I Read

[ithildin]

I was right, Nin really, really wanted me to finish so she could talk about it, so I read a bit, did chores, read some more, made dinner, read some more, did laundry. You get the idea [g]

So what did I think?


What I really wanted out of this book, I got: Snape was vindicated. Fewer people died than I thought were going to, though I always said one of the twins was going to be killed before the end, and I was right [sniff] Overall, I thought it was a good ending, and I'm very glad she did an epilogue -- Albus Severus! [another sniff]

And that about covers it. I'll leave the blow by blow reaction posts to other people!



Later: Oh, yeah, feel free to leave spoilery comments. And beware that there may be spoilers in the comments, so on and so forth [g]

Comments

[amand-r.livejournal.com]

Someone has already written Albus Severus/Scorpius fic.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

That does not surprise me [g]

[mischief5.livejournal.com]

The one thing that did surprise me was when Harry returned to the headmasters' office but there was no mention of a portrait of Snape. He should have had one. As disagreeable as he was, he wasn't evil, and he should have had a portrait.

[dswdiane.livejournal.com]

Surprise or no surprise--Gah.

Spoilers ahead . . .warning . . .warning . . .

Danger, Will Robinson . . .danger . . .

Not enough Snape in book. Not enough (any) Snape and Harry interaction. Not enough interaction with any of the interesting adults or among the interesting adults. I mean does Tonks say much of anything except to move the action along? I seem to have this vague memory that she used to be a funny and interesting character. Does Lupin even much act like himself? Couldn't there maybe have been at least a little less Harry/Ron/Hermione (/ not implying slash btw) squabbling and whining and chattering and maybe a few chapters at the school between Snape and McGonnagal (sp?) and/or some of the other teachers. Some of Tonks and Lupin being amusing? Maybe a little less of Harry's internal whining and questioning and raging and kvetching and processing and . . .gah . . .enough already of descripions of where the hell they were camping.

And yes, I got it yesterday and finished it yesterday so I must have liked something about it, but it was hardly perfect.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Somebody somewhere had a theory on that, can't remember where I saw it though. Basically that Snape had a horcrux thingie, being a smart guy and all, and is on a beach somewhere living the good life [g]

[andsaca369.livejournal.com]

~snrk~ That was me. And I stand by my theory! ~cackle~

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Ah! I liked your theory! And it would be very Snape.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the camping scenes I could have with a lot less of.

[andsaca369.livejournal.com]

Erastes made a good point in comments to that post, too-- that there's canon evidence that people (Slughorn was her example) regularly take antidotes as a means of building immunity to things. Snape, working as he did with volatile substances in his position as Potions master and volatile people in his role of spy, would probably have taken similar measures. If there was an antidote to Nagini's venom, he'd probably been shooting himself full of it for months.

[ithildyn.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Yes, that's very true.

[fondued-jicama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of the characters sounded so flat and lifeless, and I think part of it is that it was written like an action flick, without most emotion.

[ardienne.livejournal.com]

In less than 36 hours my daughter and I both read this book. I could have done without the camping descriptions. Jane Austen managed to sum up a person's entire personality in one sentence. I would have been happier with a one sentence description of the various camping venues. I wanted so much more from Snape and Harry. There should have been some face-to-face with these two pivotal characters. I was disappointed that Tonks and Lupin didn't get more page-time. This was an interesting paring and seeing the irreverent Tonks and "good boy" Lupin trying for domestic harmony would have been amusing. Even their angst would have been a welcome break from Potter's internal dialogue. A Snape internal dialogue would have been welcome too. All the Pensieve revelations about how he felt about Lily are all fine and good but, some of them, the dearest, the most bittersweet should have come from Snape.

[ninjababe.livejournal.com]

I had to go back and re-read the 'death' scene... It was very easy for him to fake his death with Harry...

After all, all he did was drop his hand to the ground and look vacant-eyed. Harry scappered off, he quickly grabbed healing potions he had in his pockets, and ran off to Aruba... :)

Damn it, I will not write a story! I won't!-stamps foot- I refuse!

[dejla.livejournal.com]

I thought it was terrific that Snape did indeed turn out to be a good guy, and it was terribly sad that he drove away the one person who loved him.

I thought his death was logical, and it gave him the chance to tell Harry the truth--and I knew he and Dumbledore had worked out that death thing earlier!

It's possible that Draco may have learned something from the experience--certainly he was heartbroken at (sorry, was it Crabbe?)'s death.

And it made sense that one of the twins died. All the deaths hurt tremendously, but Lupin and Tonks dying together after having the child was--really painful.

I thought it finished the series off quite well and quite logically within the world of fairytale.

And I cried like hell over Hedwig dying. And where was Crookshanks? Did I miss something?

In a week or two, I'll reread it.

[quicksilverjen.livejournal.com]

I bawled like a baby when Dobby died.

Hubby just called, and he's had to put the book down in the middle of *that* chapter so he can go to work. I'm wondering how he'll react.

[mastermia.livejournal.com]

I was impressed, and that was good because 6 sucked in my opinion. This one, unlike 6, was well plotted, tightly written and moving. I hated that Fred died (even though I expected it) and Dobby was an utter surprise. On the other hand I was expecting to lose a Wesley parent and Hermoine bringing Harry back from the "dead", so it could have been much worse.

I have read a lot of posts with people complaining about the Snape reveal, but I loved it. And I thought I was the only one who loved Albus Severus! I welled and there might have been tears! Love, love, love.

All in all, a very satisfactory book. I'm glad. I was worried.

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

word.