sophinisba | Deathly Hallows

I finished reading Deathly Hallows earlier tonight. This post isn't all that spoiler-y, but I'll put it behind a cut anyway. I expect (hope) there will be spoilers in the comments, so don't click if you don't want to see those.

Well, I loved the book. For one thing I had a great reading experience – had finished a challenge fic and sent it to beta Friday night and had nothing else to do or think about all weekend. I just got caught up with the Harry Potter books last summer so this was the first time I'd read one just after it came out, and only the second time I'd read one without having been spoiled previously. I had just seen OotP twice in the theater and been reading some great HP fanfic this weekend so I had it all in my mind and it was great seeing so many little threads from the other books come together and take on new meanings here. I loved seeing Harry so much more mature and at times stern(!). I was thrilled, delighted, moved. (I started crying halfway through chapter 33 and kept at it for quite a while.) I also couldn't wait to get back to LJ and read other fans' reactions.

And the interesting thing to me is that most of the people on my f-list who are, like me, Lord of the Rings fans who also read Harry Potter books, seem to have had pretty similar reactions. Excitement! Nice moments for some of our favorite characters! Whoo!

The serious Harry Potter fans though, the ones who write HP fic and meta that I enjoy reading, have in general been a lot less positive about it. I guess that makes sense, that they have a lot more invested in the series so it matters more to them if some things don't make sense or if some characters aren't treated fairly or if, you know, everybody ends up in conventional heterosexual marriages rather than living out their big gay love affairs. Having read and written a lot of fanfiction probably makes a difference too – they're used to seeing other authors treat these characters in a way that makes them happier. And, I don't know, maybe they're just a more critical bunch than my f-list, who tend to be more positive about things in general.

Anyway, I really had a great time reading it. Thanks everybody for sharing your squee (but keeping your spoilers behind cuts).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I did go out and buy my sister in law the book and when she is done reading it I will take my turn. I have however been hearing the same thing from fellow fans. All good and positive.

I hope you get a chance to read it soon! It was really tough for me knowing that some people had read it before I got a chance and being worried about the spoilers, but in the end nothing got in my way of enjoying it!

it was great seeing so many little threads from the other books come together and take on new meanings here.

That was one of my favorite things about the book! It was great to see so many familiar faces for the final battle and also the visits to the Chamber of Secrets, Gringotts, the Shrieking Shack...all were welcome :)

That's very interesting about the serious HP fans not enjoying the book - I don't follow the fandom at all, so I had no idea. What is bothering them about the book? I've heard a few grumblings about the last chapter and also about the loss of a couple characters, but is there anything else?

There was definitely a lot of meh about the epilogue, but not really outrage because I think a lot of slash fans just plan to ignore it. :) Some of the Snape fans are pretty upset about his death not having more meaning though, and a lot of them don't buy his love for Lily as a motivation for everything he did. (It totally worked for me!)

A lot of folks were already bothered by the way Lupin and Tonks got together in the previous book and having them get married and have a baby so quickly was also kind of annoying. Not that there's anything wrong with marriage and babies or anything, bu the ubiquity of it, even when it doesn't really seem to fit the characters, is frustrating. I was also half expecting Lupin to die but Tonks' death seemed really unnecessary/meaningless to me. Like, as someone said, the only reason for it was to keep piling up the bodies and make Teddy an orphan. :(

I'm sure there are other things people are unhappy about but the authors I'm aware of tend to be big Snape fans so that's what I've seen the most of. I can really see where they're coming from but, like I said, since I've got less invested it's not as hard for me to take.

That's because us LOTR folk are just more...fun! :-)

Yeah, I really think that the last book was my favorite (given that I still haven't read HBP). Now I'm starting at the beginning and just reading through the series... :-)

Well, as we've talked about, the critical stance toward the canon is one of the things I really like about HP fandom. Makes for interesting discussions that aren't all reverent about authorial intent. (Tolkien meant for there to be Frodo/Sam love omg!!!!111)

I really don't have much interest in going all the way back to the beginning, but I really want to reread books 3-7 now, especially PoA. I just couldn't get into that one the first time but I ended up really loving the movie and would like to give it another try (with stronger Sirius/Remus goggles this time).

I really enjoyed it and thought she did a good job (except the epilogue). Many of the characters got more complex - loved Dumbledore's back story - and there was a lot of tension with each adventure they had. Even though I never expected her to kill Harry or Ron or Hermione I figured everyone else was fair game. ANd there were a lot more than 2 deaths!! Loved the transformation of Sirius's house elf and the reappearance of Dobby - and I think Dobby's death affected me the most of all - possibly because there was more lingering over that than the other deaths later on.

Loved the final battle and the house-elves and parents/townspeople showing up to help. I wish the epilogue had been more detailed and included more characters - what did Harry and Ron and Ginny and Hermione wind up doing with their lives (besides getting married and having kids). What about Neville and Luna and the rest of the Weasleys and the Malfoys and the others? But I guess that is a minor quibble given how much I enjoyed the rest of the book. I actually didn't remember the previous books that well but when places and things were mentioned I would think - oh yeah, I remember that. Thank goodness I skimmed book #6 again before reading this one or I would have been lost!!

It's interesting that the rabid HP fans aren't as positive about the book. So - what were your favorite parts?

My favorite part was the Snape chapter toward the end. I mentioned that I had been spoiled for most of the other books -- I knew going into HBP that Dumbledore was going to die, but I had no idea that Snape was going to do it, and I was really upset when I read it because he'd been one of my favorite characters. Then I read some good essays and fics by fans who were sure he'd done it on Dumbledore's orders and had been on the right side the whole time, and I found those pretty convincing and comforting, but I was worried that their might be some fannish wishful thinking there, and the one thing I was really afraid of with this book was that we wouldn't get an explanation for what he'd done. Well, once I read the letter from Dumbledore to Grindelwald I was just sure that part would turn out the way I wanted it to and then, yeah, the chapter with the memories was so sad in just the right way for me. Then in the chapter after that, the thing with the resurrection stone and the dead grown-ups telling Harry how proud they were of him. :( I loved that! (And I actually did think at that point that he might really die, even though I hadn't believed that during any of the build-up to the book.)

The parts after that I was not as crazy about, though I think I disliked the epilogue for different reasons than you did. :) I actually wanted less information about the characters, I guess because I like the fic and the idea of things being more open.

Deathly Hallows

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