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 I love the Harry Potter series. They're not the best-written books in children's fiction, but their strengths lie in the rich world-building and, especially, the myriad characters that Jo Rowling has created. I can't think of any other series of novels that has literally hundreds of supporting characters, all with memorable personalities and idiosyncrasies. (An aside: can you name, off the top of your head, the 200 most prevalent characters in the series? I got about 118. I don't know whether to be proud or not.) Rowling really should get around to writing that encyclopedia of the wizarding world. She has boxes and boxes full of material that never worked its way into the books. She's called the project "The Scottish Book" because she's wary to mention it by name lest she bring bad luck upon herself. She has said in the past that it could take her up to 10 years to write, however, so I'm not holding my breath.   So, it's been 3 years since Deathly Hallows was published. Has anybody re-read them all from beginning to end since the 7th book came out? I am currently doing a whole-series re-read, hoping to finish Deathly Hallows before the first part of the movie arrives in November. I'm up to Order of the Phoenix, which is probably my favourite of the 7 (if not favourite, then tied equally with Goblet of Fire and Half-Blood Prince). So much happens in this book. Not only do we have all the stuff with Umbridge vs. Hogwarts, but we visit more locations than any other book (other than the last book). I love the side-trips into St Mungo's and particularly the Ministry of Magic. The rescue mission that occupies the last hundred or so pages of the book is one of my favourite parts of the series. Anyway, discuss! edit: Because people are sperging out about inaccuracies in student numbers and demographics and how the magic works exactly, please keep the following mantras in mind when posting in this thread: a) It's a children's book b) It's for fun c) A wizard did it Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Aug 15, 2010 |
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Aug 10, 2010 09:46
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Woodtopian posted:I started reading Harry Potter when Goblet of Fire came out, and I still have all of my old copies (the binding on Azkaban and Goblet is pretty much gone at this point.) I'm not that fond of Order of the Phoenix, mostly because Harry acts like a huge twat in it, but Half-Blood Prince is one of my favorites. I love Order of the Phoenix despite his twattiness, because there's 2 very good reasons behind it. a) He's tapping into Voldemort's anger, maybe not all the time, but in the more extreme cases such as when he feels like attacking Dumbledore. b) He's not like that throughout the whole book, in fact Order of the Phoenix probably has Harry's most important emotional arc. The journey he goes through, culminating in the very emotional (and in some ways cathartic) scene in the chapter "The Lost Prophecy", is very well done.
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Aug 10, 2010 10:16
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Cobweb Heart posted:the fact that there are Time-Turners and nobody uses them for the main plot except once in the third book, even though there's a pivotal point in the fifth where every character runs right past vats of them. Time Turners cannot be used to change the past 
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Aug 12, 2010 01:14
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Pick posted:I hope you realize how stupid what you wrote just was. Yeah but you're forgetting a wizard did it.
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Aug 12, 2010 05:22
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Paragon8 posted:I recommend that you all read Magicians by Lev Grossman. It's a very similar concept to Harry Potter but treated in a much more adult fashion. I like to think Brakebills and Hogwarts exist in the same shared world 
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Aug 14, 2010 12:50
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The mantras of this thread that everyone should keep in mind are a) It's a children's book b) It's for fun c) A wizard did it Seriously. In fact I might add that to the OP.
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Aug 15, 2010 07:59
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IRQ posted:I was always willing to accept that the Harry Potter novels took place during the 70s or 80s so that cell phones and the internet didn't exist or whatever, but I just cannot accept that not one mudblood figured they should just drag along a pistol and blow Voldemort away while he's reciting the death curse. A CHILDRENS BOOK WIZARD DID IT (also, 1991-1997  )
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Aug 15, 2010 10:15
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Am I the only one who, after reading Order of the Phoenix when it came out, thought Fred and George were on a path to become Healers? All their work with the Puking Pastilles etc was really advanced, I thought for sure that they would get jobs eventually at St Mungos.
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Aug 15, 2010 10:19
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One of the greatest things about the Magicians is how Lev Grossman is aware he's basically writing the American Harry Potter. At one point a character is late for something, and the others ask where he was, and he says "Sorry, I was just changing out of my Quidditch robes," and the other characters all laugh.
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Aug 16, 2010 03:56
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Hobnob posted:I just finished reading The Magicians on the strength of the recommendations in this thread, and there is one particular scene (in the 8th chapter of book I) that absolutely scared the gently caress out of me. If you're talking about the first scene with The Beast, I agree. At that point I went from "This is a wacky and mildly amusing Harry Potter cash in" to "HOLY gently caress, I'M SCARED, HOLD ME ;_;"
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Aug 16, 2010 14:49
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She's a teenager you creepers. On my current read through I've had to resort looking at fan art of the characters to recapture my original mental images of them, because I don't want to read through the books and only picture the actors from the movie. There are a few exceptions though where the casting was beyond perfect (Filch, McGonagall, Hagrid). But the movie versions of the kids are all wrong, as are the Sirius/Remus/Snape generation who are all cast waaay too old. As much as I love Gary Oldman and David Thewlis and Alan Rickman, those characters are meant to be in their mid 30s dammit!
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Aug 17, 2010 22:23
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Pththya-lyi posted:Whatever mental images I originally had of the characters were completely pushed out by the movies. (Well, I guess the Mary Grandpre illustrations formed my original mental images, but only for the characters depicted in said illustrations.) Maybe when he was 11, but then he became that creepy old woman from Drag Me To Hell:  I really love Mary GrandPre's art. I've only ever read the UK editions so I had never seen her drawings until I sought them out online, but her more recent illustrations of the trio have been uncannily close to my mental image of them:   edit: I don't like her Umbridge though. Compare it to the one by one of my favourite fan artists, Makani, below:  
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 07:24 on Aug 18, 2010 |
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Aug 18, 2010 07:08
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Quid posted:For this Magicians book, someone mentioned loving. Is it going to be like ASOIAF levels of glistening wetness or a little less graphic? It's never graphic. One sex scene is a bit weird if you took it out of context, but it's bizarrely fitting to the mood of the book at that moment. I'm talking about the first sex scene between Alice and Quentin, in Antarctica, when they are... not people. There is a little bit of homoeroticism, but if you're like me, that only makes the book better.  But there's no graphic descriptions of sex, be it homosexual or heterosexual....of SCIENCE! posted:I think the one casting that really bothered me was Mad-Eye Moody, he was described as worn and ancient looking with bits of his face missing and a big, heavy wooden leg and in the end we got...a slightly old guy with an eyepatch. They should have broken out the prosthetics or something. Brendan Gleeson is awesome, but yeah, a healthy-looking fat Irish dude is not the Moody I pictured. (actually for some reason I kinda pictured him as Ian McKellan, only very haggard like you describe) PRI Caulk posted:
 Amazing. Write more.
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Aug 19, 2010 12:43
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I just discovered this blog, in which a guy reads and comments upon the Harry Potter books with nearly no prior knowledge of the books or the movies. It's hilarious. Here's an excerpt:
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Aug 20, 2010 07:38
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 I am nearly finished with Order of the Phoenix again. This is, I think, my 5th time through (I've read it 3 times previously and listened once to the Stephen Fry audio version, which is amazing). I have only 2 chapters left, including my favourite one: the talk in Dumbledore's office. I love that chapter; Harry's emotional journey of the book comes to its cathartic conclusion, and a huge deal of plot is revealed regarding the prophecy. I just love the "exposition dump" chapters of these books. They're always the moments where the plot comes together and you're left all "  ". Other great examples are the Shrieking Shack scene in POA, and the reveal of what Horcruxes are in HBP.In the past I have counted OOTP to be my favourite Harry Potter book, and I still consider it to be better than the first four. But I am excited to see how I feel after I reread the 6th and 7th, which I have read fewer times (twice and once, respectively). One of the reasons I love OOTP so much is purely the length, but I also love it because so much happens. The Umbridge saga, the drama with the centaurs, the Ministry "rescue mission" scene and the subsequent fight, the thestrals, the introduction of Luna, all the DA meetings, the careers advice, the exams, St Mungos, Fred and George's revenge on Umbridge, Rita's article, and so on. Jo's world building is at its best here. She really answers all the little questions like "so what are hospitals like for wizards?", "how exactly do wizards choose what jobs they want?", etc. The parts I like the least are everything to do with giants: both Hagrid's tale and the introduction of Grawp slow the plot down to a snail's pace. I think next time through I will skip those parts. The movie of this book was utterly bad. I can only think of two moments I really liked in the adaptation: the Voldemort/Dumbledore fight scene, and the DA training sessions. Maybe if I watched it again I'd find a bit more to like. But they really took a giant poo poo on the book in the making of that movie in particular.  edit: oh and I think the most powerful part of the book is The Woes of Mrs Weasley. Holy poo poo that part 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Aug 22, 2010 |
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Aug 22, 2010 16:17
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Oh yeah, I forgot Luna. She was great in the movie. But underused.
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Aug 22, 2010 17:21
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Cap. Monocle posted:They only told the Prime Minister. I mean like go to the UN and say "Yeah magic and monsters are real and there is this evil dude in Britain with dreams of world domination. just FYI thought you guys should know. Also here is a list of magical cures for diseases, and spells that can create food out of thin air, we though you might like those. Oh and we can power things through magic so no more energy crisis. No spell in the books can make food from nothing, it's always brought from somewhere
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Aug 23, 2010 02:25
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_jink posted:The talk of casting from a few pages back reminded me: ever since the first book, and over the course of all the years and movies, I've not been able to picture Snape as anyone but Jafar from Aladdin. Every other character is a vague mishmash, but Snape has remained Jafar -- turban and everything. The bizarre part is I didn't especially like Aladdin as a kid, and haven't watched it since. No idea why that image has stuck with me for so long. Not really related, but it came up when i googled jafar+snape, so enjoy: 
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Aug 23, 2010 10:30
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reflir posted:But this contradicts the canon, stitches worked on Arthur Weasley. No they didn't. The venom in the wound kept dissolving them. Pththya-lyi posted:Years ago, a friend of mine pointed out how silly it is that wizards can't create food. They can turn inanimate objects into animals and back again, but they can't turn them into dead and cooked versions of these same animals? How is that "creating" food? You need the animals in the first place. Hint: the majority of the world's famine is not due to having multitudes of domesticated livestock/poultry running around but nobody knows how to kill and cook them. Epi Lepi posted:Thanks for this, I've heard tons about it but never actually read it, probably because I couldn't find the whole thing online. Looking forward to actually reading it. I'm unlikely to read a fanfic if it's not Remus/Sirius
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Aug 24, 2010 02:16
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Pththya-lyi posted:I'm not sure how to make this clearer. If a wizard can turn a teapot into a live chicken, couldn't he just kill and eat the chicken? If so, why couldn't he save a step and turn the teapot into a cooked chicken? The distinction just seems arbitrary, that's all. I dunno. Maybe the chicken tastes like copper if you try to eat it? 
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Aug 24, 2010 03:41
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Mark is now 5 chapters in to Order of the Phoenix and has had a lot to say already, especially about Harry's anger issues. He's updating with 2 chapter reviews a day at the moment. It's going to be so fun watching him discover Umbridge, and all the other stuff that goes on in the book  Myself, I'm going to start in on Half-Blood Prince as soon as I finish the other two books I'm reading at the moment.
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Aug 26, 2010 12:55
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Suprfli6 posted:See, I hate that. It basically means free will can't exist, because if that wasn't the case, then Harry could randomly decide to travel back to that time once again and change everything. But in this system of time travel, since it didn't already happen, it never has or never will. Does it keep you awake at night? I'm going on a week-long field trip to the middle of the Australian desert next week, and I'm thinking of taking along Half-Blood Prince and getting started on it because I want to keep up with Mark 
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Aug 30, 2010 16:28
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It would have been cool if there had been no epilogue, but instead have the final chapter be Harry seeing Snape's memories, years after the battle of Hogwarts. Like, he had forgotten Snape had given him the vial full of memories, then had gone and fought Voldemort. Unless... I forget, is the revelation that Snape loved Lily important to Harry's final battle? Or could it have been done this way with Harry and the reader thinking Snape is an evil rear end in a top hat until the very end?
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Sep 3, 2010 02:16
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FrensaGeran posted:Being chosen is a "binding magical contract" and if you think regular contracts are hard to get out of, well gently caress man, just add magic and you'll see how little choice you have. Best post/avatar combo ever.
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Sep 3, 2010 06:51
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FrensaGeran posted:Half-way through book 5 and I haven't seen a positive portrayal of a Slytherin yet. Maybe 6 or 7? Book 6 introduces a character who is a Slytherin and good. Edit: Book 7 features the redemptions of at least 2 Slytherins. Also, remember that Pettigrew, one of the series' most unredeemable/cowardly characters, was a Gryffindor. It's not all black and white. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Sep 5, 2010 |
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Sep 5, 2010 01:13
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Oh my, Mark (of Mark Reads Harry Potter) did not respond well to Sirius's death  Pththya-lyi posted:To change the subject, my BOYFRIEND glanced over my copy of OotP this afternoon and asked me an interesting question: why is it so important that Neville could have also fit the prophecy that Voldemort acted on? I think it's to establish that Harry isn't inherently special, but I want to know what you all think. It's important because it demonstrates that the prophecy is a self-fulfilling one. Remember, the prophecy did not say "The dark lord and some young boy will fight to the death!", it said "The dark lord will choose some young boy who fits the following criteria, mark him as his equal, and only then will he be forced to fight him to the death." Neville and Harry both fit the criteria (born at the end of July to parents who pissed off Voldemort 3 times), but if Voldemort hadn't decided on one and "marked him" as his equal, he wouldn't have been affected by the prophecy at all and would be invincible. Basically Voldemort didn't hear the whole thing (you find out why in book 6), and so he wanted to get the prophecy orb so he could hear the full terms of his destiny.
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Sep 7, 2010 02:42
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I want to hug him sometimes 
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Sep 7, 2010 03:04
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Soy Sauce Beast posted:So I just discovered the magic that is A Very Potter Musical. There are some audio issues (sometimes the instruments drown out the singing, or the spoken dialogue is a little quiet) but it is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I love this show. The guy who plays Voldemort is so hot. Have you seen the non-Potter musical they've done, called Me & My Dick? It has a lot of the same cast, and is absolutely hilarious.
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Sep 8, 2010 02:21
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It's so loving great The dude who plays Harry wrote all the music and lyrics, which is pretty loving awesome. I gotta say my favourite character in it is Dumbledore, followed closely by Draco.
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Sep 9, 2010 15:09
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Fooley posted:Has there been any word on when Harry Potter ebooks would be available? Some searching tells me Rowling was against them, but is ok now and her agency is feeling it out. I can't loving wait to be able to carry all 7 books around on my Kindle
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Sep 13, 2010 06:24
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I also really want Jo to write more in the school books series. We could have Holidays With Hags by Gilderoy Lockhart, Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles by Wilhelm Wigworthy, Hogwarts, A History (new edition edited by Hermione Granger), Advanced Potion Making (annotated by the Half-Blood Prince) and so on.
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Sep 13, 2010 |
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Sep 13, 2010 06:33
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Nerdy question for anyone who has read both UK and US editions of the books. What are the non-textual differences between the editions? For instance, the US books have chapter artwork, which is totally awesome. Also I know that some of the things like notes from Hagrid, etc, are in different fonts to look hand-written. That sort of stuff is just awesome if you ask me Are there other changes like this, for instance, newspaper articles appearing in different fonts?I am considering buying the boxset of the US editions, because I'd like the books with different cover art and I also want to re-read them in the US text with all the changes, to see how much is altered.
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Sep 13, 2010 17:29
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Soy Sauce Beast posted:It's like that in the US version too. Or at least, it is in my version, I could go to some bizarro book store or something. Yeah it's not in the UK edition. The UK edition has literally no stylistic flairs. It's all one font, with letters/articles/etc italicized.
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Sep 13, 2010 18:52
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Paragon8 posted:Which sort of ties into my main frustration at how big the Ministry seems to be. Is it just me or are there only really only three career options for a wizard? Ministry, teach at Hogwarts, or the service industry? You forgot Quidditch player 
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Sep 17, 2010 16:13
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So uh, Mark of MRHP's new review is... well...  Personally, I'm up to chapter 23 ("Horcruxes", I love this chapter) of Half-Blood Prince. One thing I've sort of realised on this, my 4th time through this book, is that the story constitutes the most normal, uninterrupted school year Harry has had since year 1. Granted, there is the complication of the cursing of Katie and the poisoning of Ron, but everything carries on like normal for Hogwarts despite that. Every other book, Hogwarts has been under some huge threat or disruption (the Chamber opening in CoS, the Dementors and the threat of Sirius in PoA, the Triwizard Tournament in GoF, and Umbridge's control in OotP). Maybe this relative normalcy of the school year is why a lot of people consider HBP to be quite a bland book. Personally I love it, even though it feels way shorter than the other "big" books of the series. And technically, it is. It's the shortest of the final 4 books. The word count for each book is as follows: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - 76,944 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 85,141 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 107,253 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 190,637 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 257,045 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 168,923 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 198,227 Despite 30k words different between book 6 and 7, the page count is identical for the UK editions. If you look at a random page in each book, you can see how big they made the font size for book 6 to artificially boost the page count. I wonder why they did this? God knows how many trees they would have saved by making the font smaller, thus each book shorter (fact: HBP sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours, and another ~55 million since) Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 16:23 on Sep 18, 2010 |
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Sep 18, 2010 16:21
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Hey, at least it's better than the title the French got. Harry Potter and the Magic School
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Sep 20, 2010 10:19
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I just finished Half-Blood Prince. Oh god that final chapter. 
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Sep 20, 2010 12:54
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Just started Deathly Hallows for the first time since July 21, 2007.  The first chapter is loving horrifying, with the Muggle Studies professor crying and pleading Snape for her life while he just watches impassively then she gets murdered holy loving poo poo Just looking over a chapter list online, there's a lot I do not remember about this book at all. This is going to be an awesome ride!
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Sep 21, 2010 15:37
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Yeah seriously, what the gently caress? Wizards have printed books, notepads, newspapers, posters and many other things made out of paper. Why shouldn't they have cardboard :| edit: chocolate frog cards, the box Harry's cake from Hagrid is in, etc
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Sep 22, 2010 09:22
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Ahahaha Mark's freaking out about a chapter in Half-Blood Prince and he's still not up to the mindfuck which is the last 5 or so chapters.
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Sep 23, 2010 03:22
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