first impressions an hour after finishing

[heidi]

I love the book. I hate jkr. Hate. Hate her.

Sorry, tears again. Am such a geek. She wasn't kidding at the gof launch. Evil
bitch.

While I was reading it I sent ebony and cassie page numbers for them to chortle
and gasp at while they read and when I'm at the computer later, I'll post them
here and explanations of why, so those with the uk version can follow along.

But I will say that my Book Magazine prediction merits 10 points to my house.
Just not sure which it is.

And I'm not sure where the hell she's going to go from here. It could end here
and I'd be... Whatever will be will be.

I do have one prediction - so many loose ends were tied up and mysteries
explained that I think there will be less speculation about plot "facts" and
more about concepts, perspective and characterisation.

Btw - I still think that either draco/hermione or harry/hermione have futures.
And I am going to finish SoC and take it through 5th year and into 6th. I
swear.



Edited on April 23, 2007 to explain the GoF Launch line above:

Back in August of 2000, a member of HPForGrownups posted about the July event at King's Cross for the launch of GoF, where she'd been able to ask a question of JKR.

The original post is here, and here's what was posted:

Anyway, then she came down to the
barriers to answer questions from the press and sign a few books - she
signed my cover, and then as she was signing my mate's book, I thought it
was now or never and just said 'Sirius Black is meant to be dead sexy, isn't
he?'.

It was so funny - she looked at me as if she was pleasantly surprised
to see friendly faces in amongst all the press hounds - she obviously was
expecting questions about the money, the next books, yadda yadda yadda, not
a fan question - then she smiled and said 'Yes.'

So when OotP came out and Sirius was both dead, and sexy, I was sort of OMG she really meant it when she said YES! WIBBLE AND ALAS!

Comments

[drifty.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you in that she did answer a lot of questions! Which I'm glad about, because while it is ever so fun to speculate about the facts, now that we actually have a lot more of them I feel that there are just vast, untapped theories out there that we can really let go on. But, I am working on 31 hours without sleep here, so I might not agree with myself tomorrow...

I can see the H/H, as well - A Good Thing! I've also been wondering for a little while now, if the whole SPEW concept isn't JKR setting Hermione up to feel sympathy for Draco, or even Voldemort himself. I believe that she may have been heading in the right direction with Dobby & Winky, but Kreacher brought a whole new dimension to it. I believe that he is a genuinely nasty piece of work - and yet she could still stand up for him and say 'What if...?'

Cheers, Liz

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

TOTALLY! And I think it's still possible that they're talking out of Harry's vision...

Or at least, I'll make it possible, dammit!

[drifty.livejournal.com]

Cool, you agree with me. I have a huge amount of respect for you, Heidi, and that just made my day :)

[sophie10.livejournal.com]

I was all ready to have to read R/Hr, which I really can't stand. And then there was all this fabulous H/Hr! Well at least hints towards it.

[corialis.livejournal.com]

I was actually seeing potential for D/Hr at one point. I can't remember specifically what it was, but there was something that made me go, "damn it, now there's canon potential!"

Granted, I was also seeing Snape/Harry. So.

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

*nods eagerly at canon potential of both ships* Sadly, we won't *ever* see canon!Harry/Snape.

Heidi, please do continue SoC! I'll pop up regularly to remind you, even! :D

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

Yes. HATE. HATE. HATE.

Have finished book. Hate everything. Except the Weasley twins.

[alegriagraciela.livejournal.com]

Some coherent thoughts now that I've had time to process. I love what she did with Ginny (you go girl), and the H/Hr leanings. I am now also shipping Ron/Luna. And Neville rocks my socks. I love how she fleshed him out. The prophecy blew my mind though. So it could have been Neville Longbottem and the (insert book title). Wow!

I have to say that I like what the fanfic authors have done with Sirius more so than what JK did. I totally did not expect Sirius to act like he did leading up to, well you know. I feel that his character got short shift.

Loved, loved, loved Fred and George. Also had a great laugh over Sirius and Narcissa being cousins!

Draco was a prat. Definitely love what Cassie, Carole, Jade, Sarea and others have done with him though. Guess there will be no D/G in canon seeing as she hexed him to kingdom come. I feel that there is no redeeming him in canon, and that makes me a little sad. So much to work with, but then I suppose the series would be named after Draco then.

I was amazed that JK resolved so much in this book, and that much of what many fanfic authors had wrote about and guessed was quite accurate. I felt that it was something of a joke on us by JKR. Like she's aware of what we discuss, and addressed it in the book. I was absolutely blown away by it!

I wonder if the big deal about Harry having Lily's eyes has to do with his temperment? He certainly doesn't act like James if the Pensieve memory was anything to go by. He seems to act more like Lily. Personally, I wish Snape would get over it, and somehow see that Harry is not James, and stop projecting him onto Harry.

Also, angry Harry was a long time in coming. It was about time, and I thouroughly enjoyed it and sympathized with it. The chapter in Dumbledore's office blew me away.

However, my favorite quote from the book had to be this (when taken in context):
"Ron," said Hermione in a dignified voice, dipping the point of her quill into her ink pot, "you are the most insensitive wart I have ever had the misfortune to meet." (page 458-459)

This was regarding Harry and Cho's kiss. I was rolling on the floor.

[rhysara.livejournal.com]

Actually I took Ginny hexing Draco as a good sign... (they were both in the same scene and directly interacting) clearly we D/G shippers really have to grasp at the little things.

Re:

[alegriagraciela.livejournal.com]

Maybe there is hope yet. I am a D/G shipper as well, and would like to see it work out in canon. *crosses fingers*

[kokopoko.livejournal.com]

There were very many loose ends tied up. Except I thought we'd find out about the significance of Harry's green eyes in this one. And how Harry survived. And what is this great power Harry has?

I want to hear your thoughts behind D/Hr because I didn't see it at all and I am really interested in hearing your opinion on it as I love that pairing.

[angelamermaid.livejournal.com]

Poor, dear Heidi. I thought of you when Draco was being such a little shit, thinking, "Now how is Heidi going to twist this around?" I didn't read all of your fanfic, but I recall that the way you presented the scene in the woods after the Dark Mark appeared at the World Cup, as Draco having entirely different motives for acting like such a shit, was impressive.

And he didn't wear leather pants!

[mmichelle.livejournal.com]

LOVE LOVE LOVE. Depressing? Yes. Disappointing? No way. Am probably just cheerful because, to me, it seems that Harry/Hermione has a better chance than Ron/Hermione for the first time in canon. Jealous!Cho seemed revelant to me. Anyway... will go say all this on my LJ instead of yours.