Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
discussion
What were the things you didn't like about the series?
There are a few things I did not like about the series. 1.Dumbledore is a lesser version of Gandalf
2.The magic system was rarely explained/not complex.(I read a lot of fantasy so that its a personal pet peeve)
3.Harry was a rather one dimensional protagonist
4.They did not go more into Voldemort's past (my personal favorite part of HP)
5.HP series took a lot of the spotlight from other/better YA fiction (Pendragon,Sabriel,His Dark Materials)
1.Voldemort lost. :( lol2.Ron. He has this great big loving family and it seems like he doesn't appreciate them. He's also a jerk. I don't like that someone like this was considered to be one of the "good guys". I was hoping he would mature and change as the series went one, but I don't think he did.
3.Quidditch was boring. I wish those scenes could have just been glossed over so we still know that quidditch is a part of harry's life, but we don't have to sit and read play by plays. But I hate sports, so maybe I'm being too critical.
I'm sure there's more, but I would have to think deeper on it. Maybe I'll post more later. But those are my 3 major complaints.
Edit: 4.The Ron/Hermione pairing. She deserves someone better.
1. Too much Quidditch.2. The way the couples were paired- I wanted Harry with Hermione and Neville with Luna. She could have paired Ron with someone else. Harry/Ginny relationship seemed slapped together just so he would end up with someone.
3. Too much killing in the end (killing the owl just because Harry doesn't need it anymore? really?). Some characters who were really important didn't even get a death scene, we just find out in off-handed manner that they got killed and I felt they deserved better than just become part of the generic "death toll."
4. Draco's redemption is completely unexplained. He's done a lot of bad things including 2 attempted murders and except for "feeling bad" paid no price.
I would have liked a death scene with Tonks and Lupin, maybe a scene where Harry saw them die or someone who witnessed it told Harry about it.
Troels wrote: "I would have liked a death scene with Tonks and Lupin, maybe a scene where Harry saw them die or someone who witnessed it told Harry about it."Totally agree with that! I think Tonks and Lupin were two great characters and were not done justice by having their deaths just being snowed over!
I also think that Cedric Diggory should have came to a better end then he did because I just loved him...Plus harry Tells Cho/everyone that Cedric didn't stand a chance because Voldemort was better...But that's kinda pointless because wormtail killed him, not voldyy.
One of my biggest pet peeves is that she made everyone in Slytherin bad. Well, I guess Snape was redeemed in the end but even he started out as a Death Eater. I hated how Minerva told all of Slytherin house to exit. Why would that house even exist if it only produces bad people? And why is ambition a bad thing? Also, Harry/Ginny. That was just a no. A monster inside his chest? Really? Really. I always thought Harry should have ended up with Hermione or Luna. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the everyone gets married and has children in the end. I would have preferred Harry stayed single. Or died.
Also, Voldemort ask about making 7 horcruxes to Wormtail but we later find out that Harry was the horcrux that he never intended to make. So by that logic, shouldn't there be 8?
The only thing that really annoyed me was the fact that Harry had all these great friends who were willing to help him out, but he wanted to do it on his own and would get all moody about it. Sure, Voldemort wants to kill you, but he wants to kill a lot of people, so why should you be the only one to deal with it??
I didn't like:-Harry's angsty-ness
-The epilogue (I dislike epilogues in principle. They enable writers to cheat at resolving their novels)
-The everyone-is-paired-up-and-names-their-children-things cornball ending
-The romances: they feel flat. Except maybe Harry and Cho--not that I wanted them to end up together--they just seemed more authentic than Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione. These pairings come off forced and inorganic.
-The jumbled battle scene in seven. Deaths glossed over, general confusion etc.
Although, I'd like to point out that the number of things I do like far exceeds my complaints.
Seriously Ron/Hermione,no way, they would have jut been friends not couple and Harry/Ginny no way that does not match ether, how about Hermione/Harry or Harry/Hermione that could be better.And OH MY GOD FRED that part was my worst. cause i hated it when Fred died
1. Harry in general just bothered the crap out of me. He was so flat. There was angst, and bravery, and not much else. I wouldn't want to be friends with him in real life because he's so boring, and i don't completely understand how he got such amazing friends as Ron and Hermione.2. Harry/Ginny bothered me, they were kind of almost random and really underdeveloped.
3. The deaths in book seven WERE really glossed over. I wish at least a few of them had more detail and emotion to them.
4. the first four books were really happy with minor voldy-occurences and then all of the sudden the last three got really dark and voldemort was a big deal again. idk, it was sort of weird. like, he was at first just a small bad thing that kept coming back but you knew would get bigger. i wish he'd been a bigger deal for longer than just the last three, you know?
Other than those things, I pretty much loved it all.
I LOVE Ron & Hermione, and I don't have a problem with Ron - i don't see him as a jerk.
My favorite part of all seven books was learning about Snape, with the glimpse into his mind we caught in #5, the half-blood prince thing in #6, and his memories in #7. :) he's magnificent, and i wish there was a bit more of him in the earlier books.
um pretty much the fact that HARRY POTTER DIDNT GET TO BE WITH HERMIONE GRANGER!!!!!!!! other then that swell ^_-
1- In the first book, Voldemort would never have gotten the Philosopher's Stone from the Mirror of Erised because of Dumbledore's "brilliant idea." Thus, Harry's efforts, as well as Ron's and Hermoine's, were futile.2- The lack of genuine chemistry between Harry and Ginny, in addition to Ron and Hermoine, as romantic pairings. They were cliched and unrealistic. This is not to say that people don't marry their best friends or their best friends' sisters. It is simply that Rowling really forced the pairings whereas they should feel organic--character-driven even.
3- As someone else said, there are no Slytherins with redeeming qualities other than Snape. This is quite one-dimensional characterization.
4- Harry, himself. He is truly an unlikable character with his bouts of irrational anger and severe episodes of egotism. There seems to be no real humility on his part that he's been famous ever since he was a baby, despite his cruel upbringing, and that he's got to stop Voldemort (alone, I might add).
5- The cliched treatment on the part of adoptive parents/legal guardians--Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon--so much so that it elicits (or is supposed to elicit) immediate sympathy for Harry. This may sound awful, but I believe that people who deserve sympathy the most are those who do not revel in their own misery.
6- The fifth book. It's far too long. Even as a Harry Potter fan, I lost interest rather quickly. In addition, Harry's behavior certainly doesn't help any.
7- The epilogue.
Peace :)
oh 1 more!!!!!! Harry is kind of a sissy sometimes
Lexxi *i am not perfect* wrote: "oh 1 more!!!!!! Harry is kind of a sissy sometimes"LOL *snorts* I agree!
Masha wrote: "1. Too much Quidditch.2. The way the couples were paired- I wanted Harry with Hermione and Neville with Luna. She could have paired Ron with someone else. Harry/Ginny relationship seemed slapped ..."
Point 2 is gud, although Neville does end up with Luna in the movie
1- Ron, well I felt like he didn't appreciate what he had( an amazing family, good friends,etc)and the only thing he cared about was how he'd gonna be on the spotlihght.My opinion is that there's nothing wrong not being on the spotlight.But nobody's perfect so..2-The fact that Harry almost never wanted the help of someone else.
3-Harry and Jinny.Never liked them together.
4-I wanted to learn more about the magic world.How they lived,what they did etcetc.I understand that the books aren't about that but I really enjoyed for example the first time Harry goes to Diagon Ally and he sees all those shops and people.He catches glimpses of their everyday lifes.I wanted more moments like this.
1. The fact that everyone ends up together with people from Hogwarts. NOBODY went into the Muggle world and married a muggle.2. I agree with the dislike of Harry's angst; it cast a shadow on the otherwise fabulous novel that is Order. However, I want to point out Harry had some serious troubles in that particular book, which included, but was not limited to, hormones.
3. I have never liked Cho and think Cedric shouldn't have died so that she could be with him. I like book Ginny/Harry, not movie Ginny/Harry. They're one of the reasons why HBP is so awesome.
I feel the need to add that I think an author is amazing when they can make me truly dislike a character, especially the main one, which J.K. Rowling managed to do in Order. And that, of course, the reasons I have for loving the series are a million miles longer than my criticisms.
Erica wrote: "Masha wrote: "1. Too much Quidditch.2. The way the couples were paired- I wanted Harry with Hermione and Neville with Luna. She could have paired Ron with someone else. Harry/Ginny relationship s..."
Neville does not end up with Luna in the movie. Matthew Lewis (Neville), explained that maybe they dated for a little bit, but would have eventually broke up to be with their respective partners that were entitled in the novels, Neville with Hannah, Luna with Rolf.
Giveronsomeluv wrote: "1. The fact that everyone ends up together with people from Hogwarts. NOBODY went into the Muggle world and married a muggle.2. I agree with the dislike of Harry's angst; it cast a shadow on the o..."
Cho marries a Muggle.
I at first did not understand why Harry ended up with Ginny, as I had wanted him to be with Hermione, but I understand now why it had to be, however my only real complain about the series is the under development of their relationship in the films. It didn't seem real, just thrown together.I agree with the all around fact that the films were not made for the general public, but for the fans that also read the books.
none. for me it's flawless..oh!
when the loved characters died one by one!!!!!
JK why did you have to write that!! lol xp
Lulu wrote: "Lexxi *i am not perfect* wrote: "oh 1 more!!!!!! Harry is kind of a sissy sometimes"LOL *snorts* I agree!"
your amazing!!!!!!!!
Michelle wrote: "I hated how Minerva told all of Slytherin house to exit. Why would that house even exist if it only produces bad people? "That only happened in the movie. And they weren't just asked to leave, they were put in the dungeons. In the book she tells the students they can either evacuate or stay and fight, and all the slytherins leave, while at least some students from other houses stay.
I hate that part of the movie too. Lock all the slytherins in the dungeons because one suggested turning Harry in? It doesn't make sense and not to mention it's discriminatory. Also it doesn't fit with Minerva's character. She wouldn't do that. There's lots of things I think they did wrong with the movies. Most of them don't bother me much. But with this, I think they really screwed up big time. It's a disgrace to Minerva's character and it gave the impression that being prejudice is okay. The movie made it seem like a good thing, especially when the rest of the students cheered at Minerva's announcement.
On the subject of all slytherins being bad, we do have Slughorn. If I remember right, he was in slytherin as a student and he also took over as head of slytherin after Snape became headmaster. But I agree that there should have been a more obvious good Slytherin character and point out the prejudice that a lot of people had for slytherins. At least that's the impression I got, even though it wasn't really brought up.
1. Lookism - Pretty much all the unsympathetic characters (minus the Malfoys) are ugly.
The Dursleys - ugly
Voldemort - his ugliness is directly linked to his use of evil magic
Bellatrix - used to be beautiful, but now she's ugly
Peter Pettigrew - ugly
All the Death Eaters - ugly
Snape - Snape is described as unattractive, but he's actually on the side of good. His ugliness is probably due to Harry's skewed perceptions.
2. The epilogue gives almost no information about the things I wanted to know about. What does Harry do for a living? How has the wizarding world changed after Voldemort's defeat? Who's running the Ministry of Magic? Most importantly, has the general snobbishness and prejudice around muggles and Mudbloods changed?
3. I could never understand what makes Voldemort tick. He just seems flat and empty as a character. The only emotion he feels is hate, the only motivation he has is hate. He never seems to feel enjoyment or happiness, just a sick glee that he gets only from hurting people. Maybe this makes Voldemort a more accurate portrait of a psychopath than the typical Hollywood psychopath. From what I've read about psychopaths, the truly psychopathic have nothing going on under the surface. However, it still makes Voldemort a hard character to understand. I also couldn't understand why anyone would follow him before he became powerful enough to influence people through fear. He acts like a cult leader, except cult leaders use charisma to ensnare people.
4. The houses system is probably the thing that bothered me most about the series. The house system has been in place for a thousand years, but nobody has realized that it promotes conflict among the students? The houses draw people together, but there's also huge amounts of prejudice and bias. The Slytherins in particular... the only Slytherin characters who aren't evil are Slughorn and Snape, and they're still not very sympathetic. The big problem I have with the house system is that it sets up such negative expectations for the students. It's no wonder that Hufflepuff never achieves anything, since they're told from the start that Hufflepuffs are low achievers. It's no wonder that Slytherin students are bullies, since that's what everyone expects of them. There's no possible way they can win - if they try to be honest and kind, no one would believe them, since Slytherins are always cunning and dishonest.
5. The Goblet of Fire is the book I enjoyed least. JK Rowling introduces all these new characters (who are not interesting), and with the exception of Fleur, they're all dropped from the series after.
6. The wizarding world just seems so... detatched. Why do wizards never interfere with muggle affairs? A lot of wizards are born into muggle families, so why would they completely turn their backs on the muggle world? For example, if one of their muggle family members was dying of an illness, would they save their life with magic? Why don't they use their powers to benefit people? They could stop wars or genocide, end famines, cure epidemics, etc. And they could do it secretly, and not let the muggles know anything. JK Rowling addresses in only one part, by having Hagrid say that it's basically too much hassle to help muggles, and that if you help them with magic once, they'll never leave you alone. It seems selfish to me that wizards keep all this power to themselves.
The Dursleys - ugly
Voldemort - his ugliness is directly linked to his use of evil magic
Bellatrix - used to be beautiful, but now she's ugly
Peter Pettigrew - ugly
All the Death Eaters - ugly
Snape - Snape is described as unattractive, but he's actually on the side of good. His ugliness is probably due to Harry's skewed perceptions.
2. The epilogue gives almost no information about the things I wanted to know about. What does Harry do for a living? How has the wizarding world changed after Voldemort's defeat? Who's running the Ministry of Magic? Most importantly, has the general snobbishness and prejudice around muggles and Mudbloods changed?
3. I could never understand what makes Voldemort tick. He just seems flat and empty as a character. The only emotion he feels is hate, the only motivation he has is hate. He never seems to feel enjoyment or happiness, just a sick glee that he gets only from hurting people. Maybe this makes Voldemort a more accurate portrait of a psychopath than the typical Hollywood psychopath. From what I've read about psychopaths, the truly psychopathic have nothing going on under the surface. However, it still makes Voldemort a hard character to understand. I also couldn't understand why anyone would follow him before he became powerful enough to influence people through fear. He acts like a cult leader, except cult leaders use charisma to ensnare people.
4. The houses system is probably the thing that bothered me most about the series. The house system has been in place for a thousand years, but nobody has realized that it promotes conflict among the students? The houses draw people together, but there's also huge amounts of prejudice and bias. The Slytherins in particular... the only Slytherin characters who aren't evil are Slughorn and Snape, and they're still not very sympathetic. The big problem I have with the house system is that it sets up such negative expectations for the students. It's no wonder that Hufflepuff never achieves anything, since they're told from the start that Hufflepuffs are low achievers. It's no wonder that Slytherin students are bullies, since that's what everyone expects of them. There's no possible way they can win - if they try to be honest and kind, no one would believe them, since Slytherins are always cunning and dishonest.
5. The Goblet of Fire is the book I enjoyed least. JK Rowling introduces all these new characters (who are not interesting), and with the exception of Fleur, they're all dropped from the series after.
6. The wizarding world just seems so... detatched. Why do wizards never interfere with muggle affairs? A lot of wizards are born into muggle families, so why would they completely turn their backs on the muggle world? For example, if one of their muggle family members was dying of an illness, would they save their life with magic? Why don't they use their powers to benefit people? They could stop wars or genocide, end famines, cure epidemics, etc. And they could do it secretly, and not let the muggles know anything. JK Rowling addresses in only one part, by having Hagrid say that it's basically too much hassle to help muggles, and that if you help them with magic once, they'll never leave you alone. It seems selfish to me that wizards keep all this power to themselves.
The lonngggggg campout in the woods and Hermione crying in every chapter from Deathly Hallows. I generally dislike Chamber of Secrets most...it is a very rote echo of the first book, with some pretty flimsy plot developments,
Other than that, I had no real problems with the series.
Hey Tania, you mention the house system...I am an American, but I think that the house system is a longstanding tradition in the uk Private schools, very likely carried on to allegedly build character and camaraderie. I think Jk Rowling incorporated that into the novels as a satirical jab at English class society (among other issues).
1. The romances, like someone mentioned it felt flat to me and really turned me off of book 6. Hearing about the monster in Harry made me want to find him, destroy that monster and tell him to get on with the story.2. The epilogue.
3. In book 7, I felt like it could have been condensed because nothing happened in the beginning. Yes it was nice seeing Ron, Hermione and Harry on an adventure, but a lot of the charm the books had for me was their school life. Plus, a lot of things happened at the school that year and we didn't really see any of it. I was also disappointed how some deaths just happened off screen. I also wish we saw more of Luna.
4. Angst and raging hormones in book 5. I was annoyed with Harry in the book, when I watched the movie I understood where he was coming from. I also didn't like how Sirius died.
Cortney wrote: "Masha wrote: "1. Too much Quidditch.2. The way the couples were paired- I wanted Harry with Hermione and Neville with Luna. She could have paired Ron with someone else. Harry/Ginny relationship s..."
agreed
Honestly, the only thing that really ever bothered me was the fact that J.K. Rowling seemed to have pretty boring beginnings and often re-tracked her way through the previous books. I know lots of people that tried to read the first book but said they couldn't get past the first chapter because it was boring.
I was one of those people. So, after two tries, I just began to read CoS.
1. The romances. Rowling can't write romance in my opinion. She knows how to drop hints here or there, but she doens't seem to have any idea how to write the proper chemistry between the characters in my opinion. Harry's chest monster for examples. 2. Voldemort's plans and beliefs were bad, but he felt kind of flat for a villain to me. Everyone was so terrified of him that they wouldn't even speak his name, but I didn't feel that afraid of him.
3. The books had moments of narm that completely destroyed the tension for me. Like CAPS LOCK RAGE Harry in the fifth book.
4. Harry. He was annoying. IN the first book he was a Marty Stu, then as he developed he became a jerk, especially in the fifth book. It seemed like he spent the entire book swinging between self pity and irrational anger. I barely remember him being even slightly happy in the books.
5. All of the camping in book seventh. I got os sick of reading about them setting up camp, casting the protection spells, sleeping, packing up camp, teleporting to a new area, and doing it all over again the next day.
It bothered me even more because what was happening at Hogwarts was a thousand times more interesting. Don't get me wrong, I love camping, but I'll take a book about Neville rallying the troops at Hogwarts, rebelling against the death eaters in the school, and running the DA over a book about Harry and friends experiencing the great outdoors.
6. Important characters dying off screen. I hate it when this happens in movies and books. They were important, plot relevant characters. The least the author could do was give them decent death scenes.
1. fred dying 2. harry ending up with ginny
3. 19 years later and the last sentence "All was well."
GAHHH it still annoys me
Severus should not have died.
I respect your opinion, but I have to disagree. Severus Snape kinda had to die.When Snape was killed, he was sort of being put out of the misery that was his life without Lily. I think he was relieved that he had finally made up for his mistakes and successfully protected Lily's son. There was then no reason for him to live and he could finally leave and join Lily.
1) The epilogue. It was completely unnecessary and horribly sappy.2)I agree with the person who said above that they would not be friends with Harry. I felt the same way while reading. He has a chance to learn all of this incredible magic, but instead he just slacks off because he knows his super smart friend will just let him copy, and that really annoyed me.
3)The romances were horrible and detracted from the larger story
4)The flimsy and inconsistent magic system.
There were other small things that annoyed me throughout the series, but those were the big ones. All in all though I think the series is great, and people will be reading and watching it for decades to come.
1) Poor writing. Writing children's books is no reason for sloppy prose or plotting depravity. I think part of it was pushing the books through for fast publication. J.K. Rowling is not a strong writer and she needed to take the extra time.2) The lack of complexity in the characters. Everyone was basically good or bad, and that is just not how she rolls, my friends. J.K. did not engage in much character development. And what on earth was up with Slytherin house? Frankly, Gryffindor is my least favourite house because they were made out to be so FABulous. All hail Ravenclaw!
3) Romances. Why did a bunch of teenagers all need to have romantic interests? Somebody like Hermione might have been interested in more important things. Not all teens date, and they certainly don't all end up with their first real romantic partner.
4) Poorly planned... everything. How on earth were the Weasley's poor when you can just magic things into existence? What on earth would magical people even need money for? Nothing was really explained, probably because J.K. realised after book two or three that she didn't really understand how it worked, either.
5) The epilogue. Was there some sort of fan contest where you could write an epilogue that would be included in the book? Because that's what the epilogue read like: REALLY BAD fan fiction.
6) Harry was unlikeable, and yet he was the only character we followed. I would have understood the logic in that for the first book, but after that it should have branched out. We could have seen what was going on elsewhere and how some other characters were feeling. This isn't usually necessary, but Harry was such a useless protagonist that the books were weighed down by his bad attitude.
7) Harry was unrealistic. It's one thing to write a neglected/abused orphan this way 100 years ago (i.e., Anne of Green Gables), but we know far too much about human psychology at this point. There is no way a child could have been treated the way that Harry was and not be both mentally and emotionally deficient. I understand it's a children's book, but if you don't want your character to be stunted, then don't have him be horribly neglected. It's an insult to your reader's intelligence.
8) I could continue, but basically, there are so many things that irritate me about these books.
But I still like them.
Agrimorfee wrote: "Hey Tania, you mention the house system...I am an American, but I think that the house system is a longstanding tradition in the uk Private schools, very likely carried on to allegedly build charac..."The house system actually exists in public schools in the UK as well: it's not confined to private institutions.
The only part that really made me mad is Harry in the 4th and 5th books, he was such an idiot. His raging nonsense just pissed me off and made me feel embarrassed for him- I mean when all your friends are walking on eggshells, you should recognize that you have a problem. But that was sorta part of the plot. I didn't like the epilogue so much in the last book, but it actually made me feel better when watching the movie. It somehow fit. Though I hated Ginny's hair...
well...the list is short:1. in first book the kids seems to clever for the age...which is not reliable with reality
2. some of their actions were quite predictable so you could skip some passages
3. too many people died for a simple cause
Hmmm. End of Harry Potter. I wish J.K Rowling should continue it :(
I hated that it ended.
I'm so glad I'm not the only one who is bored by Harry! I thought it might be because all the other characters are such caricatures, that the protagonist himself is the most 'normal' and relatable character. But I did find him very bland and not particularly unique. And Ginny seems to be an unimportant side character one second, who Harry barely cares for and then as soon as they both develop hormones - woa, Ginny is in the picture, and an equally as bland relationship occurs, without really being justified. Ron and Hermione's relationship at least had a bit of spark, some chemistry.And the houses. Not only is it wrong to put people into categories based on their personalities and characteristics, but it is also impossible and unhealthy in practice - students should be around a diverse group of people for social functioning to occur. Not to mention, it creates prejudice, as well as unnecessary expectations, and limits the world to four types of "people" when in reality, everyone has a little bit of each house in them, if not a broader range of attributes.
I also found it very hard to relate to the series' overall message; love. Not that Im a heartless bastard, but I think that the main message being promoted is that of domestic love, a mother's love and the power it brings. Being written for young adults, I think that can be hard to relate to, as the love we feel is usually not as "mature". I suppose we can relate to the love in friendship though.
I do love the series though, just a few "peeves"/.
" *Michelle* wrote: Also, Voldemort ask about making 7 horcruxes to Wormtail but we later find out that Harry was the horcrux that he never intended to make. So by that logic, shouldn't there be 8?"Nope, 7 is the number of Voldemort's soul pieces; since one piece of his soul is still INSIDE his body, he voluntarily created 6 horcruxes to have his soul divided into 7 (the perfect number)parts. We then have the horcrux he never intended to make, the part of his soul that clinged to Harry, making Harry the 7th horcrux. (which contains the 8th part of his soul)
Oh, and he surely didn't ask Wormtail to do that, firstly, because Minus is all but brilliant, secondly, because the horcrux thing was probably his most important secret and he didn't share that with anyone!
I agree on the part about Harry's monster inside his chest! xD
This is really hard because I want to write a big response to everyone about why I LIKED what they DIDNT like about the books.. but I'll refrain from a big rant and just put my small 2 cents in.. I LOVED THE QUIDDICH SCENES and I wish there had been more in the movies.. Harry was angsty because there was alot of BS going on and he was socially akward (perhaps because he was raised as an orphan). Also, perhaps he's the type of person who needs to talk through things to process them? Wouldn't you be frustrated if you had to speak to process but never got the chance to because everyone cut you off before you finished to tell you you're wrong or didn't talk to you at all all summer? I'm not saying he's perfect, but come on.And BTW.. this is not a totally Omniscient narrative. This is limited third-person, so anyone that died in the books but wasn't actually WITNESSED by Harry couldn't be written in. Is Harry supposed to be in every room of the castle at once? Not possible. and I'm guessing that if JK had resisted killing so many characters, she would have been criticized for being too sentimental and saving them.
BUT.. as far as my complaints.. there aren't much. I wish the book had ended without the "19 years later," but I didn't HATE that chapter.
To be honest, there isn't much I disliked about the books. I could list a bunch of stuff that bugged me, but I'd be able to argue why it had to be that way anyway.
LOVE THESE BOOKS!
Chelseabelle wrote: "This is really hard because I want to write a big response to everyone about why I LIKED what they DIDNT like about the books.. but I'll refrain from a big rant and just put my small 2 cents in.. I..."Quidditch was probably the most useless thing in the series. It did nothing more than give Harry something else to be great at.
Harry wasn't socially awkward; Everyone loved him, wanted to be his friend, and he was good at everything. That's one of the reason the enormous angst didn't work. Being frustrated is one thing, but being a total a**hole to everyone who only want to help you is another.
We understand that it was third-person limited, but after the effect Remus left on Harry's life, he deserved a better death than that. As did many of the other characters who were killed off-screen.
That's like saying that football and soccer and baseball are useless to a high school. It is a huge place to grow and learn about yourself, and Quidditch indeed taught Harry a lot about strategy. I can understand how some people would want to skip over it because it doesn't have to do with the main plotline, but I'm a person who likes the little details. The Quidditch scenes make the castle more like a high school. I wouldn't want to skip all of the talk about OWLS either just because they're not part of the plotline. That stuff is interesting to me.And I say you're glossing over a few details when it comes to Harry's social life. He spends the majority of the books alienated (I don't remember anyone else in the books being blamed for murder or cheating in the tournament or lying about Voldemort coming back..), or so involved in some plot that he doesn't have time for friends other than Ron and Hermione. Maybe I over exaggurated by saying he was socially akward, but I could relate to a lot of how he handled the stress of what he went through. I'm not saying that it's ok for him to yell at his friends, but I AM saying that maybe we should consider everything he's been through before we call him an angsty a**hole.
And I totally agree, Lupin was one of my favorite characters and I was devastated to see him and Tonks go. I would have preferred to see how they died, but I also think it's nice to leave some things to mystery. This way I can imagine my own ending for Tonks and Lupin, and because of how well they were established as characters, there is a lot to go off of. JK did so well with so many of the deaths and endings that I can forgive her for not showing us more, otherwise the battle at hogwarts would have taken another 300 pages. *shrugs*
Chelseabelle wrote: "That's like saying that football and soccer and baseball are useless to a high school. It is a huge place to grow and learn about yourself, and Quidditch indeed taught Harry a lot about strategy. I..."....Nah, it's not the same thing. Because, Quidditch in itself has no point to it. One of the most fun things about sports is the unpredictable nature of a game/match. It'd be one thing if the rules actually had some sense to them and Harry actually lost a game that wasn't thrown before it even started. But, because you knew he would win when the game was fair (once he got the Firebolt in the fourth book, Gryffindor won the cup as soon as the season started) and it added prejudice to an already jacked up House system, it was a useless part of the story. In high school, sports help to promote healthy activity and sportsmanship, but it mainly a place to socialize and the opposing schools may have taunted one another, but it was all in good fun.
I understand being pissed off when people misunderstand you. But, those were little, school-related things (with the exception of the accusations he faced in the fifth book). I think it's fair to call him an angsty a**hole. He said it himself that despite the ish he went through repeatedly, he still had more than enough amazing factors in his life to balance out the craziness.
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My compliants would be Ron, Quidditch, how the fight between Voldemort and Harry ended, and the way Harry and Ginny's relationship was written. (Just the writing, I like the couple)
What are yours?