The Room of Requirement is alluded to in an earlier book by Dumbledore as the chamberpot room. Harry puts 2 and 2 together. And its properties are explicitly stated by Dobby.
I feel that OoTP is very different to the earlier books in that it is less self-contained (as were HP1-3) and more a transition book. The ending isn’t really the cliffhanger of Book4. I fully expect that Book 6 will pick up a lot of the hints that have been dropped.
I do agree that the book looks as if it could have done with a better editor - I’m reminded of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 which had a similarly short time between completion and release IIRC. Even the best writer needs an editor.
Lsura, I actually enjoyed the pacing at the start of the book, I thought it worked well with how Harry himself was feeling “Why is nothing happening, come oooon! There is so much I want to know, tell me tell me! Why are we just sitting here?!”.
What seems to be ticking people off the most, at least, the people I’ve talked to, is that Harry is such a little snot in this book. Well, look; HE’S 15!!! Ms. Rowling actually dared to write the character as a real 15year old. With all the emotional and mental angst that go with said age. I think it was quite brave of her, considering that she probably knew a lot of people wouldn’t be happy with her tinkering with Harry’s personality. It’s a stage. Everyone goes through it. I loved the book, although I agree there are some parts in it that drag.
I’M NOT ALONE!! I found this book to be overloaded with angst of that nature, and I also found Harry to be a bit snotty–though I can see why and he has every right to be. And I concede that this turn in character is acceptable at this age, I was just hoping it would have been a little more gradual, and not so much “Ron’s my best friend today, but in twelve minutes I’m going to blow up at him because he’s not telling me anything.” I also thought that it was odd of Harry, even in his “I’m fifteen, whoooo, mood swing!” stage, to think that Hermione and Ron didn’t do much to help him in his fight against Voldemort.
My disclaimer now: This is what I’ve inferred from reading it. It has been two months. It is entirely possible that Harry was not saying and/or acting like that at all and that what I’ve posted is merely the residuals of my reading. Please feel free to correct me, but remember that I have been lenient in what I’ve said. I reiterate that even if Harry was far too snotty, he has every reason to be. It’s getting to be dark times and people are dying but no one will tell him about what he knows is his own fight against evil–he’s perfectly entitled to feel scared, outraged, and generally teenager-y times ten. Forgivness if I sound harsh or if I’m terrifically wrong in every aspect.
I didn’t have a huge problem with the book, and actually rather liked that Harry’s drifting into a new peer group that can relate more closely to all the fucked up shit he’s been through, not to mention that Neville now kicks all the ass there is!
However, taunting readers with the “Oh…maybe THIS character just died…ha-ha, no not really! Maybe THIS character? Hah, got you again!” all through was incrediably stupid. I’ve seen this done in comic books for ages and it is lame beyond description there as well. And the whole beyond-the-veil metaphor being used physically…WTF? An editor needed to seat Mrs Rowling down over those points and go, “Now really, Jo, do you want this death to have impact or not?” then proceed to chop it to bits.
“Some of the most complex characters…” :eek: You’re not serious, are you?
I do enjoy the series, and I enjoyed the Order, but my main complaint lies in the fact that, except possibly for Snape, the characters are pretty much two-dimentional and typecast. I really don’t see any depth to them at all.