zex20913
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I thought it deserved those Roman numerals.

I just finished the book, and enjoyed it thoroughly. The entire journey was great, and though at times predictable, never lacking in "I can't put this down!"-ness. Maybe it's the whole crazy hype phenomena, I'm not sure. All I know is that when I got the book last night, there were over 1,000 people in the store, and more in Union Square. Something had to have been done right, and it was.

Thank you, J.K. Rowling.

I'm not going to put any spoilers in this very post, but will do so if the discussion turns to them, which I think it will.

As to my absence recently, I'd been going through a bit of a DROD funk, but I think I'm ready to push that aside, and both reclaim my #6 ranking, and contribute again to the forum.

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zonhin
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I read this series fanatically up until about number 6 or so. I just couldn't get pass chapter 1 or 2 because I was bored out of my mind. I have no idea why. I loved it before then. (I think it would be awesome if this is was turned into a general children's fantasy thread. Cuz' I loves me some Phantom Tollbooth. Also the Edge Chronicles can come too.)

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I looked at the world through apple eyes
And cut myself a slice of sunshine pie
I danced with the peanut butterflies
Till time went and told me to say hello but wave goodbye

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[Last edited by zonhin at 07-21-2007 05:23 PM]

Banjooie
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I've not read the book, I've only read the spoiler list.

All in all, I'm actually moderately impressed, given my general Harry Potter conclusion is 'watered-down terry pratchett'.

calamarain
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It was very good, though the epilogue was disappointing - it kinda read massively like fanfic. But the book had some amazingly cool scenes. In particular, the endlessly replicating treasure trap was a brilliant idea. As was the totally unexpected battle between Mrs Weasley and Bellatrix Lestrange. I did not see that coming

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Mattcrampy
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I love how the spoilers were both scrupulously accurate and totally off-base. (I was lucky that I mostly avoided spoilers - I went back later to see what they were.)

I've noticed that Rowling tends to take a very different approach to most authors: unlike most authors, who tend to start off with generic characters and lay on characteristics, most of her secondary characters start out as caricatures and become more nuanced as time goes on, which is a interesting way to do things, and I guess it suits a larger-than-life sort of story. I can see how it would rub people up the wrong way.

I liked it, anyway. It was surprisingly intricately plotted, Rowling's made sure to keep things mixing and keep developing characters, and I think she did the best she could with what will probably be the least-prepared questing in fiction. (Okay, we're going to find Horcruxes, but we have no idea where they are or how we're going to destroy them!)

So, yeah, I'm pretty sure the Potter series is going to be seen as a classic of children's fiction in the future, despite its clumsiness in places. There's still a lot to like there.

it kinda read massively like fanfic

This isn't surprising, but it was probably the length it really needed to be. Fanfic would have gone on for three times the length. And have Harry marrying Hermione.

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golfrman
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Jesus is Lord and Messiah!

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[Last edited by golfrman at 07-23-2007 09:16 PM]

Doom
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Overall I found the book a good read and a worthy conclusion for the series.

Mattcrampy wrote:
I love how the spoilers were both scrupulously accurate and totally off-base.

Yeah, I managed to run into one spoiler, twice, at completely unrelated places. Of course I expected it to be correct. What a surprise to see that it wasn't... Must be some kind of inside-joke I'm not part of.

Two small disappointments I had:

Jason
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In the newspaper, it said that it sold 8.2 million copies in 24 hours.

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Jatopian
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Jason wrote:
In the newspaper, it said that it sold 8.2 million copies in 24 hours.

I'll bet you it's not in the New York Times bestseller list though.

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Mattcrampy
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I didn't mind the camping trip, considering it would have been highly improbable for anything else to happen other than wandering around not doing much. They're three seventeen-year-olds with absolutely no clue how to find what they're looking for.

Did anyone else notice just how subtly the Lily-Snape relationship was played? The last thing Snape saw was Lily's eyes (recall that Harry resembles James, but with Lily's eyes); Snape's worst memory, from Order of the Phoenix, was not being humiliated by James in front of Lily but calling her a mudblood and thus losing her forever; Petunia had been talking about 'that wizard boy' for a while, and we always figured it was James because the mysterious boy used to play pranks; Petunia had been writing letters to Dumbledore to go to Hogwarts, which he mentions again when they meet in I think it's Half-Blood Prince; and, of course, we now know why Voldemort hesitated in killing Lily, despite her not being pureblood (and, funnily enough, the only time we see him attempt to do something merciful spells his doom).

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Oneiromancer
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Just finished it, and also thoroughly enjoyed it. I knew that Dumbledore made Snape kill him at the end of book 6, but of course there wasn't enough information to really know why until this book, so that was nice to be vindicated. And I knew that the prophecy would be somewhat interpreted that Harry had to "die", but I still enjoyed the aftermath of that. I thought the ending was pretty good, and the epilogue was nice, but I wish she had given us a bit more information about the main characters afterwards.

No real complaints that bugged me enough to write about. Oh, no, I know something that I will complain about: there is no way the movie they make out of this book will even come close to doing it justice. I saw the Order of the Phoenix movie last weekend and I was about as unimpressed with it as I was of the previous four. So I don't have high hopes for the last two movies, although I'll still see them on the big screen (at bargain matinee prices only!) for the special effects.

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

Ezlo
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It seems Mrs. Rowling has announced her theoretical next project: An Encylopedia full of the backstories and "What Happend Toos" of all the main and secondary and thirdidary characters. Sounds like a good idea. I for one would enjoy backstories.

calamarain
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Personally, I just can't wait for the movie of the 7th... mainly because of the battle between Lestrange and Weasley. Does anyone else get the feeling that Rowling wrote that just because she thought it would be cool to see Julie Walters kicking butt?

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NiroZ
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Ezlo wrote:
It seems Mrs. Rowling has announced her theoretical next project: An Encylopedia full of the backstories and "What Happend Toos" of all the main and secondary and thirdidary characters. Sounds like a good idea. I for one would enjoy backstories.

In other words, the silmarillion of the harry potter universe?

Mattcrampy
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According to NBC:

Harry and Ron become Aurors and 'revolutionise' the Auror department. Hermione becomes a successful lawyer in the Department of Magical Enforcement. A new character is headmaster at Hogwarts.

I can see why this stuff was left out: the point of the scene is that it's emphasising the role Hogwarts plays, as a place where kids get whisked off to, and that for Harry, life goes on.

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UrAvgAzn
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I'm not done yet, maybe 2 more chapters to go. But I must say, I'm really enjoying the book and I'll be back in a few hours to share my comments. So far, I loved how Harry gets to travel around the world and see some memories at Godric's Hollow, and how the three of them (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) use their skills and wits to unravel the mysteries of the Hallows, Horcruxes, etc. But I'll be back with more.

Keep posting,

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"The leaf, still green, must someday fall.
Such grief, such joy, to live at all."
- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years of Merlin

Hikari
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And the award for 'most WTF moment in the defeat of Voldemort' goes to:

Crabbe killing a Horcrux?

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Caravel Official Holds Progress:

Mattcrampy
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Even when openly evil, they're still idiots.

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AlefBet
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Okay, just jumping in since I just finished HPatDH about half an hour ago. One comment, though, as I begin to read the thread:

zonhin wrote:
I read this series fanatically up until about number 6 or so. I just couldn't get pass chapter 1 or 2 because I was bored out of my mind. I have no idea why. I loved it before then.

Book six was until recently (approximately a half hour ago) my favorite book in the series, but I have the same feeling about its beginning as zonhin. I think I know why: it's the only book in the series with two non-Harry POV chapters to start with. Books 4 and 7 start with one such chapter a piece, and the rest start right off with our mostly-likable hero.

calamarain wrote:
It was very good, though the epilogue was disappointing - it kinda read massively like fanfic. But the book had some amazingly cool scenes.

Here's my AOL for this post. (I also AOL the rest of that post too.)

Mattcrampy wrote:
I've noticed that Rowling tends to take a very different approach to most authors: unlike most authors, who tend to start off with generic characters and lay on characteristics, most of her secondary characters start out as caricatures and become more nuanced as time goes on, which is a interesting way to do things, and I guess it suits a larger-than-life sort of story. I can see how it would rub people up the wrong way.

IMHO I think this technique works particularly well in a children's fiction book.


My own thoughts (contains spoilers, but you're reading this thread so I guess you don't care):

Incidentally, did anyone else notice that one way or another each Horcrux was destroyed by a different person? The list, in case you missed it:

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I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact .

++Adam H. Peterson

Jatopian
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AlefBet wrote:
Here's my AOL for this post. (I also AOL the rest of that post too.)

I don't think that wordacronym means what you think it means. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL

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AlefBet
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Jatopian wrote:

AlefBet wrote:
Here's my AOL for this post. (I also AOL the rest of that post too.)

I don't think that wordacronym means what you think it means. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL

AOL in the Jargon File. (Also see the lyrics to It's All About The Pentiums by Weird Al: "... and posting 'me, too!' like some braindead AOL-er.")

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I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact .

++Adam H. Peterson

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[Last edited by AlefBet at 07-30-2007 09:02 PM]

silver
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Doom
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silver wrote:

Click here to view the secret text

×did anyone else think it was totally out of the blue (and even blatant deus ex machina) that Nelville suddenly had Godric's sword? without any mention of the goblins joining the final battle or anything?

AlefBet
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____________________________
I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact .

++Adam H. Peterson

silver
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doh. totally forgot about that. a remention might have saved me some confusion.


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Oneiromancer
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I totally wondered about it too, silver, and also forgot the history. But I guess I forgot about wondering about that. I agree Rowling should have reminded us of that somehow.

____________________________
"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

AlefBet
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I can see how that might throw people off. I've read the books several times, so I remember that event easily enough. But even so, whenever I think about that artifact, one of the first things I remember about it is how we came by it. Maybe Rowling is relying on that to jog a lot of people's memories. To be honest, I thought that at times the book went out of its way just a tad to draw out connections to earlier books that I had already recognized, and maybe I was a bit refreshed that she didn't bother drawing this connection for me explicitly. But again, I can see how it could be missed.

Still, on the bright side, it's not nearly as bad as keeping straight the maybe hundreds of characters in RandLand, many of whose names differ from each other by one or two vowels and a minor consonant . (Who are Egwene, Elayne, Elaida, Edarra, Edelle, and Elam again?)

____________________________
I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact .

++Adam H. Peterson

Oneiromancer
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Well, I don't really expect to remember all the intricate details of each previous book any time a new book in a series comes out. I actually had to look up the Wikipedia entry on Half-Blood Prince to remember what even happened during that book...I guess besides Dumbledore's death it wasn't too memorably to me. I plan on reading the entire series again once I buy them all in paperback. Often for other series I will read all the previous ones again just before the newest one is released, otherwise I just expect to miss most of the references and minor characters. For the final WoT book I certainly expect to be re-reading the first 11.

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"He who is certain he knows the ending of things when he is only beginning them is either extremely wise or extremely foolish; no matter which is true, he is certainly an unhappy man, for he has put a knife in the heart of wonder." -- Tad Williams

AlefBet
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Whoa. I'm on my second read-through, and I've just discovered thatcheck out the middle of page 129. Still a good 5/6 of a book away from when Neville does it later, but it is actually there.

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I was charged with conspiracy to commit jay-walking, and accessory to changing lanes without signaling after the fact .

++Adam H. Peterson

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[Last edited by AlefBet at 08-01-2007 09:33 AM]

silver
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I remembered that mention, but it seemed too casual, off-hand. it didn't really address the point

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