[suvsr4terrorists]

Whatever.

[Railroader]

Ca$h's (redneck name if I ever heard one) way of saying "I am wrong":

Whatever.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Railroader

The funny part is this thread was created to make fun of Harry Potter fans and you guys derailed it into a discussion about how you guys are fans! The irony. All the more reason to discuss goofy Harry Potter fans!

You might have a point if we were crazy fans who camped out in costumes to get the book. If you cannot appreciate a good book and great storytelling, well....

I ordered from AMazon and had it delivered to my door yesterday afternoon. Like most HP books, I couldn't put it down.








Possible SPOILER:

Ca$h, I agree she left things a bit wide open regarding Book 7. She can really go either way: Csoe Hogwarts and have Book 7 be about the three of them searching out the Horcruxes and looking for Voldemort OR stay with the theme of the other books and keep Hogwarts open and focus on the "endgame". Considering what she did in Book 6, I think anything goes in the final book.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa

You might have a point if we were crazy fans who camped out in costumes to get the book. If you cannot appreciate a good book and great storytelling, well....

I ordered from AMazon and had it delivered to my door yesterday afternoon. Like most HP books, I couldn't put it down.
Possible SPOILER:

Ca$h, I agree she left things a bit wide open regarding Book 7. She can really go either way: Csoe Hogwarts and have Book 7 be about the three of them searching out the Horcruxes and looking for Voldemort OR stay with the theme of the other books and keep Hogwarts open and focus on the "endgame". Considering what she did in Book 6, I think anything goes in the final book.

Sorry, it was already pointed out that this is a thread to make fun of Harry Potter fans. And I'll bet some on here are "crazy fans who camped out in costumes to get the book".

If you want to discuss the contents of the book you really should start your own thread.

BTW: If you want read a good book written for adults, there are a few threads already started on here.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Railroader

Ca$h's (redneck name if I ever heard one) way of saying "I am wrong":

Not really. His point (I believe) is that discussing a great book does not mean one is a "fanatic".

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Railroader

Sorry, it was already pointed out that this is a thread to make fun of Harry Potter fans. And I'll bet some on here are "crazy fans who camped out in costumes to get the book".

If you want to discuss the contents of the book you really should start your own thread.

BTW: If you want read a good book written for adults, there are a few threads already started on here.

If you think this book was not meant for adults you are delusional.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa

If you think this book was not meant for adults you are delusional.

I think she is making a fortune off of adults, and that, is the basis of her writing the book. She, and her publishers, would be extremely happy if everyone bought a copy.

That is what I think.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa

Not really. His point (I believe) is that discussing a great book does not mean one is a "fanatic".

But he didn't really tell us what he believes. So we are left to infer on our own what we think of what he said. And I think he's admitting he was wrong.

[MindFad]

This thread no longer needs pictures. The beauty of MacNN right here.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by MindFad

This thread no longer needs pictures. The beauty of MacNN right here.

Touché.

[suvsr4terrorists]

Originally Posted by Railroader

. And I think he's admitting he was wrong.

Nah, I just think you're a total dick. That's all. The first poster doesn't like harry potter, but he didn't specifically say let's all make fun of harry potter fans. It said the book was coming out. The fact that you want to hijack it to make fun of something you haven't read.. I mean, hey. I know where you're coming from. I used to despise Harry Potter. Then Kristin made me read one. It was decent. It's entertaining, well written, and very creative. Hence, it's an enjoyable read.

[Railroader]

MindFad said it best.

[storer]

This site is full of nerds. Are you surprised?

If you don't enjoy Harry Potter then you're missing out, but it's not like you have the right to critisize everyone else for doing so. Get lives.

[billybob128]

i walked out of the pub at 12 two nights ago to find a massive que outside waterstones, would have picked a copy up only i had more pressing matters - a pizza on order. so i picked it up yesterday and just finished (had work to do as well im not that slower reader) it was fookin ace good twists in it although the end result i predicted at book 3, it was obvious who would survive and that a certain person would die

[andi*pandi]

I'll pick up a copy. Probably should reread the first 5 again.

there's nothing that says that GOOD things written for young adults can't have entertainment for old fogies.

[- - e r i k - -]

Just finished it. Even though I knew the "big twist" (remind me to stop visiting spoilerous humorsites leading up to book 7 ), it was still a good read. Not as heavy and dark as 5 and 6.

*** SPOILERS ***
Some things felt like rushed cop-outs though. Break-up with Ginny at the funeral for instance and the passing mention of destroying the oh-so-handy plot-wrenching time-turners (which almost ruined that particular part of the series).

[suvsr4terrorists]

Yeah, that was kinda lame. Here's what bothers my wife:

Photographs just move, they aren't interactive. But a painting, like the headmasters, are interactive. You can talk to the people in paintings. And since dumbledore is a painting now, can't he just go talk to him? I mean, wouldn't that be almost as good as being alive?

[- - e r i k - -]

He was asleep. He'll talk soon enough. Now how about that butterbeer? Alcoholic or not? Pretty strong case for it being alcoholic.

[m a d r a]

Originally Posted by suvsr4terrorists

We just picked up two copies. And for the record, the last word of the book is "Hermoine".

i hope they fix that misprint in the second edition.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by Demonhood

you ordered it tomorrow? that's impressive.

-t

[suvsr4terrorists]

Originally Posted by m a d r a

i hope they fix that misprint in the second edition.

Ha. Dude, did you know there's a drink named Madras?

[suvsr4terrorists]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Now how about that butterbeer? Alcoholic or not? Pretty strong case for it being alcoholic.

Definitely alcoholic. It's beer. They're in england. They get buzzed. Some people get drunk. I mean, what else do you want?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by nredman

British version?

Bririths versions are about 5th grade level English, US versions 3rd grade.
Or was it the other way round ? Wait

-t

[suvsr4terrorists]

Originally Posted by turtle777

Bririths versions are about 5th grade level English, US versions 3rd grade.

What grade level do you learn how to spell British?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by suvsr4terrorists

What grade level do you learn how to spell British?

17th grade, in Germany

-t

[ender2002]

Originally Posted by suvsr4terrorists

What grade level do you learn how to spell British?

i just had déjà vu

[Paco500]

I don't think he's dead and I think the guy who killed him isn't really a bad guy- that's what I think.

[jasonsRX7]

Originally Posted by Paco500

I don't think he's dead and I think the guy who killed him isn't really a bad guy- that's what I think.

That would be disappointing because by this point you really want the killer to get killed. It would suck to find out he actually was a good guy.

[suvsr4terrorists]

Originally Posted by Paco500

I don't think he's dead and I think the guy who killed him isn't really a bad guy- that's what I think.

I'm in the same line of thinking as you. At the end, he just kept yelling "HARRY! NO!" and he wouldn't ever fight Harry back. Almost as if he didn't want to kill Harry, almost as if he was supposed to do what he did, and report back. I think it might be a big plot twist, in the next book.

[andi*pandi]

agh. this forum needs proper spoiler tags. I'll check back after I've read it.

[- - e r i k - -]

Speculation: Agreed that he's not really a bad guy. He was just forced up in a corner.

[jasonsRX7]

You're all probably right about him being a good guy. But they've made you hate him so much up to this point that they're really going to have to turn him around if they don't get revenge on him.

[JustAnOl'Broad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

there's nothing that says that GOOD things written for young adults can't have entertainment for old fogies.

Word.

[JHromadka]

Today I saw on a road a car that had written out various Potter-sayings. The funniest part was seeing the US Navy logo on the same vehicle, and all the stuffed animals on the dashboard. Felt sorry for the guy driving it.

[suvsr4terrorists]

Also, one other thing. Hagrid mentioned hearing Snape and Dumbledore arguing over something, and Snape was being disagreeable because DD was asking too much.

[DeathToWindows]

Read it. Meh.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by Railroader

Sorry guys. I gotta go with the Cap. on this one. But you're right, they probably aren't 5th grade reading level. He was being generous.

Not great company to put yourself in with. Birds of a feather and all that.

The books are much more sophisticated than "5th grade level" or what not. They appeal to readers of many different ages, and there's certainly nothing dumbed down about either the vocab or Rowling's story-telling ability (for those who equate success with cash, she is estimated to be worth $800 million and climbing).

But I don't read them for the vocab lessons. Rowling does a few things very well: she is good at integrating the mundane world with a magical one, and thus has reinvented a time-honored escapist trope, the alternate reality is more interesting than this one. That's the definition of escapism, what most of my friends hope to see at a blockbuster movie in the summer but find instead something less.

She also is good with characters, fleshing them out, growing them through the books. It's interesting to see how they develop. When Harry is a real drag in Book 5 he actually reminds me of some of y'all (that is, a really big, annoying know-it-all).

If there's one thing Rowling could use, though, it's more editing. I feel like her books could be tighter. I imagine after Goblet of Fire she was so successful editors won't stand up to her anymore; after all, who wants to kill the golden goose? or hen, I guess. The movies, as reinterpretations of the books, sometimes improve on them in small part, but generally they suffer from the same thing Rowling has to get out in book: the relevant plot points. Book 6 is really a lot of plot work to set the table for book 7, so in a way it had elements of being a chore.

[wdlove]

My wife's Harry Potter book from England just arrived vis DHL this morning.

[Timo]

Originally Posted by suvsr4terrorists

Yeah, that was kinda lame. Here's what bothers my wife:

Photographs just move, they aren't interactive. But a painting, like the headmasters, are interactive. You can talk to the people in paintings. And since dumbledore is a painting now, can't he just go talk to him? I mean, wouldn't that be almost as good as being alive?

I'll bet she uses this idea in Book 7. But of course the painting-DD will not be the real DD, will have limitations, etc., that Rowling will explain to us.

[Y3a]

So HOW MUCH MONEY does J.K. Rowling have now?? Sounds like those who are unable to write a sucessful book poking fun at the one who did, and the characters too. Maybe a form of sour grapes?

Since some of you guys are SOOOOOO Smart, lets see YOU write a series of books with original characters and all.

[m a d r a]

Originally Posted by Y3a

... Since some of you guys are SOOOOOO Smart, lets see YOU write a series of books with original characters and all....

best.reply.evarrr!

from the same school that says you haven't earned the right to criticise macOSX unless you can write an operating system yourself or [by extension] can't criticise the pilot who flies you into the side of a mountain on your next holiday, unless you've got a pilot's licence yourself... can't criticise the surgeon who let your wife/husband/child bleed to death on the operating table, unless you've been to medical school yourself.... can't shout abuse at the telly during a football game, unless you're a professional footballer yourself.... etc. etc.

[Doofy]

I haven't personally got into Harry Potter. Waited until the film came on the TV, watched 20 minutes of it before deciding it was crap and it'd be better to go down the pub and score some honey.

However... The mechanisms behind why it got so popular interest me. It's nowt new - here's a breakdown of the same thing from 1939:

http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/wo...sweeklies.html

[suvsr4terrorists]

Meh. I say it's an okay response to use if the dumbass complaining hasn't read the books.

[m a d r a]

Originally Posted by suvsr4terrorists

Meh. I say it's an okay response to use if the dumbass complaining hasn't read the books.

...or is criticising vehicles they don't drive themselves?

it's just generally a weak comeback. if no-one's allowed to have an opinion on anything they're not professionally qualified to pontificate upon, then the lounge is gonna get pretty empty before long.

[hmm... maybe it's not such a bad idea after all]

[Y3a]

<< from the same school that says you haven't earned the right to criticise macOSX unless you can write an operating system yourself or [by extension] can't criticise the pilot who flies you into the side of a mountain on your next holiday, unless you've got a pilot's licence yourself... can't criticise the surgeon who let your wife/husband/child bleed to death on the operating table, unless you've been to medical school yourself.... can't shout abuse at the telly during a football game, unless you're a professional footballer yourself.... etc. etc. >>

YEP!! in reply to those who aren't fans, don't actually posess facts but DO express opinions AS IF THEY WERE. It would be different if they COMPLETED a book or three. Reading a few pages and getting bored sounds like what I hear from the "addicted to video games" crowd.

<< if no-one's allowed to have an opinion on anything they're not professionally qualified to pontificate upon, then the lounge is gonna get pretty empty before long. >>

TRUE! But having absolutly NO qualifications seems to be the rule.

I only write Model railroad "How-to" articles, so I understand some of the difficulties of expanding an idea to several hundred pages. Rowling doesn't even use lots of photos, allowing you to visualize it in your head.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Speculation: Agreed that he's not really a bad guy. He was just forced up in a corner.

Yes I agree, Just finished it last night, I suspect Snape had already agreed with DDore to do the deed (in front of the deatheaters), so he could keep up the pretense with Voldemort (and if Snape had not done it he would be dead because of the promise). After all HP is the one who has to Kill Voldemort in the next book, I think Snape is needed by HP to do this more than DDore ever was.

[Millennium]

Picked it up Monday afternoon and made the mistake of reading the first couple pages. The book kindly regurgitated my soul around 3AM Tuesday morning.

SPOILERS. You have been warned.

The new relationships seem to have dropped out of the sky, and this worries me. It reads like Rowling did them just to piss off the slash fans. Not that I'm a slash fan, mind you -HP-slash particularly squicks me, what with so much of the cast being underage- but forming relationships out of the blue just to prove characters' sexual identities is bad storytelling. We'd had no indication at all of anything between Lupin and Tonks before this, and the gratuitous changing Patronus was just plain awful. As for Harry himself, although Ginny's long had a crush on him we've never seen any kind of development the other way around; he just suddenly likes her one day and that's that. Breaking up at the funeral was also a huge cop-out which smacked of "do as little damage to the plotline as possible, given the add-in".

I also worry about Book 7. I don't think Hogwarts is going to close, and in any case leaving it is so out of character for Hermione that I'd expect it from a third-rate fanfic writer before Rowling herself. I get the distinct feeling that the last book will be yet another tale of an epic search search for the Seven Sacred Rainbow Crystals to save Magical Muumuu Land from the Evil Marmoset King.

I don't want to leave you with entirely bad vibes, though, so here's a little plot speculation: Harry himself will turn out to be the last Horcrux. He survived an Avada Kedavra as a baby because it wasn't an Avada Kedavra; it was a Horcruxifying spell which would ensure that Harry couldn't kill Voldemort without killing himself. Lily didn't have to die because Voldemort had just mordered James, which should have been enough to power the spell. Harry, of course, couldn't know the difference, since he was just a baby at the time, and there are no other living witnesses. No one knows why Harry lived because no one knew about Horcruxes; examiners saw the effects of some magic that had to do with the soul and assumed it was an Avada Kedavra which had "somehow" been messed up by whatever caused Harry to survive. I don't know whether Voldemort knew that this would knock him out of commission or not -perhaps a soul can only be split into seven parts, so to make a seventh Horcrux he had to give up his body?- but since his soul would have to have been retreived from one of the others in order for Wormtail to revive him, this is not an insurmountable obstacle; the total would have been brought back down to six (and actually less, since the diary was already destroyed).

Anyway, despite all my grousing about the gratuitous slash-busting, I actually did like the book. Book 4 is still my favorite, but none of them has eaten my soul as fast as Book 6 did, and it's probably the best-written of the bunch.

[IonCable]

The relationships did drop out of no-where in a sense. The Ron/Hermy relationship has been brewing for awhile. The Harry/Ginny was very slight, however that's how young love works. One day, bamm. I have a number of much younger sister-in-laws and have watch these young relationships for happen. They don't normally last, but they happen.

My only hope is that JKR doesn't kill off Harry in the end. I personally dislike stories that kill off the main characters after you have followed them through the adventures. Especially in a case of 7 books. Killing off the main character to me a weak way to end a tale, it's right up there with "and he woke up from the dream."

Tragedies are best left to Shakespeare.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by IonCable

My only hope is that JKR doesn't kill off Harry in the end.

I don't know whether or not she will. It's possible that a large part of the book will focus on figuring out how to de-Horcrux Harry without killing him. That said, it's entirely possible that she'll kill him off. Rowling has already said that she'll write more books in that universe after Book 7, but that Harry won't be the focus of these. Whether they'll be prequels (Lily's story? The history of the wizarding world? Something else entirely?) or sequels of some kind is anyone's guess.

I personally dislike stories that kill off the main characters after you have followed them through the adventures. Especially in a case of 7 books. Killing off the main character to me a weak way to end a tale, it's right up there with "and he woke up from the dream."

That depends. The best way to end a story is to actually end the story, and death is certainly one kind of ending. However, it's fairly rare that a character's death -even when that character is the protagonist- actually ends the story at the same time; if nothing else there is always some kind of aftermath that needs to be dealt with. Other characters mourn (or celebrate), the character's absence is felt in everything he touched, and eventually that absence must be dealt with one way or another. The real trick is to know how to present that aftermath. Not many people do protagonist deaths well nowadays, though; they try and make it all disturbing by ending the story right with the death, when usually the end of that character's life isn't really the end of the story.

A friend of mine is actually working on a pair of novels where she plans to kill off the main character at the end of the first book. She sees the main character of the second as 'the palpable absence of the protagonist', as his death inspires the others to do things they would not have done otherwise. To be honest, I was half-expecting Rowling to do something like this with Book 6, have Harry go down at the end, and then dedicate Book 7 to picking up the pieces.

Tragedies are best left to Shakespeare.

That depends. How are you defining tragedy?

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Millennium

I don't want to leave you with entirely bad vibes, though, so here's a little plot speculation: Harry himself will turn out to be the last Horcrux. He survived an Avada Kedavra as a baby because it wasn't an Avada Kedavra; it was a Horcruxifying spell which would ensure that Harry couldn't kill Voldemort without killing himself. Lily didn't have to die because Voldemort had just mordered James, which should have been enough to power the spell. Harry, of course, couldn't know the difference, since he was just a baby at the time, and there are no other living witnesses. No one knows why Harry lived because no one knew about Horcruxes; examiners saw the effects of some magic that had to do with the soul and assumed it was an Avada Kedavra which had "somehow" been messed up by whatever caused Harry to survive. I don't know whether Voldemort knew that this would knock him out of commission or not -perhaps a soul can only be split into seven parts, so to make a seventh Horcrux he had to give up his body?- but since his soul would have to have been retreived from one of the others in order for Wormtail to revive him, this is not an insurmountable obstacle; the total would have been brought back down to six (and actually less, since the diary was already destroyed).

I disagree—if Voldemort had been Horcrucifying (as I suspect the verb would be, theoretically) Harry, not trying to kill him, it wouldn't have passed over his Parseltongue abilities, and (more importantly), it wouldn't have given him a reason to spend so much time trying to kill Harry, which we know for a fact that he has (in the duel, end of book 4, for instance, where he actually points an Avada Kedavra at Harry).

It was a great idea, but I don't think it will turn out to be true.