OOP First Impressions

[banjo_ken]

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E





I just finished OOP, and my head is still reeling from all the stuff
that I've had to absorb over the last 870 pages! I think JKR has out
done herself here. As great as 1-4 have been, none of them came close
to the kind of emotional impact that this one has. I'm not just
talking about the big things either... I can't quite describe it, but
everything just felt right to me, even the painful parts...

A few specific points:

1) My favorite characters in this book were Neville and Ginny. They've
both come into their own so much. Neville proved what he's really made
of a few times, and Ginny, it seems, has inherited the best qualities
of all her brothers (particurarly Fred and George).

2) Umbridge is possibly the most disturbingly evil character JKR has
ever created. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are too overtly evil.
Umbridge is that much more frightening because she actually manges to
convince enough people that she means well that she actually got
herself into power. Those detentions, though... it's rare that I feel
so powerfully about a villain like that, but I was ready to strangle
Umbridge (and had to restrain myself from doing any damage to the book
in the process). It was great to see the rest of the teachers united
in fighting. I never thought I'd feel sorry for Trelawney. I was
cheering when the twins led the school in an open revolt against her. 

3) Somebody made a point about how JKR made a theme of killing off
father figures. I agree this was very effective, especially seeing how
nasty James was to Snape. I would add though, that Hagrid could
probably be included in the list. Even though it worked out okay (this
time), I think Hagrid really crossed the line by bringing back Grawp.
I was convinced this was going to be the cause of the big death, and
was shocked when he actually managed to save them. I've always loved
Hagrid, and I've been willing to forgive everything up to now, but I
remained convinced that this is by far his most serious lapse in
judgement, and I still think it could make for disaster later on. 

4) I've never been much of a shipper, but I think the Harry/Cho thing
was handled very well. It's good to see just how little Harry and Ron
understand. Hermione made some comment about Ron having the emotional
range of a spoon...

5) I think live with the Dursleys is going to be much more interesting
now. I don't think that Petunia is a squib, but there's still more to
her than we've seen yet. The first time my jaw dropped was this line:
'They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban,' said Aunt Petunia. Never saw
it coming. Dumbledore's howler was great too.

That's enough for tonight... I'll post more when I've had a second
reading to digest!

Ken