Satisfaction of the story to date (was: I Hate Horcruxes Society)

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 163357

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "julie" <juli17 at ...> wrote:
>  
> > > jlenox2004@ writes:
> > > Am I the only one that will be tempted (when the final book is 
> > > released) to just skip to the end and find out if JKR kills off 
> > > Harry or not? 
> >
> > Sandy replies:
> > I have every intention of doing just that as I am waiting in line 
> > to pay for the book, and if I can find out sooner than that, so 
> > much the better. I knew Dumbledore was dead before I paid for
> > HBP because I read the last chapter as I was waiting in line.
> >  <snip>
> 
> Julie:
> I haven't skipped ahead in any of the books yet, though I did 
> suspect Dumbledore would die by the end of HBP because of the
> rumors circulated online. I don't plan to skip ahead in Book 7, 
<snip>

Mike:
Me neither. I read through the book the first time like a 2-year-old 
experiencing grass the for first time, in total awe of the whole 
scene. My first read is very uncritical, unquestioning, just trying 
to soak up every detail.


> Julie cont.:
> though it still may not be possible to remain in the dark about 
> Harry's fate unless I both avoid the Internet and do not go to one
> of the midnight parties certain to take place at bookstores to get
> my copy. At those parties I'm sure many fans like you will flip to 
> the end as soon as the book is in their hands, and given the 
> emotional impact of Harry's fate to many of us, they won't be able 
> to avoid huge smiles or huge groans, tears or sighs of relief, etc.
> <snip>

Mike:
Or, you could have the enjoyment <dripping sarcasm> of having a 
couple of teenagers outside the local B&N, talking loudly, tell you 
that DD dies around page 600, as I had the good fortune <drenched in 
sarcasm> of experiencing. I know we can't kill 'em but could we at 
least give them a sedative that makes them sleep until they're 21? 
<not sure this is sarcasm ;-)>


> > Sandy:
> > I have been very disappointed and dis-satisfied with the last two 
> > books, which leaves me with little hope that the next, and last,
> > will be much better. Like Lupinlore, I just dread the Horcrux 
> > hunt . With so much else to cover in the book I fear the Horcrux 
> > (I hate that word even) hunt will consume too much page space 
> > and leave too many questions still unanswered. <snip>

Mike:
I have to concur with Sandy on this. (well... I don't *have* to, I 
*want* to). I felt OotP had way too much filler, JKR's protestation 
to the contrary. And HBP felt like half a book to me, the shipping 
noise that I couldn't care less about consuming the other half. But 
the saddest part was that so little questions were answered (and JKR 
*had* promised HBP would answer a lot of 'em. Were those the shipping 
questions she was referring to?). 

And where was the advancement of Harry's magical skills? He learns a 
few of the "Princes" spells, but what about a full years worth of 
DADA under the best DADA professor Harry has ever had? Did he learn 
*Nothing* from Snape's class during the entire year? After all, he's 
still using "Petrificus Totalus" as his main weapon, a spell Hermione 
learned in their first year. Is that the best spell the wizarding 
world has, a spell a 12-year-old can effectively master? 

Yes, I realize the storyline of the influence of the teenage Snape 
juxtiposed with the lack of influence of the adult Snape. Does that 
mean he can't learn anything? After Hermione reminds Harry how much 
Snape sounded like him from the previous year, I expected that Harry 
would at least listen in Snape's classes, maybe actually participate 
in the in-class exercises. Also, you'd think Harry would have learned 
something by osmosis, just sitting next to an attentive Hermione all 
year. But the boy still can't cast a nonverbal spell after a full 
year of practice, unless it's "Levicorpus". Pathetic lack of skill 
and lack of interest for the "Chosen One", IMO. 

This is where JKR has failed me, more than wasting my time with the 
other stuff. I realize that others (and JKR herself) are interested 
in all the shipping. Though, I am amazed that JKR seems to think she 
is a competent romance writer. However, this is a story about magic, 
and for all her plot devices (Horcruxes) and incidental magic
("Confundus", the "Felix" potion) the three main characters seemed to 
advance very little in their magical abilities and knowledge. (at 
least in HBP, or was that all "off-stage" and we are supposed to 
assume they learned a lot? JKR said that in an interview, but not on 
the page!)


> Julie, certain of little about Book 7 except that our
> predictive skills probably won't prove to be much more
> accurate than they were for the previous books.

Mike, who has noticed a *lot* more analysis on this list and very few 
predictions. I guess that water is too cold for most to dip their toe 
into.