HBP OMG!

[jedishampoo]

Okay so, both sharpeslass and I finished at roughly the same time and we were ordered to call lexsara as soon as we finished, no matter how late, and hey, it was only midnight her time!

definitely some spoilers here. DO NOT read unless you have finished HBP!


sharpeslass totally called the Snape as HBP early in the game. And that she feared after the beginning scenes that Snape would end up as a bad guy. While I thought, after the scene with Narcissa, he's being called upon to do something for his cover that is necessary. (I'm in the "Snape is Grey" camp.)

And THE SCENE ON THE TOWER. She started crying. I was like, Oh Holy Fuck. That is the coolest thing I've ever read. Yes, there was shock. Yes, there was dismay. But really, I expected Dumbledore to buy it in the last book, and if not then, then in book six. So I guess it didn't faze me as much. I was more impressed by how skillfully it was done. Dumbledore totally knew this was going to happen. Planned it. Told Harry to obey him no matter what he did, if he died. Froze Harry totally. Talked at Draco for a long time, delaying him. Waited for Snape. Asked for him, in fact. A pleading voice. Not for mercy, necessarily. What was he pleading for? I'd be interested to hear other views. I personally think he intended for Snape to do it. Their earlier argument was telling as well...

I really expected Dumbledore to die either in book 5 or 6 because he was becoming too much of a deus ex machina... in every book, he shows up at the end or arranges to save some of Harry's bacon (the part he's not heroically saving himself). If Dumbledore was there forever, then there's no real threat to Harry.

Fleur... Now that was sweet. I didn't hate her at all, even in the beginning, so I was glad to see her redeemed. :) I got a little teary-eyed at the scene with Bill in the medical ward. ::snif:: And Tonks is in love with Lupin. So sweet. Must re-read OOTP now to see if there were hints of this that I missed.

I think that page for page, this book was not as gripping as OOTP. But I liked the darkness of OOTP, from the first moment of Aunt Petunia's revelation that she knew what dementors were, the snippy Harry who made me angry, the hating of Umbridge, the multi-professor angst. In this one, lots of cute stuff happened, teenager stuff. It was enjoyable, and there were some laugh-out-loud moments, don't get me wrong. But the last 100 pages or so really made up for the lack of tension (at least for me; sharpesless feels differently about the first parts of the book). Wow, the whole thing with Dumbledore drinking that green stuff was really spooky. I still think he planned it. RAB? I was wondering about that, but after seeing other people talk about Regulus it makes more sense.

Harry/Ginny, Hermione/Ron? Well of course JKR's been building that stuff since book one. So it was sort of anticlimactic. Not really a shipper for anyone in HP, but was sort of wondering if something different might happen. JKR certainly shocked with the whole Snape thing.



Woohoo! Can't wait to see what happens next!

Comments

[slyvermont.livejournal.com]

I had a different reaction of the comparison of the two books. I loved HBP and found it a total page turner, while OoTP was just too dark and painful for me (especially on future reads).

I'm slowly turning to the Snape is grey camp. It's a painful realization for me, because my hatred for Snape is strong, but I'm not sure how else the series can go. The alternative is accepting that Dumbledore made a huge mistake, leaving the conclusion that you can't trust your mentors.

She got me on the Snape is HBP, though. I really thought he was a pure wizard, based on (obviously wrong) assumptions. I wrote him off. Also, the time line seemed wrong, since the book was 50 years old. I like being surprised, so it was OK in the end that I didn't get it right away. It is kind of delicious to think that Harry finally did well in potions because of Snape's help. (Hmm, is that a clue to something in book 7?)

[nmissi.livejournal.com]

I completely think Snape will come out of this looking heroic. I think he offed dumbledore at the old geezer's request, by prior arrangment- to protect either Draco or Harry from being the killer. (I think Dumbledore was already dying, either from whatever damaged his hand, or from that awful potion sequence- and if it was that? Then it was Harry who would've killed him. Horrible.)

I love Fleur. She is me, I am she, we are one and all together now. Or something like that. ;) Good looking enough for the both of them! Hah. Gave great insight to the character- and Molly's damn lucky to get her for a daughter in law. Fleur's pretty but she ain't shallow. :)

And I think I'm still having draco-apologist-gasms. He was CONFLICTED! He cried to muggleborn Moaning Myrtle. And earned her sympathy, not her amusement. He lowered his arm, he didn't want to kill Dumbledore! He got to bash Harry's nose in! (I admit it, I loved that. All the times Harry and company have got to defeat him, it was about time Draco got a little of his own back.)

Plus, the H/D is canon now, as canon as it'll ever be. Harry obsessed with Draco. That was JKR's own words. It's like an SS guns n handcuffs' wet dream, this book. So much Draco. So much GOOD Draco. And Harry and Draco- the fightscenes were totally what the shippers (like ME! ME! ME!) are into, have been praying for. Blood and violence and very. personal. animosity. Ah, if we could only get a little mortal enemy smut it'd be a fanfic. ;)

And I adore me some Cissy Malfoy. (Is this the first time they've called her that? I don't recall. I know it's fanon in some places, but don't recall seeing it in the books before.) She's a mama bear and a half, and I love her for it.

Sigh. This book is like a loveletter to my OTP's. ;)