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Reine Schelmisch's journal
Journal predicting EIs, or my daily thoughts/RP journal
HP and the Deathly Hallows- A review
I finished reading this months ago, and never had a chance to review it. Until now. ^^;
SPOILERS AHEAD. PROCEED PAST THIS PARAGRAPH WITH CAUTION
My initial thoughts of this book was that it was good- at parts. Sometimes, I had difficulty realizing what was going on(Such as the part where Nagini inhabits the old lady- that took a LOT of rereading the same line, and the part with Peter. Way too much line rereading for my taste)
However, for a finale.. I think it was lacking a LOT. Below, I'll list what I found good and bad in this book.
Good:
-Information about Grindelwald.
All I have to say about this is this: FINALLY. We only saw his name mentioned until now. I was glad that JKR told us about this otherwise unmentioned except by name wizard. I made up an entire backstory for him, just because the character always seemed that he would be interesting. And I finally had an official version. smile
-Dumbledore's past
We never actually knew about him, until this book. I found everything about him fascinating. *loves backstory chapters*
-Snape's past
I always had a strange feeling Snape liked Lily. And I was right. XD. I loved this chapter. Though I always wondered why lily would go for a bloody JOCK, when she hates him. This was never explained. But I'll talk about this below.
-The search for the horcruxes.
I liked those chapters. smile . They were the only parts of this book that connected to the other books.
-Trelawney's assistance in the Hogwarts battle. This part was awesome. XD. Go, Trelawney!

What I hated.
This list surpasses the other one by a LOT. Be prepared for a lot of griping.
-The Deathly Hallows themselves.
To me, this concept seemed rushed, and/or not introduced properly. Almost as if JKR wrote this back when she wrote PS.
One gripe I had about it was that Voldemort mysteriously knew about it. How would he know about it, if he was raised in a Muggle orphanage, and it's a wizarding fairy tale? I can't even say that someone told him, cause that's impossible. No one would bother telling him a seemingly useless fairy tale. Nor would he ask about it. He also wouldn't chase after a RUMOR. If this was Book 6 Voldemort, he'd be more concerned about killing Harry Potter by normal means, and protecting his Horcruxes, not chasing after some rumor. </FAIL>
Second, Dumbledore gave no knowledge of them before this book. If he really was collecting them, he wouldn't have given Harry the cloak. Another fail. Dumbledore's reason isn't as bad as Voldemort's. so I'll give her a break here.
-The amount of deaths, and who died, or HOW they died.
COME ON. Half of the deaths weren't even necessary. And JKR's reasons were poor.
-Hedwig.
She was an OWL. There was no need to kill her. Calling her death an 'end of childhood' kind of thing is just stupid. She didn't need to die to show that Harry's childhood was over.
-Snape
I could forgive him dying.. if it wasn't from such a stupid way.
I mean, come on, a SNAKE BITE? There were so many better ways he could have died. For one, he could have found out about Snape's double agenting, and offed him after that. If it must be a bloody death, with no Avada Kedavra, he could have just used Sectum Sempra on him. Who knows, he may have learned it somehow.
It would be an interesting twist of fate. And, to be honest, Voldemort himself wouldn't have offed Snape himself. See the next rant for more on Voldemort.
-Remus and Tonks
This was COMPLETELY unnecessary, except for yet another excuse for her to kill characters that people like. Or, to create Harry Potter Jr. with Teddy. I don't know which one it was, but it was stupid either way.
-Colin Creevey.
I never cared for him. But she never needed to kill him. Her reason was that 'she wanted to show that even civilians die in a war', but she could have just left him be. Just off some random other students, not a named one. Thanks.
-Peter Pettigrew.
There's a flash video that talks about this, even. So, I'm not the only one to think it was lame. Peter betrayed James and Lily, is the cause of Voldemort's return(I'm sure Bellatrix would have brought him back if Peter hadn't, anyway..), so, in a sense, he caused EVERYTHING. Even so, Harry spares him, and he owes Harry. And then.. he dies because he apparently randomly strangles himself.(Which he didn't. If you think about it, the hand was given to him by Voldemort. Voldemort probably jinxed it so Peter COULDN'T betray him, because of his past history of doing so.)
Either way.. LAME. I always was under the impression that he didn't like Voldemort much, and was only following him because he was strong. So, I had figured he'd betray Voldemort as soon as the opportunity arrived. Which it DID. I figured he'd join Harry(to repay him for sparing his life), and help the main cast kick Voldemort's a**. But NO. </FAIL>
-Fred
I can actually almost see why.. sad . Sorry, Fred fans.

And finally.. my last gripe..
-Voldemort's characterization itself.
I swear, this was written when PS was. Before, Voldemort was portrayed as a calm, uncaring, calculating villain. In this one, he's pissy, impatient, and just plain STUPID. See the first comment about the Deathly Hallows for one instance of stupidity. Another stupid thing was his random offing of important people. For one thing, Book 6 Voldemort wouldn't have offed Gregorovich, or Grindelwald(He did, according to Dumbledore. Which may or may not be true, because after all, it IS only Harry's mind.). He would have taken Gregorovich elsewhere, and had him tortured until he confessed. Not just offed him upon contact. As for Grindelwald.. he wouldn't ask Grindelwald about some rumored wand. He would have tried to get Grindelwald to join him. And I bet Grindelwald would have.
Another example was the final battle. Voldemort is supposedly scared to die. So why would he give up a chance to live? I imagine that Book 6 Voldemort would have rather repented than die. I imagine that, to him, even that is better than death. Anything is. So, why would he let himself die?
One final gripe:
-No characters came back as ghosts. Not all the characters would accept death. Take Fred for example. He'd want to come back so that he can talk to George, and so that he can eternally play pranks on people. Why would he pass on calmly?
Same goes for Voldemort. Even if he did die, why would he just let himself go entirely? As a ghost, he could continue on his rise to power. No one could kill him, and he could kill them(VIA weaponry.) Why WOULDN'T he? Besides, he's scared of death. Why wouldn't he want a chance to live, even if it's in the afterlife?

And that ends my gripe. Look up 'Harry Potter and the Badly Hallows' for a flash example(by someone else) of how I feel. Somewhat.





 
 
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