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Harry... no...!

Well, I finally got around to reading the latest Harry Potter book. Took me 2 and a half days to get through it (which is actually surprisingly quick for me, considering the length of the book). And I must say that I'm rather disappointed. Might be some possible spoilers here, so if you intend to read it and haven't, don't read this.

For a book that took this long to write, it seemed rushed. There were things hinted about in the beginning of the book that never actually went anywhere and it makes you wonder whether they were intended to be used at some point, forgotten about, then hurriedly tied off at the end when the editors wanted a book. The death scene seemed silly, preventable, and unnecessary. It was as if she'd convinced herself that someone had to die and so she did it, whether it made sense or not. It often seemed like she didn't really know how to write "dark". And I know these kids are 14 or 14 and under a lot of pressure and all, but jeez... with everyone biting each others' heads off for the first 500 pages or so, I almost couldn't stand to read it. The pacing didn't help, either. There were 100 page stretches where nothing really happened. And instead of the schoolwork being sort of a backdrop and framing to the action, it often ended up being the action. Also, main characters would disappear for very long stretches for some reason.

I must also admit that I'm getting a bit tired of the gimmick of people not telling people things and the trouble that causes. You'd think that, by now, everyone would've learned that lesson but they most definitely haven't. It almost seems like it was worse than ever.

Maybe my expectations were too high. But I guess I just expected a more polished product after all this time. It was my impression that she had this whole epic basically plotted out beforehand, but this one really lacked focus in its plotting. I guess the turning point in a series is more difficult to write. And yes, I know I couldn't have done a better job. But still... I don't make millions for my writing.

Comments (1)

That's what you get for reading children's books!

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on July 6, 2003 2:11 AM.

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