Of All the Weekends

This was not the weekend the HBP should've come out. I have had work, more work, my nephew's birthday party, errands with another nephew, appointments, frenzied business calls, and parents who "just want to spend some time together". Not to mention there was the final ep in the current Raven trilogy in Teen Titans to digest and enjoy. Of course, these are tales for another occassion for somewhere in the middle of this crazy weekend from hell, I did manage to pick up my copy of Harry Potter (unscathed, I might add, by the non-existant pushy customers from hell) along with Beck, Vol. 1.

And now I have finally surfaced from my mad 8-hour straight reading frenzy with blurry eyes, a serious neck cramp, and the major needwantdesire to discuss 'cause lordy knows if I can't discuss it with you people then, honestly who can I discuss it with.

Firstly, I am tired so who knows how coherent I am about to sound. Secondly, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Not my favorite by any means but I really loved it... until the end where everything just sort of cameoutinahugejumblymess. Thirdly, while my literary taste is of the questionable variety and has been for months now, I should say that all my opinions have the weighted quality of a true fan whose opinions are just that - opinions.

Though still bitter about Sirius' death in Book 5 (and the total travesty that was the 3rd movie), I was quite optimistic about this installment. For good reason too. This book was brimming with in depth character building and quite a fair bit of nonsense, all welcome after the seriousness of Bk. 5. I adored the conversations between Harry and Dumbledore because of all the trite, fun, and utterly brilliant responses A.D. was always spouting. For instance to Vernon's statement of "I don't mean to be rude -", Dumbledore cuts him off with a "-yet, sadly, accidental rudeness occurs alarmingly often. Best to say nothing at all, my dear man."

For some reason, the idea of Ron "snogging" all over the place was rather boring to me (though not unexpected) but I had hoped it wouldn't be such a big part of the book. The Lupin/Tonks thing seemed to come out of nowhere after Book 5 but there were a million clues right in the beginning of Book 6 so, eh... not as shocking as it appeared. Of course, being a Snape lover (and closet evil mastermind), I did enjoy every ounce of Snape and Malfoy appearances - limited though they may be... until the end.

And speaking of the end... I have only felt this way about an ending one other time while reading a book and that was after somehow bolstering enough courage to tackle some of the worst literature in the history of ever (Huxley's "classic" BNW). I didn't mind that she offed Dumbledore - despite my extreme fondness for him, I wasn't as devastated as I was with Sirius. Besides, the whole book just screamed of it. Still, it felt rushed compared to the pace of the rest of the book. Then after the death, it all slows down horribly making the last several pages boring as hell.

Strangely, as I really sit here and think about the book as a whole, the decision of Harry's to not return to Hogwarts, his friends desire to join him was all amazingly perfect. It was stupid of Rowling to put that in about Ginny and Harry breaking up but who cares in the end anyway?

And that's all for now. Lots of chuckles, several "OMGWTF!!!!!", and a generally good feeling accompanying this one. Book 3 is still my favorite though.

If really needed, I'll add on later. For now its oyasumi nasai everyone.