All right, first I gotta fill a paragraph with some drivel that will go on the main page so no one sees something inadvertently. I’m so livid right now at Opie And Anthony… they dropped a MAJOR bomb about this book yesterday before I could change the channel. It was if someone had walked up to you before Empire Strikes Back and said “Dude, Vader’s Luke father.” So aside from my seething anger and rage at that…
SPOILER AREA You’ve been warned.
“There is still good in him… I can feel it.”
That’s all I can manage right now. Sorry…
I can’t believe he couldn’t do it!
I mean, he’s facing XXXXXXXXXXXXX on the tower. He has XXXXXXXXXXXX cornered, no wand. And he can’t do it!
And then XXXXXXXXXXX comes up and does it instead. Dude. I really thought that he was X XXXX XXX.
(BTW: Finished the book a few hours ago. Got it last night about 1 AM, finished the whole thing in about 6 and a half hours of reading. Holy cow, I read a hundred pages an hour now…)
And yes, it’s a definite Darth Vader moment. I find myself wondering if XXXXXXXXX is going to be collateral damage as part of Harry’s quest to kill Voldemort, or if he somehow will turn back to the good side.
Overall review: Anybody who says the Harry Potter books are just for kids hasn’t read book 6. Easily on-par with most fantasy I’m familiar with. I mean, it’s not “Lord of the Rings”, but distended vocabulary is not a requirement for great writing. I really dig it. One of the things I liked best was that I thought I had it all figured out by the half-way point in the book. I thought I knew who the Half-Blood prince was. I thought that I knew what the unknown voice found in the Room of Requirement. I thought I knew what the “two things” were that Draco had been talking about when he was in the store and Harry overheard him.
Boy was I wrong. I love it when a book keeps me guessing without relying on some sort of deus-ex-machina at the end.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
The Ending
I was so distressed by the ending. I finished the book on the train last night. The guy sitting next to me was amused watching me cry and cry. I don’t know if you are allowed to say what happened in this “blog” I don’t know anyone else that finished the book and I really want to “talk” to someone about it. Can someone let me know the rules.
Thanks
Amy8
I’m not entirely sure (the
I’m not entirely sure (the final ruling goes to our illustrious webmaster 🙂 ), but my feeling is that if someone is reading this many comments deep into something titled Harry Potter SPOILER WARNING then let it be on their own head.
Yeah, that was a very powerful ending indeed. Harry finally waking up to the harsh reality of it all, and taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. I wonder if Book Seven will even take place at Hogwarts, now that Harry has his quest. It does really make me look forward to the film of Goblet of Fire coming out soon.
Arthur Rowan Brother Katana of Reasoned Discussion Rebel Leader and Dance Instructor for the Unitarian Jihad
Spoilers
I hereby declare the previous spoiler-free area, spoiler-full.
Spoil away. If you haven’t read the book by now, and you’re surfing for spoilers, shame on you.
I still find myself thinking that maybe there’s a way out for Snape. There’s got to be some redeeming fact that means that Dumbledore’s trust in him wasn’t unfounded. Like maybe that Dumbledore and Snape knew that he would have to betray him, and that it was acceptable for some obscure reason. I dunno.
However, that Snape actually was creating his own hexes and giving tips on potions in sixth year, while Harry is still struggling to create a functional potion and master defensive spells, speaks volumes of Harry’s abilities. Though he’s “the chosen one”, he doesn’t seem all that competent to me, you know?
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Spoilers
When one stops to think about it, Harry’s success in previous years has been largely because of the help of friends or dumb luck. He does have some undeniable talents, though. His Quidditch skills are wholly his own, and most of his successes in the Triwizard tournament were thanks to his own innovation.
Also, while his potion skills might not be up to snuff, his Defense against the Dark Arts abilities are amazing for someone his age. Remember how surprised everyone is that he can actually conjure a corporeal Patronus. Also Harry did a great job training his classmates during the days of Dumbledore’s Army.
As for Snape, I am fully behind him, as my bumper stickers which I just ordered (“I’m not giving up on you, Severus”) will attest. Here’s my theory. Snape told Dumbledore about the unbreakable vow he made as soon as he made it. Dumbledore, probably sensing that he was not long for the world, told Snape that if that’s what it took, he must be ready to do what needed to be done. Hence their argument overheard on the Hogwarts grounds.
Also, there’s the final words that Dumbledore said: “Severus, please…” He was asking, begging, Snape to kill him. Why? And here’s why I love Dumbledore so much: he asked Snape to do the deed so that Draco wouldn’t have to. With the four death eaters in the room, Draco would either a) kill Dumbledore out of peer pressure, which very well may have sent him beyond the point where he could believe he was redeemable (the old adage of being trapped by your own sins), or b) he still would have failed to kill Albus, and he himself would have been killed by the Death Eaters for his weakness.
Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him so that Draco, a heretofore brat of a boy with no redeeming features as of yet, might have a second chance.
Now I’m dying to see what Rowling does with Draco in the final book. Will he redeem himself? I’m suddenly deeply interested in a character who up until now has been just stock, a cardboard cutout of the bully/nemesis.
I’m going to say right now that if she has Draco and Hermione end up together, believably, then Rowling will officially become one of the greatest fantasy storytellers in history.
Arthur Rowan Brother Katana of Reasoned Discussion Rebel Leader and Dance Instructor for the Unitarian Jihad
I’m not convinced
My take on this is that Snape was so jealous and spiteful about James Potter and Sirius that he can’t help himself when it comes to hating Harry. He caused James & Lily to be killed, he goaded Sirius to his death, and now he’s killed Dumbledore.
I think (and am most afraid of) is that JK will turn this into a lovefest at the end, where Harry realizes he has a lot in common with Snape and forgives him. I am scared silly that somehow love will save Harry after he rushes in blindly to a situation he shouldn’t be in.
Not that I have something against love, but I’d prefer to see Haryy study really hard, train in the Siberian snow, and then knock out the Russian with hard work. I don’t want to see Harry blindly rush off to save Ginny/Ron/Hermione and then the fact that he loves them so brings down the great Voldemort and that’s how the book ends.
Not that loving Ginny is a bad thing, cause she IS a redhead 😉
In other news: RAB is Regulus Black, and there’s a Horcrux in 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry finds a treasure trove of Dumbledore wisdom stored somewhere for him. Someone teaches Harry Occulemncy
My $.02 Weed
First, concerning Harry
First, concerning Harry landing himself a redhead… you go, boy.
Second, keen eye concerning the RAB thing… I didn’t pick that up.
Third, Harry IS the final horcrux, I say. It would explain why he can feel so much of what happens with Voldemort, wouldn’t it?
Fourth, it is sad to imagine that someone so jaded to the miraculous healing power of love and peace would ever cast disparaging remarks on the family friendly “believe the best about people cause that’s what the kindly old man with the flowing white beard (I mean Dumbledore, all you religious freaks) would want you to do” sort of philosophy that is the heart and soul of Rowling’s beloved masterpiece.
Lousy commy… 😛
Arthur Rowan Brother Katana of Reasoned Discussion Rebel Leader and Head of the Committee on Un-Dumbledoric Activities for the Unitarian Jihad
Hey!
Look, if I want love-dovey, then I read a Harlequin…uhm, wait, I mean I listen to Air Supply, d’oh!, no, I mean…
AIGHH! I’m just saying I want a climatic battle scene where Harry and Voldemort go all Dred Pirate Roberts/Inigo Montoya on us, because Harry actually can hold his own. I don’t want Harry to be totally outclassed, but then because Harry loves people, he somehow defeats Voldemort and all is well. Make sense?
I can let Harry forgive Snape, maybe. But in my little jaded world, I can’t have Harry love Voldemort.
Maybe they’ll go Star Wars on us and have Snape kill Voldemort as he himself dies, and his last words to Harry will be “I forgive James, can you forgive me, Harry?”
And who are you, McCarthy? :p Weed
I admit that not handled
I admit that not handled well, the lovey-dovey approach frequently turns the characters into total push-overs, and I will also be disappointed if the climactic battle isn’t a Roberts/Montoya clash of the titans.
Because, let’s face it… we want Harry to kick butt and take names. We want death eater smackdown. We want the final book to be titled “Harry Potter and the Can of Whoop-@#$”
However, it is possible to have a good smackdown fight and keep the message of love and compassion. A classic example is Daredevil’s fight with the Kingpin (at least in the original comics). It’s a great fight, in which all of Daredevil’s skill comes into play, but as he stands over the beaten form of the Kingpin and whispers simply “I forgive you…” the moment is made all the more powerful BECAUSE we saw that Daredevil could have truly destroyed him had he wanted to.
So maybe we can get the best of both worlds.
Arthur Rowan Brother Katana of Reasoned Discussion Rebel Leader and Comic Book Enthusisast for the Unitarian Jihad
A Wrinkle In Time
Have you ever read “A Wrinkle In Time”? That has a love-conqueors-evil climax.
I’s like to see it where Harry battles Voldemort to the point where Harry can occupy his mind and then feels reminisces about Ginny, thereby destroying Voldy’s fractured soul.
Love does conqueor all, but Voldemort has proven he’s incapable of love, so he needs to be smacked around a little. IMHO.
My $.02 Weed
bloody kids..ITS A
bloody kids..ITS A BOOK….get with the real world
Counterpoint
I’ll admit that getting deeply and vicariously into the lives of wizardly children who aren’t even real is quite geeky. But then, I freely and gladly admit to the fact.
But I’ve got to mention, you actually took the time to post a reply to a Harry Potter thread in order to argue that it’s a waste of time. Not only that, but since you’re an anonymous poster I’d have to assume that you linked to it from some kind of search engine. Which means you were out looking for Harry Potter links…
Either someone wastes even more time than me (cause at least I enjoy the stuff I post about), or somebody needs to come out of the proverbial closet…
BTW, I think I can speak for all of us when I say thanks for assuming we’re kids. It’s always nice to get complimented on your youth, even when you know it’s no longer true. ::sigh::
Bloody posters….
Bloody anonymous posters…ITS A BLOG… Get over it.
——– Visit my blog, eh! The Murphy Maphia
HBP CLUES
FROM THE EDITOR: Unfortunately, this entire post was a cut-and-paste from the site linked below. I have deleted the comment in the interest of preserving the copyright of the original author. I’m fairly certain that, had this “Sofie” been the original author in question, authorship would have been attributed.
You can read the entire story of how Dumbledore is not dead here: http://www.dumbledoreisnotdead.com/introduction.html
Sorry to yank a post, but blatant copyright violation is against this site’s rules. —matthew
WOW
BOOK 7 SPOILER!!! DONT READ THIS!!
Thats uncanny.
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
KATG Spoiler
Don’t click link if you don’t want to know how it ends….. http://www.keithandthegirl.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7319