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The Buffista Book Club: the Harry Potter iteration  

This thread is a focused discussion group. Please see the first post below for the current topic and upcoming book discussions. While natter will inevitably happen, we encourage you to treat this like a virtual book club and try to keep your posts in that spirit.

By consensus, this thread is reopened specifically to discuss Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be closed again once that discussion has run its course.

***SPOILER ALERT***

  • **Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows lie here. Read at your own risk***


Pete, Husband of Jilli - Jul 25, 2007 12:16:52 pm PDT #1750 of 3301
"I've got a gun! I've got a mother-flippin' gun!" - Moss, The IT Crowd

Thank god, JKR didn't kill off Mr. Weasley in OotP. The last thing that bloody mopey book needed was a mourning Mrs. Weasley.

The off-screen death of Tonks & Lupin seemed right to me. Since everything is from Harry's perspective, it would make the battle seem too contained if he were to witness every major death. The sudden shock of their demise hits us like it hits Harry.

I've been saying since book 2 that I expected that when the shit finally came down that either Harry would save Snape or vis versa leaving one or both of them very conflicted. So, Snape's actual death was a major shock. And I loved it. Nothing else in the book stated quite so clearly that siding with merciless evil was such a treacherous undertaking. Also, I think that since so much of Voldemort's killing in the book was done in anger, the cold, almost genteel demeanor of Voldemort as he had Snape killed made the scene all the more horrific.

I think the Kings Cross 'afterlife' was well handled. Yeah, heavy exposition but brisk. I don't think that Harry's Horcrux was the scar. I think its absence in the 'afterlife' is because this was an idealized Harry, as evidenced by the fact that he didn't need his glasses either.

Harry taunting Voldemort by calling him Tom - priceless.

I don't think Neville killed the penultimate Horcrux. I think he killed the last one. I think Voldemort actually killed the one in Harry when he first zapped him in the forest and that's what caused Voldemort to crumple. With that gone, that's why the second Aveda Kedavra finished him off; there was nothing else left of Voldemort in Harry. Yeah, you read that right, Neville is EVEN MORE THE MAN!

That Voldemort, he just doesn't learn does he? Maybe a quick Stupefy might not have rebounded and then he could just have an animated sword run Harry through. Stoopid Dark Lord, no Dark Donut.

I was surprised that Draco didn't get to do something at least semi-heroic at the end. I felt his rebellion against Voldemort had been brewing all book long. I guess he just couldn't grow that spine in time.

I find it amusing that the Wand Allegiance plot point was the biggest Handwaveium in the book. Crazy literal, neh?

Oh, and one last thing that I haven't seen anyone discuss; I was really impressed with the cover to the U.S. Edition of the book. While the bright warm colors were a shock, they were also a nice change after the last couple of dark gloomy covers. But, what I'm really admiring here is what scene they chose to focus on and how it was represented. As I read the book, I kept having new theories; at first I thought his arm was outstretched to receive the ghost of Hedwig (and that the background figures were the ghosts of the dead), then I thought it might be him releasing Dumbledore's Snitch to activate whatever was inside it. Finally, I realized that he was catching the Elder Wand, and that made me realize that the shot of Voldemort on the back wasn't him trying to reach Potter before he completed some action, but that Voldemort was actually falling backwards dead. Really, brilliant misdirection in that cover.


DavidS - Jul 25, 2007 12:21:32 pm PDT #1751 of 3301
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

I find it amusing that the Wand Allegiance plot point was the biggest Handwaveium in the book. Crazy literal, neh?

Heh. Housepoint to the Reasonables.


Pete, Husband of Jilli - Jul 25, 2007 12:25:48 pm PDT #1752 of 3301
"I've got a gun! I've got a mother-flippin' gun!" - Moss, The IT Crowd

Mine! it is MINE! None for Luna Reasonable!


-t - Jul 25, 2007 12:26:06 pm PDT #1753 of 3301
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Since the Gaunt's had the Resurrection Stone and the Potters had the Invisibility Cloak, the two families should be descendents of two of the brothers, right? And the thord brother had no descendents because he got his throat slit straightaway.

Oh, that's neat.

Excellent point about the cover, Pete.


-t - Jul 25, 2007 12:29:37 pm PDT #1754 of 3301
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

So, there's no support for the idea that Harry's "The Elder Wand is actually mine" expo was just a mindfuck on Voldy?


Atropa - Jul 25, 2007 12:30:11 pm PDT #1755 of 3301
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

Mine! it is MINE! None for Luna Reasonable!

glares at spouse

What, we don't share housepoints? And you do realize that the symbol of our house is Clovis, right?


Pete, Husband of Jilli - Jul 25, 2007 12:33:27 pm PDT #1756 of 3301
"I've got a gun! I've got a mother-flippin' gun!" - Moss, The IT Crowd

What, we don't share housepoints? And you do realize that the symbol of our house is Clovis, right?

And yet, you still don't get that when Clovis rules the world, he won't be sharing with you? You get to be #1 minion, and that's it.

Ahem.


Atropa - Jul 25, 2007 12:35:26 pm PDT #1757 of 3301
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.

And yet, you still don't get that when Clovis rules the world, we won't be sharing with you? You get to be #1 minion, and that's it.

If that's true (which I don't believe for a minute), then that "we" had better be a typo. IJS.


Pete, Husband of Jilli - Jul 25, 2007 12:37:36 pm PDT #1758 of 3301
"I've got a gun! I've got a mother-flippin' gun!" - Moss, The IT Crowd

Um... typo. Fixed now.

Pfeh, I'll be lucky if I'm #100 minion.


Kathy A - Jul 25, 2007 12:37:38 pm PDT #1759 of 3301
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil

Actually, the Elder Wand connection makes sense to me--I didn't find it handwavey at all. It's all dependent on who has mastered the wand(s) of its master, right? I don't remember how Grindelwald gained mastery over it (he didn't just steal it from Gregorovitch, did he?), but Dumbledore got it from Grindelwald in an unnamed but definite way that didn't require him to kill Grindelwald. Then, Draco gained mastery, but failed to realize it and take the wand, when he expelliarmused it from D's hand in HBP. Voldemort took it from D, but failed to gain mastery by defeating/acquiring it from the current master, Draco, but Harry did by defeating Draco and getting his wand. I think that if Draco had been using a borrowed/stolen wand, the connection would have been much looser, but since it was his own wand, used for nearly seven years, "the wand had chosen the wizard" and the Elder Wand recognized that Harry had mastered Draco's wand (no slashing intended!) and acknowledged Harry as its master.

Perfectly logical!