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Amph Harry Potter: The Last Horcrux? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Discussion in 'Archive: SF&F: Books and Comics' started by rhonderoo, Jan 3, 2006.

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  1. Dark_Faith

    Dark_Faith Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 30, 2004
    'Chamber of Secrets' is a wonderful, creepy and very mysterious and exciting, deep book. Many people unfortunately judge the book based off it's movie which was at best, mediocre.
     
  2. Bacon164

    Bacon164 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2005
    I would have to put Chamber at the bottom of my list too... it's not that it's a bad novel, but I find the others more enjoyable.
     
  3. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    It's much better on rereading. Though there are some miscalculations...most notably the Deathday Party.
     
  4. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2002
    I liked that it was Snape that Petunia overheard telling Lily about dementors. In the fifth book it was just "that rotten boy" or somesuch. It was assumed that it was James (especially as Harry says "If you mean my mum and dad . . ." but he boy was never actually named. I thought that was sweet. But the whole Snape loving Lily his entire life thing was too sad for words :(
     
  5. Zaz

    Zaz Jedi Knight star 9

    Registered:
    Oct 11, 1998
    "that awful boy" actually. So Petunia did know something.
     
  6. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 20, 2002
    Yeah, that was it.
     
  7. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    I haven't turned my computer on for three days because I was reading this book. Generally:

    - Loved it, well worth the wait
    - Good character development, like all the others
    - Wow, what a lot of back story


    I was sure that Snape was a double agent and I really did not think he was going to survive, so that turned out the way I expected. But I was not expecting Harry to have the chance to tell Voldermort and everyone Snape's story; that was excellent.

    I don't think Snape would have ever 'liked' Harry because he was too much like his father and Snape really did not like James. Maybe they would have respected each other, if Snape had survived, but not much more than that.

    And I really feel like Harry outsmarted Voldermort in the end, which is terrific.

    I think that since Harry is not determined to die of natural causes, we can safely assume that he did NOT become an auror. And he's not a professor at Hogwarts. So, I do wonder what his regular job was. I wonder what James did? Honestly, I like the idea that Harry's a homemaker like Molly Weasley and Ginny has the outside job. I don't think that Harry is ever going to take life for granted. :)



    I don't really have a favorite; I usually just rank them by page count.

     
  8. plo_koom

    plo_koom Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2002
    This isn't exactly a spoiler, but did anyone think Voldemort seemed significantly less evil by the end of the book? Also, wouldn't be kind of awkward and Hogwarts and the ministry with OOTP members working along side Death Eaters?
     
  9. ardavenport

    ardavenport Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 16, 2004
    Without going into details, um, no Voldemort was pretty evil in this, starting with the first chapter, and in the scenes where he kills people. (It cannot possibly be a spoiler that Voldemort kills people.) He was pretty evil in those scenes. And creepy. You did not have a lot of scenes with him in them, but he was not in the 5th book much either. Pretty evil there, too.
     
  10. plo_koom

    plo_koom Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 26, 2002
    Well, he just seemed more sad than anything towards the end of the book. He didn't seem so much mean as emotionally empty and just doing what he thought he needed to do to fulfill his destiny.
     
  11. Katana_Geldar

    Katana_Geldar Jedi Grand Master star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2003
    He caught me as desperate, right at the end particularly after Bellatrix died
     
  12. Hammurabi

    Hammurabi Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 14, 2007
    The main problem with Voldemort is he tries to Avada Kedavra Harry like, 20 times (half of them in this book) and it never works, and frequently results in disaster for Voldie. You'd think after all that he would just give up.

    Seriously though, DD was absolutely right to say that Voldemort chooses to fulfill the prophecy. He marked Harry as his equal and, in the end, he killed himself with his own Avada Kedavra.
     
  13. RedHanded_Jill

    RedHanded_Jill Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 16, 2004
    why are the bad guys always stupid?
     
  14. Katana_Geldar

    Katana_Geldar Jedi Grand Master star 8

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2003
    Good will always win because evil is dumb! [/Dark Helmet]
     
  15. Radical_Edward

    Radical_Edward Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    May 2, 2002
    Re: the cover art.

    Actually, the image on the American cover never occurs in the book. The image is artistic license; just as there is no instance in the first book where Harry catches a snitch while flying beneath an archway with a unicorn running past in the first book, there is never a moment when both Harry and Tom are reaching out like that at the same time while standing in that place. The moment that the Avada backfires on Riddle is the same moment that he's hit with the expelliarmus and loses the wand. When the Elder Wand leaves his hand, he's already dead. Harry's the only one who reaches up to catch it. When the wand reaches his hand, Riddle has already keeled over and is about to hit the ground.




    Fantastically impressed with this book. I think that Rowling has continued her streak of improving the quality of her writing and stories with each passing book, this one being no exception. It also felt far and away like the most epic, expansive, and biggest book of the series. Around page 500 I started thinking to myself that what I had already read felt like it was twice the length of any of the other novels, and I'd just passed the climax of the story at that point [hl=black][color=black]I consider the meeting with Xeno Lovegood to be the climax of the story, at least in the Shakeaspearean sense of the word, if not the Hollywood sense.[/hl][/color]

    I was amazed how so many minuscule details from every book and every plot thread and every character arc managed to not only make its way into the book, but also be relevant and necessary. Maybe it was just accident that all the pieces fell into place so well (in which case, she's got to be the luckiest author in the history of the world when her storylines got fleshed out) but it looks like her plotting of the whole story was tremendously intricate and complex and the execution was brilliant.

    I am absolutely convinced that there is no way in hell that this book could possibly be turned into a film worth watching, and I think that it would be in the best interests of the artistic world if they didn't create a film for the sixth or seventh books. If they must make a sixth film, then at least they could just make the seventh film a made-for-television miniseries of someone reading the book on camera, with occasional clips of the most visual parts of the story acted out and stuffed with the necessary CGI. Cutting anything beyond an occasional paragraph or perhaps a few pages would be a disservice to the entire series and its fans.

    [hl=black][color=black]I was most pleased with the sense of danger that this book managed to create. It felt like a long story, like I was beside the three for their year of wandering, but despite the sensation of it being a long and tedious road, there was always the impending sense of palpable danger, which authors can rarely create and which has only existed for pages or chapters at a time in previous books.

    Impressed that she managed to bring back and include every significant and minor character still alive (barring only Lockhart) and not make it feel like she was trying to include everyone.

    Loved the richness of Dumbledore's backstory, particularly its darker and controversial aspects. Bringing Grindelwald, once merely an off-hand reference in an early chapter of the first book, into such prominence and executing it so well is a cheering point for me.

    I was horrified by the deaths of Lupin and Tonks. I thought that after Moody and Dobby died, the main deaths were done (I thought she said only two major deaths?) and then when Fred went out, I figured that one or the other wasn't considered important and now both were safe. My favorite character (Lupin) being killed off, especially in such a causal and blasé manner, receiving a mere two sentences on the topic, was not something I did not care for.

    Molly Weasly's moment of triumph was brilliant. After three books of her worrying and fussing, which made the audience wound-up reading about her, seeing her rele
     
  16. yankee8255

    yankee8255 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    May 31, 2005

    I think I spotted an error; perhaps someone could explain it away. In Snapes' memory, Dumbledore while still alive instructs Snape to be careful and not get killed, or Hogwarts will be left to the Carrows. How could he have known while still alive that those two, of all people, would be sent to work at Hogwarts, much less that Snape would be made Headmaster, after the ministry falls?



    Not an error: That happens after DD is dead and Snape has become Headmaster -- Snape is talking to DD's portrait
     
  17. gezvader28

    gezvader28 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2003
    I don't understand some of it - Dumbledore's plan was for snape to end up with the Elder's Wand - and then what ? what was snape supposed to do with it ? what was snape supposed to do if he hadn't been killed by V ?
     
  18. NateCaauwe

    NateCaauwe Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 30, 2005
    I thought that maybe Dumbledore intended for Harry to kill Snape in revenge so he would acquire the Elder Wand, and Snape didn't allow it the night of Dumbledore's death because Harry had yet to discover what the wand was.
     
  19. Yodaminch

    Yodaminch Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2002
    Dumbledore is persistent and deceitful, but he's not that cruel. I think he wanted Snape to have the wand because Snape had the skill to keep it safe. He didn't want Harry to make the same mistake he did and go after the hallows instead of the horcruxes. He might have known Snape would die, but if he didn't want Draco to kill, I highly doubt he wanted Harry to murder Snape. Harry had to do enough killing in his life already.
     
  20. Raven

    Raven Administrator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 5, 1998
    I think that the idea Dumbledore had was that at a good time, Snape would yield to Harry, allowing the wand to pass to Harry. If Snape yielded, handed Harry his wand, Harry almost certainly would stop trying to kill Snape - that's in Harry's nature. Hopefully long enough for Snape to explain his side of the story, and hopefully, Harry would believe him.
     
  21. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 20, 2002
    I think either minch or Raven could be correct, but I especially agree that Dumbledore didn't want Harry to kill Snape.
     
  22. shiningstars

    shiningstars Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2002
    What I didn't like was how easily the wand could pass on to another person...Draco had just used a disarming charm and that gets him the Elder wand? That easy? So if someone (in Harry's remaining years) even disarms Harry they would own the Elder wand? Then all they would have to do is find it...

    So does disarming someone make you own their wand ? If so how many times has everone been disarmed!
     
  23. Earthknight

    Earthknight Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2002
    I get the feeling Harry picked it up too. It was a very powerful conclusion between Harry and Voldemort.

    P.S- Did anyone besides me think that Ginny's gift to Harry was going to be something naughty[face_mischief] ?
     
  24. NYCitygurl

    NYCitygurl Manager Emeritus star 9 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

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    Jul 20, 2002
    Me :p I thought that they were going to have sex (or at least she would say that she wanted to) before the interruption.
     
  25. Winged_Jedi

    Winged_Jedi Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2003
    I can't help but feel people are being more favourable to this book than they would be otherwise, simply because it's the last one. Good book, and a worthy ending to the series, but it had flaws. The Elder Wand really wasn't properly explained. And the final chapters felt slightly rushed.

    They need something else to destroy Horcruxes now the sword has gone. So Ron and Hermione conveniently appear having just popped down to the Chamber of Secrets to get some Basilisk fangs. But how did they get in seeing as they don't speak Parseltongue? Ron made a creepy hissing noise. That's it? That's how he managed to speak an exact command from a completely different language? By making a random hissing noise?

    And someone please explain to me: why did Voldemort kill Snape instead of simply disarming him? Now you may say "Voldemort believed you had to kill to gain possession of the wand" but that makes no sense- he could see that Grindewald was still alive even after Dumbledore had become the wand's master.

    EDIT: Oh, I though I better add- Snape's story was brilliantly tragic. I always wanted him to be good in the end. In some ways, he's just as much the hero of the series as Harry is.

     
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