I started reading this book under a funk. The sheer amount of crap that had been leaked onto the internet this week was depressing. it wasn't that the book itself was being leaked, it was the futility of the leaking. I mean, what were these people trying to do? Curb the amount of money the publishers were gleaning from the books? Doubtful.
No, it was willy-battles in the showers all over again. The 'I've read it before you - ner-ner-ne-ner-ner' mentality that just proves that there really are sadder fucks out there than die-hard HP fans as myself
About 2 days after the last book came out t-shirt companies were printing 'Snape Kills Dumbledore' t-shirts, professing that they'd saved readers from wasting a few days of their lives reading the latest HP book. So, what? You want the readers to save the £6 from the book and spend that £6 on your poorly designed t-shirt? It's not the conclusion, it's the journey. there were videos on the web of fuckwits driving past barnes & Nobles shouting "SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE" and laughing like gibbons at the upset faces they left behind. But what they didn't capture on their crappy £100 camcorders is the fact that everyone they told still went into the store and bought the book anyway. Simply hearing someone shouting out a possible ending isn't enough to want us to know how that possible ending came about.
I knew how this one ended. I saw the last 3 words. I still wanted to experience the journey that led to those words.
And I'm glad the funk lifted. the first thing that starts to drag about this book is that there's no real Hogwarts, not in the regular sense. It's in the book, and forms the basis for the book's excellent climax, but Harry doesn't spend a second of him time there in studies. It appears that his oath at the end of HBP held fast.
Harry is in search of the Horcruxes, the fragments of Voldemort's soul that, if left unchecked, would mean that Voldemort can return to life many times over. On his journey to find the horcruxes, Harry becomes distracted by another quest, that of the Deathly Hallows, 3 items linked by a simple symbol, apparently able to render their holder invinvible. It's possible that Voldemort had learned of the deathly hallows, but in his greed to find the hallows, has he left his Horcruxes unguarded?
There are times when it dragged, and I honestly feared for the pace of the book, as well as for the well-being of some of the characters, but after the necessary lull in the action (JK does love her exposition) the action started up again and just.didn't stop.
Some rumours were true, some were laughably pathetic. One was engageingly enigmatic, which means William Hill is going to have a perplexing time handing out payments.
9.5/10
My Final rating;
DH
GoF
OotP
HBP
PoA
CoS
PS(SS)
14 July 2007
Damn, my boy rocks
Took the young'un to the kent show yesterday. It's an annual thing held at the County Showground at Detling every year. It claims to be a showcase of local produce and enterprise but depending on where you go, it can resemble a boot-fair with a £16 entry fee in places.
Still, there's loads to see and do, Titan the Robot makes regular appearances, even if his act hasn't changed in 4 years. (don't bother with the Lab4 vid), plus there's dog displays, hawking displays,, fly-fishing displays, and the toffs from the countryside alliance sit in their canvas chairs sipping sherry and bleating on about how the ban on fox-hunting came about because Parliament is biased against them as they have money. can't have the poor oiks joining in on the hunt now, can we?
Anyhoo, we were thinking of making our way to the exit when we passed the Duke of Edinburgh stand, which while promoting youth ventures, had one of those climbing walls you see in pre-vandalism youth centres. Saw a couple of guys having a go, and then this young kid had a go, must have been 4 years old. Didn't seem too au fait with the whole experience, and started crying about a foot off the ground. While we were watching him get unbuckled, I looked over and Luke was positively chomping at the bit to get over the barrier to have a go. The instructors saw this and asked him if he wanted a go, we said that he's only 2, but they simply said they'd get him strapped up and they'd let him hang on the rope for a while. Sounded like a laugh, so Lukey stood there while they got him all harnessed up
So they put a helmet on him and he RAN at the wall. With a bit of help he was well off..
Had to get a video of it too.
The female instructor asked us twice if we were sure he was only 2, she'd been doing it for 5 years and she'd never seen enthusiasm like it. I don't mean to brag or anything, but damn.
Still, there's loads to see and do, Titan the Robot makes regular appearances, even if his act hasn't changed in 4 years. (don't bother with the Lab4 vid), plus there's dog displays, hawking displays,, fly-fishing displays, and the toffs from the countryside alliance sit in their canvas chairs sipping sherry and bleating on about how the ban on fox-hunting came about because Parliament is biased against them as they have money. can't have the poor oiks joining in on the hunt now, can we?
Anyhoo, we were thinking of making our way to the exit when we passed the Duke of Edinburgh stand, which while promoting youth ventures, had one of those climbing walls you see in pre-vandalism youth centres. Saw a couple of guys having a go, and then this young kid had a go, must have been 4 years old. Didn't seem too au fait with the whole experience, and started crying about a foot off the ground. While we were watching him get unbuckled, I looked over and Luke was positively chomping at the bit to get over the barrier to have a go. The instructors saw this and asked him if he wanted a go, we said that he's only 2, but they simply said they'd get him strapped up and they'd let him hang on the rope for a while. Sounded like a laugh, so Lukey stood there while they got him all harnessed up
So they put a helmet on him and he RAN at the wall. With a bit of help he was well off..
Had to get a video of it too.
The female instructor asked us twice if we were sure he was only 2, she'd been doing it for 5 years and she'd never seen enthusiasm like it. I don't mean to brag or anything, but damn.
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