OoP first impressions / what will happen next? (spoiler)

[dmaclaughlin]

No: HPFGUIDX 62104

I agree with you on every point. *Although, the death of Sirius 
didn't impact me so much. I felt more upset over the death of Cedric 
Diggory (in book 4) than Siruis' death. I think this is because his 
life had been so miserable this past year.*

My general feeling is a lukewarm Harry Potter book is still better 
than no Harry Potter at all, that said, I was expecting more. I think 
Goblet of Fire was just so amazing that perhaps nothing would top 
that for me. Although, I was hoping this book would at least be as 
good as that one was. I marvel that JK Rowling was able to write 
Goblet of Fire in a year! I would have believed it took 3years 
because of the quality of it. Having finished Order of the Phoenix, I 
would have thought that had taken her one year not the three it 
really did take. It just isn't as powerful as previous works. Maybe 
it's because of the shift in tone (angry teenage Harry) but something 
just didn't click for me on an emotional level with this one. 

I so completely agree with you about Neville. I think something must 
be going on with that boy that we just don't know yet. Neville's 
parents insanity has certainly marked Neville in an emotional way. 
Maybe he really is the boy of the prophecy? I just don't know, but he 
could be and perhaps Harry has a way out of either being murdered or 
being a murderer. I'd like to learn more about Neville's family in 
the next few books. His Grandmother sounds like the type of 
formidable person one needs around in a war. I hope we see more of 
her. 

Overall, I thought Order of the Phoenix was OK just not great. I hope 
JK can write book 6 faster! Three years is too long to wait 
especially for a book that is just lukewarm.  I heard that she has 
already started on book 6. She attributed this start to the freedom 
she feels now that she doesn't have a deadline and can write it at 
her own speed. 




 

 
--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sueeeyqbong" <sue at s...> wrote:
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> .--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "grlndgz" <grlndgz at e...> 
wrote:
> > 
> > Was anyone else as disappointed as I am in the big shoot-out at 
the 
> OK Corral 
> > ending?  I felt like I was reading a description of something 
that 
> would look really 
> > flashy on a movie screen, but was in fact just one more fairly 
> uninspired ending to 
> > your standard B-movie summer action flick.  "Oh, no!!!!  They're 
> hopelessly 
> > outnumbered and outgunned.  Oh look - more good guys, just in the 
> nick of time." 
> > I've come to expect better.  This seemed to just run on and on 
for 
> no real purpose.
> > 
> 
> I reply (this is my first post though I've been a lurker for a long 
> time, so be gentle) :
> 
> Yes, I felt that about the big climax too. And also, I didn't think 
> that the fight was as well written as I'd expected...somehow I kept 
> losing track of who was doing what and exactly what was going 
> on...especially the confusion about whether or not Sirius was 
> actually dead, and what killed him - the wand curse or the falling 
> through the veil. All a bit confused.
> 
>  I really really enjoyed reading the book, but am left feeling a 
bit 
> empty and I'm not sure if that's because it's an anticlimax after 
all 
> the anticipation or because I was so sad for Sirius spending his 
last 
> year on earth in such a sad and tormented way, or because of any 
> flaws in the writing itself. Here are my initial thoughts...halfway 
> through the second (more leisurely) rereading.
> 
> * There didn't seem to be as dominant a plot as in the last books - 
> both in terms of the plot of OoP and the plot of the series as a 
> whole. I didn't feel the building tension of an unfolding plot as 
in 
> the previous books and there was no big denouement at the end as I 
> expected - no 'I was the bad guy all along and you trusted me', 
> no 'oh - so THAT's why so-and-so was doing that. The main story at 
> Hogwarts was the sinister intervening of the Ministry in the 
running 
> of Hogwarts (Umbridge) and the reaction of the students to it 
> (forming of the DA), and those two plotlines were unfolded with a 
> series of small quite insignificant events which didn't give the 
> story a strong backbone (unlike, for example, the three contests of 
> the Triwizard Tournament in GoF). I felt as though the purpose of 
> this book was more to set the scene  for the last two books of the 
> series and to set in stone the darker adult atmosphere which was 
> introduced in GoF. 
> 
> * Sirius dying - while I didn't think the death scene that well 
> written, I was devastated by the impact of his death, and the fact 
> that his last year was so miserable, lonely and tormented. I think 
> that that will have an enormous impact on Harry later on, and that 
> his anger at Dumbledore, for keeping both Harry and Sirius out of 
the 
> loop, and thereby 'causing' Sirius' death, will only grow in books 
6 
> and 7. The fact that Sirius was so miserable got to me more than 
the 
> death itself - I felt that he'd been betrayed by those around him, 
> and so was Harry. Hard to see how to get anything positive out of 
> this scenario in later books. I don't think that that's the end of 
> Sirius though - we're bound to encounter him later on - I think as 
> flashbacks to Sirius' youth - and I think that there's a lot more 
of 
> his story to be heard which will shed light on the overall plot. Eg 
> the circumstances of his leaving home, things which happened when 
he 
> strted to live at James' house, his role when Harry was born and he 
> was nearly chosen to be the Potters' secret keeper.
> 
> * The flashback scene to James Potter's bullying of Snape was 
> unnerving. I think that in the later books there will be some 
> defining event which will be related to the overall series plot, 
and 
> which will make James realise how horrible he's been. Maybe this 
will 
> be how Lily learns to like / love him? And maybe that's how James 
> ends up being head boy in year 7 when he wasn't thought suitable to 
> be a prefect in year 5.
> 
> *Why no Lily Potter story? I thought we were going to learn 
something 
> big about her in book 5 , but all we learned was that at first she 
> didn't like James - not really a big thing to learn about her 
really. 
> I might have got the wrong end of the stick but I thought that JKR 
> said we'd learn something significant about her in book 5
> .
> * There were lots of hints about how badly the wizarding world has 
> treated the rest of the 'magical brethren', wasn't there? Eg the 
> anger of the centaurs towards wizards, the treatment of house elves 
> and how the rights of goblins have been restricted. And all 
> emphasised by the brethren fountain in the entrance of the Ministry 
> which was mentioned twice at the beginning (H entering and leaving 
> the ministry) and several times at the end) I reckon this will be a 
> big theme later on, when the wizrding world try to recruit these 
> creatures to their cause and find a lot of hostility. Perhaps this 
> points to a schism within the house-elf community, with some house 
> elves rebelling against their masters and some remaining faithful?
> 
> * The prophecy was interesting, but a bit of an anticlimax to me - 
at 
> least, not as strong a plan as you'd expect Voldemort to have. I 
was 
> left thinking 'was that it?'. I wonder if Harry's not 
> necessarily 'the one' though, and it might be Neville after all - 
> just because Harry was marked by Voldemort doesn't mean that 
Neville 
> wasn't also - perhaps when his parents were attacked by the 
> Lestranges? I know this is when Voldemort was no longer around, but 
> you never know...if Neville's memory was modified afterwards, this 
> would explain why he's been so vague up to now. I think it's 
careless 
> of Dumbledore to assume Harry's definitely the one just because of 
> his scar - does anyone else agree?
> 
> * Speaking of which - what a let down Dumbledore's been to Harry, 
and 
> what a complete change from D's absolute control and confidence of 
> the previous books. I just can't reconcile the two Dumbledores at 
all 
> and am a bit mystified by this. I know it's meant to signal the end 
> of childhood and the loss of trust and innocence that this entails, 
> but something feels wrong somehow. These ARE still meant to be 
> children's books, after all, and there's only so much a child can 
> take.
> 
> Well, if I flicked through the books I know I could find a lot more 
> things to say, but that's got a lot off my chest and I feel a lot 
> better now. Please let me know if you've thought these things too.