That one I did not see coming. It was a great touch.
I got a little pissed when I saw this thread, as I had intended to start the very same thread as soon as I was finished with book seven, only mine would have been called
Ask the guy who just read all seven Harry Potter books in eleven days
or, if you count the three whole days between finishing book one and getting my grubby hands on the rest of them
Ask the guy who just read all seven Harry Potter books in fourteen days
or, since I had actually read book one before and since it was really during the last six books that I entered a reading frenzy
Ask the guy who just read the last six Harry Potter books in eight days
I read book one years ago, in Swedish, and never had the urge to read any of the others. I watched the movies and enjoyed them very much, but it never went further than that. After movie five, my interest was awakened. I think the direct trigger was the brief scene during Harry’s Occlumency lessons with Snape, where he gets to see Snape’s memory of James torturing Snape during their school days. The concept of Harry’s beloved father not being a perfect flawless hero and Snape not being an unmitigated asshole was special enough that I wanted to know what the hell happened next, and given that I kept stumbling over spoilers I asked the Dope for advice on whether to just read book six and seven or read all of them in order. The majority (possibly unanimously; I don’t recall) voted for option two. Good choice.
Commence reading frenzy. I’m a fast reader and have plenty of time to read, so I burned through the last six books in the aforementioned eight days. I don’t even know exactly what kept me going so fast. I didn’t find the books amazingly well-written, they weren’t terribly original, I didn’t start caring much about the characters until somewhere around the end of book five, but something kept me turning pages like a man obsessed. I got pissed at myself for cooking meals I needed both hands to eat, so I couldn’t read at the same time, after cooking and reading simultaneously. In short, I was mesmerised.
What was great? Well, all the foreshadowing, the way all the books were tied together. For once I can actually believe a storyteller’s claim of having had the whole story mapped out from the beginning (I’m looking at you, Mr Lucas).
I loved how Snape turned out to be fighting for the good side after all, showing that you can be an asshole and still do the right thing. The same, to a lesser extent, goes for the Malfoys, even though they were, you know, bad.
I was impressed by the development of the characters as they aged. Rowling seems to have grasped early on that if her readers are ten when they start the first book they’ll be twenty when they start the seventh one; they’re going to need something different. Having had a couple of none-too-pleasant relationships with classmates myself, I especially liked the Harry-Draco relationship. They hate each other from the start. When they’re eleven, they show it by stealing each other’s stuff and calling each other names. When they’re sixteen, they break each other’s noses.
What was not so great? Not much, actually. Rowling does know her storycrafting, that’s for damn sure. She’s studied her literature. I would have liked Harry and Snape to have a scene after Harry realises the truth but before Snape dies, though.
I also found the whole death-resurrection thing a bit too formulaic. Gandalf and Aslan both did it, and before him, that Jesus guy. You may have heard of him.
The Half-Blood Prince storyline that named book six didn’t really fit in there. I read somewhere that it was originally intended for book two but Rowling threw it out, which makes sense. It would have worked a whole lot better that early in the series. Now, it was merely a distraction.
Finally, I would like to have seen some resolution to the Harry-Draco thing, beyond them spotting each other at platform 9¾. A well-written sort of “We don’t have to like each other but we don’t have to kill each other” scene would have been great. Maybe even a little redemption for Draco, showing that he’s not beyond help (he does seem to be a pretty flat psychopath character through much of the series).
All in all, not much to quibble about. I’m certainly looking forward to the last two movies.
Wingardium Levi-oh-sa, make the “gar” nice and long!
Another reminder of their school years was during the battle of Hogwarts: Professor Sprout uses her herbology skills to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy, using plants that we have seen the students grappling with in class: mandrakes, snargaluff pods, venomous tentacula
Oh yeah, one question I wanted to ask: Did Harry actually accomplish anything in the first book? He, Hermione and Ron get through all the obstacles with great difficulty, leaving Harry alone to face Quirrell/Voldemort in the room with the Mirror of Erised. But what actually happens there? Quirrell is unable to find the Philosopher’s Stone (and could never have done so, as Dumbledore later explains), Harry falls unconscious, and Dumbledore turns up. Sum total of benefit to the world of Harry’s involvement: zero. The only thing he managed to do was find the Stone and therefore risk that it fall into Voldemort’s hands. Without him there, Quirrell would have been staring at the Mirror until Dumbledore showed up to make short work of him.
He used his flying skill to obtain the key.
Also Harry was the one who led the final expedition in Philosopher’s Stone (Hermione and Ron wouldn’t have ventured out in search of the Philosopher’s Stone if it weren’t for him.) And Harry had the courage to resist the threats of Quirrell/Voldemort.
That’s if you don’t count his exploits from earlier in the book, such as convincing Ron to save Hermione from the troll, and winning Quidditch games, and helping to save Norbert the baby dragon.
Yes, which all led to the situation I described above: the Stone in his pocket instead of hidden where Quirrell couldn’t find it. I didn’t mean that Harry didn’t do anything to overcome the obstacles, just that his (and Ron’s and Hermione’s) involvement changed nothing.
That’s because you’re assuming that Voldemort would never have found a way of getting the Philosopher’s Stone out of its hiding place. So Dumbledore assures us, but then, with an apology to A. P. W. B. D., whom I acknowledge to be a brilliant wizard, Dumbledore is also the person who thought that it would be impossible for Draco Malfoy to get Death Eaters into Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince. Harry Potter’s presence delayed Voldemort. Also, didn’t Quirrell die because Voldemort forced Quirrell to try to take the Stone from Harry, and Quirrell’s body couldn’t handle the stress of Voldemort being in contact with Harry? I’ll have to re-read that part.
I suspect that it’s possible to take an OWL without actually taking the corresponding course, if one otherwise knows the material. Hermione could surely have passed Muggle Studies without formal training, and similar might have been true in some other subject, for the older Weasleys.
From what? I thought they were saving Hagrid from the penalty for illegally possessing a dragon hatchling.
Friendship and Loyalty overcoming Power and Fear. Perserverance in the face of the terror. Trust in oneself.
Sorry, been 16 years out of academia. I probably wouldn’t recognize a dramatic arc if it walked up and bit me in the ass.
I think he does damn well, for an eleven year old boy.
Of course he does.
I too read the 7 books for the first time in the span of about a month.
One thing I noticed is that the Deluminator in Book 7 is called a Light put-outer in Book 1. I like the name Deluminator better.
I was rather surprised by all the back references throughout the series. I think that if I hadn’t read it in all one go, I would have missed out on a lot. Although, based on some of the comments above, I certainly missed a lot of the much smaller ones.
She only had the time turner in book 3 but passed her 11 OWLs in book 5. Following what Chronos said, we could assume it’s possible to pass an OWL without necessarily taking the class. Also, isn’t it typical in more advanced classes (e.g. a US graduate program) that you spend less time in the classroom and more time doing indpendent work, so it would be possible to fit more classes in your schedule?
You say that Hermione only took 10 courses but had 11 OWLs. Do we know this for sure? I would have to go back and check on this also.
Finally, in support of Hermione, my favorite character in the books, I will add that Bill and Percy had 12 OWLs, but we don’t know what grades they had. Hermione had the top grade (O - Outstanding) in 10 of her OWLs, and the second highest grade (E - Exceeds expectaion) in her 11th. That’s pretty darn impressive!
I guess you’re right. But on the other hand Hagrid didn’t want to just release Norbert in England, which is why they shipped him off to Romania. It’s not really explained in the book why this was a better course of action but there must have been some good reason for it.
Arnold:
They did this because Charlie Weasley was working in Romania, and he was the only professional dragon-handler they knew they could trust to be discreet with the source of the new dragon.
One other thing, probably answered somewhere: How come owls can find Sirius when he’s in hiding, but no-one else can? All Harry has to do is give a message to an owl and say “Sirius Black”, and the owl zips right to him. It’s not that Hedwig has some sort of connection to Sirius, for Harry uses the school owls to equal effect. It’s not that Harry tells the owl where Sirius is, for he doesn’t know. So if any (magical, I assume) owl can find Sirius, shouldn’t the guys hunting him be able to as well?
I mean, if it’s an innate ability of the owls, all you have to do is tail one. If it’s something they’ve done to the owls to give them that ability, they should be able to do it to themselves.
Is there an explanation for this?
I’m afraid I have no idea about the owls. At certain points, they have to be careful about the Owls, but more for messages being intercepted, not Owls being tracked. Maybe Owls are very hard to follow? Maybe magic postal owls become invisible, or go to ground if under stress (like being followed). I only venture guesses cuz it’s my ‘Ask the’ thread. Jump in anyone.
Oh, and If you didn’t guess, BlueKangaroo, feel free…