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Harry Potter 7 (aka Potterclypse)


The Wolf Maid

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{SPOILER=title}JK said that there were two characters which she killed of in her final draft which went originally in her first-Remus and Tonks. I thought it would have been someone more like Neville and Ginny or something. I was actually surprised at how many people survived at the end. Not sa vloody as she portrayed.{/SPOILER}.

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I really like the book. Just finished it. Literally 5 minutes ago.

Parts of it where cheesy. Parts of it where glaringly predictable. But in all it I thought it was fitting finally and a fun read. Though seriously "Albus Severus Potter" that is a name out of a bad fan fiction. Where was the closure for characters like Luna, or George (having to face the world with out his twin and only one ear. One wonders how the poor boy copes.) What was Teddy doing at Kings Crossing he was 19.

Still I enjoyed it immensely and am that at least one of the series I have been reading for years is at a end. I'm glad I know how it ends. The story she told was a wonderful one, and one I think that will live on much as The Chronicles of Narnia as young readers classic for years.

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Cringeworthy moments:

-Percy arriving at just the right moment without any foreshadowing- all is forgiven, huzzah!

-Kreacher charging at the final battle

-The Voldemort/Harry confrontation at the end- it was a badly written action movie scene that felt like it had dialogue from Rambo

-Voldemort. What a shit villain. He spends the majority of the book torturing his own followers instead of doing anything useful.

-The epilogue. Retch.

-Harry returning from the dead due to some magical deus ex machina.

The meh:

-Deathly Hallows- it really feels like she's just making this stuff up as we go along. Would it have killed her to foreshadow this at all? At least have a character point out that Harry's invisibility cloak was special?

-Draco is the true owner of the Super Wand? Say what? I had no clue what was going on in that section. So very convoluted.

-Snape being barely in it. He and Harry needed at least one scene together.

-Rowling's need to fit everyone from the last six books in. We didn't need Umbridge- nor did we need everyone and their mother at the last battle.

-The last battle- very confusingly written- I guess thats kind of the point- but say, Lupin's and Tonks' deaths seemed very poorly handled.

Overall though, it was very enjoyable. You'll notice that most of my complaints are from the second half- I felt that it started off very strongly and then kind of weakened out towards the end.

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What was Teddy doing at Kings Crossing he was 19.

He was there seeing off Victorie Weasley - Bill and Fleur's daughter, who presumably is in her 6th or 7th year at this time.

Now that I've had some sleep, I'm going to have to respectably disagree with Ossie on the Kreacher story-line. I'll give you corny in the end when the house-elves and centaurs raise up arms. But I'm thinking back to the Fountain of Magical Bretheren, and what a twisted concept that is, and to see the races working toward a common cause united was nice.

But I found Kreacher's tale to be well-written, albeit many fans called it for what it was. I, however, did not see Regulus as being such a kind person (as far as Kreacher was concerned), so that was a nice mini-twist in there. I completely loved when he went after Mundungus with a frying pan though. :lol:

The theme of this book is clearly parental love (mainly a mother's love for her children.) Look at the mothers (and one father) we have illustrated and the actions they performed for their child's sake:

Dumbledore's mom: took care of his sister (after she was raped, mind you - quite a big thing there, imo - and not in the least a child's theme) and died looking after her

Lily Potter: died protecting her son

Xeno Lovegood: was willing to turn Harry in to protect his daughter and get her returned to him

Molly Weasley: went completely BUCKWILD on Bellatrix after her AK almost killed Ginny - "NOT MY DAUGHTER BITCH" made me :rofl:

and lastly, strangely enough...

Narcissa Malfoy: Lied to Voldemort after realizing Harry was alive to get to her son, and protect/save him

And when contrasting those parents who would die willingly for their children (well, Xeno Lovegood I'm unsure about, but he's pretty wacky) with Voldemort's mom Merope, you see the utter difference. With a mother's love, it is unwavering, unconditional, and you yourself know love, and can love, in return. (Yes, even little Draco...) Without it, you have the potential to become another Voldemort - cold, calculating, unable and unwilling to feel any emotions except hatred and fear.

(Yes, you can totally tell these books were written by a woman, lol.)

My other thought it that I really loved Dumbledore's line to Snape, "I think we may do the Sorting too soon." That said so much, with only one line...and even though JKR has always said she didn't understand the Snape love, she did allow him to be redeemed. He was completely the unsung hero of the book no, series - but I find it very interesting that through all of this, he really never liked Harry one iota. Because although he was Lily's son, he was also James's. I suppose looking at him and seeing a constant reminder of the man who took your love from you would be an acceptable reason, but for Harry to accept it, I had a little bit of trouble with at first. I'm better with it now...but yeah, that kind of jarred me at first. My guess is that she wanted us to see Harry's great capacity to forgive and yes, to love...again.

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Some of the questions JK said would be answered did not get answered or i missed them. Can anyone tell me what was Dudley's worst memory the night the dementors attacked? Or what was the Potters jobs-I thought JK said they didnt just work for the Order - or else I might be mistaken again. Anyone clear this up for me?

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Some of the questions JK said would be answered did not get answered or i missed them. Can anyone tell me what was Dudley's worst memory the night the dementors attacked? Or what was the Potters jobs-I thought JK said they didnt just work for the Order - or else I might be mistaken again. Anyone clear this up for me?

Oh yes, and why Harry having his mother's eye colour was so important? Is it just because they remind Snape of his love? And whats the deal with the veil?

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Some of the questions JK said would be answered did not get answered or i missed them. Can anyone tell me what was Dudley's worst memory the night the dementors attacked? Or what was the Potters jobs-I thought JK said they didnt just work for the Order - or else I might be mistaken again. Anyone clear this up for me?

No, we never found these out. I think maybe it was lost in editing, tbh. Or maybe she realized she didn't need that info in there - wasn't it enough to see Dudley thank Harry for saving him from the dementors? :P

I always assumed Lily worked in the locked room at the DoM, and James was a rich boy who didn't have to work. I'm sure she'll have an FAQ about it answering those questions soon enough, though.

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Oh yes, and why Harry having his mother's eye colour was so important? Is it just because they remind Snape of his love? And whats the deal with the veil?

Yes, the eyes were important to SNAPE - it was the only part of Harry that was his mother through and through - when Snape died saying "Look at me" I believe he was looking into Harry (Lily's eyes), finding peace with his choices.

The veil - ehhh, no clue. A Passage to the other side, I would say.

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I have worked in the hcidlren secitons in bookstores. There are NO books in that section HALF as big as this one.

Erm, Order of the Phoenix? Goblet of Fire? They're in the children's section of most bookshops (by that, I mean usually the 8-12 year old section, not the teenage section, just to head off the inevitable response).

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I'd definitely say HP is teenage books, it's just a cop-out to label them as kid's books. "Well, it doesn't have to be well-written literature, I mean...it's only a kids book!" I'd say that a lot more teenagers read the series than kids, since most of the teenagers now adays grew up with the series. The books do explore things such as relationships, romance, ridiculously cheesy intimacy. Things which are on a teenage level. An 8 or 10 year old isn't going to give much of a damn about making out or about the romance scenes. She tries to explore themes of death, torture, etc, which aren't all that childish of themes. The fact that she clearly tries to write teenage-level romance, yet fails miserably, leads me to believe that the reason these seem so childish are due to her own immature and poor writing abilities, not because of an attempt to make them all that childish.

There really is no excuse for all the cringe-worthy and unrealistic scenes. You can't say, "well I don't have to write realistic emotions and mind-sets, because, uh, it'll go in the kid's section!" when a vast amount of the readers are teenagers, and many are adults as well. An 8 year old may not go, "hey, that was a very realistic romance scene!" but at least the teenagers and adults wouldn't be cringing.

HP is mainly meant to apply to all audiences, which is why it has such a large amount of readers.

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This would almost be a good argument, except it misses the point, which is namely that the book, and the series itself, is written at a level which does soften certain aspects. Torture, sex, whatever. Length is irrelevant to that.

Exactly. And if the book is too long for children, it means it is badly done since only teenagers and adults will read it. (which doesn't make it a teenager/adult book since all the "for children" limitations are still there).

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Guest OsRavan

thats my ppint. thgese books are forced into the childrenss seciton where htye dont belong.

plenty of books "soften" those aspects. you dont have ot be a kids book to soften.

the fact is most 8 year olds could not read books 5-7. As in simply couldnty do it.

hence it makes no sense to stick it in a section for them

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:tantrum: I should have known she's weasel her way out of killing him. And that she'd manage to kill all the really worthwhile characters in his place. That whole piece where Dumbledore's spirit was explaining why he was still alive was just such bullshit . . . although nothing compared to the epilogue. :ack: I nearly hurled. James, Albus, and Lily. And that whole Teddy Lupin seeing Bill's daughter off thing was just copping out of dealing with what his life must be like . . . where the hell does the kid live, if not with his godfather, by the way?

On the subject of whether or not it's a kid's book: I started classifying them as teen books after the fourth. Not because of the length, but because I'd never let me 10-year-old (if I had one) read about murder and torture, even if it was a little bit glossed over.

The one thing I'm really pissed about is the way she competely avoided Harry and Snape actually facing one another. If ever two characters needed to have a conversation . . . but no, just give him a tragic death and avoid the difficulty. And I'm pissed that Snape got that glorious hero's song at the end, when it's probably the last thing a man like that would have wanted.

However, I thought that overall, the book was very good. The tone to the book was effective: the impatience and moments of despair really did come through. The quality felt different from most of the previous novels, just darker all around. I think that's why the epilogue felt so wrong, coming on the heels of so much depression.

And, lastly . . .

Neville Longbottom FTW!!!!!

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where the hell does the kid live, if not with his godfather, by the way?

With his gran, I'd guess. There's no mention of Andromeda Tonks in the battle, so presumably she survived.

Neville Longbottom FTW!!!!!

On this we agree

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With his gran, I'd guess. There's no mention of Andromeda Tonks in the battle, so presumably she survived.

Oh, yeah, forgot about her. I was kinda thinking "well, probably not Great-Auntie Narcissa, but you never know . . ."

On this we agree

Honk if you think Neville should have been the real "Chosen One"

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Honk if you think Neville should have been the real "Chosen One"

I wished and was expecting that this angle might be explored more (that Harry was not destined to be the chosen, and was only special in as much as people expected big things from him), but instead they went all out with the Harry-Christ super-special-chosen.

Neville's a nicer fellow too, imo.

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Yes, well, I actually did end up liking Harry a bit more than I expected to. He finally just stopped complaining and got to work. But Neville's still the one who, when threatened, told Voldemort to shove it up his ass.

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Well, I loved it. some clunky writing here and there, but the story was great. Some nicely understated things, I thought, and the Snape - Lily thing could have been extremely cheesy, but wasn't.

I loved the explanation of Petunia's bitterness, the fact that Dudley came around, sort of. I love all the emotionally stunted characters with less than perfect lives.

Snape...I loved his story arc in this book and I though the memory chapter was one of the stronger.

I am not really sure why people whinge and moan about the Dumbledore conversation in death chapter, it was pretty obvious fairly early on that Harry had to "die" once to get rid of his piece of Voldemort. People who missed this should go reread (I have read most of the book twice, it's not hard to see.)

As for whether it's a children's book series. A) people say that as if it is something despicable and B) I have read romances handled MUCH worse in several books aimed at adults. Rowlings were fine. More delving into romance would have been way too much.

Also, the continous comparison to fanfic is ridiculous. Sometimes I think the whole fanfic thing around HP is negative since people get so hung up on what they're read there and forget that the original is THE original. There are over half a million potter fics out there. Some people are BOUND to hit the "right" intrigue.

EDIT: and yes, that comes from me who have read over 500 fanfic at least.

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Meh, on the whole what a disappointment. I really felt that Rowling was becoming better, but that was worse than OoTP and HBP. The things I liked:

1. The trio's life on the run and sense of failure and despair, as well as the very real danger, in the first part of the book

2. Harry's shifting relationship with DD and the whole Dumbledore backstory

3. Hermione, she was awesome

4. The ambush at DH, practically the only halfway competent thing that Voldy has done in the book and genuinely scary.

5. The heroes do commit lots of Unforgiveables, that was refreshing.

What I disliked in particular:

1. Snape's story. After all the buildup, he scarcely had a reason to be in the book and died pointlessly. And although his backstory was pretty much what I imagined, it was delivered in a very ham-fisted and perfunctionary manner. No warmth between him and DD, either. And the Marauder bullying was made extremely light of.

2. The Horcrux hunt itself was deeply unspectacular. The hiding places were dumb and relatively unprotected.

I mean, seriously, you can open a vault if you just imperius an employee and it is possible to _blast_ through ceilings at Gringotts? Dragon was afraid of a smack on the muzzle? And nobody ever broke in? Spare me.

Voldy thought that he was the only one to ever find the Room of the Requirement, although there were mountains of stuff left by other people there and although Draco brought the DEs through it in HBP (sic!) ? .

Voldy was aware that you could circumvent the Cave with a house-elf?!!! WTF? For that matter, why a house elf and not an imperiused Muggle?

Ron was suddenly a Parselmouth and they could still use the basilisk fangs, after all those years?!!!

Meh and double meh.

3. Deathly Hallows came totally from the left side. It is like Rowling became aware that she couldn't write a challenging and interesting enough Horcrux hunt and quickly threw something else in to provide distraction.

4. Voldemort is the lamest villain ever and totally unworthy of his place on the great Dark Wizards list. I mean, he was actually _in power_ during the book and what did he achieve? Nothing. Despite his supposed bloodthirstiness, he let his known opponents, such as the Weasleys run free, didn't take (and execute) any hostages apart from Luna, didn't establish his power over Muggles, etc. We should be so lucky in RL to have such incompetent dictators.

5. Harry doesn't even have to learn anything new to achieve his spectacular victories. Not even the non-verbal spells, which were inexplicably dropped after HBP. No, the good old stuff from his 1-4th year at school (sic!) was enough. And when it wasn't, Harry just suddenly "knew" how to do things, like the Imperius. He sat in the tent for weeks and months arguing with his friends, yet it didn't occur to him to polish his arsenal?

6. After all the words about the unity of Houses, nothing actually happened on that front. The Malfoys weren't quite as bad as they could have been and Draco saved Goyle and was in turn saved by the trio, but that was it. Slytherins still largely remained the villains, Gryffindors the heroes and everybody else their flankies. Ugh. It seems that Sorting is destiny, after all.

7. The cheesiest ending ever. Practically everybody survived. Everything stayed the same, the secrecy, the Sorting... The 4 main teenagers married and got kids - and that's the only thing that we learn about their subsequent lives. Etc. Happily ever after.

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