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4.47 AVERAGE
4.47 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
sad
slow-paced
harry was justified in everything he did in this book. also the rare on the page cry from harry...
> "He sat there for a long time, gazing out at the water, trying not to think about his godfather or to remember that it was directly across from here, on the opposite bank, that Sirius had once collapsed trying to fend off a hundred Dementors …
The sun had set before he realised he was cold. He got up and returned to the castle, wiping his face on his sleeve as he went."
i straight wanna die there should've been even more scenes with sirius
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I'd been kind of dreading going into book five since I started this reread. I was SO apprehensive about the Grawp storyline, and whenever I mentioned it to friends they were like "what? what's that?" Which makes sense, because it takes up literally like one chapter of this monstrosity of a book. I almost didn't mind it at all.
I still had a ROUGH time getting through this one though. It felt like hundreds of pages of filler plots, honestly. Like - why was there SO MUCH about Quidditch and O.W.Ls? Those are not really the important things happening in this world right now. And I have such a hard time reading about Umbridge. On the one hand, good job JKR - she was as insufferable to me as she must have been to all of the students at Hogwarts. On the other hand, 800 pages??????? Calm down!!
I understand the role that Umbridge plays here, and honestly the things that she causes at Hogwarts are terrifying analogues of things that happen in real life. I get it! But when you put that into a school setting instead of into a real-world setting, it becomes so much less... meaningful I guess? Like, oh no! Your evil teacher prevented you from playing Quidditch!!! HOW DARE SHE??!? But this is something realistically happens in schools all of the time. Sometimes you don't get to play sports. That's not a crime. She is pretty truly evil, but since her actions through most of this book are kind of justified, it's just grueling to read about. I think that's the main issue: as readers, we KNOW that HP and Dumbledore are right, and obviously she is evil. But in the book, the Ministry SHOULD have stepped in at Hogwarts. They just found out that Dumbledore let a disguised criminal live there all year, which directly caused the death of a student - he clearly is not managing things as well as he should be, regardless of whether or not Voldemort is back.
I wish that Umbridge hadn't been the one to send Dementors after Harry, because I liked it more when she was a kind of justified person doing terrible things because she didn't know better. It's way less interesting when she is just an evil maniac.
This is the one where Romance starts to become A Thing. It didn't bother me that much. I think it becomes particularly unbearable in book six, but I can't trust my memory anymore!
(This review feels disjointed. This book was disjointed - but also I finished it a few weeks ago, so, my thoughts are more scattered.)
I feel like when this came out, I read some fan-thing comparing Harry's detentions with Umbridge with self-harm. I didn't think very critically about that, but I've remembered it for year, so I paid more attention this time around and... I don't know. There are the very superficial similarities - when he's hiding the cuts from his friends, mainly - but the motivations aren't the same at all. I couldn't really get into it.
Man. I don't know. When they finally get to the Ministry this actually gets good, but the bizarre illogic of the world-building comes more into focus too. Like, why are they running around spell-locking doors that can be immediately spell-unlocked? Why do those spells even exist? When Hermione got taken out, it was because she silenced a guy and then decided he was no longer a threat - which, they didn't know people could silently cast spells, I suppose, but it's still a crazed, grown man who wants to kill you, do not just leave him standing in front of you! He can also punch you. Why didn't Bellatrix Apparate out of the Ministry after she killed Sirius? None of it makes any sense.
On the other hand: the Department of Mysteries is VERY cool (I wish that JKR had found a time to describe it that wasn't the book's climax, but, take what you can get). Occlumency is a great concept, and the fact that Voldemort tricks Harry into going to the Ministry is legit one of the scariest things he does in this series. I love Number 12 Grimmauld Place. And Dumbledore's Army! Also I'm glad there is a prophecy to explain why Voldemort cares SO MUCH about HP, since JKR really couldn't ignore that question anymore.
Dumbledore continues to be a damn idiot in this book, which I'm only just realizing is because he's sort of the author stand-in. He's the Most Powerful and Intelligent Wizard! But he can only be as intelligent as JKR. I'm not saying she's dumb! But I'm saying that there are things Dumbledore should have known that she hadn't yet thought of, so he couldn't know it, and then he seems like an idiot later when it all comes to light. Like, I do not necessarily think that the Prophecy was in the works from day one, so Dumbledore has to give this ridiculous "I'm getting old and didn't want to hurt you" speech to make up for the fact that even if WE didn't know, he should have. Ugh. I don't know. Dumbledore is a great idea for a character but not an easy one to pull off, and I didn't really notice that disconnect when I was a kid.
As far as other characters: I like Luna and kind of shipped her and HP in this book. ("Shipped" - yikes. The fandom in me is coming out.) Although maybe I just like the fan/movie versions of Luna? Her characterization in this is pretty grating at times.
Snape - ugggHHHHH. He is such an unhinged lunatic, his thing for Lily is creepy and bad, and I'm still finding myself more and more on his side. What can I say? I have a thing for greasy, emotionally broken men who are very good at ONE SPECIFIC THING. Occlumency. I want a dude whose mind I can't read.
Seriously though - moments when Something Is Going Down, he is ON IT. Honestly, I think that because he's SO vilified through HPs perspective, he doesn't have to do very much to catch the attention of misunderstood-loner fans like myself. "Oooooh, Snape didn't kick that puppy! HOW DREAMY!!!"
Of course, seeing Snape's Worst Memory (while I think it was ill-placed in this giant mess of a book) also humanizes him. Like, I was never super picked on in school, but I was for sure a quiet weirdo outcast. Obviously I'm on his side, not on the Hot Popular Jock side.
Sirius - God he's such a prick. Both in Snape's Worst Memory and just in general. I get that dude has had a rough life, but he's also not 15 any more and he needs to stop acting like it. I was still sad when he died, but now that I'm older, he does not come across very well at all.
Fred v George - I think that Fred DOES kind of take the lead a little bit here. I think they were my favorite characters when I read these before, though, which is kind of weird. They fill a role but they're not really... people. And that's unusual! Most of JKR's "good guys" tend to be pretty well fleshed out.
I feel like I rambled on forever and didn't actually say anything about this. I don't know. It's not my favorite. On the other hand, I think I've only read Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows once each, so I'm getting into the ones that I basically don't remember at all. That's fun!
I still had a ROUGH time getting through this one though. It felt like hundreds of pages of filler plots, honestly. Like - why was there SO MUCH about Quidditch and O.W.Ls? Those are not really the important things happening in this world right now. And I have such a hard time reading about Umbridge. On the one hand, good job JKR - she was as insufferable to me as she must have been to all of the students at Hogwarts. On the other hand, 800 pages??????? Calm down!!
I understand the role that Umbridge plays here, and honestly the things that she causes at Hogwarts are terrifying analogues of things that happen in real life. I get it! But when you put that into a school setting instead of into a real-world setting, it becomes so much less... meaningful I guess? Like, oh no! Your evil teacher prevented you from playing Quidditch!!! HOW DARE SHE??!? But this is something realistically happens in schools all of the time. Sometimes you don't get to play sports. That's not a crime. She is pretty truly evil, but since her actions through most of this book are kind of justified, it's just grueling to read about. I think that's the main issue: as readers, we KNOW that HP and Dumbledore are right, and obviously she is evil. But in the book, the Ministry SHOULD have stepped in at Hogwarts. They just found out that Dumbledore let a disguised criminal live there all year, which directly caused the death of a student - he clearly is not managing things as well as he should be, regardless of whether or not Voldemort is back.
I wish that Umbridge hadn't been the one to send Dementors after Harry, because I liked it more when she was a kind of justified person doing terrible things because she didn't know better. It's way less interesting when she is just an evil maniac.
This is the one where Romance starts to become A Thing. It didn't bother me that much. I think it becomes particularly unbearable in book six, but I can't trust my memory anymore!
(This review feels disjointed. This book was disjointed - but also I finished it a few weeks ago, so, my thoughts are more scattered.)
I feel like when this came out, I read some fan-thing comparing Harry's detentions with Umbridge with self-harm. I didn't think very critically about that, but I've remembered it for year, so I paid more attention this time around and... I don't know. There are the very superficial similarities - when he's hiding the cuts from his friends, mainly - but the motivations aren't the same at all. I couldn't really get into it.
Man. I don't know. When they finally get to the Ministry this actually gets good, but the bizarre illogic of the world-building comes more into focus too. Like, why are they running around spell-locking doors that can be immediately spell-unlocked? Why do those spells even exist? When Hermione got taken out, it was because she silenced a guy and then decided he was no longer a threat - which, they didn't know people could silently cast spells, I suppose, but it's still a crazed, grown man who wants to kill you, do not just leave him standing in front of you! He can also punch you. Why didn't Bellatrix Apparate out of the Ministry after she killed Sirius? None of it makes any sense.
On the other hand: the Department of Mysteries is VERY cool (I wish that JKR had found a time to describe it that wasn't the book's climax, but, take what you can get). Occlumency is a great concept, and the fact that Voldemort tricks Harry into going to the Ministry is legit one of the scariest things he does in this series. I love Number 12 Grimmauld Place. And Dumbledore's Army! Also I'm glad there is a prophecy to explain why Voldemort cares SO MUCH about HP, since JKR really couldn't ignore that question anymore.
Dumbledore continues to be a damn idiot in this book, which I'm only just realizing is because he's sort of the author stand-in. He's the Most Powerful and Intelligent Wizard! But he can only be as intelligent as JKR. I'm not saying she's dumb! But I'm saying that there are things Dumbledore should have known that she hadn't yet thought of, so he couldn't know it, and then he seems like an idiot later when it all comes to light. Like, I do not necessarily think that the Prophecy was in the works from day one, so Dumbledore has to give this ridiculous "I'm getting old and didn't want to hurt you" speech to make up for the fact that even if WE didn't know, he should have. Ugh. I don't know. Dumbledore is a great idea for a character but not an easy one to pull off, and I didn't really notice that disconnect when I was a kid.
As far as other characters: I like Luna and kind of shipped her and HP in this book. ("Shipped" - yikes. The fandom in me is coming out.) Although maybe I just like the fan/movie versions of Luna? Her characterization in this is pretty grating at times.
Snape - ugggHHHHH. He is such an unhinged lunatic, his thing for Lily is creepy and bad, and I'm still finding myself more and more on his side. What can I say? I have a thing for greasy, emotionally broken men who are very good at ONE SPECIFIC THING. Occlumency. I want a dude whose mind I can't read.
Seriously though - moments when Something Is Going Down, he is ON IT. Honestly, I think that because he's SO vilified through HPs perspective, he doesn't have to do very much to catch the attention of misunderstood-loner fans like myself. "Oooooh, Snape didn't kick that puppy! HOW DREAMY!!!"
Of course, seeing Snape's Worst Memory (while I think it was ill-placed in this giant mess of a book) also humanizes him. Like, I was never super picked on in school, but I was for sure a quiet weirdo outcast. Obviously I'm on his side, not on the Hot Popular Jock side.
Sirius - God he's such a prick. Both in Snape's Worst Memory and just in general. I get that dude has had a rough life, but he's also not 15 any more and he needs to stop acting like it. I was still sad when he died, but now that I'm older, he does not come across very well at all.
Fred v George - I think that Fred DOES kind of take the lead a little bit here. I think they were my favorite characters when I read these before, though, which is kind of weird. They fill a role but they're not really... people. And that's unusual! Most of JKR's "good guys" tend to be pretty well fleshed out.
I feel like I rambled on forever and didn't actually say anything about this. I don't know. It's not my favorite. On the other hand, I think I've only read Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows once each, so I'm getting into the ones that I basically don't remember at all. That's fun!
Out of the series I found this one most annoying. At one point I had not only the paper book but the audio book in order to complete it quickly as I wanted it out of my life.
What bothered me most was the consistency in suspending your reality. One moment I was supposed to believe something impossible but a similiar item was not capable. (tyring to not reveal snipets.)
I am thoroughly hopeful that the next book does not cause me such feelings of angst.
What bothered me most was the consistency in suspending your reality. One moment I was supposed to believe something impossible but a similiar item was not capable. (tyring to not reveal snipets.)
I am thoroughly hopeful that the next book does not cause me such feelings of angst.
WHAT DID I JUST READ
the last 100 pages of a HP book is bound to be chaos, I should know that by now. This book took sleep and work from my life and I would’ve have it any other way.
“I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act” -my king Dumbledore
the last 100 pages of a HP book is bound to be chaos, I should know that by now. This book took sleep and work from my life and I would’ve have it any other way.
“I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act” -my king Dumbledore
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes