg I cant even think of any right now. I dont know which ones youve read or not read.

Also Ive been trying to find good DH fic and Ive just read this one - Summer Holidays by [personal profile] penknife. Its the best DH fic Ive read so far. Its Hermione gen but has some RHR in there too!

I know what you mean bout reading the book. I started reading really fast at first but once I got past the middle I was like 'omg this is the last book! i want to read it slow' so I started trying to read it very slowly. it didnt really work though - i still read it in 2 days. Oh well.

OMG I just love the book and yes the part where Ron came back was so awesome. That was such an amazingly written chapter. Its one of my favourite parts of the book. LOL the RHr kissing didnt crack me up but Harrys reaction did! I KNOW, how sad was it when Hedwig died? And it was even more sad cos it was like his first conenction to the wizarding world. Also I totally agree bout the whole Dumbledore/Voldemort/remorse thing. Even though Dumbledore IS flawed I think it was great that he spent his entire life trying to atone for his mistake and staying away from power.

i really do not get everyones new obsession with AS/S.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 09:33am on 04/08/2007
Thanks for the link! I'm not a huge R/Hr fan, but it's a really well-written fic. Now that school's starting, I don't think I have time for more fics. =( But anyway, just let me know if you come across any good ones. I rarely read HP fics in the past year, so it's likely I don't know as many good fics as you do.

Heh. I dragged it out over 4 days, I think.

Ooh, I love that part when Ron comes back too! But my absolute favorite chapter has to be Snape's backstory. I love knowing more about the previous generation. If only we know more about James and Lily's story.

LOL. I guess the new characters give the fandom more things to write about, and you have to admit, ASS is kinda funny. =D

 
posted by [identity profile] heaven-eyes.livejournal.com at 10:06am on 04/08/2007
Yeah I dont think Ill have much time to read fic either now! :( *sigh* And ok sure.

I didnt read HP fic for ages either until just before DH came out. I didnt really read a lot then either cos I was too busy re-reading the books!

Oh well, Ive just been reading Maya ([profile] mistful)'s fic lately. LOL I was looking at her Ravenclaw!Draco AU fic where Draco gets sorted into Ravenclaw (It's a ready mind) and it was quite interesting/funny. It's eventual H/D but its more of a Draco gen thing and has lots of other pairings. You can find it on a list of her fic here . Also I love Harry in the fic ;)

I think ASS is SUCH a funny ship name. Ive actually read some ASS fic but its not really my thing. I dont really get why people are obsessed with it! Also Ive tried reading other thirdgen fic like Teddy/James and ok I am so not into it!
 
posted by [identity profile] annimatronics.livejournal.com at 01:47am on 26/07/2007
Ah, you posted about a couple of things that I actually thought, too, but forgot to post in my HP7 post (everything was a blur, when I posted that :D)

I really like that Rowling didn't leave Dudley the big bully he's been the whole time. I hope Harry visited the Dursleys after all of this :)

Oh Ron, seriously! I love the fact that Rowling didn't leave some of the supporting characters as just that, but made them do something really important in the course of things- like Ron and Neville destroying the horcruxes.

I need time to recover from Snape's/Fred's/Lupin's/Tonks'/Moody's/etc deaths. Every time I even read about it, I get so teary eyed :'(

SNAPE SNAPE SNAPE!!!!!!! GYAAAA!

Harry being a horcrux didn't really surprise me, thanks to various fandom theories, I guess. But apparently I hadn't really thought too much about what it'd actually mean, if he were one, so it was still very emotional.

I really wanted to know what happened to Luna, too! I don't know why, but to me, it seems that Neville/Luna would be a more probable and of course, awesome pairing, even though wikipedia says that "Throughout the end of the seventh book, Luna is often implied as an interest to Dean Thomas." I didn't really catch that :D

I was also wondering what kind of jobs the main three got.. Harry wanted to be an auror, right? Hmm but would an auror have much work after the death of Voldemort? I wish there had been something about that in the epilogue.

huaaa long and totally incoherent comment :D sorry bout that!
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 09:49am on 04/08/2007
LOL. I can imagine the Dursleys trying to hide their relief that their "favorite" nephew survived. Or maybe Dudley would give Harry a big bear hug. *snickers*

Oh yes, Ron and Neville. I especially like how she wrote Ron leaving, but coming back in the nick of time to save Harry and destroy the Horcrux.

I know, I get teary-eyed too, especially about Fred and Snape. =(

There is this interview (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/) with JK on msn.com about the future of the trio. Have you read it? Although in her live chat, she said Ron went to help George with his shop, as compared to him as an Auror in the msn interview. I think JK is still trying to decide herself. Heh.

Oh don't worry about long comments. I love long comments. =D

 
posted by [identity profile] annimatronics.livejournal.com at 02:27pm on 04/08/2007
Oh yeah, I think I saw that interview posted at Ohnotheydidnt or something... it's nice that JK told us more about the characters.
I don't know whether it was in the live chat or somewhere else, but my friend told me that George named his son Fred. That just about killed me :D I was wondering why, say, Ron hadn't named his son Fred or something, but it's all the more aww-worthy when it's George's instead.
 
posted by [identity profile] cementian.livejournal.com at 10:25am on 26/07/2007
The book was great, a bit slow towards the middle (too many 'weeks passed' type deals...well, what were they doing in those weeks?!), and the fact that she never told us whether Harry became an Auror or what his parents' or Hermione or Ron's professions were.Also, all that department of mysteries stuff??? The Veil??? Gah. And I wish that Wormtail's debt to Harry would have been repaid more...dramatically...rather than a split second's hesitation.

BUT yes :D. Enough about that. It was on the whole, fantastic. What a way to go out.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 09:59am on 04/08/2007
Have you seen the interview (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/) with JK about the characters' futures? Yeah. But she said Ron helped out with George's shop in her live chat instead of him being an Auror in the msn interview. Maybe he did both. Heh.

Anyway, yes, I agree the book was rather slow in the middle, but the ending was awesome! =D
 
posted by [identity profile] blueeyelinerx.livejournal.com at 01:21am on 27/07/2007
Also, if there was one thing I didn't like about the book, it was the treatment of Draco. Granted, he was never a hero, but I would love to see him rise up to something bigger than himself, like what Snape had done.

I just finished. And I totally was wishing for Draco to be rise up, instead of having the whole Malfoy clan being wimps. Other than that, I agree with everything you said - HP will never truely be over and I don't care how delusional that sounds because it's the only way I can close the book!
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 10:09am on 04/08/2007
*sighs* Yes, wimps, all of them. =(

HARRY POTTER WILL NEVER BE OVER.

Erm, yeah. =D
ext_16555: (Default)
posted by [identity profile] santacarlagypsy.livejournal.com at 06:06am on 27/07/2007
Thank you for this post. I haven't read any of the books yet. (I know, I know.) But they're on my books to read list ~ I swear. But having seen all of the movies so far and loving the characters, I wanted to know how things turned out for them. This is a great review. : )

 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 10:16am on 04/08/2007
*gasps* NO.

Well, you better get to it. *threatens you with rock salt*
 
posted by [identity profile] belle-1220.livejournal.com at 02:27am on 29/07/2007
I agree with pretty much everything you said.

My emotions were heightened throughout the book and I cried pretty much anytime anyone died - Hedwidg, Dobby, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Harry. It was a crazy emotional ride this book was.
 
posted by [identity profile] somersaulter.livejournal.com at 10:22am on 04/08/2007
It was such a ride. I cried, I laughed, and everything in between. Crazy. =)

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