Some general thoughts on HBP, not spoiling at all.

[silversolitaire]

You know... for the future I think it would be nice when people who are posting HP spoilers (and are very nice to cut them) would also include up to which chapter they're spoiling. Not that anyone will, but sometimes I really wish it was so. I read at a moderate speed. I have no interest in rushing through a book I waited for for two years, so I'm reading a speed that's comfortable for me and where I can already put things in my long-term memory. I've got a very good memory for books that I've read that way. I will admit right here and now that I've only read some HP books once and I still remember every single detail of them (of course that also makes it boring to reread something). So, no rush for me. At the same time I'm dying to read all the comments people are posting right now but I don't dare to click them because I don't know up to which point they're spoiling. Very annoying. Of course I could just save the links to these entries and read them later, but that's always a bit lame. LJ entries are best when fresh.

Other than that, what can I say about HBP. Somehow I don't like the mood of it at all. This is the trouble I've been having with the books since GoF. I liked about the HP series the magical mood, the cute details... just feeling nice and at home and being able to relax, knowing it's a pleasant series. But ever since GoF I can't relax anymore. I turn the pages, anxious about what else J.K. Rowling is going to do to the world I've grown to love for so many years. Which characters she's going to kill of. Which places she's going to destroy. It makes me sick in the stomach. I don't like the mood anymore. It's constantly threatened and angsty and dangerous. There's no more lighthearted niceness about this and I don't like it. I feel like Rowling is trying to be more adult, write more serious, but this is not what I want about HP. So yeah, I'm enjoying it, it's very thrilling so far, not nearly as boring as OotP was at the beginning, but still kinda meh. It's not what I felt about PoA and so on. It bascially stifled all urges for me to write fanfiction because I no longer dare to have my own thoughts about it because eventually J.K. will do something horrible and destroy it all and I will be left depressed and upset over it.

Oh well, but I started it, many years ago, and I will stick through it until it's over. And hopefully I won't feel like the love and devotion I felt for so many years was wasted.

Comments

[kribban.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more with you. I wish people would do that. I wish there were guides to each and every chapter and you could just click on the one you want. But remember, you can always chat to me about it. *hugs* I do worry a bit about it as well. Thing is though, if there is a war things will probably change and people will die etc. That's just what happens. Look at LOTR and Narnia. If she had wanted there not to be a war then she would have to make Voldemort's return a lot less dramatic.

Me, I worry more about character assasination than actual, physical death. :-)

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Well you see, I don't WANT to read about war. War is the topic I try to avoid at all costs. I hate read about war, it makes me uncomfortable and depressed, and I hate to see how my favorite series is turning into a war story and I have no way of avoiding it. I feel like it was snuck up on me. Don't like it at all.

Yes I agree with character assassination. But I think it was pretty clear how I meant it, no? Not just killing someone off. People can die and it's okay. But I hate it when characters change in an unpleasant way. Like Draco. Meh.

[lemurjoe.livejournal.com]

I don't get your comment about Draco. He's always been nasty and pretty evil. So how do you think he's "changed in an unpleasant way"? Or do you just miss him being more interested in picking on Harry?

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

How can I explain. In the first books there was still room for interpretation, you know? It was possible to use him in fics and somehow excuse his behavior. Pretend there was some good deep down inside of him. He was just sorta nasty but maybe it was just an act. But since GoF he's just dag nasty evil, there's no way you can even remotely excuse anything he's doing, and OotP was just the killing blow. So I kinda feel deprived of my ability to write fanfiction around him because he was thoroughly ruined. J.K. Rowling isn't exactly writing characters multilayeredly. They're good or they're evil (with a few exceptions who are there to add to the suspense). The Dursleys will always be nasty and never change, Hagrid will always be 100% good and innocent and Draco will always be evil. That's just how it is and it's kinda depressing when it manifests itself for good.