… Or, the story of how Slytherin got screwed over every. Damn. Time.
If you have been keeping up with my goodreads account (http://www.goodreads.com/
I’m not sure if the title or sub title gave it away but I wasn’t a huge fan of Harry’s… The supporting characters were more interesting and less worthy of being stabbed in the eye with a fork as far as I’m concerned. One in particular, the wonderfully quirky Snape. I love a villain and even if Snape wasn’t the real big bad I still enjoyed him being an incredible annoyance to Harry. Given the chance, I’d pat Snape on the shoulder and tell him “don’t worry, the boy who lived got nothing on you half blood prince”.
Speaking of the Half Blood Prince, I think it was my favourite of the books with Prisoner of Azkaban a close second. It was a bit darker than the books before it, it gave us more on why Snape is the way he is, it was an insight into Voldemort that we hadn’t seen before and then Dumbledore dies and everyone’s mind = blown.
Oh and Prisoner of Azkaban introduced us to Sirius, enough said.
Least favourite? Goblet of Fire of course. If you’re wondering why it took me 10 months to finish the series, this is your answer. If anyone ever asks me to a Quidditch World Cup, I will give them a hearty “hell no!” because apparently they take more than 100 pages and are possibly the most boring event in the history of man. Until the death eaters start causing some havoc, that is.
Overall it was a good read, if a little long… I don’t think I’ve ever read a series with quite so many pages. I wish it had been less predictable though. Harry is introduced as our good guy in white who learns about his mirror, the dark Voldemort who’s this terrible villainous wizard that everyone is incredibly afraid of. From the get go you automatically expect that Harry will triumph over Voldemort, it’s just a case of finding out how… thousands of pages for it to end up just how you expected it too. I hoped for something more.
That isn’t to say it wasn’t written well, in a world where Twilight is considered well written Young Adult fiction it is good to have something else that stands up against it as an example of what happens when Young Adult fiction is written well. I’d be much happier to have kids/teens brought up in a Harry Potter world of wizards and predictability than a world of sparkling vampires that ruined a genre.
If only Voldemort had ruled supreme though or Harry died and somehow Voldemort was still defeated. Anything would have been better than the obvious.
Plus, if that had happened, we probably would never have had to be subjected to the name Albus Severus Potter.
7 responses to “… and then I was finished with The Boy Who Lived”
It was really interesting to read your thoughts on the series. 🙂 I have not read all the books for a long time, I read most of them as I was growing up and they were released and it would be good to go back and read them again with a different perspective.
I did not like Harry. I thought his character was just too annoying and I really wish that the badies had of triumphed. It would have been really interesting (plus, I have a big crush on the Malfoy family, heh). There were a lot of characters that were really interesting and I thought masterful creations, however others I thought were just really silly, Harry was the main one.
🙂
P.s: I am not exactly sure how Twilight is considered amazing and a worthy of the bestseller list (or Fifty Shades of Grey). I just don’t understand. I guess I can be blamed for reading them too… it is just kind of so horrific you have to know WHY. Maybe that is what everyone is doing…….. probably not. 😛
I will always love the Harry Potter series. I started reading the books as they came out one by one as a kid, and the predictable events were just fine with me then! Well-written as they are, and as much appeal as they have, Harry Potter is still Young Adult fiction.
I’m glad that you found other parts to enjoy. I applaud JK Rowling for being able to appeal to all kinds of readers, even those that are well outside her target audience.
I admit it is very predictable but the epilogue at the end of book seven is pretty bad. Either way, I’ve always enjoyed the series. I think I didn’t mind them so much because they were so well written and such.
That is so true. I wish that more issues were explored in the book (for instance about overcoming house prejudices ((but every time there’s a chance of a Slytherin character being redeemed, something else happens to negate that)) though don’t quote me on that since it’s been years since I touched the books) that can be fleshed out. It still is a good Young Adult book. I hated the epilogue because it seemed like a badly written fic. But still a fan of the series. I chime in on being another reader who grew up with the books. PoA was my favourite book and GoF was my least favourite. Have you seen the movies? 🙂
The epilogue was pretty terrible and not at all required. Plus why not shake it up? I hoped Harry ended up with Luna just for the fun of it.
I finished the 6th movie over the weekend. It was disappointing to see everything they took out especially most of the Voldemort memories.
I have seen all the harry potter movies and have not read any books. I have the very first one, but I think I lost it? lol idk. 🙁 I’ve heard that the books are so much better and more detailed. I should probably get them at the library sometime and catch up! 🙂
How did you feel about the movies? Did you find it all made sense?