That book what came out last night.
Jul. 21st, 2007 11:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
faithinchrisWell. I finished it.
That was..exhausting. In a good way, though. I mean, with the exception of the epilogue I'm not at all disappointed (and that's easy enough to ignore).
But it's just hit me that it's done, and that's what got to me even more than any of the dying. The ones who died--we know what happened to them. We mourn, we move on. It's the others, the ones who went on living their lives, a little sadder and a little more lonely, who had to rebuild and pick up the pieces...those are the ones we'll never see again. Some we loved, some we only ever got glimpses of, but they were part of the world. George Weasley, having to finish his own sentences and not feeling quite right about it. Percy, losing part of his family just as he's come back to it. Andromeda Tonks, raising her half-werewolf grandson all alone. Dennis Creevey trying to explain to his parents why his brother's dead, why it mattered. It's the nightmares and flashbacks and recovery and hope and making sure that there is really still magic in the world.
I miss my RPG Adrian and Narcissa desperately (and Draco, though I adopted him from someone else and he was never mine in quite the same way). I think, or at least hope, there will be new life in the fandom once it's all been digested, but I will still miss the excitement of wondering how it's going to end, of watching the world and characters grow. (Besides, I begin to be worried, will there soon be a time when my Platform 9 3/4 sign hanging on the door, or the Hufflepuff banner in the living room, will be lame instead of quirkily cool? I hope not, because the book may be over, but that doesn't mean I still wouldn't hop on the Hogwarts Express in a heartbeat. I'm sure my letter has just been delayed....)
JKR has gotten better at pacing, though that may have just seemed so because most of this book was such a frenzy of anxiety and doom and despair. But it wasn't the same kind of despair as in OotP, for all the creepiness--I think it's because in fifth year, they were trapped, and felt it, and this time they had something to work toward. And they knew that it wasn't ever going to get better unless Harry did something, and Harry couldn't fix it without help.
I loved the memorial at Godric's Hollow with all the messages of support for Harry, Lee Jordan's Potterwatch, Luna's painted ceiling, the description of Sirius' bedroom, Kreacher's change of heart and his house elf army, McGonagall snapping to as soon as Harry said it was what Dumbledore wanted, Draco not giving away Harry or even Hermione, Narcissa lying to Voldemort for Draco, Harry saving Draco (twice) and Draco sort of expecting it. I loved the battle, the fact that the DA was still going and Neville was keeping things running, that he and Luna and Ginny tried to steal the sword, that Snape was really trying to protect them all the whole time...and that Harry DID, the same way his mother saved him.
I didn't love...well, the whole business with Remus, for starters. Just cop to the Sirius love, JK, now that they're dead and showing up together as ghosts. There has never been a point when I believed Remus was with Tonks for any reasons beyond her nagging him about it and his own desperate loneliness. I was also quite vexed that she killed off Hedwig. They wandered around outside for a rather ridiculous amount of time, and I was not certain the Gringotts break-in was really necessary, but then, they did get to escape on a dragon.
The epilogue...is in a whole 'did not love' class all its own. I don't mind the ships, as they're precisely what was expected, I just thought it a rather silly set-up to show how happy everyone was without actually making them resemble, in any way, the characters that we've been loving so long. I do want to see them as happy parents, just...I want them to still be themselves. Other than Ron, of course, who is still always Ron.
It is now well past my bedtime, but I think I will read a few parts over first. We gave in and got two copies this time, because neither![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ryanashke or I was the least bit willing to wait until the other had finished before reading it.
That was..exhausting. In a good way, though. I mean, with the exception of the epilogue I'm not at all disappointed (and that's easy enough to ignore).
But it's just hit me that it's done, and that's what got to me even more than any of the dying. The ones who died--we know what happened to them. We mourn, we move on. It's the others, the ones who went on living their lives, a little sadder and a little more lonely, who had to rebuild and pick up the pieces...those are the ones we'll never see again. Some we loved, some we only ever got glimpses of, but they were part of the world. George Weasley, having to finish his own sentences and not feeling quite right about it. Percy, losing part of his family just as he's come back to it. Andromeda Tonks, raising her half-werewolf grandson all alone. Dennis Creevey trying to explain to his parents why his brother's dead, why it mattered. It's the nightmares and flashbacks and recovery and hope and making sure that there is really still magic in the world.
I miss my RPG Adrian and Narcissa desperately (and Draco, though I adopted him from someone else and he was never mine in quite the same way). I think, or at least hope, there will be new life in the fandom once it's all been digested, but I will still miss the excitement of wondering how it's going to end, of watching the world and characters grow. (Besides, I begin to be worried, will there soon be a time when my Platform 9 3/4 sign hanging on the door, or the Hufflepuff banner in the living room, will be lame instead of quirkily cool? I hope not, because the book may be over, but that doesn't mean I still wouldn't hop on the Hogwarts Express in a heartbeat. I'm sure my letter has just been delayed....)
JKR has gotten better at pacing, though that may have just seemed so because most of this book was such a frenzy of anxiety and doom and despair. But it wasn't the same kind of despair as in OotP, for all the creepiness--I think it's because in fifth year, they were trapped, and felt it, and this time they had something to work toward. And they knew that it wasn't ever going to get better unless Harry did something, and Harry couldn't fix it without help.
I loved the memorial at Godric's Hollow with all the messages of support for Harry, Lee Jordan's Potterwatch, Luna's painted ceiling, the description of Sirius' bedroom, Kreacher's change of heart and his house elf army, McGonagall snapping to as soon as Harry said it was what Dumbledore wanted, Draco not giving away Harry or even Hermione, Narcissa lying to Voldemort for Draco, Harry saving Draco (twice) and Draco sort of expecting it. I loved the battle, the fact that the DA was still going and Neville was keeping things running, that he and Luna and Ginny tried to steal the sword, that Snape was really trying to protect them all the whole time...and that Harry DID, the same way his mother saved him.
I didn't love...well, the whole business with Remus, for starters. Just cop to the Sirius love, JK, now that they're dead and showing up together as ghosts. There has never been a point when I believed Remus was with Tonks for any reasons beyond her nagging him about it and his own desperate loneliness. I was also quite vexed that she killed off Hedwig. They wandered around outside for a rather ridiculous amount of time, and I was not certain the Gringotts break-in was really necessary, but then, they did get to escape on a dragon.
The epilogue...is in a whole 'did not love' class all its own. I don't mind the ships, as they're precisely what was expected, I just thought it a rather silly set-up to show how happy everyone was without actually making them resemble, in any way, the characters that we've been loving so long. I do want to see them as happy parents, just...I want them to still be themselves. Other than Ron, of course, who is still always Ron.
It is now well past my bedtime, but I think I will read a few parts over first. We gave in and got two copies this time, because neither
ryanashke or I was the least bit willing to wait until the other had finished before reading it.
