Chris Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 It was weird reading it because every plot line I had guessed after the end of the last book was there in this one. I didn't know whether to be smug or slightly freaked.I enjoyed it, I initially thought the ending seemed like a cop out, a "best of both worlds" scenario, but I soon got over that and saluted it for the fine finale to a fine series of books.One thing which angered me intensely however.The queue outside Waterstones was full of young kids, many of them dressed up in cute fancy dress.For them to have to endure the abuse thrown at the crowds by drunken idiots (I won't say neds cos there were plenty folk who would not have looked out of place on the Moshulu dancefloor also engaged) was disgusting and made me feel on several occasions like committing a violent offence.I am more than a little certain that some kids were probably very upset by it, and I hope whoever those people were feel big and proud of themselves.The wisdom of having a midnight launch on a Friday night, for a book read by lots of children, always seemed a bit dodgy to me. Surely they could have changed it to a midweek launch or something, instead of having lines of children standing around city centres getting abuse from pissed up louts.Aside from that I have no interest in Harry Potter whatsoever. The books and the films haven't appealled to me at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 Have you read the books Stripey? Or do you consider reading beneath you?Dave hit the nail on the head, ok so when it started out with the Philosopher's Stone it was aimed for children, but unless you're blind/stupid/have never seen the news you'll have noticed that millions of people enjoy them, that says something. The books have brought many kids back to reading, which can certainly not be a bad thing. Try reading them, it might bring a bit of joy into your otherwise miserable existence.I certainly consider reading childrens literature beneath me, I grew out of reading fantasy stories in my early teens. I've just finished re-reading Sartres Nausea and Will Selfs Grey Area, you know, books for grown ups that don't have pictures or massively kerned large type that makes the book look twice as long and leaves room for kids fat fingers to trace the text as they read it one syllable at a time.Just because "millions of people enjoy" the books says nothing about their literary worth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Gold Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 then that person is really wasting their time.Doesn't that belittle people who get enjoyment from reading into rich texts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Gold Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 Haha, I understand that. The communist manifesto is still sitting in my book case somewhere, boring itself to death... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 If they genuinely enjoy it, then great, but if they're just doing it because they want to look cool and intellectually superior to everyone else, then they are wasting their time because they're making their life miserable for themselves and everyone else.I did it myself, when I was sixteen or so. Hahaha oh wow, how sad, you sound quite bitter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachie Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 Rounded off the series astonishingly well, I was gearing myself up for disappointment because when a series is ending it often never ends the way you hope it will, but this wasn't the case here. Found the whole exploration into Dumbledore's past really interesting, especially getting to see he had a dark side and wasn't always a benevolent goody goody. Plus the revelations about Snape near the end was something I wasn't expecting, and I thought an excellent twist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 i prefer brian potter to harry potter any day of the week.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 I'd hardly put it down as a book for "little kiddies". Have you read any of them? I'd imagine if you had you wouldn't be pigeon-holing the series like that.Kind of half taking the piss.I just don't understand why folks would stand out in the pishing rain to buy a lightweight book. I read the first one - after all the hype - and thought it was "awright", entertaining, but hardly worth the fuss.The movies and the mechandising have left me feeling like the whole thing is opium for the masses. Very franchised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 Kind of half taking the piss.I just don't understand why folks would stand out in the pishing rain to buy a lightweight book. I read the first one - after all the hype - and thought it was "awright", entertaining, but hardly worth the fuss.The movies and the mechandising have left me feeling like the whole thing is opium for the masses. Very franchised.i really cant understand this camping out for days lark - it was in sainsbury's in garthdee at lunchtime saturday for less than a tenner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachie Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 Have to say the whole buying the book at midnight, really not for me. I was quite happy to have it delivered from amazon at a reasonable hour the following morning. Still only set me back about 9, including delivery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted July 22, 2007 Report Share Posted July 22, 2007 I just got my copy from Waterstones the next day. Mind you, I had pre-paid for it about a month in advance.....I think this is probably my favourite HP book. Definitely ties with Prisoner of Azkaban at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metarie Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 If they genuinely enjoy it, then great, but if they're just doing it because they want to look cool and intellectually superior to everyone else, then they are wasting their time because they're making their life miserable for themselves and everyone else.I did it myself, when I was sixteen or so. I thought the best way to impress people was to namecheck authors no-one else had heard of and trudge through the most dreary tomes by authors so convinced of their intellectual prowess that they feel themselves above such petty considerations such as plot, characterisation and structure. Guess what...I was wrong.People were still doing that in my class at Uni. Utterly pathetic. Reading is supposed to be pleasurable, like all activities. I liked the last book, I saw it all coming, especially the stuff about Snape. I got slightly misty eyed about certain deaths and got pleasently wrapped up in it for a couple of days. Although I wasn't convinced by the Dumbledore stuff *at all*, it just wasn't convincing, there wasn't enough detail to make me believe that he had amurky past.Only major complaint is that Rowling relies too heavily on her readers remembering minute details from previous books, not everyone who reads them is a total HP geek and it's fucking annoying to have her name check a character from 3 books back and not to have a clue why he's important.And the price was ridiculous. I got it for 4.99 in Morrisons, which is obscene. Why make a book for kids the best part of 20 only to sell it for a quarter of the price? Just bring it out in paperback and save Bloomsbury the bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 So which other kids books do you people read? Or is it just this one series which happens to have a massive marketing campaign behind it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diesel Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 So which other kids books do you people read? Or is it just this one series which happens to have a massive marketing campaign behind it?I guess the pre-blockbuster and far superior Narnia Chronicles would be an adult favourite. They'll be up the CGI shitter now that the multiplexes have come calling."His Dark Materials" trilogy is excellent and another book worth mentioning is "A Wrinkle In Time".Contrary to what my earlier posts might suggest, I don't think there's anything wrong with adults reading literature aimed at children (how else can good books be recommended to kids), but what gives me the shivers is how the public are whipped up into an irrational (and expensive) frenzy over the release of a very ordinary book/movie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester1470 Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 So which other kids books do you people read? Or is it just this one series which happens to have a massive marketing campaign behind it?Well to be fair the book originally became big due to word of mouth, it wasnt until the 4th book that they hype and the marketing campaign came in, by that time IIRC each book had sold 9,000,000 copies which made it amongst the top selling childrens books of all time. It was interesting to see it take hold from a publishing point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 His Dark Materials trilogy is fantastic. Recommended by my girlfriend. Read the Chronicles of Narnia when i was younger..and besides Harry Potter those are the only kids books i can profess to read as an adult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kan' Sharuminar Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Roald Dahl and Winnie the Pooh stories I read every so often. Like HP, they provide a nice escapism from all the books on war I read Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gall_4185 Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Two ways to summarise this book for me would be "Underwhelming" and "Deus Ex Machina". It just came across as rushed and contrived in places Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metarie Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Exactly Phil, it's escapism. Stripey and Gall_4185, you're so damned joyless! For one thing, don't criticize a book if you've not read it, or more to the point, if you hate the series so much don't come on a thread you know is going to contain stuff that aggravates you.And Kris, I say again: it's a kids book. It has to be contrived, the age this was aimed at aren't really ready for post modern ironies or insanely complex plot twists. If you're going to read a book aimed primarily at the 11-16 age group then of course it will seem contrived to you (especially YOU ) because we're older, more cynical and harder to please.Plus, of course, it's not cool to like anything really popular. And that's what this boils down to, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Banacek Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 So which other kids books do you people read? Or is it just this one series which happens to have a massive marketing campaign behind it?*yawn*I read books from a variety of genres, just because you feel it worthwhile to demean and belittle books because of their main target audience doesn't make my choices any less valid.I enjoy the works of Roald Dahl, Philip Pullman, and my friend and I still enjoy having a laugh with the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books we used to play when we were younger.Also, having been blessed with a wonderful little nephew, I am enjoying greatly books designed for babies. Some of them are awesome.However, I also just finished reading a biography of Silvio Berlusconi, and have a number of "heavy literature" novels and serious non-fiction books in my collection.I read what I like and I like what I read, and no pseudo-intellectual, holier than thou literary snob is going to make me feel any less intelligent for doing so.Why don't you piss off and join the self opinionated wanks who talk psycho-babble in the guise of informed opinion on Newsnight Review? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gall_4185 Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Exactly Phil, it's escapism. Stripey and Gall_4185, you're so damned joyless! For one thing, don't criticize a book if you've not read it, or more to the point, if you hate the series so much don't come on a thread you know is going to contain stuff that aggravates you.And Kris, I say again: it's a kids book. It has to be contrived, the age this was aimed at aren't really ready for post modern ironies or insanely complex plot twists. If you're going to read a book aimed primarily at the 11-16 age group then of course it will seem contrived to you (especially YOU ) because we're older, more cynical and harder to please.Plus, of course, it's not cool to like anything really popular. And that's what this boils down to, isn't it?Fairy nuff Kate,but while I am a cynical bastard,I'm also a big kid at heart. I guess I just hoped for more from it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 I liked it, but as it has been said, Rowling seemed fixated with constantly referring back to previous books. Okay for me though, 'cos being a nerd with too much time on my hands, I read the fifth and sixth a few days before the final one came out. Anyhoo, I wasn't too bothered with how this book ended up, I just wanted it to get out there for Snape's goodness to be seen by all (continuing with the nerd theme, obviously) as he's always been my favourite, so I'd always stuck to my guns that he was a good guy. The best chapter for me was definitely The Prince's Tale as it told things which I'd been guessing for a while. All in all, a nice wee read though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kan' Sharuminar Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 Anyhoo, I wasn't too bothered with how this book ended up, I just wanted it to get out there for Snape's goodness to be seen by all (continuing with the nerd theme, obviously) as he's always been my favourite, so I'd always stuck to my guns that he was a good guy. The best chapter for me was definitely The Prince's Tale as it told things which I'd been guessing for a while. Quite agree, favourite chapter of the book. Though it would have been nice if Snape had a few more scenes, and he didn't exactly have the most spectacular of endings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirsten Posted July 23, 2007 Report Share Posted July 23, 2007 I know... it'll be nice to see Rickman play out his memories in the final film though. God, I love Rickman... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaTsunami Posted July 24, 2007 Report Share Posted July 24, 2007 The Prince's Tale was a brilliant chapter I just want to see the bit where Mrs Weasley comes roaring into the hall cursing at Bellatrix. Now THAT'LL be entertainment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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