Posted by Whistler at 11:41am Jul 24 '07I actually liked that Harry didn't die; he never really had a chance to live while Voldemort was alive, and I would've been very disappointed if that was all there was to him. I liked that by his willingness to sacrifice himself, he won his soul back, and had a chance to try living without Voldemort so literally attached to him. I think it's a very fitting end to what is, when you get down to it, still a children's series. And as for the whole thing about "having a choice"...I suppose I can see why one would find that to be overly religious, but I really didn't see it that way. One has to have the will to live in order to overcome death. Simple as that, for me at least.
The silvery-blue stuff oozing from Snape at his end were his memories. Harry was carrying the flask the whole time between Snape's death and getting to Dumbledore's office. He poured the memories into the pensieve and dived in, thus bringing out Snape's history with Lily Potter and the truth about his relationship with Dumbledore. The Snape-Lily storyline may have been one big cliché, but I definitely didn't see it coming, and as far as I'm concerned, it worked beautifully. I have no complaints.
I thought Harry lost plenty, in terms of friends. Definitely plenty for a children's series. Hedwig, Moody, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevey...DOBBY! I almost broke down when Dobby died. Especially with the headstone.
As for not having any children named after Fred, we don't know that for sure. Ron and Harry might not have done it, but Ron and Ginny still had four older brothers by the end of the book; one of them could've had a son named Fred. Or Ron or Harry could have given one of their sons the middle name. You never know.
My one question (for now at least) has to do with the invisibility cloak. They went on about how it was supposedly perfect, and could shield its wearer from any sort of detection...and yet, Moody's "mad eye" could see through it. The wearer still shows up on the Marauder's Map.
...
All in all, I very much enjoyed this book. Even though Rowling killed off two of my favorite characters in the series. ;(...
More thoughts to come, if they come to me.
The silvery-blue stuff oozing from Snape at his end were his memories. Harry was carrying the flask the whole time between Snape's death and getting to Dumbledore's office. He poured the memories into the pensieve and dived in, thus bringing out Snape's history with Lily Potter and the truth about his relationship with Dumbledore. The Snape-Lily storyline may have been one big cliché, but I definitely didn't see it coming, and as far as I'm concerned, it worked beautifully. I have no complaints.
I thought Harry lost plenty, in terms of friends. Definitely plenty for a children's series. Hedwig, Moody, Fred, Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevey...DOBBY! I almost broke down when Dobby died. Especially with the headstone.
As for not having any children named after Fred, we don't know that for sure. Ron and Harry might not have done it, but Ron and Ginny still had four older brothers by the end of the book; one of them could've had a son named Fred. Or Ron or Harry could have given one of their sons the middle name. You never know.
My one question (for now at least) has to do with the invisibility cloak. They went on about how it was supposedly perfect, and could shield its wearer from any sort of detection...and yet, Moody's "mad eye" could see through it. The wearer still shows up on the Marauder's Map.
...
All in all, I very much enjoyed this book. Even though Rowling killed off two of my favorite characters in the series. ;(...
More thoughts to come, if they come to me.
Thoughts on HP-VII (Warning: Spoilers) - Whistler