So how did you like Harry Potter 5? ***Beware Spoilers***

Andrew, I agree with all your comments except I found some sympathy for Neville because of his parents. Also, the book I'm reading now thinks someone is messing with Neville's memory and that's why he seems so scattered. Remember when they were messing with the muggles memories at the quidditch world cup and they seemed confused. Also, Voldemort said he permanently messed up Bertha Jorkins memory with his powerful memory charm so he had to kill her? I think something similar has happened to Neville.
 
J.K's already said on cnn the other day that the 6th book would be shorter and then build up the 7th to be HUGE.
 
So, i'm a little behind on the conversation, but i didn't want to rush this story. It took me about 2 and a half weeks to read, just because i paced myself. I was enjoying reading Harry Potter so much, that i wanted to let it sink in instead of cramming it all in in a weekend.

Anyway...

I don't really know who i thought would die. When the whole thing happened with Sirius, i thought he would come back. I didn't think that would be his death. The black veil wasn't really explained, although, you could assume what it was. However, i thought Sirius would come back and someone else would die. For a while, i so thought it was going to be Neville and i would have been extremely upset if that would have happened! I absolutly love Neville. Him, the Dursley's and Gilderoy Lockhart are my favorite characters to read. So, in a way, Sirius's death seems a little un-needed. Why was it him? And i actually wasn't as sad about this "death" than Cedric in Book 4. That happened so quickly and violently that it was a shock. I am thinking that by the end of the series, someone else (close to Harry) will die. And we all know that either Harry or Voldemort WILL die.

The prophecy helped explain things quite well for me, and it truly showed Dumbledore's character to an extreme--a good one. He even admitted his care for Harry, and that being his flaw.

Luna was an odd and suspicious character, but she did end up being signifigant in the end.

I was really hoping for Cho and Harry's romance, but stuff like that is realistic. I figured something would happen with Ginny and Harry...may still happen.

Loved the DA meetings.

Many parts in this book also made me laugh out loud, probably about 4 or 5 times.

Also wondering about Lucious Malfoy and Goyle's parent...if they know that they are Death Eaters...how are they still lurking around in the Wizardry world?

Thought Aunt Petunia and Professor McGonagall would end up being related. There were a couple references of their expressions being similar.

Glad that Snape has not lost his evilness...i enjoy the arguing and tension between harry and snape (glad he wasn't the one who died). As a reader, you kind of know that Snape cares for harry in an odd way.

Ooh, and that's about all i can think of at the moment.
Looking forward to the next book...i'll probably be about 25 years old byt the time it comes out.
 

ok guys, i just finished reading this book AGAIN! :rolleyes: Its weird, i feel the need to reread the book alot. Also, i picked up on TONS of refrences throughout the book about what i think could be intros or hints about the other books. i'll post them later if anyone wants.


does anyone else have these reread cravings? :confused:
 
I've been considering it, but I got too frustrated with the Umbridge stuff. Right now I don't need that frustration, so I'll re-read it again later. :)

I would like to hear your observations/hints though! :D
 
how are they still lurking around in the Wizardry world?

There was a reference near the very end of the book about Lucious Malfoy now being in Azkaban Prison. I would guess Goyle's Parent is there as well. Draco made a remark about how his Dad wouldn't be in there long now that the Dementors have joined Voldemort. I'm going to start reading it again this weekend to try to catch what I may have missed the first time around.
 
I am currently half way through reading it again. :)

Wagamama-I think a speculation thread refering to specific things in the book would be great! I am not good at picking up clues like that! :)
 
I just finished today! Whew. It was a good book but it was hard to get going with the story. I finally fell into a rhythm around page 400. The anger of Harry was hard to get used too for me. I suppose it is well placed, as my 12yodd founf the book to be very good.

Now here is the thing that just bothers me the most about the story is the fact that Harry did not open the package that Sirius gave to him right away. This just seemed out of character for Harry to me, anyway.
I guess it shows Harry as a typical teen boy.

Also I felt a little cheated with the teaser about the house elves. JK made a big deal out of Hermoine making the hats and then Harry doesn't tell her that they are not even getting them.

The best parts for me are my favs, Prof McGon with the Umbridge stuff and Fred and George just make my heart swell. I could probably read all about the adventures of Fred and George.
 
Originally posted by CruiserDew73
OH NO! Short Book?!?! How short are we talkin about?


Around the size of GoF... she said the last one would be huge because the series has been a huge part of her life and doesn't want to let go of it, and that she would probably be rewriting the last chapter over and over.
 
I'm so glad this thread is still alive and well, I finally finished the book.

My thoughts:

I didn't look at any of the spoilers, so I didn't know who would die. I had been imagining various people dying, and when it actually happened, I realized that it was the person I was least loathe to lose. I felt like hugging the rest of them, and saying "Thank goodness YOU'RE safe!"

I thought the book was very very dark. As a matter of fact, I was about halfway through it and thought "everything that has happened so far has been terrible. There is no justice anywhere, those in control are horrible torturing fiends, it's all uphill." Really, a very angsty book all the way through. I kept waiting for some very good happy thing to occur, and really, it never did.

My favorite parts of the book were the Lockhart bit - a good combination of humor and emotional horror.

The Early Snape memory was interesting - makes him much more sympathetic, opens it up to Snape answers in later books.

The Fred/George parts were so clever, particularly their Farewell Flight.

Professor McGonnagall. I've always liked her character (although I think it's partly Maggie Smith), but I really like how she kicked butt in this book. A tough old broad who doesn't take anybody's crap.

I loved the scenes with Neville, I had a feeling he would be a much bigger player, and I was right. I wouldn't be surprised if in the end he winds up one of the most powerful wizards in the bunch. Everyone has underestimated him for so long, and he really held his own in the big fight scene at the end.

All in all, I liked it, thought it well-written and exciting, but don't know its suitable for kids under 10. DS 8 is reading Book 4 now, another dark book, so we'll see how he gets through it before moving on to Book 5.
 
Reading all these posts made me think of something else: when Fred and George left Hogwarts, don't you think it would have been interesting to see Mrs. Weasley's reaction? I'll bet she was screaming at them like crazy!!
 
GoF is short??? I hope that if book 7 is longer than book 5, they'll package them as two books. 5 was very hard to read because it was so big!

Snoopy -- I thought the book was rather dark and angsty as well. This whole series has started getting rather dark for a "kids series".

Amy -- I wondered about that myself. :D
 
Originally posted by Rajah
This whole series has started getting rather dark for a "kids series".

I just read somewhere that Rowling never intended this to be a kids series. she wrote them for herself and wanted to sell them as an adults sci-fi/fantasy series.
 
Originally posted by Wagamama
I just read somewhere that Rowling never intended this to be a kids series. she wrote them for herself and wanted to sell them as an adults sci-fi/fantasy series.

Interesting, I didn't realize that. Makes sense though.
 
One last comment, if anyone is still reading:

Did anyone else expect Luna Lovegood to turn out to be a werewolf? Perhaps it the name, but I thought the end would reveal this to be true. Something significant will happen with her in future books, for sure.
 
I agree that Luna was be important in the next books. I also think Neville, and maybe his parents, will turn out to be very important. They built his character up very well in this book.
 
I read through the book and poster earlier, but I'm also reading the book aloud to my kids, and am picking up on some things I skimmed through reading silently. I'm only going to hit some of the main things I've been thinking about and even then, Pop Daddy won't be able to handle it ;) :

1. Trelawney's first of her only two true prophecies was 16 years ago (before Harry's birth) which is reiterated by her "16 years of service" wailing when Umbridge sacks her. And Dumbledore will not let her leave. There is something more coming from Trelawney and Dumbledore knows it.

2. Then there is the years of service for Snape: 14. That would put his arrival at Hogwarts exactly at the time Voldermort tried to kill Harry as a baby (1 year old). What happenede exactly that turned Snape from Voldemort to Dumbledore? It's got to be big for Dumbledore to trust him so implicitly. This has been building since Book 1 and I expect it to be a huge revelation in the end, having something to do with Harry or Lily.

3. The crossed fates of Harry and Neville are haunting me. I haven't gotten to the very end with my kids to reread this section aloud again, but on first reading I was struck by the idea that these were the only two boys with whom the prophecy fit. We assume Harry was the "chosen one" because he was attacked and became the boy who lived. His parents, and it has been focused upon his mother in particular, dies to give him this protection. If Lily is connected to the Slytherin line, there may be something deeper there in Voldemort's inability to murder Harry, upon whom she conferred her power/love.

Now, how far afield is Neville's fate? What if Voldemort chose the wrong family to attack and sent Lestrange to the other's home? Neville's parents may well have been protecting HIM when they were attacked by Lestrange and thus he has survived through their sacrifice as well, although perhaps with far deeper scars than Harry, which I think is indicative of his personality thus far. I think his mother, too, still has a part to play in unraveling the mystery of the Neville/Harry connection. Total speculation here, but it would be fascinating if Neville plays as big a role in the final battle as Harry and turns out to be the one about whom the original prophecy was spoken and thus must kill Voldermort to save Harry.

4. I love the tone of the book and Umbridge is a perfect villain with whom to play an interlude before the great showdown with the Dark Lord. Rowling has said that she intended for her audiences to be of all ages, but that each sucessive book would be more adult as the characters themselves became more adult. However, I don't think most kids are particularly shut out of the fiction. My nearly 8 year old LOVES this book and is enthralled. She giggles at the stuff between Harry and Cho, and she looked very sad when we were getting through Snape's Worst Memory because she recognized the cruelty of James and Sirius. These are universal themes that, despite the angst, shine through.

5. If you haven't read the Stephen King review of the book in Entertainment Weekly, it's spot on. As an English teacher, I loved his explanantion of her overuse of adverbs which has been driving me crazy while reading aloud. He makes the point, though, with which I agree, that while her writing style has a few areas of work, her imagination is absolutely brilliant in this series, and continues to grow.



OK, I'll give it a rest for now.
:smooth:
 
I hate to even think about book 5 because it has left me craving book 6.
 
What happened exactly that turned Snape from Voldemort to Dumbledore? It's got to be big for Dumbledore to trust him so implicitly.

I feel very strongly that it was Snape who tipped off Dumbledore that Voldemort was targeting the Potters (we know they got that info from spies, prompting the whole business of appointing a Secret-Keeper. Now why Snape did this... we'll see. As has been predicted, there may be much more to his feelings for Lily than we see in the brief scene in the pensieve.
 













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