Sunday, July 22, 2007

"Would you like me to do it now? ... Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"

Okay, here's my post reviewing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Full of spoilers, so don't come reading it until you've finished the book la, duh. If you really want to be silly and stubborn and read it anyway even though you haven't read the book, then don't attribute any of your annoyance at having your reading experience spoilt to me.

To read, lightly tap your mouse pointer on the screen and say "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." LOL.


[customary spoiler alert, just for formality's sake]

Gosh I don't quite know where to start so I shall just begin at the beginning.

So the book starts with a chapter that doesn't revolve around Harry; I was sort of expecting this after Book 6 started with two non-Harry chapters. Predictably enough this chapter's about Voldemort's rising power and his discussion with the Death Eaters regarding their plans to attack Harry Potter when the Order of the Phoenix moves him from Little Whinging to their headquarters. A lot of strange fangirls went crazy over Lucius Malfoy's albino peacock, which I didn't quite understand. And I had previously never known that Hogwarts had a Muggle Studies subject (must not have been paying attention), let alone that there was a Charity Burbage teaching it. I think JKR just had to throw in a non-significant Hogwarts teacher to be Avada-Kedavra-fodder, because if it was any other Hogwarts professor (yes, even Trelawney) we would have been annoyed.

Then comes the OotP-moving-Harry sequence - it was quite touching that Dudley suddenly finds in himself some part that is vaguely human and expresses his appreciation and concern for Harry. Aww. I would have loved Harry to break down in tears and have a big hug with the Dursleys, but I do suppose he resents them to much to get over that in a few moments of sweetness. I really expected Aunt Petunia to be more expressive, or at least say something meaningful, though, considering that in books 5 and 6 she has been showing some unexpected tolerance, if not outright care, for Harry. That tantalising pause at the doorway where she "gave him an odd, tremulous look and seemed to teeter on the edge of speech" was just annoyingly that, tantalising. What did she want to say?!

The whole OotP-morphs-into-6-other-Harry-Potters part was quite amusing, greatly enhanced by funny quotes from the Weasley twins (is it just me, or are they more funny in this book than they were in the previous two? Pity one had to be maimed and the other killed woewoewoe), and Hermione's "you look a lot tastier than Crabbe". The chase scene with the Death Eaters was dizzyingly exhilarating, the first bit of action just a few chapters into the book. I wasn't really badly hit by Mad-Eye Moody's death as he wasn't really a very significant character that I identified with, but Mundungus is a twat, as usual, Disapparating like that.

I think from here I shall go point-form, otherwise I'll take until midnight to finish this.

1. The wedding preparations are honestly rather drawn-out and could have been shrunk down a little, because it started getting a little annoying having to read about how cranky Mrs Weasley was and how she was keeping Harry, Ron and Hermione from having a chance to talk to one another.

2. Wedding scene ended so climactically with Kingsley's patronus appearing and uttering those ominous words "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming.", my heart practically leapt a beat. The ensuing chaos was also heart-thumping.

3. I was rather baffled by the way Kreacher did that 180-degree turn after Harry gave him Regulus' locket; didn't expect him to be so easy to bribe, or was he really in love with Regulus? The tale of Regulus' theft of Voldemort's Horcrux is also ingenious in his use of the special Apparation abilities of house elves and tragic for his self-sacrifice.

4. I almost laughed my head off when Harry and company found out from Mundungus (the twat) that Dolores Umbridge had taken the Slytherin locket from him as a bribe. Their subsequent break-in of the Ministry to steal the locket from Umbridge was also mightily exciting and amusing. I wonder what Umbridge would have done when she woke up and found her locket stolen, haha.

5. And yes, the whole Hitler-ish thing the Voldemort-controlled Ministry was running, with the Muggle-born Registration and persecution of mudbloods is quite difficult to miss, kind of like getting hit by a hammer.

6. This is where things started getting a bit boring because they can't figure out what to do with the locket, besides letting it make them miserable (actually why couldn't they have put the locket in Harry's little Mokeskin pouch? It might not have made them all cranky if they'd put it there, and it'd be safe on top of that too), and also not knowing how to get any of the other Horcruxes. Then Ron ran away, which was rather predictable. And they visited Godric's Hollow only to realise that Bathilda Bagsprout was Nagini in disguise (freaky, that), escaping only narrowly but with Harry's wand destroyed. I kept falling asleep while reading this part, mainly because it wasn't progressing much - but it's still important, because little bits like Harry's wand getting destroyed, and the Hallows sign on the tombstone in the graveyard with the Ignotus name - you figure out that JKR never writes seemingly inane stuff for no reason.

7. So Dumbledore is revealed as having a not-so-great childhood; at first I was somewhat confused as to why JKR was bringing in the Rita Skeeter expose, but as the book progressed things became clearer that this was to muddy the previously pristine image of Dumbledore, with his troubled youth and plans for greatness with Grindelwald. This had a rather mixed effect on me: firstly I was all like "OMG why are you sullying the image of Dumbledore by digging up his past?", but later on it became more of an understanding that the Dumbledore of the present should not be judged according to his mistakes in the past, and yet without those mistakes he wouldn't have become who he is today, the regret for his youthful follies driving him to redeem himself, yet always seeing himself unworthy. In the end we also find out that Harry is a pawn in Dumbledore's plan to defeat Voldemort, and though we find that he is quite sure of his assumptions and that everything will turn out fine, as he planned, the fact that he uses a human life as a playing piece is still kind of disturbing, and not very nice to Harry, to put it euphemistically. This was probably the part where my faith in Dumbledore is shaken the most. And of course after Harry finds out about this he is also greatly shaken and, just as Dumbledore foresaw, accepted this as his fate, to die for the greater good. At that point I really didn't like Dumbledore very much.

8. The doe Patronus that appeared to lead Harry to the Sword of Gryffindor - I immediately thought of Snape, but then had some doubts as to why he would have a Patronus in the form of a doe, of all animals. Which is of course explained later in the book. And Ron destroying that horrible locket was one of those classic storybook/movie set-ups where the baddie says things to cast doubts in the mind of the hero when he's about to destroy something important to the baddie or kill the baddie, and in the end either the baddie's words really sways the hero or the hero doesn't care and whacks anyway. Haha.

9. Hermione's response to Ron's return was so hilarious. Classic lines, again.

10. The visit to Xenophilus Lovegood was quite a fascinating part of the book, in no small part because we finally figure out what the Deathly Hallows are (I still think it's a very weird name for three items that can allow the owner to conquer Death) so I figured here that the important character that couldn't be left out of the OotP movie was probably Luna Lovegood, since her father would be required to tell the story of the Deathly Hallows. When he started acting dazed I was worried that he'd turn into a Death Eater, and turns out he was being rather shifty. His efforts to get his daughter back from the Death Eaters deserve empathy, though. Which parent wouldn't do all they could to save their child?

11. And then Dobby died. This was possibly one of the more tragic parts of the book, and I cried when Harry was digging Dobby's grave. I guess it's sort of compounded by the fact that I've always seen Dobby as kind of annoying, despite his eagerness to help Harry in everything (or perhaps, because of his eagerness), and it's kind of sad when he dies saving Harry's life and most of your other memories of him are tinged with annoyance; it's not a nice way to remember someone. His faithfulness was truly endearing and touching, in the end.

12. At this point in time Harry started getting a lot cleverer. Apparently being wrung with grief and digging a grave by yourself is quite the catalyst for things in the brain to make the right connections, because after Dobby's burial Harry seems to have become quite the genius. I was quite impressed when he calmly planned the interviews with both the goblin Griphook as well as Ollivander the wandmaker, almost Dumbledore-like in his thoughts.

13. Incidentally I was greatly amused by the sheer number of times Voldemort's minions had Harry in their clutches and called for Voldemort, only to have Harry escape them just before Voldemort appears. It's almost comical in its sheer bad luck, though of course for Harry it's great luck. What's even more funny is that the Death Eaters become so fearful of calling Voldemort because he was so angry before to be called back only to find that Harry was gone, that they keep arguing about whether or not they should do the calling.

14. The Gringott's break-in was another rather drawn-out section, with not much thrills really. Not a big surprise that the Hufflepuff goblet was in there, too.

15. This leads to a rather well-conceived plot turn where Voldemort's panic about Harry knowing of his Horcruxes actually reveals to Harry where the last Horcrux is, i.e. in Hogwarts. Thus we return to that most wonderful school - by this time I was kind of missing the place already. Ah but of course before this we are led into a little subplot involving the revelation of Aberforth as the barman in the Hog's Head (some fangirls whose blogs I read had totally trumpeted that the barman was Aberforth thanks to the telling presence of a goat in the bar). This is a pretty good twist, since it provides the basis for the blue eyes appearing in the shard of mirror that Harry has (I thought the eyes were those of Dumbledore looking out from a portrait of his, which may also explain how he could have summoned Dobby to help Harry, but Aberforth is a slightly better explanation). IN addition we also get to hear a first-hand account of what exactly happened with Dumbledore and Grindelwald and how Ariana died, instead of just having not-too-trustworthy accounts from Rita Skeeter and other gossips.

16. Ah yes, Hogwarts. I could go on forever here. Neville has become so amazing you would never have imagined it from how he was in the first few books!

17. Loved the peek into the Ravenclaw common room - it sounds like an really nice airy place, good to study in heh, and it makes me wish I were a Ravenclaw if I were indeed in Hogwarts. Midnight blue and bronze, yum.

18. Snape and his Snape-shaped hole in the window, love. I was so happy to see the professors (McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout) again, and the way they stood up to Snape and chased him out - but seriously, what have they been doing all year? And of course later on they do their own parts in the battle of Hogwarts - McGonagall with her herd of galloping desks and Trelawney with her crystal balls - a million types of awesome.

19. Well, Snape died, and just as I totally expected, it is revealed that he has been working for Dumbledore all this while, mainly because he has always nursed a love for Lily Potter and is persuaded by Dumbledore to protect her son (though it still strikes me as plain weird how he has been going all out to make life hell for Harry these past 6 years - is it just that his hate for James Potter is clouding his treatment of Harry? Even if he doesn't want Harry to know that he is protecting him, he doesn't really need to go the extra mile to make his life miserable, right?). It was tragic when he died, pleading with Harry to look into his eyes so he could see the green of Lily's eyes one last time. I so love Snape.

20. The King's Cross thing really reminded me of a scene in The Matrix - Mobil station a.k.a. Limbo. And of course Dumbledore appears to do the customary explanation, almost as if he's been waiting there for a year just for Harry to pop up so he can do the honours of enlightening all of us. As in the previous books the whole one-part-of-your-soul-in-you-and-yours-in-his-you-are-all-linked-like-daisy-chains thing got a little confusing, annoying, and just too convenient, in my opinion. I often get the impression that in trying to explain the complexity of how this thing works, JKR cannot seem to get words to wrap around the concept and thus keeps swirling around trying to hit the point but ending up not hitting it, but I guess it wasn't an easy concept to begin with.

21. The fact that Dumbledore made his confession to Harry about being arrogant and presumptuous and hoping to defeat Death (totally contradicting what he said in Philosopher's Stone about death being "the next big adventure") - this rounded up the whole subplot of Dumbledore's story on a pensive note, with the first-hand perspective from Dumbledore and his explanation of why he was never worthy to take up the mantle of Minister for Magic. Quite touching, really.

22. I didn't quite like the fact that Harry was revealed to be a Horcrux, but it's something I can get over. I mean, even if Harry hadn't been a Horcrux, nothing would have changed. He would still have sacrificed himself for the greater good, and his sacrifice would have protected all of his loved ones, while he would still not die because he's tied to life by his blood running in Voldemort's veins. So why the Horcrux?

23. "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?" -- another classic Dumbledore-ism for the ages.

24. Neville was all kinds of awesome when he pulled the sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat and killed Nagini with it. Wonder if Griphook would have been in a fit when the sword disappeared from his possession though, heh.

25. Then the final duel between Harry and Voldemort, totally built upon wandlore which got once again rather confusing, especially the part where Harry figured he was the true master of the Elder Wand since he defeated Draco who was the previous rightful owner of the wand - but if Draco wasn't actually using the Elder Wand when he was defeated, and only his other wand was stolen, how does that link up? But oh well, if JKR must explain it that way, then I guess we have to accept it; it's her universe, after all.

26. Voldemort is yet another victim of the so-obsessed-with-power-they-become-idiotic villain complex, because he really seems rather retarded in this book: not figuring out until it's too late that Harry has been systematically destroying his Horcruxes, chasing the Elder Wand around, and especially stowing the Ravenclaw diadem in the storage form of the Room of Requirement, think that he's the only person so gifted the school revealed that special room to him. Like, excuse me, wasn't Tom Riddle a very bright student? I would think he could have risen above this foolishness and become uber-powerful, but no. Then again I guess you always need silly and self-indulgent villains so that the protagonist can triumph at the end.

27. I think I'm nearly at the end, OMGYAY. The EPILOGUE! I thought it was quite sweet to have us look at the future of Harry and friends, and of course the line that bowled me over is Harry saying that "[Snape] was probably the bravest man I ever knew". Awwww *cue teary eyes*. Snape love! And it was really impressive for Harry to tell his son that even if he gets sorted into Slytherin, it wouldn't be a big deal, it shows that he's grown into a mature, sensible guy lol - I bet James Potter wouldn't have said that.

28. I still can't quite comprehend that JKR killed both Lupin and Tonks, leaving poor little Teddy Lupin alone in the world with no parents, and possibly having werewolf characteristics (one of the minor points that was never clarfied was whether or not Ted Lupin was a werewolf). But it appears he's not doing so poorly since he's snogging Victoire (whom I shall assume is a daughter of Fleur and Bill, judging from the French name) in the epilogue.

29. Draco Malfoy with receding hair, ew.

30. One thing I didn't like about the epilogue were the lame kid names. Scorpius?! Rose?


Okay I think I'm finally done. Apologies if I've lost coherence along the way; this took me two nights to write and quite a bit of re-referencing to the book, so my brains are sort of addled right now heh. If I think of any more points I'll add them in a post-scripted section.

This is my favourite book out of the seven, I think. They better make the movie an excellent one; make it two parts, if need be.

"The last enemy to be destroyed is Death."

P.S. Do be warned also that the comments will contain spoilers as well.

Avaris / 7/22/2007 11:37:00 PM

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