We thought so, too!BrownEyedCat wrote:And about the romance? DAMN it felt like I was reading a passibly written fanfic.
Also... the Inferi are creepy as hell!
Who is the Half-Blood Prince...?
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s
Went over to Barnes and Nobel yesterday and read half of it.
Went over today and read the other half.
(Not kidding. This is why I only buy books I either (1. Am pretty sure I like or (2. Have read before and want to read again )
Ranting. Contains spoilers. Also contains a great deal of badmouthing J.K. Rowling.
And loss of control over caps lock. I am seriously, seriously disgusted about this book. I am using language I don't use as a rule. You have been warned.
My first thought was "Well, she hasn't gotten any better." This was about page 127, when it was only chapter six and they were still wandering around Diagon Alley. Again. You would think that by now we would KNOW that Harry does his shopping there, we would KNOW what it's like...I mean for goodness's sake there was NOTHING in those TWO FREAKING CHAPTERS that couldn't have been cut out. So could the whole "Half Blood Prince" thing. As a sub-plot, it was alright, but unless this has something MOMENTUS to do with book seven, and with all the other books as evidance it probably won't, it could have been cut. THERE WAS NO POINT TO IT. As everybody here knows, it was Snape. It shed no light on Harry Potter, other than that he's a bit unscruplous. It shed no light on Snape, which it REALLY should have, given how important he was to the end of the book (and, BIG SUPRISE, was effectivly fifty pages long and had NOTHING to do with the ending)
It had WAY too many sub-plots.
1. No-one taking Hagred's class--Unimportant SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
2. Their Grades--given the context, nice background and interesting sub-plot
3. The Malfoy thing--Important
4. The Half Blood Prince--GOD. Yes, you heard me. GOD. It had NOTHING to do with the plot. Woman, listen. I will say it in clear English, using as few American Idioms as possible. IF YOU ARE NAMING THE BOOK AFTER THE SUBPLOT, THE SUBPLOT HAD BETTER BE CRITICAL TO THE ENDING. It should have shown insite into Snape, into Harry, for god's sake, Dumbledor, Voldemort, SOMEBODY. For that matter, it should have BEEN the plot. It wasn't. FOR GOD'S SAKE ALL IT WAS WAS A WAY FOR HARRY TO CHEAT HIS WAY THROUGH POTIONS CLASS. GOOD. FREAKING. GOD. It should have been removed. ROWLING should have removed it, let alone the editor. AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
5. The slug-guy--important.
6. Harry and Dumbledor getting the full story on Voldemort--Important and FINALLY SOMEBODY DOES THAT. We can get the full story on Osama Ben Ladin and Charles Manson. They're supposed to be better than us.
7. The love triangles--GIVE ME A BREAK. Could have been removed.
8. Harry getting his own house and house elf. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD
9. The holcrux-holcrox-whatever-the-heck-it-was: Important, but for goodness sakes IF A CHARACTER WE LIKE THAT MUCH DIES FOR IT MAKE IT COUNT FOR SOMETHING.
10. The government asking him to help them--This blew my mind. Absolutely blew my mind. Not realistic. Not in the slightest bit realistic.
And to digress for a moment, Harry Potter has become, in my opinion, the best example of a Mary Sue I have seen in a while. Teacher A about to betray him? Give him to teacher B. HE GETS VISITED BY THE WIZARD PRIME MINISTER FOR GOD'S SAKE. HOW IS THIS NOT MARY SUE-ING???? WHO does Dumbledore trust the most? Harry. Who never gets into serious trouble, and when he does, gets bailed out by Dumbledore? Harry. Who gets made Captain of the Qudditch Team? Harry. Who gets to have his teachers switched so he can get his dream? Harry. He gets his own MANSION. And Rowling's token attempts to make Harry realistic (Krutcher, having Snape yell at him, not getting the correct whatever-the-heck-it-was-called at the end) are painfully OBVIOUS. The whole wizarding world REVOLVES around Harry and that DOES NOT HAPPEN. It's very, very, very BAD writing, EXTREAMLY lazy on the part of the author, and the sad thing is if there had been an editor who wasn't DRUNK on duty when this book got put through, most of the bad writing would have been TAKEN OUT COMPLETELY.
My GOD this kid never has to be without ANYTHING he wants, and the thing is through it all he's just the perfect little angel. Nope, he didn't have to do anything BAD to get this, all he had to do was wait for the world to reajust itself to him. If there is some great, important thing going on he's in on it. The ONLY thing Rowling hasn't Mary Sued about Harry is his grades. There is a list floating around the NaNoWriMo forum. I remember it well enough to know that if I put Harry through it, he would score. HIGH.
The last time I read a book that pissed me off this much was Terry Goodkind's Whatever-it-was-after-Pilars of Creation. It's only redeeming quality was that I had lost all love for the characters. I still LIKE Harry. I still like the world. I thought Rowling was doing well THREE FREAKING BOOKS AGO (How can you UNLEARN writing like this so fast?) when Prisoner of Askaban was printed. But Rowling has totally and utterly screwed this book. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how seven-hundred BORING pages got printed. The only things I can figure are that 1. Rowling has become a total snot because she's suddenly a house-hold name or 2. She has so totally BLIMPED her wrinting that whatever it was before it became seven-hundred boring pages was huge--I'm thinking she had to send it in a crate, not a box--and even more boring. Because I know writing, I study writing, I study plotting, I study character development, I study the publishing process and I know for a fact that the cost of printing a book that thick would have been prohibitive unless Rowling threatened to take the manuscript to another publisher or the cost of printing a bad book was more reasonable than the cost of printing the unbutchered manuscript.
Ok. I'm done. /rant
CW
Went over today and read the other half.
(Not kidding. This is why I only buy books I either (1. Am pretty sure I like or (2. Have read before and want to read again )
Ranting. Contains spoilers. Also contains a great deal of badmouthing J.K. Rowling.
And loss of control over caps lock. I am seriously, seriously disgusted about this book. I am using language I don't use as a rule. You have been warned.My first thought was "Well, she hasn't gotten any better." This was about page 127, when it was only chapter six and they were still wandering around Diagon Alley. Again. You would think that by now we would KNOW that Harry does his shopping there, we would KNOW what it's like...I mean for goodness's sake there was NOTHING in those TWO FREAKING CHAPTERS that couldn't have been cut out. So could the whole "Half Blood Prince" thing. As a sub-plot, it was alright, but unless this has something MOMENTUS to do with book seven, and with all the other books as evidance it probably won't, it could have been cut. THERE WAS NO POINT TO IT. As everybody here knows, it was Snape. It shed no light on Harry Potter, other than that he's a bit unscruplous. It shed no light on Snape, which it REALLY should have, given how important he was to the end of the book (and, BIG SUPRISE, was effectivly fifty pages long and had NOTHING to do with the ending)
It had WAY too many sub-plots.
1. No-one taking Hagred's class--Unimportant SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
2. Their Grades--given the context, nice background and interesting sub-plot
3. The Malfoy thing--Important
4. The Half Blood Prince--GOD. Yes, you heard me. GOD. It had NOTHING to do with the plot. Woman, listen. I will say it in clear English, using as few American Idioms as possible. IF YOU ARE NAMING THE BOOK AFTER THE SUBPLOT, THE SUBPLOT HAD BETTER BE CRITICAL TO THE ENDING. It should have shown insite into Snape, into Harry, for god's sake, Dumbledor, Voldemort, SOMEBODY. For that matter, it should have BEEN the plot. It wasn't. FOR GOD'S SAKE ALL IT WAS WAS A WAY FOR HARRY TO CHEAT HIS WAY THROUGH POTIONS CLASS. GOOD. FREAKING. GOD. It should have been removed. ROWLING should have removed it, let alone the editor. AND IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED.
5. The slug-guy--important.
6. Harry and Dumbledor getting the full story on Voldemort--Important and FINALLY SOMEBODY DOES THAT. We can get the full story on Osama Ben Ladin and Charles Manson. They're supposed to be better than us.
7. The love triangles--GIVE ME A BREAK. Could have been removed.
8. Harry getting his own house and house elf. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDD
9. The holcrux-holcrox-whatever-the-heck-it-was: Important, but for goodness sakes IF A CHARACTER WE LIKE THAT MUCH DIES FOR IT MAKE IT COUNT FOR SOMETHING.
10. The government asking him to help them--This blew my mind. Absolutely blew my mind. Not realistic. Not in the slightest bit realistic.
And to digress for a moment, Harry Potter has become, in my opinion, the best example of a Mary Sue I have seen in a while. Teacher A about to betray him? Give him to teacher B. HE GETS VISITED BY THE WIZARD PRIME MINISTER FOR GOD'S SAKE. HOW IS THIS NOT MARY SUE-ING???? WHO does Dumbledore trust the most? Harry. Who never gets into serious trouble, and when he does, gets bailed out by Dumbledore? Harry. Who gets made Captain of the Qudditch Team? Harry. Who gets to have his teachers switched so he can get his dream? Harry. He gets his own MANSION. And Rowling's token attempts to make Harry realistic (Krutcher, having Snape yell at him, not getting the correct whatever-the-heck-it-was-called at the end) are painfully OBVIOUS. The whole wizarding world REVOLVES around Harry and that DOES NOT HAPPEN. It's very, very, very BAD writing, EXTREAMLY lazy on the part of the author, and the sad thing is if there had been an editor who wasn't DRUNK on duty when this book got put through, most of the bad writing would have been TAKEN OUT COMPLETELY.
My GOD this kid never has to be without ANYTHING he wants, and the thing is through it all he's just the perfect little angel. Nope, he didn't have to do anything BAD to get this, all he had to do was wait for the world to reajust itself to him. If there is some great, important thing going on he's in on it. The ONLY thing Rowling hasn't Mary Sued about Harry is his grades. There is a list floating around the NaNoWriMo forum. I remember it well enough to know that if I put Harry through it, he would score. HIGH.
The last time I read a book that pissed me off this much was Terry Goodkind's Whatever-it-was-after-Pilars of Creation. It's only redeeming quality was that I had lost all love for the characters. I still LIKE Harry. I still like the world. I thought Rowling was doing well THREE FREAKING BOOKS AGO (How can you UNLEARN writing like this so fast?) when Prisoner of Askaban was printed. But Rowling has totally and utterly screwed this book. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how seven-hundred BORING pages got printed. The only things I can figure are that 1. Rowling has become a total snot because she's suddenly a house-hold name or 2. She has so totally BLIMPED her wrinting that whatever it was before it became seven-hundred boring pages was huge--I'm thinking she had to send it in a crate, not a box--and even more boring. Because I know writing, I study writing, I study plotting, I study character development, I study the publishing process and I know for a fact that the cost of printing a book that thick would have been prohibitive unless Rowling threatened to take the manuscript to another publisher or the cost of printing a bad book was more reasonable than the cost of printing the unbutchered manuscript.
Ok. I'm done. /rant
CW
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BrownEyedCat wrote:NOT MUCH OF A SPOILER, BUT WHAT THE HELL:
Is it just me, or are the 'Inferi' in the book just ordinary zombies?
I wanna see this article in the wizarding newspapers: A mob of inferi was taken down last week by a group of ordinary muggles. Trapped in a cabin by the horrible beasts, they disabled the inferi using muggle artifacts called 'chainsaws' and 'boomsticks' . . . more on this as it develops.
That would rock... Spoiler
I thought the GinnyxHarry thing seemed a little sudden, but you could make a decent argument that it's been coming since Chamber of Secrets. The only thing that really bugs me about it is that it seemed too short-lived, and that the "break-up" seemed like a ripoff of Spiderman... Did anyone else notice that?
He just wants to play the feild ^.~ManyWorlds wrote:BrownEyedCat wrote:NOT MUCH OF A SPOILER, BUT WHAT THE HELL:
Is it just me, or are the 'Inferi' in the book just ordinary zombies?
I wanna see this article in the wizarding newspapers: A mob of inferi was taken down last week by a group of ordinary muggles. Trapped in a cabin by the horrible beasts, they disabled the inferi using muggle artifacts called 'chainsaws' and 'boomsticks' . . . more on this as it develops.
Spoiler
I thought the GinnyxHarry thing seemed a little sudden, but you could make a decent argument that it's been coming since Chamber of Secrets. The only thing that really bugs me about it is that it seemed too short-lived, and that the "break-up" seemed like a ripoff of Spiderman... Did anyone else notice that?
Can't tie a good wizard down too early! LOL
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ManyWorlds
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Tears
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Well I'm going to go against the general tide here and say that I liked the book, I think it's the best of the series so far... certainly the most to my tastes.
By the way am I the only person in this thread who fell in and out of love every other week as a teenager? Because it certainly sounds like it.
I liked that they finally explained why the DADA teaching post is cursed.
By the way am I the only person in this thread who fell in and out of love every other week as a teenager? Because it certainly sounds like it.
I liked that they finally explained why the DADA teaching post is cursed.
Warning: this poster is addicted to ellipses...
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Christwriter
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Well...yeah. At least they DID do that.
*walks away muttering about how Rowling should have explained that LONG before book six if it was going to be THAT important a plot-point.*
CW
*walks away muttering about how Rowling should have explained that LONG before book six if it was going to be THAT important a plot-point.*
CW
"Remember that the definition of an adventure is someone else having a hell of a hard time a thousand miles away."
--Abbykat, NaNoWriMo participant '04
Coloring tutorial It's a little like coloring boot camp. Without the boots.
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Coloring tutorial It's a little like coloring boot camp. Without the boots.
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CJBurgandy
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Not really much a spoiler eitherBrownEyedCat wrote:NOT MUCH OF A SPOILER, BUT WHAT THE HELL:
Is it just me, or are the 'Inferi' in the book just ordinary zombies?
I wanna see this article in the wizarding newspapers: A mob of inferi was taken down last week by a group of ordinary muggles. Trapped in a cabin by the horrible beasts, they disabled the inferi using muggle artifacts called 'chainsaws' and 'boomsticks' . . . more on this as it develops.
I think she changed the word from zombie to inferi just to make it more classy. Kind of like the words Muggle and Squib. They're not really nessary terms, but sound less "mugglish." I'm not sure if what I'm trying to say make sense to anyone that does not live in my mind.
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*bows and goes back to waiting for David Weber to write something new*
honorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonor
CW
honorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonor
CW
"Remember that the definition of an adventure is someone else having a hell of a hard time a thousand miles away."
--Abbykat, NaNoWriMo participant '04
Coloring tutorial It's a little like coloring boot camp. Without the boots.
<a href="http://blueskunk.spiderforest.com"></a>
<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org"> NaNoWriMo </a> --for anyone who has ever aspired to write a novel. Insanity is also a requirement.
--Abbykat, NaNoWriMo participant '04
Coloring tutorial It's a little like coloring boot camp. Without the boots.
<a href="http://blueskunk.spiderforest.com">
</a><a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org"> NaNoWriMo </a> --for anyone who has ever aspired to write a novel. Insanity is also a requirement.
There's a new Honor book coming out in November.christwriter wrote:*bows and goes back to waiting for David Weber to write something new*
honorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonorhonor
CW
As for HBP.. I guess I fall in the middle ground. Don't hate it like Christwriter, but it's far from Rowling's best work. (That would be either CoS or PoA.) The thing that disappointed me the most was (mild spoiler) turning Snape into such a one-dimensional villian. Unless there's some massive reverse plot-twist in the last novel, which is still possible.
The thing I really wonder about is what she's up to with Dumbledore's brother. If something doesn't come of that in #7, I will be annoyed with her.
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Finally finished reading it earlier. Not the best in the series, but definitely not the worst. I agree with the Half-Blood Prince thing . . . it shouldn't have been the title of the book. That was kind of silly, in a way.
And since we're apparently doing the Guesswork Spoiler of da Future stuff . . .
Betcha Harry's one of the Horcruxes. Like it isn't blindingly obvious.
And since we're apparently doing the Guesswork Spoiler of da Future stuff . . .
Betcha Harry's one of the Horcruxes. Like it isn't blindingly obvious.
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I actually think that too, I think there is a hint in the 5th book, but I need to go back and read it again.MariaAndMichelle wrote:Ooo! Also! Also!
SPOILER FOR 'DA FUU~~~UTURE!
We think we know who "R.A.B" is... Regulus (A-something) Black!
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Re: s
That was fun!christwriter wrote:Went over to Barnes and Nobel yesterday and read half of it.
Went over today and read the other half.
(Not kidding. This is why I only buy books I either (1. Am pretty sure I like or (2. Have read before and want to read again )
Ranting. Contains spoilers. Also contains a great deal of badmouthing J.K. Rowling.
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I only truly enjoyed the book in the last chapters.
The first half of the book had too much fluff.
This review pretty much mirrors my opinon of the book.
I wish Rowling had developed Luna's character some more, and Neville, perhaps. The love triangles, while they did irk me, I realize that school was pretty much like that.
Damn it, Dumbledore was my favorite character. I'm scarred for life.
The first half of the book had too much fluff.
This review pretty much mirrors my opinon of the book.
I wish Rowling had developed Luna's character some more, and Neville, perhaps. The love triangles, while they did irk me, I realize that school was pretty much like that.
Damn it, Dumbledore was my favorite character. I'm scarred for life.
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Yeah, that was my thought, as well.cjburgandy wrote:I actually think that too, I think there is a hint in the 5th book, but I need to go back and read it again.MariaAndMichelle wrote:Ooo! Also! Also!
SPOILER FOR 'DA FUU~~~UTURE!
We think we know who "R.A.B" is... Regulus (A-something) Black!
I just finished it the other day. It was very good, though book 4 is still my favorite. I have to say this- Rowlings' brilliance isn't in word choice or description (as per, say, Terry Prattchet), but rather in her timing and how her characters change. I've read a lot of books where characters remain the same through the whole series- stagnant charactures, enjoyable though they are. Not so here, and even more rare- the changes make sense. And I think that's the real value of it all. It's only something that comes out with time, too. I didn't appreciate the earlier books as much as everyone else, but it was the progression that made it amazing.
