Warning: Spoilers ahead. Obviously.
So. Canon. At last. Again. It was kind of a disappointment, how "in character" everything was. Dumbledore is a secretive, overbearing, scheming old fool. Snape, no matter what his true motives are, is a right bastard with a flare for hating incompetence. Hermione is big-headed, Ron is a five year-old, Ginny is a smaller, though by no means less dangerous, version of Gred & Forge, and Harry is Conan The Barbarian in training. Oh, and Voldemort is Koschei the Immortal (if Jo hasn't read some Slavic mythology or folk tales, I'll eat my hat).
Compared to the good fic I've read, it was positively dull. Harry getting together with Ginny? Boring. Harry wants to split with Ginny? Boring. New Minister for Magic is a politician? Boring. The tiny magical community is unashamedly nepotistic? Boring. Most teenage girls, like most teenage boys, are stupid? Boring.
The only marginally interesting character in the whole bunch was Draco Malfoy, and seeing him only through Harry's twisted perception of the universe we don't know anything (good for fanfic, I guess). I'm willing to buy RJA's theory, but in any case I've lost my sympathies for the main characters.
Oh, self appointed Champions-Of-JKR: Tonks r0x, Lupin r0x, and together they snog, not fall asleep! BTW, I still wish for Honks as it makes for more interesting stories.
ETA: Seeing as this is the only negative review I've read, I feel I must say I don't think the book was bad, just that the anticipation was better than the thing itself, which is a known effect. Also, I probably wasn't in the best mood when reading it (on guard duty), so I'll re-read it and see how I feel then. I can only remember two times I've laughed (though not why, in either case), does it seem right?
2 comments:
Yours is the first overall negative review I've heard of the book (well, aside from the H/Hr outrage, but that's hardly coherent enough to count).
I loved it, personally. My new favourite. But it might be due to the fact that I've been on the very fringes of fandom for so long, and haven't read much, if any, good fanfiction in years, probably. When you don't read fanfic as much, canon seems newer and fresher.
Though I will concede that it *did* remind me of some fic I've read. I think JKR has gotten better as a writer, though, and this book I found to be one of her better-characterized, better-paced novels. The reltionships, etc., might have been predictable, but it was convincing and enjoyable.
Re: Harry suddenly being attracted to Ginny. I can buy it if he suddenly notices she grew breasts under those heavy Hogwarts robes. But he does see her in civvies on weekends...
I don't actually find faults with his attraction. It's the kiss and the apparent bliss of relationship I call unrealistic.
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