OoP: My review (SPOILERS!)

[Nethilia]

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> > Y

> > 
> > Gods almighty, I think Tonks is one of my new
> favorite
> > characters. A Metamorphagus? That's cooler than an
> > Animagus. Almost. I hope JKR does more with her.
> The
> > fanfic writers are gonna love adding that to the
> > repetoire. I also love the real Moody. He's kinda
> > cuddly, in that polar bear way. And Lupin, back
> and
> > better than ever. I also like Luna Lovegood. She
> seems
> > sweet, in that messed up kind of way. 
> I loved all of the new characters in the OoP!  Tonks
> is definitely a 
> new favorite of mine, too.  And Luna.  She had such
> a major role in 
> this book; I wonder what her role in the other books
> are going to be?

I hope it's a good one. She seems like she's got a
sense of lost innocence about her. I hope she's
developed more. I just hope Tonk's ability doesn't get
too butchered in the Mary Sue World.

> Everthing about Siruis in this book tied up so many
> questions I had 
> about him.  No wonder the good guys all thought
> Sirius was a 
> traitor!  With a family like that, how in the world
> didn't he turn 
> out like Lucius?  And will Ron find out that he's
> distantly related 
> to Draco?  Very interesting...

I can see why he wanted to get away from his family.
As for pureblood inbreeding, I get this image
of--after a few years of this--a lone little pureblood
in Hogwarts that looks like a strange mix of Sirius,
Lucius, and Authur hopping around and muttering about
mudbloods....

> > Fudge was an a**hole. Plain and simple. Messing
> with
> > Harry to save his own a**... And Percy...dear god,
> I
> > hate to see what happens when someone takes the
> air
> > out of him. 
> I really expected this of his character.  At the end
> of the last 
> book, he was in such a state of denial.  And I think
> Percy has the 
> makings of a death eater.  He wants power, he's
> willing to toss his 
> family aside for it just like Ron said he would. 
> The OoP is getting 
> new members - Tonk, the Weasleys - someone has to
> become a death 
> eater.

True...Seems like Evil!Percy might be the first to
fall. He tossed his whole family to the side just to
get a little prestege. I should have guessed from that
book "Prefects who Gained Power." Not nessecarily a
Death eater, but there's the saying "All it takes for
Evil to prosper is for good ment to do nothing." 

> OK, I think Harry had a right to get so pissed off
> at everyone and 
> to sulk so much.  I think it fit in perfectly with
> the ending of 
> GoF.  He'd just been forced to watch a friend
> murdered, been 
> tortured for fun, and nearly killed.  I don't think
> anyone would be 
> happy after that.  Plus, no one is telling him a
> thing and are 
> treating him like a young child.  Come on, a man
> who's wanted him 
> dead all his life is gaining strength, he's probably
> expecting an 
> attack at any moment.  I think this book did a very
> good job showing 
> that even though the adults had Harry's best
> interests at heart, 
> leaving him out of the loop had fatal results.  

But still, after he got in the loop--not fully, mind,
but in somewhat--he still went storming around like he
was the only person who'd ever been hurt by Voldemort.
I'm glad that Ginny popped that little bubble of his. 

The main thing that irked me was that, when he
discovered that Sirius was "missing", that he
immediatly went to go save him without exhausting all
possible ways of contact. Also, Ron and Hermione
didn't think to say, "oh wait, Harry--Snape's a member
of the Order, let's go talk to him and he'll go check
on him." Nope, he just jumped gung ho and took his
friends with him, and really messed things up. I
realise that he doesn't think much of Severus, but he
still seems to think that he has no redeemable
qualities. Harry's got to get over his Snape hate or
he's going to really step in it. 


> Completely agree!  She was evil, evil, evil.   She
> was definitely 
> one of the people who agreed with Crouch's way of
> fighting Voldemort 
> 15 years ago.  If she's not a death eater, what does
> that say about 
> most wizards?  She's goet the second highest job in
> the wizarding 
> community, and she has such a low opinion of
> "half-breeds" and 
> such.  Wow.  I was stunned, and it left me thinking
> that people like 
> the Weasley's are very rare in the wizarding world.

I don't think there are many of them myself, else
there would not be so many people who believed the
Daily Prophet first. 

> They did seem like jerks, but we don't know the
> whole story.  I 
> can't help remembering the third book.  Snape had
> told Dumbledore 
> something like "remember that Sirius tried to kill
> me?"  
> Dumbledore's attitude (his short response and such)
> makes me think 
> there's more to that story than meets the eye. 
> Where were Snapes' 
> Slytherin friends?  We know he hung around with a
> group of people 
> that ended up as death eaters; where were they?  And
> Snapes reaction 
> to Lily's help: calling her a "filthy little
> mudblood"?  She's 
> trying to help, and he insults her.  Lily's actions
> were great.  I 
> hope we get to see more memories with her in them. 
> I think Harry's 
> much more like her than James.  I wonder if that is
> the eye 
> connection?  The idea that the eyes are the window
> into a person's 
> soul, and the fact that Harry has his mother's eyes
> shows that he 
> inherited her personality as well?  Hmmm...  I
> really think there's 
> more going on the the James/Snape rivalry.  

Hmm...I dunno. James seemed to act like the essestial
"cool kid"...I mean, he said he picked on Severus
simply because he was there. And yes, it is his memory
and probably glossed, but there's also things we could
not be seeing...such as the fact that Snape's friends
were watching but didn't jump to his aid, thinking
that he had to be stronger than that. Or the fact that
people were egging James on to pick on him and he only
stopped because Lily made him. And the fact that Harry
was being nosy when he looked in Pensieve to begin
with. I'm just kind of glad that MWPP are no longer
held up as the paragons of good behavior they'd been
passed off as. 

I hope we get to see more of Lily, especially
Angry!Lily. She's good--and the fact she's not the
fifth Maurauder makes it better. 
 
> OK, I'm happy that Cho's personality isn't the best.
>  I think Harry 
> finally saw his crush for what it was: a crush based
> on her looks 
> alone.  Who hasn't had one at the age of 13?  I'm
> glad he finally 
> grew out of it.  And I'm glad we got to see Cho
> crying and asking 
> about Cedric.  

But still--she seemed extremly shallow. While i'll
admit that she only flew to Harry to pump him for info
about Cedric, she still grated me. Mebbe it's because
I've seen so many fics that make her out to be a
shallow female dog, and to see it in Canon doesn't
help. 

> Oh, yeah.  Priceless.  Too bad they didn't make even
> more mayhem!  
> The fireworks were great.  The swamp and their exit
> from school were 
> great.  But I wish we could have seen more of it!  I
> love that 
> Peeves gave them a salute as they left.  How great
> was that.  

Wonderful! And he listened! I alos love the teachers
not helping Umbridge one bit. Especially the whole "It
unscrews the other way" line. Priceless! 

> Hmm, I thought it a little bit of a stretch that Ron
> was made a 
> prefect and not another Griffindor boy.  Dumbledore
> was right for 
> not making Harry one.  And most of the students
> thought he was 
> unhinged for more than half the year, how effective
> could he have 
> been?

Not very. And I know another boy could have been
picked, but Neville has a lot on his shoulders, and
Seamus nearly didn't come back. Dean, maybe...
 
> After Harry looked at the picture of the old OoP, I
> had a feeling 
> that either Sirius or Lupin would die in this book. 
> It seemed like 
> half of the people in the original group are dead or
> insane.  And 
> Sirius got more and more reckless as the book went
> on.  After I 
> finished the book, I slapped myself in the head for
> not thinking of 
> Siruis before I got OoP!  He makes the trio call him
> Snuffles.  A 
> little bit close to snuffed it?   

LOL! Darn, I miss all the little clues. 

--Neth 

=====
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