Potter

So I finished HBP last night...



There is NO WAY Snape doesn't turn out to be on the right side of things in the end. The biggest reason is this: is Rowling really going to end the book by portraying Dumbledoe's trustingness and willingness to forgive as a weakness? It's one thing for him to incorrectly decide himself to withhold information from Harry (otherwise, he might not even be human...the reason I think Rowling overplayed that aspect at the end of book 5), it's another to let him be bamboozled by the likes of Snape and Voldemort. If Dumbledore isn't vindicated by Snape in book 7, the final calculations will show Dumbledore as a cool charater and a nice guy, but also a blinded fool that couldn't even see what Ron could. And Rowling's not going to do that to him. And, of course, since the entire series has been based on misdirection and surprise, doesn't it just seem like that's the exact sort of thing Rowling would do? AND theres' the fact that Snape made the Unbreakable Vow--if he hadn't have killed Dumbledore, he's have died himself, and I'd be willing to bet Dumbledore had already told him what to do in that situation.

Other thoughts:

Weirdly paced book, I thought. A lot less actually HAPPENS before the conclusion, it feels like to me, than either of the last two--but I thought it still read a lot faster than those books, too. It's a novel that's nearly all exposition but is still really fast-paced. Kudos to Rowling for pulling that kind of paradox off.

Harry's evening on Felix and the trip to the cave were both dynamite scenes, but I thought the momentum of the climax was hurt a little by Dumbledore and Malfoy's jawing at each other for pages. I think that's always been Rowling's biggest weakness--the inevitability of the everybody-stop-what-you're-doing-and-explain-loose-ends scene--and this one seemed more implausible than most.

I love how Rowling makes us and the charatcers re-evaluate previous events--like, say, all of Chamber of Secrets. I always thought of that book as sort of set apart from the others, since Harry was really only fighting an after-image of Voldemort rather than the real thing. It was a great, fun-to-read adventure, but it didn't seem to fit in within the overall narrative. And now that interpretation is just completely blown to hell, of course.

I liked that Malfoy was at the heart of things this time. He's always seemed like more of a nuisance than an actual threat, which kind of got on my nerves after a while. So I'm glad he can be taken seriously now--even if we don't see him again.

Overall, Goblet of Fire's still my favorite, with this one, Azkaban, and Phoenix prolly all second-favorite depending on what day of the week it is.

There's still two major "foreshadows" in previous books that still need resolving: Pettigrew's life-debt to Harry and Dumbledore's "look of triumph" when he learned that Voldemort had usd to Harry's blood to regenerate himself. Can't wait to see what happens with that.

And as for Harry ending up with Ginny instead of Luna...hmf. Stupid girls with their stupid intuitions and stupid...*continues bitter mumbling to himself*