Harry Potter and the Twilight of the Gods
Jul. 21st, 2007 01:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fictionalIn summation, it was a very good book. But it came so close to being a great book, that I almost found it more distressing than it would have been if it had been less good, and I could have simply ignored it. That said, I was terribly moved.
[The Tale of the Squee and the Grim]: I loved the first two chapters, the "redemption" of Dudley. I cried when Hedwig died. I thought I would explode when we saw the Manor, and saw the Malfoys realize how utterly fucked they were. Snape's pensieve moment was grand. I liked Aberforth, and Not-Really-Dark-More-Like-Charcoal Dumbledore, best friends with Grindelwald. I liked Neville Longbottom with the Sword of Gryffindor, and tough-as-nails Narcissa Black Malfoy. I loved Kreacher and Regulus, and Hermione's rebuke of Sirius (and Ron.) I liked Potterwatch.
I'm totally all about young Albus Severus and Little Scorpius.
I was less thrilled at the lack of actual war in the streets. I was not expecting a Veiled-Except-Not-Really-Hidden-At-All rehash of the rise of Fascism in the 1930's, with our heroes not even being the actual insurgents.
Hermione's memory modification of her parents was intense and Darkitty-dark-dark, but I would have liked some follow-through on how it was also kind of fucked up. Lest we forget, even our heroes respond less well to Muggles than one might think. It’s for their own greater good after all. I thought this was awesome, but I think more time could have been spent pointing out that it’s not terribly consistent.
I also thought everyone tossing of the Unforgivables at the end was insane. So only "unforgivable" when used by the "wrong" people then, I take it. Over and over again, in these novels, we have these moments of similar actions being done by the Side of All That Is Good & Righteous and The Side That Likes To Kick Fluffy Bunnies; it’s just that when the heroes do it, it’s okay because they have good intentions and are good people, but when the bad guys do it, it’s wrong because they are bad people who do bad things, with bad on the side, and a big glass of bad to wash it down. Also, they probably smirked while they were doing it. This is troubling because it’s so easy – if one of the trio does something, it’s forgivable, always, but if someone else does, it’s often not.
[Structure]: I was Deeply Disappointed at the way many plot elements were thrown out there at the beginning (of this novel, and the series in general), and then never satisfactorily resolved. Much like my complaint about the movie of OotP, this story was, I feel, lacking in the Reaction Shot. I’ve noticed that in real life many folk do not cry at the moment of death, responding more with shock and numbness. You get the real weeping and wailing at funerals, with clods of dirt being flung, faces being set on fire, you get my drift. That’s why you need the moment to stop and see not just that someone has died, but that people are really feeling it. This was, I felt, almost entirely missing in the last few scenes of the book.
In terms of plot threads that were dropped, I also felt that sending our Intrepid Heroes off instead on not one, but two epic quests, the second of which had never even been hinted at before this very book was structurally alarming. Why did we NEVER see the symbol of the *ahem* Deathly Hallows (dumbnamedumbname) before now? Yeah. Also, when they're carrying the RingImeanHorcux? Come on. I know it's an important mythstream or whatever, but this isn't (Dark)Lord of the Horcruxes, (horcruxii?) is it? Is it???
I too, much like Hermione and Ron, thought Harry's approach to his quest could have been better thought out. I mean, as a plan, it was pretty much the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and only worked through the graces of Deus Ex Machina, long may she reign in Fantasyland.
Oh, the epilogue. JKR, if you're going to do fandom cliches, please execute better. Also, I get that you're closing your narrative. Don't SUPERclose it. Leave something for us to imagine. Please. Although, since we had to have it, I did love Harry naming the (second) kid after Dumbledore and Snape, which was lovely and honorable (though poor child, saddled with a name like that!), but REALLY. Rose? Hugo? And Draco going bald was just petty. Well, you were evil and stupid, but you get to live with your family and get married even though you are all the spawn of darkness, but here's a Receding Hairline as punishment for being too much of a wanker to even really be killed. (The curt nod was pretty awesome though.) On a more serious note though, I was saddened by the epilogue, not out of any shipping desires of mine, but because on some level, I really wanted Harry to end up alone – I really saw him someday becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts, and I can’t see a married man taking on that job. I wanted this for him because it seemed like in some ways, these types of novels can and should privilege the friendship of many over the love of one. I wanted Harry to have that on many levels – and I wished she had left it open for me to imagine what I would, and others to imagine what they would.
[Moments of Oracular Perception]: I TOTALLY called Snape/Lily, though I thought it would have been infinitely more awesome if they had just been best friends, rather than unrequited love.
[Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley]: They rocked in every particular that I can think of. I loved them. I have nothing else to say about that.
[Draco Malfoy]: The slash-y Harry/Draco moments were funny - Gripping Harry's waist as they fly! Harry's pity for Draco, etc. etc.) Also hilarious, and awesome: "The true master of the Elder Wand is Draco Malfoy! Muahahaha!" HOWEVER: why did we have Harry save Draco's life a billion and a half times for no reason! Draco became a non-character, only important in the random effect he had on other people. He was a mechanism for Narcissa to hide Harry, for Harry to win the duel; he had no important volition of his own and that sucked. I missed him terribly. I will probably do a Draco-centric post later on.
[Severus Snape]: Of course we knew he was going to die. But it was heartwrenching nevertheless. Still, I would have like someone to grieve for him on stage as it were. (See earlier bit about reaction shots.) Still I am glad I am that he had Harry with him at the end, and Lily's eyes if that's what it turned out that he wanted. Also, it was annoying and terribly, terribly sad to have Snape be the Headmaster of Death-Eater High, when I really feel it would have been infinitely cooler to have that happen in real life, not just evil. (Why did any of these Order of the Phoenix people let their children attend this school again?) She really had me guessing for a while though, not because I didn’t trust Snape, but because I didn’t trust her. When I heard that Snape had punished the kids by giving them detention with Hagrid in the forbidden Forest, I knew it was going to be okay in that regard. I really wish McGonagall had suspected, just a little.
[Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy]: Not what I expected. But that’s okay. I can't really speak of my reaction to the elder Malfoy's since they were mostly a creation of Jason Isaacs anyway, and not really JKR at all, but so she began so much with them in this book, and because of that I wanted, I expected so much more.
[Slytherin]: My largest gripe. I was so disappointed that there really aren't words, that the houses did not in fact unite during the Battle of Hogwarts! Did all the Slytherins have to leave? Why not have Pansy Parkinson, cry out, "Hey, it's our school too!" instead of betraying Potter's presence? Even when we have Snape's justification at the end, Dumbledore tells him, you were Sorted WRONG. So we do, indeed, have the House of Evil, whatever Harry might mumble at the epilogue. Not to say that I did not appreciate his moment of grace. It was a good book. I wanted it to be even greater. I wanted followthrough.
[Post Deathly Hallows and the Future of Fic]: I just hope that I can continue to read (and write) fic that is now essentially AU. I always have a problem when I've been directly contradicted by canon. I don't like it; there are things with which I am not satisfied, but it's still what we were given, and it's hard to make contradictions REAL in my head. But hopefully, it will be okay. I don't want to give up on the wizards in my head. They deserve better. And since I really, truly believe that, I think I can keep believing in them. I do wish she hadn't made it harder though.
It's been a long, epic road, and on the whole I've had a brilliant time. [The Tale of the Squee and the Grim]: I loved the first two chapters, the "redemption" of Dudley. I cried when Hedwig died. I thought I would explode when we saw the Manor, and saw the Malfoys realize how utterly fucked they were. Snape's pensieve moment was grand. I liked Aberforth, and Not-Really-Dark-More-Like-Charcoal Dumbledore, best friends with Grindelwald. I liked Neville Longbottom with the Sword of Gryffindor, and tough-as-nails Narcissa Black Malfoy. I loved Kreacher and Regulus, and Hermione's rebuke of Sirius (and Ron.) I liked Potterwatch.
I'm totally all about young Albus Severus and Little Scorpius.
I was less thrilled at the lack of actual war in the streets. I was not expecting a Veiled-Except-Not-Really-Hidden-At-All rehash of the rise of Fascism in the 1930's, with our heroes not even being the actual insurgents.
Hermione's memory modification of her parents was intense and Darkitty-dark-dark, but I would have liked some follow-through on how it was also kind of fucked up. Lest we forget, even our heroes respond less well to Muggles than one might think. It’s for their own greater good after all. I thought this was awesome, but I think more time could have been spent pointing out that it’s not terribly consistent.
I also thought everyone tossing of the Unforgivables at the end was insane. So only "unforgivable" when used by the "wrong" people then, I take it. Over and over again, in these novels, we have these moments of similar actions being done by the Side of All That Is Good & Righteous and The Side That Likes To Kick Fluffy Bunnies; it’s just that when the heroes do it, it’s okay because they have good intentions and are good people, but when the bad guys do it, it’s wrong because they are bad people who do bad things, with bad on the side, and a big glass of bad to wash it down. Also, they probably smirked while they were doing it. This is troubling because it’s so easy – if one of the trio does something, it’s forgivable, always, but if someone else does, it’s often not.
[Structure]: I was Deeply Disappointed at the way many plot elements were thrown out there at the beginning (of this novel, and the series in general), and then never satisfactorily resolved. Much like my complaint about the movie of OotP, this story was, I feel, lacking in the Reaction Shot. I’ve noticed that in real life many folk do not cry at the moment of death, responding more with shock and numbness. You get the real weeping and wailing at funerals, with clods of dirt being flung, faces being set on fire, you get my drift. That’s why you need the moment to stop and see not just that someone has died, but that people are really feeling it. This was, I felt, almost entirely missing in the last few scenes of the book.
In terms of plot threads that were dropped, I also felt that sending our Intrepid Heroes off instead on not one, but two epic quests, the second of which had never even been hinted at before this very book was structurally alarming. Why did we NEVER see the symbol of the *ahem* Deathly Hallows (dumbnamedumbname) before now? Yeah. Also, when they're carrying the RingImeanHorcux? Come on. I know it's an important mythstream or whatever, but this isn't (Dark)Lord of the Horcruxes, (horcruxii?) is it? Is it???
I too, much like Hermione and Ron, thought Harry's approach to his quest could have been better thought out. I mean, as a plan, it was pretty much the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and only worked through the graces of Deus Ex Machina, long may she reign in Fantasyland.
Oh, the epilogue. JKR, if you're going to do fandom cliches, please execute better. Also, I get that you're closing your narrative. Don't SUPERclose it. Leave something for us to imagine. Please. Although, since we had to have it, I did love Harry naming the (second) kid after Dumbledore and Snape, which was lovely and honorable (though poor child, saddled with a name like that!), but REALLY. Rose? Hugo? And Draco going bald was just petty. Well, you were evil and stupid, but you get to live with your family and get married even though you are all the spawn of darkness, but here's a Receding Hairline as punishment for being too much of a wanker to even really be killed. (The curt nod was pretty awesome though.) On a more serious note though, I was saddened by the epilogue, not out of any shipping desires of mine, but because on some level, I really wanted Harry to end up alone – I really saw him someday becoming Headmaster of Hogwarts, and I can’t see a married man taking on that job. I wanted this for him because it seemed like in some ways, these types of novels can and should privilege the friendship of many over the love of one. I wanted Harry to have that on many levels – and I wished she had left it open for me to imagine what I would, and others to imagine what they would.
[Moments of Oracular Perception]: I TOTALLY called Snape/Lily, though I thought it would have been infinitely more awesome if they had just been best friends, rather than unrequited love.
[Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley]: They rocked in every particular that I can think of. I loved them. I have nothing else to say about that.
[Draco Malfoy]: The slash-y Harry/Draco moments were funny - Gripping Harry's waist as they fly! Harry's pity for Draco, etc. etc.) Also hilarious, and awesome: "The true master of the Elder Wand is Draco Malfoy! Muahahaha!" HOWEVER: why did we have Harry save Draco's life a billion and a half times for no reason! Draco became a non-character, only important in the random effect he had on other people. He was a mechanism for Narcissa to hide Harry, for Harry to win the duel; he had no important volition of his own and that sucked. I missed him terribly. I will probably do a Draco-centric post later on.
[Severus Snape]: Of course we knew he was going to die. But it was heartwrenching nevertheless. Still, I would have like someone to grieve for him on stage as it were. (See earlier bit about reaction shots.) Still I am glad I am that he had Harry with him at the end, and Lily's eyes if that's what it turned out that he wanted. Also, it was annoying and terribly, terribly sad to have Snape be the Headmaster of Death-Eater High, when I really feel it would have been infinitely cooler to have that happen in real life, not just evil. (Why did any of these Order of the Phoenix people let their children attend this school again?) She really had me guessing for a while though, not because I didn’t trust Snape, but because I didn’t trust her. When I heard that Snape had punished the kids by giving them detention with Hagrid in the forbidden Forest, I knew it was going to be okay in that regard. I really wish McGonagall had suspected, just a little.
[Lucius & Narcissa Malfoy]: Not what I expected. But that’s okay. I can't really speak of my reaction to the elder Malfoy's since they were mostly a creation of Jason Isaacs anyway, and not really JKR at all, but so she began so much with them in this book, and because of that I wanted, I expected so much more.
[Slytherin]: My largest gripe. I was so disappointed that there really aren't words, that the houses did not in fact unite during the Battle of Hogwarts! Did all the Slytherins have to leave? Why not have Pansy Parkinson, cry out, "Hey, it's our school too!" instead of betraying Potter's presence? Even when we have Snape's justification at the end, Dumbledore tells him, you were Sorted WRONG. So we do, indeed, have the House of Evil, whatever Harry might mumble at the epilogue. Not to say that I did not appreciate his moment of grace. It was a good book. I wanted it to be even greater. I wanted followthrough.
[Post Deathly Hallows and the Future of Fic]: I just hope that I can continue to read (and write) fic that is now essentially AU. I always have a problem when I've been directly contradicted by canon. I don't like it; there are things with which I am not satisfied, but it's still what we were given, and it's hard to make contradictions REAL in my head. But hopefully, it will be okay. I don't want to give up on the wizards in my head. They deserve better. And since I really, truly believe that, I think I can keep believing in them. I do wish she hadn't made it harder though.
Ultimately though, these books have made me feel, intensely and passionately - true, sometimes with rage, but sometimes with all the awesome ever. I am grateful, in the end, for all of it. Thanks to those of you who've come along this ride with me. It has been a fascinating collaboration. See you all on the flipside, and on the next Great Adventure.
