Amazon delivered my book today morning at about 11 am. Great service! I’m impressed. The packing read “Attention Muggles: Do not open or deliver before 7/21”. Obviously, Amazon was very careful and didn’t want any lawsuits.
I promised you guys that I’ll put up pictures of my carpet book. So, here they are:
A prettier version of the leaked carpet book
Makes for a nice show piece
Anyway, I started re-reading it again, not because I like it so much, but because I spent $17.99 on it. I went over to the Leaky Lounge to see what the other die hard Potter fans have to say. I think this book has got the lowest fan points out of 10. Most of them gave it a 7. Lots of plot holes were being discussed too. Turns out that the cover art of the US version depicts a scene from the Great Hall, after Harry shouts “Expelliarmus” and LV shouts “Avada Kedavra!”, the Elder Wand goes flying in the air, the spell rebounds, LV stares at it in horror and Harry raises his arm to catch it. The Colosseum like thing in the background is the Great Hall after all the destruction caused by the flying curses and you can also see small shadows of people in the background.
I am much calmer today than I was yesterday (I could only hurl abuses yesterday). If I continue softening at this rate, I might even end up reading the entire series sometime in the future. Heh.
Significance of Lily’s eyes- Harry’s eyes resembles his mom’s and reminds Snape of Lily and his promise to Dumbledore to take care of the boy. That’s the only thing that prevents Snape from abusing the boy a little less. As it is, Harry looks like a clone of his father. So, when Snape sees him from head to toe, he can only see James in him, but when he looks into his eyes, he can only see Lily. Now I understand why he told Potter “Look…at..me”. He wanted to die looking into Lily’s eyes. Ahh..so romantic. Anyway, I have always loved Snape and wasn’t disappointed.
I have ranted so much about this book in the comments section and in the previous posts that I don’t have the energy to re-type everything. So, let me ask you this:
How would you rate this book out of 10 and would you buy another Rowling book?
How would a romantic Snape look like? Just like this:
Time and Again 
Nice “carpet book”…
I still haven’t convinced myself to read the whole Deathly Hallows book… (I’m still reading HP6) 😦
& btw the story reminds of the one written by Harrywriter… where Snape is in the same situation…(i think JK Rowling copied it from him!)
Please, don’t let J. K. Rowling kill Harry Potter. 🙂
would u stop posting abt HARRY POTTER now….!!!
just a thought…
Seeing as I don’t have a blog of my own, I’m going to rant on yours. My apologies ahead of time. I’ll try not to drop any spoilers, but just in case if you have not read the Deathly Hallows or as it should be called “Deathly Hollow” please skip this comment.
Rowling has lost a fan in me. She believes this is her best work yet? It’s rushed trash. Sure it reads well, but it lacks the depth of the other novels. She’s made Harry go from mysteriously powerful young wizard to bumbling moron who only knows 5 spells. You’d think after 6 years in school, he’d have added a bit more to his repetoire. Even Crabbe pulls out a nice new spell while Harry runs around shouting the same old crap…”Stupefy! Accio! Expelliarmos! Protego!” The dialogue read like something I’d expect from a teenager or George Lucas. It was way too juvenile and cliche-ish. The blatant stupidity she showed in Malfoy’s cronies I guess a 4th grader might find amsing, I remember writing like that at that age, but I’d figure someone who’s had a bit of experience could have found a more literary and descriptive means of showing a character’s dimwittedness. Crabbe and Goyle were 17 during their dialogue…how many 17 year olds talk like toddlers?
The plot now…bah! Did she run out of material and decide to borrow some uncopyrighted ideas from fan-fictions? I can understand the Harry-Voldemort connection thing. I really can, but that was developed in book 4 and became way too obvious to use…or at least I’d have thought. Here everyone was thinking what a clever woman, spinning such a vivid and twining tale with complex themes and goals, but we were wrong. The plot, motives, the whole story ended up quite simple.
*spoiler warning*
Now to nit-pick…What’s with accomplishing major turning points in the tale without even bothering to show them, describe them and hardly mention them. In no particular order…Percy Weasley miraculously shows up and in 2 lines makes up with everyone and runs into battle. Umm…yeah. Let’s destroy the cup in the chamber of secrets but not tell us anything about what happened. Ron and Hermione just scamper off, come back and say “We destroyed it, your Turn Harry.” Mrs. Weasley somehow becomes a master duelist? Lupin and Tonks? Come on, if you’re going to remove some characters that had personality, at least tell us how it happened. The sword somehow made it back inside the hat? I figured that goblin would never have given it up. In the course of a year, Neville goes from bumbling idiot to heroic He-Man while the Hero Harry turns into a forgetful no talent puppet? Lily Potter had no friends even though she charmed everyone, and yet James had a million friends? I’m sure Lily must have had some friends who would have mentioned Snape’s friendship with her. I guess after his encounter with those brains in OTP, Ron has lost some brain power because he can’t tell the difference between a doe and a stag? Harry “defeats” Voldemorte and everyone has a party before burrying the dead? Two words…”Accio Hagrid?” Stan Shunpike a pimply nosed moron shows talent as a daeth eater? Hermione not only is a bookworm but can cast about 50 spells in rapid succession when she wants to, but can’t quite get a patronus to work when she needs to. Draco is no longer a pale skinned sly badass, he’s now a snivelling drippy noised sissy. Harry a parslemouth can’t tell when a snake is hiding in human clothes? I could keep going of course.
Now what are we missing from this book…
What did Harry’s parents do for a living…aside from hide inside a house and get themselves blownup? What happened to the Weasley’s car? What do Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, Ginny, Draco, and everyone else do now that Voldemorte is dead? Who’s taking care of Teddy? What is the curtain in the department of mysteries? Does Umbridge ever die? What happens to Dung and Kreacher? Does Harry ever move in to #12 grimwauld place? What hapened to the Dursleys and the Grangers? Do Harry and Gang go back to school? How do we go from ignoring each other with Harry and Ginny to bam, 50 kids and married? Why is Ginny depicted as a baby factory? Wizard’s don’t know about birth control?
Very disappointing book. When Harry Potter first came to the US, I hated it. It was such a sensation that I wanted nothing to do with it. After seeing the movie I began reading the novels and thoroughly enjoyed them. After reading this last one though, I wish I never read any of them. This book was a huge let down.
@carrotmadman, God save you! 😦 I’m heading for my school library to check out some other writers today. I need to get over HP badly.
@tismar, I know what you mean! I’m sure it’s quite irritating for a non-HP reader. It’s become irritating for me too 😛 Okay, I promise to stop now (or in another day, I swear!)
@Seraphella, You are more than welcome to rant at my blog. I always want to hear what the other readers found annoying. Looks like you found the same faults as I did!!! Bleh.
When I headed over to the Leaky Lounge, it really helped me clarify a couple of points in the book. Supposedly, they are more subtle and the *blind* Potter fans convinced me to a great extent. So let me try and help you with some stuff-
I have no explanations for Harry using only 5 spells throughout the book. That is something that bothered me a lot. What bothered me more was Crabbe becoming even more dangerous than Draco in the Room of Requirement for the FIRST time in 7 years. Wow! Most of the dialogues are very cliche..yeah. They read like a 7th grade school book.
The people at the Leaky Lounge said that many of the deaths (Lupin/Tonks) and some scenes (like detroying the Cup or getting the basilik fangs have not been explained in details because Harry wasn’t there at the scene and the book has been narrated from Harry’s eyes. He wouldn’t see each and every death and incident. So, she skipped the explanation of scenes where Harry wasn’t present.
The Sorting Hat always reveals the Sword to any worthy Gryffindor. Plus, help is always given at Hogwarts to whoever who asks for it (Dumbledore’s quotes). Even though Griphook ran away with the sword, Neville managed to get the sword from the Sorting Hat because both the points are valid in the case. However, I don’t understand his sudden change to a hero from a blabbering idiot. He did help quite a bit in HBP, but nothing like this. I think we need to assume that Harry wasn’t present at school the entire year and that is when Neville started getting very brave, now that his close friends were gone. That’s the only reasoning that I can think of.
ACCIO HAGRID had me in fits of laughter. No comments! LOL.
Stan was under the Imperius Curse, so he wasn’t himself.
Hermione’s change to someone who can read books AND use spells was funny. She was only good at theory…
We never came to know what the Potters did, considering the fact that they left Harry with a lot of money. They were in the Order, we know that. Nothing else apart from that.
Weasley’s car…no mention either.
I would think that Harry will take care of Teddy, since he is the Godfather.
The curtain has just been added for decoration purposes, similar to what was present in the earlier books. MaryGrand Pre said so.
No mention of Umbridge…I’m sure she didn’t have much of a career after the Ministry fell. Must have withered to death, or living in poverty.
Dung…very weird. No mention about him later! Kreacher, I’m sure continued as a house elf at Grimmauld Place. He does show up at the final battle for a couple of minutes.
No mention about what would happen to the Dursleys…but I’m sure they came back home. Grangers…well Hermione mentioned that if the battle got over and she survived it, she would to them in Australia and lift the Memory Charm. So, I would assume that “all was well” in the Granger land.
Ginny really didn’t have much of a role. And Jo said that she is quite important. Probably she helped Harry by coming in his dreams and making them less frightful.Heh.
This book is such a disappointment 😦 I think she suffered from a big writer’s block.
@Seraphella, I had another question for you: Did you understand the mystery of the Elder Wand? I couldn’t really grasp the concept very well. Could you explain it to me, in case you followed it? 🙂
hmm wouldnt it be appropriate to bid Mr. hairy potty a good bye if it was that bad!
@Pallav, Well..yeah..probably. But I need to solve these questions first 🙂 What about you? Will you re-read the entire series ever?
I dunno ruhi. Hermione was the best spellcaster in every book, but it was truly funny seeing her try to play someone evil even if it’s for an hour.
what about the elder wand did you not understand? If nothing, I thought that little plot line was pretty clear
@Patrick,
Actually you are right. Now that I think of it, she was always good at spells too. For example, the Summoning Charm in book 4 or even the Transfiguration classes or the Polyjuice Potion. Maybe she never got more chance outsidethe classes to show off. And I did Jo did full justice to her by giving her lots of important plots in this book.
About the Elder Wand, I re-read certain parts and some other discussions in the Leaky Lounge Forum and now the whole thing is quite clear. Thank you for helping me 🙂
I think, after reading this latest book, the best spell Hermione ever casted was the protean charm on the coins for the DA. After three years it’s still in full effect and from a very long distance, evidently.
Yeah, Hermione is one smart girl. I really liked her bean bag thing. Frankly speaking, I quite enjoyed the Ron-Hermione relationship too. If JK had not included so many details about the forest stuff, then maybe she could have delved a bit more into the past of James-Lily and some other missing puzzles like what happened after the battle before the Epilogue chapter.
@ruhi curisity kills the cat 😛 im reading amartya sen now. i’ll come back to it for a recap if rowling reopens the series otherwise movies should suffice. what say?
@I don’t think that she will re-open the series anytime soon. The Epilogue points to 2017. That might be the year she publishes her next worh.
Maybe 🙂 Though I always prefer reading the books.
or maybe in 2017 she’ll have one of her prat kids write a book and sign her name to it. I know Clive Cussler did that very thing because Golden Buddha sucked ass compared to his regular work.
You were talking about Dung earlier. Maybe Harry let Kreacher have his extra whack with the frying pan for good luck and Dung was unconscious for the rest of the story. Oh man, I sorely hope that little scene is in the movie when it comes out. I’ll get up and walk tf out if it isn’t in there exactly as I have it pictured in my mind.
yeah i like the books as well, what other stuff are you reading these days? and hows your CFA going on..! 🙂
@Patrick, speaking of her prat kids, do you know that her daughter hasn’t even read HP books till now? Rowling says “She is waiting for school term to get over, else the pressure will be too much!” Pssstt!
I would love to see that Dung scene too! Even the Malfoy Manor scene should be very nice. My main complaint is that the movies are too short. LOTR movies were quite long (3+ hours). Why can’t they do that with HP movies too? I mean, we won’t mind, will we? Even the chapter Prince’s Tale should be a treat to watch. Personally, I am quite looking forward to seeing Lily/Snape on the big screen. 😉
@Pallav,
To tell you the truth, I’m not really reading much these days, except for the internet and some business magazines. I did start reading Tolkien yesterday. It’s been great so far. 🙂 CFA…we’ll see 🙂 Level-I results are supposed to be out tomorrow/day after. It’s a long journey. What are you reading these days? Btw, if you don’t mind, I saw that you are doing law from DU. Quite nice! How are you liking it? I was a law student too 🙂
Tolkien is great, try the hobbit as well, not as fat but just as entertaining.
ALL THE BEST for the results. I’m reading The Argumentative Indian by Amartya Sen now – it’s about history and culture of India.
Law is great. Will tell you more if you aren’t a qualified lawyer already? 🙂
@Pallav, I am reading The Hobbit now. It’s been really nice so far.
Just came to know that I cleared Level-I 🙂 The results were released a couple of hours back. Thank you for your wishes.
The thing is, I was studying law earlier (5 yr program). But I dropped out after getting my bachelor’s in socio-legal sciences (3rd year degree awarded by Pune University). So, I need to complete two more years to get my LLB. I’ll do it if I ever return to Pune again! I agree, law is a great field. What are you concentrating on in law?
@CONGRATS! Yes that will be a good idea to get that degree when possible. I’m looking for a 1 year DCL at Fletcher school of law and diplomacy at university of tufts where Mr. Shashi Tharoor went to join UN in case i dont get to be a class 1 officer here.! it’s pretty silly to make longterm plans right now.. it’s all in flux ATM. may this or maybe i’ll finish my law/ca then go for an mba to usa. who knows. maybe i’ll become an officer before that!! wait and watch. but yep law is more paying than number crunching for sure anywhere 🙂
@ruhi Oh and is it just me or did it seem like Draco really really wanted to take up Dumbledore’s offer of help, but J.K. was stuffing a gag in his mouth?
And what’s with all the Slytherin prejudice? It seemed to me that even 19 years later Slytherin was still synonymous with evil.
@Pallav, Let me know about Tufts if you decide to go there…I have a blog friend who graduated from there…so he might be able to help you out. You have some great plans for yourself 🙂 I’m sure it will work out for you! I remember reading in your blog that you are preparing for Civil Services too! 🙂 All the best for that..it’s a lot of hard work for sure.
@darksiren66, Draco was scared, like he usually is! That’s what it was all about. He is all talks and no work kinda guy.
She had to put in some bad guys and she chose Slytherin unfortunately! BUT snape was nice 😉 Always knew it.
@oh the higher they go the harder they fall. lets see how things unfold! what r yur plans? and do you have a yahoo/msn messenger account?
Of course…but that shouldn’t stop you from trying harder 🙂 I do have yahoo/msn messenger, but I prefer emailing. So, drop me an email. I think your comments section should have my email address listed.
sure thing!! r u a capricorn?? and do you believe in sunsigns? lol
Yes, I’m a Capricorn. Made that email address when I was a small kid. No wonder it’s so stupid. 😛 Yeah, I believe in Zodiac signs to a great extent. And you? What’s your sign?
im a capri too 25th december christmas!!!
thats good then i taught myself astrology this vacation! want to ask something? 😀
Wow cool! 🙂
Are you Santa Claus? j/k Heh.
yea im santa and why dont you be my sidekick banta? jeez.
I’m a scorpio – could have guessed huh? a redhead scorpio at that.
@Patrick, I need to be cautious of you, seriously! Redhead and a scorpio- that’s a deadly combination…tell me, how’s your temper in real life? 🙂
@Pallav, Haha. Nice one.
I would give a 6… and yes I would buy one… just to see how it looks like… 😛
Однако, вебмастер грамотно накропал.