Order of the Phoenix
Aug. 6th, 2003 03:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kribbanHere are my thoughts on The Order of the Phoenix. Feel free to add your own.
First off let me say that I've read the list of all the errors and plot holes in the book and I agree with all of them. Therefore I need not nitpick on my own, and trust me I didn't notice any errors while I read them either!
Gut reaction: Sev is going to become evil again, I just know it. *groans* I don't like it but I know it. The way Dumbledore is trusting Sev even though Harry thinks it's bad judgement. The way Dumbledore blindly defends Sev after Sev has been responsible for Sirius's death. The fact that Sev *was* responsible for Sirius's death. (Letting his personal issues make him abandon his duties like that!)
And the biggest pointer is this sentence:
"Can you tell me something, sir?' said Harry, firing up again. Why do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord? I've only ever heard Death Eaters call him that."
On the other hand, I could be wrong, and I hope I am! It would also be kind of a cliché, the once-evil-always-evil thing.
What I love so about Snape is he's a mean good person. Most people who are good are kind and nice and heroes, and the evil ones are mean. But he's definitely (so far anyway) on the good side but he doesn't have a nice or kind bone in his body. It's fascinating, I think.
There were a lot of things that seemed to be very exciting and interesting but then when they were resolved they turned out not to be so exciting after all.
The things that disappointed me were as follows:
Petunia's howler. It was the first mystery in the book that really had me excited and didn't leave my mind for the rest of the book. Then when we finally learned the truth it wasn't very exciting at all. I half expected her to be a Squib or something. *shrugs* I did like the way Harry felt the boundaries between his two lives were blurring. I've felt that too, once or twice! I just thought there'd be more of that.
The Sirius story. It started amazingly well. The way he is portrayed, as a frustrated teenager in a grown man's body, his confusing Harry with James (slashy!), and his frustration at being locked up sets up a great story. You know it's not going to end well (and that's not just because I knew how it was to end!). There's a sense of foreboding right from the start. Very good characterization. That is exactly why I was so disappointed the way his death turned out. I wanted more exposure of Sirius, interaction between him and Harry, to see the dreadful key events pushing his character towards the bitter end. I like that sort of thing. ;-) Now it was just.... Sirius showed up and died. End of Story. All that set up for nothing. No real pay off.
Snape's worst memory. Somehow it didn't sound like Snape's worst memory to me and that's besides the fact that I would've thought his worst memory would be him say torturing or killing someone when he was a death. The OWL memory didn't seem to be special enough to be a worst memory. Maybe if he had been in love with Lily, gathered the courage to ask her out and then James and Sirius found out and ridiculed him about it in front of everyone. But James hexing Severus was apparently a very common occurrence, according to Remus they'd been enemies since year one. I think Sev's childhood memories were far worse.
*sigh* Sev abandoning his duties which ultimately killed Sirius. I didn't like that. Why would he be that sensitive and let his personal issues interfer with his work? Harry hating Sev more than ever is definitely a bad omen. It's a good sign that A) Harry'll always hate Sev and their animosity towards each other will increase and B) Harry will eventually kill Sev. Also it could be a sign Sev will betray them all.
This isn't a real disappointment but I've heard people list Harry being possessed by Voldemort and asking Dumbledore to kill him as one of their favourite moments and put like that it does sound kind of intriguing.... but it wasn't that big of deal in the book. It would have been cooler if Harry had really begged Dumbledore to kill him instead of "oh go ahead."
The things that I liked are as follows:
Neville. Love him!
McGonagall. She was amazing.
I'm very happy that Harry fell out of love with Cho. I just really didn't like her. It's not because I'm jealous or because I don't want my slash to be ruined. There are tons of other girls I'd rather see him with. Herm. Ginny. Luna. Yes, Luna would be great. I just didn't like Cho. Especially when she took that sneak friend of hers in defence.
Luna. Love her! I like that understanding between her and Harry in the end, how it helped him with his grief. I think his grief and sadness was very well portrayed. I know some people don't think so but I do. I was genuinely sad and could feel the whole in him as he realised he won't see Sirius until he dies.
Dumbledore was amazing. Not only his duel and his escape but also his confession to Harry at the end. He showed real emotion. I liked how he cried.
Fred and George's departure from Hogwarts. I loved it! It was a bit melancholic but oh so wonderful! A glorious end.
The whole sequence at the Department of Mysteries. Those 60 pages were SO exciting. I was at the edge of my seat and I loved all the characters as well as all the dangers. These are some kick ass teenagers! I love the whole concept of the DA. The final duel is amazing. All the dangers are very creepy. The night after I had read this I lay awake for two hours in the dark thinking about all those creepy things.
Sev was great, all in all. I loved him. The most touching bit was this:
"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers!"
I think this says a lot about Sev. Any emotion or pain he has he's had to bury deep inside him to survive. Especially in the last year since he became a spy. It shows great insight into his character.
No 12. Grimmauld Place. Kreacher. The best bits in the book was set at HQ. Very exciting. And yes, Kreacher *is* sort of a Gollum rip off but he was intriguing anyway. I like how the whole house elf situation was played out in the books culminating in the destruction of Magical Brethren. It's a definite anti-rasist book.
The first chapter. It was awesome! I was only skimming it to see if I would read the book this way or not and then after the first chapter with it's shocker at the end I was hooked. It was so exciting and unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't really recover from it, that is until the end when the last fifty pages are (almost) as thrilling as the beginning.
The order of the phoenix members. Kingsley. Mad Eye. Tonks. Love them all!
The most touching story of the whole book was the bits about Grawpy and Hagrid. This was the only time I was close to tears. Poor Hagrid, feeling he had to go to such lengths to save his brother. Poor Grawpy.
Kristina Gutter moment:
Snape getting pissed at Harry not calling him 'sir'. *cough*
Questions:
The thing I really, really, really want to know is why does Dumbledore trust Snape so implicitly? Is there some hidden reason like he hints to in GoF? Can it be, shock be gone, that Dumbledore is actually Snape's father? I'm waiting for an Empire Strikes Back moment here.
There's one more question I'm dying to ask but I can't for the life of me remember it! If I do I will add it, OK?
First off let me say that I've read the list of all the errors and plot holes in the book and I agree with all of them. Therefore I need not nitpick on my own, and trust me I didn't notice any errors while I read them either!
Gut reaction: Sev is going to become evil again, I just know it. *groans* I don't like it but I know it. The way Dumbledore is trusting Sev even though Harry thinks it's bad judgement. The way Dumbledore blindly defends Sev after Sev has been responsible for Sirius's death. The fact that Sev *was* responsible for Sirius's death. (Letting his personal issues make him abandon his duties like that!)
And the biggest pointer is this sentence:
"Can you tell me something, sir?' said Harry, firing up again. Why do you call Voldemort the Dark Lord? I've only ever heard Death Eaters call him that."
On the other hand, I could be wrong, and I hope I am! It would also be kind of a cliché, the once-evil-always-evil thing.
What I love so about Snape is he's a mean good person. Most people who are good are kind and nice and heroes, and the evil ones are mean. But he's definitely (so far anyway) on the good side but he doesn't have a nice or kind bone in his body. It's fascinating, I think.
There were a lot of things that seemed to be very exciting and interesting but then when they were resolved they turned out not to be so exciting after all.
The things that disappointed me were as follows:
Petunia's howler. It was the first mystery in the book that really had me excited and didn't leave my mind for the rest of the book. Then when we finally learned the truth it wasn't very exciting at all. I half expected her to be a Squib or something. *shrugs* I did like the way Harry felt the boundaries between his two lives were blurring. I've felt that too, once or twice! I just thought there'd be more of that.
The Sirius story. It started amazingly well. The way he is portrayed, as a frustrated teenager in a grown man's body, his confusing Harry with James (slashy!), and his frustration at being locked up sets up a great story. You know it's not going to end well (and that's not just because I knew how it was to end!). There's a sense of foreboding right from the start. Very good characterization. That is exactly why I was so disappointed the way his death turned out. I wanted more exposure of Sirius, interaction between him and Harry, to see the dreadful key events pushing his character towards the bitter end. I like that sort of thing. ;-) Now it was just.... Sirius showed up and died. End of Story. All that set up for nothing. No real pay off.
Snape's worst memory. Somehow it didn't sound like Snape's worst memory to me and that's besides the fact that I would've thought his worst memory would be him say torturing or killing someone when he was a death. The OWL memory didn't seem to be special enough to be a worst memory. Maybe if he had been in love with Lily, gathered the courage to ask her out and then James and Sirius found out and ridiculed him about it in front of everyone. But James hexing Severus was apparently a very common occurrence, according to Remus they'd been enemies since year one. I think Sev's childhood memories were far worse.
*sigh* Sev abandoning his duties which ultimately killed Sirius. I didn't like that. Why would he be that sensitive and let his personal issues interfer with his work? Harry hating Sev more than ever is definitely a bad omen. It's a good sign that A) Harry'll always hate Sev and their animosity towards each other will increase and B) Harry will eventually kill Sev. Also it could be a sign Sev will betray them all.
This isn't a real disappointment but I've heard people list Harry being possessed by Voldemort and asking Dumbledore to kill him as one of their favourite moments and put like that it does sound kind of intriguing.... but it wasn't that big of deal in the book. It would have been cooler if Harry had really begged Dumbledore to kill him instead of "oh go ahead."
The things that I liked are as follows:
Neville. Love him!
McGonagall. She was amazing.
I'm very happy that Harry fell out of love with Cho. I just really didn't like her. It's not because I'm jealous or because I don't want my slash to be ruined. There are tons of other girls I'd rather see him with. Herm. Ginny. Luna.
Luna. Love her! I like that understanding between her and Harry in the end, how it helped him with his grief. I think his grief and sadness was very well portrayed. I know some people don't think so but I do. I was genuinely sad and could feel the whole in him as he realised he won't see Sirius until he dies.
Dumbledore was amazing. Not only his duel and his escape but also his confession to Harry at the end. He showed real emotion. I liked how he cried.
Fred and George's departure from Hogwarts. I loved it! It was a bit melancholic but oh so wonderful! A glorious end.
The whole sequence at the Department of Mysteries. Those 60 pages were SO exciting. I was at the edge of my seat and I loved all the characters as well as all the dangers. These are some kick ass teenagers! I love the whole concept of the DA. The final duel is amazing. All the dangers are very creepy. The night after I had read this I lay awake for two hours in the dark thinking about all those creepy things.
Sev was great, all in all. I loved him. The most touching bit was this:
"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers!"
I think this says a lot about Sev. Any emotion or pain he has he's had to bury deep inside him to survive. Especially in the last year since he became a spy. It shows great insight into his character.
No 12. Grimmauld Place. Kreacher. The best bits in the book was set at HQ. Very exciting. And yes, Kreacher *is* sort of a Gollum rip off but he was intriguing anyway. I like how the whole house elf situation was played out in the books culminating in the destruction of Magical Brethren. It's a definite anti-rasist book.
The first chapter. It was awesome! I was only skimming it to see if I would read the book this way or not and then after the first chapter with it's shocker at the end I was hooked. It was so exciting and unfortunately, the rest of the book doesn't really recover from it, that is until the end when the last fifty pages are (almost) as thrilling as the beginning.
The order of the phoenix members. Kingsley. Mad Eye. Tonks. Love them all!
The most touching story of the whole book was the bits about Grawpy and Hagrid. This was the only time I was close to tears. Poor Hagrid, feeling he had to go to such lengths to save his brother. Poor Grawpy.
Kristina Gutter moment:
Snape getting pissed at Harry not calling him 'sir'. *cough*
Questions:
The thing I really, really, really want to know is why does Dumbledore trust Snape so implicitly? Is there some hidden reason like he hints to in GoF? Can it be, shock be gone, that Dumbledore is actually Snape's father? I'm waiting for an Empire Strikes Back moment here.
There's one more question I'm dying to ask but I can't for the life of me remember it! If I do I will add it, OK?
