Hoping against disappointment in Book 6

[Karen]

No: HPFGUIDX 74991

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "losangelis" 
<butsiriuslyfolks at c...> wrote:
> Just a thought, but if anyone watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer 
(hate 
> to make comparisions), I was disappointed with how the final 
season 
> played out.  About halfway through the season, they started 
> foretelling this big huge "final battle" that we all knew would be 
> played out in the series finale, but it almost seemed from that 
point 
> on, no episode "did too much"...advancing plot lines and deepening 
> characters was put on hold...just had to hold off until the last 
> episode.  To me, then, the last episode was a disappointment after 
> all the waiting for it.
> 
..... snip .......
> OoP didn't do a lot to reassure me that the last three books 
aren't 
> just 
> going to work towards the conclusion, being careful not to stir 
the 
> pot too much until then.  
> 
> With all the tense waiting for Book 5, it is certain waiting for 
Book 
> 6 will be equally intense.  Just hoping we don't get let down with 
> Book 6 becoming backstory for Book 7, and establishes its own 
> identity, start to finish.
> 
> Wiley o' Ravencaw

Remember that the divisions in this story are not based 
on "episodes" marking an artificial and variable amount of time as 
in "Buffy" and "Star Wars". The story divisions for Harry are 
*school years.*  What I mean is, whatever speed the story unfolds, a 
year passes between the start of one and the start of the next. In 
terms of plot development, there must be times of ordinary time 
passing. Sometimes there is less "action" and more interaction of 
the characters themselves. Sometimes we get more background 
information and sometimes there is more action and progress in one 
direction or another. Still, it is difficult to say that there is no 
progress being made at all if there is not a large amount of action. 
Harry Potter is as much a mystery as it is an adventure story. The 
more slowly (and cleverly) things are revealed, the more we relish 
the ultimate denouement. 

I originally thought that Chamber of Secrets advanced the story line 
less than the other books. Now that I've reread it and all the rest 
of the series, I see that there was a lot more revealed and advanced 
than I originally thought. 

I personally feel that the sixth book will be quite pivotal. I think 
that it could do a lot more to further our knowledge AND 
anticipation of the final chapter of the seventh book. The only 
thing that will disappoint me will be finally reaching the end of 
that last chapter and knowing there won't be any more. <sniff>

Karen