Thursday, July 12, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

WARNING! Do not read this post if you haven't read all the previous HP books and don't want to be spoiled!
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Okay, everyone on board then? Good. Anyway...

I bought my copy of HP Book 7 (well, a voucher, but the book is paid for) about three months ago. Since that time I've been trying and trying to make myself re-read Book 6, Half Blood Prince.

I've read the previous five Harry Potter books over and over, with a bit less emphasis on Book 5, Order of the Phoenix just because I was so utterly PISSED that JKR killed off Sirius. I mean, kid loses his parents, lives with the loser Dursleys (who do seriously bring the funny, though), then finally things start looking up. He gets to go to an incredible school, makes great friends, and then finds his god-father. Harry has a good life (at least during the school year).

Then JKR screws up Hogwarts during OOP with Delores Umbridge, which was bad enough, but she freaking killed off Harry's god-father? The HELL?

So yeah, Book 5 pissed me off a bit. But not so much that I wasn't standing in Books-a-Million at midnight for the release of Book 6.

Which ended up being a HUGE downer. Dumbledore's dead, Snape seems like he actually really is a bad guy... ugh. So yeah, I'm having a bit of trouble putting myself through that again. I tried to re-read it after the first read-through (I usually do this with all HP books -- I'm a nut, I know), and just couldn't manage it. It was depressing, the pace dragged, and knowing how it ended I couldn't make myself do it again.

Here's hoping I can manage it now because I do tend to need a bit of a refresher on the HP "canon" prior to the release of the next novel. Besides, this isn't going to happen again. And yes, it's dorktastic, but I'm excited about the release of Book 7 even after the disappointment of Book 6.

I'm feeling some trepidation as well.

But I'll be there next weekend at Books-a-Million. At midnight. And I'll rush home and dive into the book until I fall asleep from exhaustion. And if JKR kills off Ron and/or Hermione (don't get me started on her killing off Harry or even all three), I might build a fireplace just so I'll have somewhere to burn my newly-found ridiculously priced kindling.

5 comments:

Mauigirl said...

I'm not going to stand in line for it but it is pre-ordered and will be delivered by the Amazon owl on its release day.

I agree with you, the later books are getting more depressing. I am worried about what is going to happen in the last book...

Amanda said...

Maui, yeah. Like I said in my entry, I'm so nervous about what's going to happen. It's not like the people are real, and goodness knows I've dealt with real-life death, but still... I just don't want my less-love for the latter books to taint the joy I found in the earlier ones.

Awesome Mom said...

I will be burning my books if she kills off Harry. I named a son after him for heaven's sake and I can't read those books to him if his namesake died in the end.

The books are getting darker, but I think they grow well with kids. Now that Harry is older he is facing older issues.

Amanda said...

Awesome Mom, I do agree that the books grow well with the kids and that it's appropriate that Harry is facing darker issues now that he's older... but I am just panicked if JKR decides he should never get any older than 17.

"Heads. On. Sticks." indeed.

The Rainbow Zebra said...

Ok, I had to scroll through your post, not reading til the end--I have only read up thru book 4. Plan on 5 asap. But I want to see the movie again with GM first.

I think I decided that DQ will be able to go after all, she was reallllly bummed when I said it was iffy due to her drama camp.

GM has to finish a book first (about headaches, so he can understand why I'm SO VERY GRUMPY all the time). But then he'll dive into #7.

Now, to go find my witch hat for the Book release.....