(no subject)

[rusty_halo]

Just finished the latest Harry Potter. (I got it on Sunday night at the Comic Con dealer room, but I didn't get a chance to really start reading it until Monday. I was stuck on planes all day, so I got through most of it, and finished the rest today on my lunch break.) I haven't read anyone else's reactions yet--though if there are good ones out there, please recommend them to me.

I really liked it. I'm so glad that we got payoff, finally, for threads that have been building for ages: Ron/Hermione, Harry/Ginny, Snape's motivations, Draco's layers, etc. I particularly loved getting Voldemort's history, and find him fascinating, though I wish he'd been a bit more layered as a child. I think it would be much more interesting if he'd had redeeming qualities originally, but chose to abandon them in pursuit of evil, rather than him just being a nasty little sociopath all along.

I loved Malfoy and his mother finally being portrayed with some complexity. I liked Malfoy having to make a choice and pretty much choosing not to kill Dumbledore. I'm always irritated by how one-dimensional Malfoy has been--and I think that has a lot to do with the fact that it's Harry who is perceiving him. Harry isn't always right--he tends to be rash and clueless and judgmental about other people. I like that this is clearly Harry's point of view, not an ultimate truth.

I also loved that Harry was sort of tricked (by not knowing who the Half-Blood Prince was) into appreciating Snape's creativity and intelligence. Funnily enough, because I'm not much of a Snape fan (Sirius fan, here), but I never doubted for a second that Snape was acting on Dumbledore's orders all along. I still think Snape's a good guy. Dumbledore wanted Snape to maintain his cover, and he wanted to protect Malfoy, and he knew that he was probably already done for, and so he asked Snape to kill him. And Snape complied even though he didn't want to--just as Dumbledore asked Harry to obey him no matter what, and Harry did. (Interesting paralleling of Harry and Snape throughout the book.)

I've never been a Dumbledore fan. I find his assumption of his own superiority, and his thoughtless failure to keep others informed about that which is incredibly relevant to them, to be irritatingly arrogant. I know that he doesn't mean it on purpose, but it's still annoying. And I think his encouragement that his followers be blindly devoted to him is utterly foolish--blind devotion to *anything* is foolish. So, yeah, I was kind of glad that he died--it was quite obvious from the start that it would happen in this book, so I felt no shock or particular interest. I'm glad that Harry will now have to stand on his own without a protector hovering over him.

I'm guessing that R.A.B. is Regulus Black. Is that plausible? I can't remember much about him, but he was conspicuously mentioned at the beginning of this book, wasn't he?

What was stupid: Harry and Ginny's pointless breakup (Harry reminded me of Angel, or Duncan MacLeod, stupid noble bullshit), Remus and Tonks (Remus is so NOT heterosexual, and how incredibly pathetic is Tonks?).

So yeah, these are just initial reactions. I'm going to read other people's reactions, and read the book again. But overall I'm very happy with this one.

Comments

[jerrymcl89.livejournal.com]

Not to go totally off-topic from your post or anything, but what stuff did you go to at the con ? I kept an eye out for you, but it was kind of like trying to bump into someone at Woodstock.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

Comic Con was, um, interesting. Lots of neat stuff to see, but a bit too commercial for me. And I didn't really feel much like I belonged; I spent the four days without speaking to anyone except my roommates. (Reminded me of college that way.) I had an eye out for you, but didn't see you either. Or anyone I knew, actually.

Thursday and Friday I went to smaller panels; Saturday I spent in Hall H; Sunday I spent in the academic track (room 7B). Probably the coolest part was turning the corner in the exhibit hall and discovering that Adam Busch was signing right in front of me; I didn't even realize he was going to be there. He waved and was excited to see us, and we drove up to L.A. Saturday night to see Common Ro, which was fun.

The panels were interesting, but you could also watch a special on TV about one of those movies and get the same experience, minus the stupid fanboy questions. (Poor Charlize.) Also, I was impressed by how lively and intelligent Natalie Portman is, which leaves me astounded at how George Lucas managed to utterly crush the spirit out of her in Star Wars. The Joss panel was interesting, Nathan was funny, but it was basically a bunch of self-congratulatory wankery. Kevin Smith was hilarious; Bryan Singer was adorable and interesting. I went to the Simpsons panel; Matt Groening looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. The Veronica Mars panel was interesting, quite slashy, and the Battlestar Galactica panel was done well.

I'm irritated that so much attention was paid to Hall H and so little to anything else; I didn't attend a single panel outside Hall H that didn't have some irritating technical problem (screens not working, questions inaudible to panelists, etc.) The only panel I failed to get into was the Bruce Campbell panel, funny enough; I got into Hall H fine as long as I arrived early. People get up late over there.

And I was really irritated by how commercial the whole experience was. Basically the movie panels were just fancy movie advertisements. And the exhibit hall really wasn't that interesting unless you're a collector prepared to spend a lot of money on genre stuff. I'm interested in the art itself, not the merchandise, so I really felt out of place there. And, for example, the Star Wars panel was so repulsively self-congratulatory and self-promotional, all about wringing more and more money out of these clueless fans (and deriding anyone who dared ask even a mildly critical question, like about the release of the real original trilogy on DVD).

I'm not sure I'd go again, unless there was something I was *really* into and wanted to see a lot of. Even with Veronica Mars, which is the closest thing I have to a new fandom, I had no interest in getting their autographs after their panel.

[jerrymcl89.livejournal.com]

It is an overtly commercial convention, with all the downside, and is largely for collectors and such (which I didn't buy much of, since I didn't want to have to carry stuff home). The comics pannels (and the comic company booths) are pretty good for allowing informal access to the artists and writers, but the movie stuff really is just a big commercial. I was glad I went, but also kind of burned out on it by Sunday, and I probably wouldn't go again unless I knew more people that were going.

I pretty much avoided seeking autographs, except for getting Amber Benson's because she had no line and was cool to talk to. But there was certainly no shortage of people to get them from for anyone who wanted to.

[chenanceou.livejournal.com]

Just a drive by to say hello.

[rusty_halo.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

*misses you*

[aea]

I agree with what you said about Malfoy finally having some layers and Snape still on the side of good. I don't think Harry realizes how much Snape has going on in his life, how dangerous it is to doublecross Voldemort. I hope Snape doesn't die in the next book.