Thoughts on That Book.

[loopychew]

In a process that took all of ten minutes from the moment I stood up from my chair at home, I went and got my copy of HPHBP (and Payot was offering a free copy of OotP in French alongside it, on top of a neat 20% discount), and I had finished it within twenty-four hours of acquisition. (Would have been faster if I'd managed to go home instead of crashing at a friend's place that night.)

SPOILERIFFIC! thoughts on the book will be LJ-Cut right about now.

Yay Slughorn. He's a pompous ass, but he's a decent person at the core, regretful of a lot of his past actions. We finally get a Slytherin whose purpose is not to be "the bad guy," and is still in fact a Slytherin at the core (why else would he want to be friends with the most potentially powerful people in Hogwarts? For power! Just a different kind of power).

H/G -- Felt kind of sudden, but I'm willing to buy into it, considering it has been hinted at in previous books (GoF primarily, though CoS obviously has the whole schoolgirl crush thing). I was kind of hoping there'd be more along the Cho Chang front.

From where should I know the name "Romilda Vane," or is it new as of this book? I could swear it sounds familiar, but I can't place it...

R/Hr -- Yay finally! Ron's and Lavender's hormones being completely insane was a nice touch.

Draco -- Yay finally! Within two (seperate) scenes, he manages to get more character development than pretty much the other books combined.

Snape -- Has become my most loved/hated character now. I believe there's a lot more to his murdering ways than has been explained. Will wait for Book 7 to render final judgment.

BTW, why is it that all the places I go referring to the murder mention "turning to page 606?" Is that the page on which the murder happens in the US version? 'cuz Page 606 in mine is the penultimate page of the book, which doesn't really say anything outright.

Fleur needs to be played by Natalie Durand in a Tackleford adaptation. Ze French attitude, it is most sexy on ze girls.

Luna's good lovin'. Hopefully she'll be in Book 7 as well.

I seriously want to cross out "Inferi" and write "Zombies" every single time I see it.

And, as mentioned in a comment elsewhere, I look forward to the next book, Harry Potter and the Balls of the Dragon. Or, as millenia prefers to think about it, Voldémon. 'cuz seriously? The whole find-the-Horcrux thing seems kind of... well... asking for a lot of filler. Like, really.

Comments

[aquahaute.livejournal.com]

The US version is 652 pages, so 606 sounds about right for the murder.

[shadur.livejournal.com]

Don't forget Lupin/Tonks!

Whatever the kids will look like, though. ^_^;;

[revena.livejournal.com]

606 was the page in the U.S. version where Harry told Hagrid that Snape killed Dumbledore. Somehow, a scan of part of that page, with the relevant phrase underlined, made it onto the internet a full day or so before the book was officially released. Trolls were going around posting it in all sorts of online communities, inflicting a spoiler on the unsuspecting.

[loopychew.livejournal.com]

Probably one of the rare Canadian early shipments.

[revena.livejournal.com]

*nod* certainly could have been. Anyway, I suspect that that's why people would refer to "turning to page 606". It'll be interesting to see if that makes it into the fandom lexicon the way "jossed", etc., has.

[lurkerdrome.livejournal.com]

That icon WINS.

[lurkerdrome.livejournal.com]

Not Canadian, no. Canada gets the Bloomsbury editions, which would be the edition you've got. It had to have come from one of the instances of early-sale in the US...

[lurkerdrome.livejournal.com]

Yay Slughorn.

I don't like him, but I don't like him in an "I can tolerate him" sort of way.

I was kind of hoping there'd be more along the Cho Chang front.

There IS no Cho Chang front anymore. They weren't meant to happen, and OotP pretty much severed that one neatly.

From where should I know the name "Romilda Vane," or is it new as of this book?

Don't recollect it ever appearing before.

R/Hr -- Yay finally! Ron's and Lavender's hormones being completely insane was a nice touch.

Heart Heart Hogwarts!

Snape -- Has become my most loved/hated character now. I believe there's a lot more to his murdering ways than has been explained.

Yeah...a lot of people are of the opinion that the ultimate test of his loyalty (to Dumbledore, not to Voldemort) was being put in a situation where he'd have to actually kill someone in the Order--most notably Dumbledore himself.

Me? I'm going to wait and see which way the wind blows. I'm not entirely convinced he didn't do it just to save his own worthless skin.

BTW, why is it that all the places I go referring to the murder mention "turning to page 606?" Is that the page on which the murder happens in the US version?

It's the page where Harry tells Hagrid that Snape killed Dumbledore in the US version. The US versions tend to be longer due to having larger print, Mary Grandpre illustrations on the start-of-chapter pages, and gimmicky stuff like "handwritten" fonts for letters and such. Having seen the Raincoast/Bloomsbury editions, I know the "gimmicky" stuff doesn't exist in those--at least, not to the degree it exists in the Scholastic editions.

Luna's good lovin'. Hopefully she'll be in Book 7 as well.

I'm sure we'll get more Luna goodness.

I seriously want to cross out "Inferi" and write "Zombies" every single time I see it.

Heh! Me too.

The whole find-the-Horcrux thing seems kind of... well... asking for a lot of filler. Like, really.

Not necessarily, and it IS a characteristic fantasy element. I'm a bit surprised that there's a hunt-and-fetch quest this close to the endgame, but...I'm not surprised one actually turned up.