Harry Potter (with spoilers)

Midge

Posted: 01.08.2003, 14:32

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(Spoilers, as I discovered recently, aren't just a bit on a car, but mean it'll spoil the story for you if you don't already know it cos it talks about the plot.)

As Harry Potter has drifted back into the conversation, I thought it might be worth setting up a new thread to discuss the storyline, esp. of the latest one - or whatever comes up.

I only finished it yesterday, and it'd be good to hear what other people think about it. A friend of mine (who didn't think much of Matrix 2) thought it was the weakest book of the 5 - that there weren't any clever surprises like in previous ones (like the Triwizard cup being a portkey), and that she seemed to have made up the climax of the story as she went along - brains in tanks and stuff. (tho I thought it was worth putting them in for the line "Accio brain.")

I must admit that there didn't seem to be so much going on as in the previous books - it was more about Harry being kept in the dark about what was going on. I thought Rita Skeeter's Quibbler article would've had more repercussions than it did - was it wise for Harry to take things into his own hands? Sirius falling through the archway was a bit odd. But wasn't it just so sad and frustrating that Harry found the two-way mirror too late - if he'd remembered it earlier, he needn't've used Umbridge's fireplace, and he wouldn't've been led into the trap etc. etc. (Maybe J K Rowling had forgotten about it too.) (And I looked all the way through the start of the book and couldn't find where Sirius gave him the mirror in the first place, though I remember it happening.) But then, if he hadn't gone into the trap, the Ministry would still be denying that Voldemort was really back, and Harry and Dumbledore would still be suspect, and Umbridge would still be in the school, etc. etc. - so good things came out of all the mistakes. I half expected JK Rowling to bump off Cho Chang at the end just to make things even more sad.

Quite a weird book then. Those are my random thoughts - maybe some profound ones will come later, about Dumbledore and God's providence or something.

davidb

Posted: 01.08.2003, 18:31

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It's not my favourite (I think that would be 1 or 4) but I still think it's a cracking read. As you say, there's not so much of a twist as in previous ones, although the death of a leading character and the prophecy are fairly big surprises.

It didn't seem to me as though she'd made it up as she went along - there are references that lead to the finale all the way through, eg the various people guarding the door at the Ministry. The various rooms at the Ministry are in the tradition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - it's fun to see lots of weird stuff, similarly in St Mungo's. And I have to say, those last 200 pages are absolutely gripping. Great to see a big battle between wizards. And Dumbledore's confrontation with Voldemort was fantastic.

I agree about Skeeter's article - that's perhaps the weakest plot point; you'd have thought the people in the Order would have gone ballistic over Harry publishing that.

It's terrible that Harry didn't use the mirror until the end, although as you say the whole plot would then have been different.

The other thing that's strange to me about this book, perversely, is how happy the end is! A lot of dramatic tension had been built up by the end of the 4th book and throughout this one - no one believing Harry or Dumbledore etc. I'd expected that to just ramp up further and further until the 7th book; instead, a lot has been resolved now. That's fine; it just means Rowling wants to play the 6th and 7th books as more of an out-and-out war between two knowledgeable sides; I guess she's tired of having Voldemort do subterfuge.

andy

Posted: 04.08.2003, 12:52

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Never read it, never gonna read it.