Today is the conclusion of the reviews of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, with the review of the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The 768 page book was later the basis for two separate movies, one that was released a few weeks ago, while the second movie is to be released in July, 2011. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry, along with his friends Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, decide to forgo their seventh year of Hogwarts in order to look for Horcruxes which contain parts of Lord Voldemort's soul and destroy them before Voldemort can finally succeed in his mission to kill Harry Potter and become the most powerful wizard on the planet. Meanwhile, Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, seem to have the world by it's tail, leaving behind a trail of fear and despair as they take over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts itself. Along the way, Harry, Ron, and Hermoine learn of three sacred objects that together are called the Deathly Hallows. Eventually, Harry and Voldemort have their faceoff, and everybody dies except for Seamus Finnegan and Professor Sprout. Well, not really. A few thoughts about this book, and yes there are SPOILERS, so you have been warned.
- You know, for a book series that was originally meant for kids, a lot of characters die in this book. Even from the beginning, many characters that have become well known in the series are bumped off rather unceremoniously. Actually, the whole book takes a more mature turn, as in this book there are characters cursing and numerous kidnappings and all sorts of stuff like that. I didn't have a problem with this too much, especially when you consider that the readers who grew up with the series were more mature by the release of Deathly Hallows and could accept this change in tone, but still, it is somewhat jarring to see how this story evolved from its beginnings.
- Since Harry and his cohorts are away from Hogwarts for most of the year, and out on their own, the story narrows its focus dramatically. Also, since there are a lot of times where the three are just out in the woods waiting for their next move, there's a lot of down time in this book where nothing happens other than some bickering among the three of them or they take forever to argue about their next move before finally coming to a decision. One of the things I liked most about this series was the wide array of characters that would either be introduced or greatly evolve throughout the series, but in the Deathly Hallows, there are very few characters being introduced, and we really only learn more about Dumbledore and Snape. Oh, and I guess the goblins. Everybody else either makes a token appearance or two or changes for the worse (i.e. Lupin). Except for Neville, as he finally stepped out of Harry's shadow to become a key part of the story, even though his role was rather short.
- After reading the seven Harry Potter books, I must say that I'm not impressed with Ron Weasley's performance. Or Ron in general, to be honest. Actually, he wasn't so bad in the first three books, but starting with the Goblet of Fire, Ron just gets more and more annoying. In this book, Ron really turns it up a notch, as he spends a lot of the book pining over Hermoine to the point where he becomes a lovesick mess who lost whatever charm he had possessed throughout the series. What really ticked me off is when he decided to leave his two friends, the only people who had put up with his constant bursts of immaturity and insensitivity, to fend for themselves. One, it really seemed kind of forced, as someone with the perpetrated bravery of Ron wouldn't just cut and run like that, and two, I understand that he was under some sort of negative force due to the locket, which of course raises the issue of why the three decided it would be a good idea to wear a cursed object like that around their necks in the first place. I guess at the end of the day I just have a hard time finding what it is Ron brings to the table. He's not particularly smart and tends to turn his back on his friends without warning. Harry's the chosen one, Hermoine supplies the ideas and logic, so what does Ron do, keep the drinks on ice?
- It was once observed by Professor Snape that "[Harry Potter] has fought his way out of a number of tight corners by a simple combination of sheer luck and more talented friends." Well, after the events of the Deathly Hallows, it's kind of hard to disagree with Snape about Potter's remarkable luck. Heck, he escapes time and time again from certain doom through an improbable series of events, and is only able to complete his task of destroying Horcruxes with the assistance of Neville and others. Then again, this is not anything new, as Harry once pulled a giant sword out of a hat and also was able to go back in time to save, well, himself. But in those other books, at least Harry had to show off some semblance of skill to accomplish his goal. In the Deathly Hallows, it seems like Harry became way too reliant on luck and other people's mistakes more than any skills he possessed, or maybe it's just me.
- Voldemort may be an all-powerful wizard and all, but he needs a new team of accomplices, as the Death Eaters usually suck. Even when they accomplish something, they usually screw things up so badly that things are worse than they were before. Yes, Bellatrix may be some sort of dark arts genius and the rest of the Death Eaters are fearful in their own way, but they seem to be so interested in serving Voldemort that all logic escapes their brains, so they do stupid things like leaving a bunch of wizards unattended in a prison cell. Actually, Voldemort seems to have a few brain farts himself throughout the book, as his arrogance seems to work against him in many ways throughout the series. I wonder if Voldemort is really that good, or the rest of the wizardy world (the ministry, Dumbledore, etc.) is really just not very good at their tasks.
Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows had a few problems. There were a few plotholes, some things went unacknowledged or under acknowledged, and there's a lot of time in this book where nothing happens. However, as a whole. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows isn't too bad of a book, although not quite up to the level of the first four books. Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a 6.43 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Showing posts with label Seamus Finnigan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Seamus Finnigan. Show all posts
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Canon Book Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Continuing on with the reviews of each book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, today I review the sixth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. At 652 pages, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince isn't as long as the previous two books, but it's lengthy enough to cover what needs to be covered. In this book, Harry is back for his sixth year at Hogwarts, along with Ron and Hermoine and Seamus and all his Hogwarts friends. More personnel changes take place, as Hogwarts has a new potions teacher in Horace Slughorn, who replaces Severus Snape. But don't fret about Snape, as he finally realizes his lifelong dream of becoming the new defense against the dark arts teacher. But not all is well as Hogwarts, as Harry's arch rival Voldemort and his Death Eaters have risen to power, causing chaos in their wake, and Harry, along with Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore, spend much of the year preparing for the eventual showdown with Voldemort which, as has been prophesied, will leave one of the two dead. A few notes about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and I'm going to try to not spoil too much in the story, but there are due to be some SPOILERS, so be careful.
- In the last book, I felt that Harry and others, including Hermoine, had become a bunch of self-important cranks. Well, a year seems to have made a difference with Harry, as although he still has a few moments of immaturity, he seems a lot more focused and less likely to snap at everybody in sight this time around. However, it seems as if Ron and Hermoine once again spend most of the book angry at each other about all sorts of things. Then Ron gets a girlfriend, which makes things much much worse, and Hermoine's various dates with others doesn't help matters, so basically you have Harry's two best friends feuding with each other for half of the book, which is probably not the thing Harry needs to deal with, what with his upcoming battle with the most powerful dark wizard of all time and all. Harry is not spared by Hermoine's wrath either, as Harry uses an old potions book written in by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince to become the top student in potions class, much to Hermoine's chagrin. Although, I must say, I do kind of see her point, as Harry just happened to find the right book while Hermoine does all her work the old-fashioned way.
- In the previous years at Hogwarts, a certain pattern developed. Something traumatic happens, Harry gets involved, and everybody starts to pile on Harry. Well, not this time, as the events of the previous book have made Harry a modern day folk hero. The same newspapers that sought to destroy his reputation now call him 'the chosen one', the same Ministry of Magic that tried to get Harry expelled now ask for his help, the same group of students that once mocked and ridiculed Harry now treat him as if he's up on a pedestal (well, except for the Slytherins). To Harry's credit, he doesn't rub it in everybody's faces by telling them 'I told you so' or some other nonsense, although he also is rather skeptical of his newfound acceptance, and wants little or nothing to do with the same people that nearly destroyed him in the last book.
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it seems as if half the book is spent with Harry and Dumbledore learning about Voldemort's past through memories stored in Dumbledore's pensive. That's all well and good, as it gives both Voldemort and Dumbledore's characters more depth, the scenes also make the rest of the book's events seems boring in comparison. It's as if the Voldemort-Dumblerdore chapters are the ones that end up being of importance, while most of everything else that happens in the book (excluding Harry's scene with Slughorn at Hagrid's, and the ending sequence) kind of filler. Even when Ron Weasley, one of the main characters in the book, was in grave danger after being poisoned, it didn't seem to have the same impact as it should have, because the telling of the story gave more weight to Dumbledore's time with Harry than anything else, if that makes any sense.
- There aren't too many new characters introduced in this book. Yes, Slughorn is new, and plays a big role in the story after all. Slughorn isn't a particularly bad guy, however, he tends to favor those students who he feels would exceed in the future, and therefore, Slughorn can leech off of their fame in the future. It'd probably be mildly annoying for those that weren't the chosen few of Slughorn, I would imagine. Heck, I've had a couple of teachers like that before, and it's not too fun being on the other side of that equation. We also get acquainted with Voldemort's family, and considering what type of people they are, it's not hard to see how Voldemort could become so evil with people such as that being his blood.
- Once again, Draco Malfoy is back as Harry's foil at Hogwarts. But this time, Draco seems to have taken a turn. Not only is he more competent in his battles with Potter, breaking his nose at one point, but his smug self-nature seems to have been deflated some, as his pop's in prison and Voldemort has given Draco a seemingly impossible task. Somehow, even though it takes him all year, Draco puts together a plan that leads to this task being done, although you'll have to read the book to see what it is.
Overall, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is better than the previous book, but still falls slightly short of the previous four books in the saga. Other than the demise of a major character at the end, it seems as if the sole purpose of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is to build up to the final book in the series, where everything will come to a head. Even the title plot with the Half Blood Prince gets lost in the shuffle, and the revelation of said Prince doesn't have as much impact as other events towards the end do. Also, characters such as Neville and Hagrid kind of get shuffled to the background, as the book mainly focuses on Harry and Dumbledore. Still, it's not a terrible book by any stretch of the imagination, and it does build up a lot of suspense to the conclusion. Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a 6.5 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading. Remember, if you have any ideas for future reviews, or comments about this or previous reviews, then send them to me either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or by leaving a comment on the blog.
- In the last book, I felt that Harry and others, including Hermoine, had become a bunch of self-important cranks. Well, a year seems to have made a difference with Harry, as although he still has a few moments of immaturity, he seems a lot more focused and less likely to snap at everybody in sight this time around. However, it seems as if Ron and Hermoine once again spend most of the book angry at each other about all sorts of things. Then Ron gets a girlfriend, which makes things much much worse, and Hermoine's various dates with others doesn't help matters, so basically you have Harry's two best friends feuding with each other for half of the book, which is probably not the thing Harry needs to deal with, what with his upcoming battle with the most powerful dark wizard of all time and all. Harry is not spared by Hermoine's wrath either, as Harry uses an old potions book written in by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince to become the top student in potions class, much to Hermoine's chagrin. Although, I must say, I do kind of see her point, as Harry just happened to find the right book while Hermoine does all her work the old-fashioned way.
- In the previous years at Hogwarts, a certain pattern developed. Something traumatic happens, Harry gets involved, and everybody starts to pile on Harry. Well, not this time, as the events of the previous book have made Harry a modern day folk hero. The same newspapers that sought to destroy his reputation now call him 'the chosen one', the same Ministry of Magic that tried to get Harry expelled now ask for his help, the same group of students that once mocked and ridiculed Harry now treat him as if he's up on a pedestal (well, except for the Slytherins). To Harry's credit, he doesn't rub it in everybody's faces by telling them 'I told you so' or some other nonsense, although he also is rather skeptical of his newfound acceptance, and wants little or nothing to do with the same people that nearly destroyed him in the last book.
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it seems as if half the book is spent with Harry and Dumbledore learning about Voldemort's past through memories stored in Dumbledore's pensive. That's all well and good, as it gives both Voldemort and Dumbledore's characters more depth, the scenes also make the rest of the book's events seems boring in comparison. It's as if the Voldemort-Dumblerdore chapters are the ones that end up being of importance, while most of everything else that happens in the book (excluding Harry's scene with Slughorn at Hagrid's, and the ending sequence) kind of filler. Even when Ron Weasley, one of the main characters in the book, was in grave danger after being poisoned, it didn't seem to have the same impact as it should have, because the telling of the story gave more weight to Dumbledore's time with Harry than anything else, if that makes any sense.
- There aren't too many new characters introduced in this book. Yes, Slughorn is new, and plays a big role in the story after all. Slughorn isn't a particularly bad guy, however, he tends to favor those students who he feels would exceed in the future, and therefore, Slughorn can leech off of their fame in the future. It'd probably be mildly annoying for those that weren't the chosen few of Slughorn, I would imagine. Heck, I've had a couple of teachers like that before, and it's not too fun being on the other side of that equation. We also get acquainted with Voldemort's family, and considering what type of people they are, it's not hard to see how Voldemort could become so evil with people such as that being his blood.
- Once again, Draco Malfoy is back as Harry's foil at Hogwarts. But this time, Draco seems to have taken a turn. Not only is he more competent in his battles with Potter, breaking his nose at one point, but his smug self-nature seems to have been deflated some, as his pop's in prison and Voldemort has given Draco a seemingly impossible task. Somehow, even though it takes him all year, Draco puts together a plan that leads to this task being done, although you'll have to read the book to see what it is.
Overall, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is better than the previous book, but still falls slightly short of the previous four books in the saga. Other than the demise of a major character at the end, it seems as if the sole purpose of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is to build up to the final book in the series, where everything will come to a head. Even the title plot with the Half Blood Prince gets lost in the shuffle, and the revelation of said Prince doesn't have as much impact as other events towards the end do. Also, characters such as Neville and Hagrid kind of get shuffled to the background, as the book mainly focuses on Harry and Dumbledore. Still, it's not a terrible book by any stretch of the imagination, and it does build up a lot of suspense to the conclusion. Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a 6.5 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading. Remember, if you have any ideas for future reviews, or comments about this or previous reviews, then send them to me either by e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com or by leaving a comment on the blog.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Canon Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Canon Review's series of reviews on the Harry Potter series continues with the fifth book in the saga, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The book is once again written by J.K. Rowling and is the biggest in the series at a massive 870 pages. It's Harry and the gang's fifth year at the wizardry school Hogwarts, and things have never been worse for Potter. Not only is his nemesis Lord Voldemort back in power, Harry also has to endure a smear campaign spearheaded by the Ministry of Magic, who denies that Voldemort is back in power. To make matters worse for Harry, a new teacher comes to Hogwarts whose sole purpose seems to be to punish Harry Potter, and Potter finds himself more and more alone, as Hagrid and Dumbeldore have bigger problems on their hands. He even gets into a feud with Seamus Finnegan, which ticked me off because Harry was slightly in the wrong there. But enough about that, here are a few notes from the book, and yes there are SPOILERS, so be careful.
- After witnessing the revival of his arch-rival Voldemort, the death of one of his fellow students, and not only enduring a smear campaign but also a plot to have him expelled from Hogwarts from the Ministry of Magic, well it's safe to say that Harry Potter is just a bit angry in this book. Naturally, he does what most people do in situations like these and takes out his frustration on those unfortunate enough to be close to him. It seems like half the book is spent on Harry yelling at whoever he happened to be talking to at the moment, whether they deserved it or not. The other half of the book is usually Harry either wallowing in self-pity or making the dumbest decision possible at every turn. While this may be the way that most teenagers would act in this situation, it does make Harry a lot less sympathetic in this book than in any of the previous titles.
- Then again, Harry's not the only person that has seemingly taken a turn for the worse. His two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, seem to not be able to go more than five minutes without bickering at each other about even the smallest little thing. Granger in particular becomes more and more annoying, as she seemingly can't wait for any opportunity to boss her friends around. Even some of the adults of Hogwarts change for the worse, as head master Dumbledore seems to make a concentrated effort to have as little contact with Harry as possible (although it is later revealed that he had a good reason for this behavior), Snape becomes more and more hateful of Harry (although Harry certainly did not help himself in that matter), while Hagrid crosses the line between being a bit reckless and irresponsible to becoming a downright health risk for his friends to be around. At least Neville Longbottom actually changes for the better in this book, as he shows signs of being more than just a clumsy wizard, but rather a quite capable wizard, at least in a few subjects.
- Since there's another year at Hogwarts, there is also a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. This time it's a particularly nasty woman from the Ministry of Magic named Delores Umbridge. Umbridge doesn't seem to be too interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts, rather, her main goal is to gain enough power to take over Hogwarts. Umbridge also has a secondary role, to make Harry Potter's life a living hell. Umbridge is very successful in her goal of tormenting Potter, to the point where it gets tiresome. After a while, you can start predicting just when Umbridge comes in to foil whatever plan Harry and his friends have going on at the time. Also, it's never really made clear why Umbridge hates Potter so much, to the point where she orders Dementors to attack Potter and even attacks his owl, Hedwig. But, there's never a reason given as to why Umbridge is so strongly against Potter other than he may be a threat to her power. Surely, there is some deeper reasoning behind Umbridge's behavior.
- Like all the previous Harry Potter books, we are introduced to quite a few new characters, which is a good thing because it takes up time which otherwise would be spent on Harry being grouchy and/or Hermoine being an unbearable pest. Most of these characters are part of the titular Order of the Phoenix, which is a group put together to fight off Voldemort, although some of the members like Mundungus seem more interested in their own personal desires than fighting off Voldemort. The only one of these characters that were remotely interesting was the metamorph auror Tonks, and she only has a minor role in this book. The most fascinating new character is a fellow Hogwarts student named Luna Lovegood, who has a very different outlook on life than anyone else. It's actually somewhat refreshing to have someone with a different outlook on things for once, as Luna adds a new element to the story and is one of the few endearing characters in this story.
- Once again, Harry Potter and his Quidditch team (with Ron as goalie) takes on Draco Malfoy and his team and once again, Harry gets the better of Draco by catching the snitch first. Shouldn't somebody point out how bad Draco is at Quidditch the next time he insults Harry or the Weasleys or whoever? In fact, Draco is seemingly more inept than ever, as the only time he can seem to do anything right is when Umbridge tells him what to do. You would think that with Draco's lack of success against Harry Potter, he would learn to lay low and not antagonize his rival as much as he does, but considering the events at the end, I don't foresee that happening.
- Also, once again, some unpleasant news or events happen to Harry Potter, and once again, the student body of Hogwarts turn their back on him nearly en masse. Of course, the story of Harry's narrow escape of Voldemort isn't really told until the middle of the book, but even so, considering how many times Harry and his pals have saved the school from certain doom, wouldn't you think they would cut him some slack? But no, the newspaper with a habit for sensationalizing stories is knocking Potter, so he must be a lying buffoon who is worse than Stalin. Yet once again, Harry is proven right, and only Seamus seems to be a big enough person to apologize.
Overall, this was by far the least enjoyable book in the Harry Potter series thus far. Most of the characters spent most of their time either yelling at each other or doing mind-numbingly stupid acts, the over reliance of Umbridge as Potter's new foil became rather tiresome, and there were quite a few plotholes in this book which I'm not going to spoil here, but still rather annoyed me. The book probably would have been better if it were at least 200 pages shorter, and the big revelation at the end was nothing that most readers probably didn't figure out after the first book. It wasn't a terrible book, but it wasn't all that good either. Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a 5.045 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
- After witnessing the revival of his arch-rival Voldemort, the death of one of his fellow students, and not only enduring a smear campaign but also a plot to have him expelled from Hogwarts from the Ministry of Magic, well it's safe to say that Harry Potter is just a bit angry in this book. Naturally, he does what most people do in situations like these and takes out his frustration on those unfortunate enough to be close to him. It seems like half the book is spent on Harry yelling at whoever he happened to be talking to at the moment, whether they deserved it or not. The other half of the book is usually Harry either wallowing in self-pity or making the dumbest decision possible at every turn. While this may be the way that most teenagers would act in this situation, it does make Harry a lot less sympathetic in this book than in any of the previous titles.
- Then again, Harry's not the only person that has seemingly taken a turn for the worse. His two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermoine Granger, seem to not be able to go more than five minutes without bickering at each other about even the smallest little thing. Granger in particular becomes more and more annoying, as she seemingly can't wait for any opportunity to boss her friends around. Even some of the adults of Hogwarts change for the worse, as head master Dumbledore seems to make a concentrated effort to have as little contact with Harry as possible (although it is later revealed that he had a good reason for this behavior), Snape becomes more and more hateful of Harry (although Harry certainly did not help himself in that matter), while Hagrid crosses the line between being a bit reckless and irresponsible to becoming a downright health risk for his friends to be around. At least Neville Longbottom actually changes for the better in this book, as he shows signs of being more than just a clumsy wizard, but rather a quite capable wizard, at least in a few subjects.
- Since there's another year at Hogwarts, there is also a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. This time it's a particularly nasty woman from the Ministry of Magic named Delores Umbridge. Umbridge doesn't seem to be too interested in Defense Against the Dark Arts, rather, her main goal is to gain enough power to take over Hogwarts. Umbridge also has a secondary role, to make Harry Potter's life a living hell. Umbridge is very successful in her goal of tormenting Potter, to the point where it gets tiresome. After a while, you can start predicting just when Umbridge comes in to foil whatever plan Harry and his friends have going on at the time. Also, it's never really made clear why Umbridge hates Potter so much, to the point where she orders Dementors to attack Potter and even attacks his owl, Hedwig. But, there's never a reason given as to why Umbridge is so strongly against Potter other than he may be a threat to her power. Surely, there is some deeper reasoning behind Umbridge's behavior.
- Like all the previous Harry Potter books, we are introduced to quite a few new characters, which is a good thing because it takes up time which otherwise would be spent on Harry being grouchy and/or Hermoine being an unbearable pest. Most of these characters are part of the titular Order of the Phoenix, which is a group put together to fight off Voldemort, although some of the members like Mundungus seem more interested in their own personal desires than fighting off Voldemort. The only one of these characters that were remotely interesting was the metamorph auror Tonks, and she only has a minor role in this book. The most fascinating new character is a fellow Hogwarts student named Luna Lovegood, who has a very different outlook on life than anyone else. It's actually somewhat refreshing to have someone with a different outlook on things for once, as Luna adds a new element to the story and is one of the few endearing characters in this story.
- Once again, Harry Potter and his Quidditch team (with Ron as goalie) takes on Draco Malfoy and his team and once again, Harry gets the better of Draco by catching the snitch first. Shouldn't somebody point out how bad Draco is at Quidditch the next time he insults Harry or the Weasleys or whoever? In fact, Draco is seemingly more inept than ever, as the only time he can seem to do anything right is when Umbridge tells him what to do. You would think that with Draco's lack of success against Harry Potter, he would learn to lay low and not antagonize his rival as much as he does, but considering the events at the end, I don't foresee that happening.
- Also, once again, some unpleasant news or events happen to Harry Potter, and once again, the student body of Hogwarts turn their back on him nearly en masse. Of course, the story of Harry's narrow escape of Voldemort isn't really told until the middle of the book, but even so, considering how many times Harry and his pals have saved the school from certain doom, wouldn't you think they would cut him some slack? But no, the newspaper with a habit for sensationalizing stories is knocking Potter, so he must be a lying buffoon who is worse than Stalin. Yet once again, Harry is proven right, and only Seamus seems to be a big enough person to apologize.
Overall, this was by far the least enjoyable book in the Harry Potter series thus far. Most of the characters spent most of their time either yelling at each other or doing mind-numbingly stupid acts, the over reliance of Umbridge as Potter's new foil became rather tiresome, and there were quite a few plotholes in this book which I'm not going to spoil here, but still rather annoyed me. The book probably would have been better if it were at least 200 pages shorter, and the big revelation at the end was nothing that most readers probably didn't figure out after the first book. It wasn't a terrible book, but it wasn't all that good either. Overall, I'd give Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a 5.045 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Canon Book Review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I don't know if you've heard, but this weekend the new Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was released. As you might expect, it did quite well at the box office this weekend, as every Quidditch loving muggle went out and saw their man Harry and his pals battle the forces of evil or something. I don't know, I'm not that far into the Potter saga. I did not go and see this movie (although my sister did), so you may be wondering why I'm even mentioning Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1. Well, it's for the hits that come along with mentioning a popular topic like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1.
Now that that's out of way, today's review is actually of the fourth novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In this novel, Harry Potter doesn't actually touch the Goblet of Fire, but it dramatically changes his life and nearly gets him killed anyway. Yes, once again, poor Harry tries to go through another year at Hogwarts, a school for wizards, without causing too much trouble, but trouble has a funny way of finding Harry Potter and his friends. For one, his wand gets jacked at the Quidditch World Cup, and is later used to summon the Dark Mark of Voldemort, the most evil wizard in the world and the man that killed Harry's parents. Also, this year at Hogwarts, an old tradition is restarted with the revival of the Triwizard Cup, a competition between a wizard or witch from three rival schools, Hogwarts being among them. Even though the competition is limited to students over 17, Harry somehow gets picked by the Goblet of Fire. This comes as a surprise to Harry, considering he didn't try to enter the tournament. So, in addition to all of his troubles with mastering magic, Harry now must compete in a tournament that requires him to complete tasks that are quite advanced for any wizard, much less a fourth year student at Hogwarts, and figure out who entered him in the tournament, as he has a feeling that once again, somebody wants Harry dead. All that, and more, can be found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A few notes about this book, and there are SPOLIERS ahead, so proceed with caution.
- The first thing I noticed about this book is that it is a lot longer than the previous three. At 754 pages, this book is nearly as lengthy as the previous two books in the series combined. However, like the previous three books, this book only covers one year in time. It just so happens that a lot more seems to happen this year than in the other three years.
- In the Goblet of Fire, there are many other subplots going on along with the main narrative (which is basically Harry vs. Voldemort) which expand the Harry Potter universe. For example, there's the Quidditch World Cup, which is pretty much like soccer's World Cup only without vuvuzuelas and concealed to most of the public by an insane amount of magic. Plus, there's the introduction of two new wizardry schools, Beauxbatons, which seems to be a French school, and Durmstrung, which seems to be a Russian or Eastern European school. This, I felt, was a welcome change to the story, as it showed that the world of magic is not just merely confined to Hogwarts. If anything, I would have liked a bit more information about these two schools, particularly Beauxbatons and their competitor in the Triwizard tournament, Fleur Delacour, as there really wasn't any depth to her character.
- There are many new characters in The Goblet of Fire. One of which is a nosy newspaper report for the Daily Prophet named Rita Skeeter. Skeeter is the worst kind of journalist, one that isn't above bending the truth or using espionage in order to write a more compelling story. Skeeter causes a lot of problems for Potter, particularly when Draco and his fellow Slytherins start feeding her information. If I were an ameteur psychologist, I'd say that the creation of Skeeter was the result of the author's frustration over her coverage by the media, but I'm not and besides, Rowling denied that notion. Still, I do wonder.
- Also, Hogwarts once again has a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. This time it's a former auror (basically, an investigator and capturer of dark wizards) named Mad-Eye Moody. Why do they call him Mad-Eye, you ask? Well, it's because he lost an eye during his career as an auror, and decided to replace it with a magically enhanced eyes that can rotate 360 degrees and see through anything, walls, invisibility cloaks, a dragon's belly, whatever. Perhaps an airport should hire Mad-Eye Moody as their security officer so they don't have to violently pat down passengers anymore.
- This book not only takes a turn in the length of the book, but also seems to take a more adult turn in general. For the first times, relationships and romance become a theme in the book, particularly with Hermoine and Ron. Harry and his cohorts act more like teenagers in this book rather than kids, and there are times where Harry feels uneasy about being so heavily protected, as if he thinks he knows all the answers like any other teenager. Also, there are more disturbing scenes in this one, such as, well basically everything that happens after the third stage of the tournament begins. Also, this was really the first Potter book that ended on a definite down note.
- One thing that kind of annoys me about the Harry Potter books is that most of the student body at Hogwarts seem to have a short memory. Once again, Harry finds himself in a perilous situation not of his doing, and once again, most of the school hates him for it. Never mind that Harry's saved their sorry butts on more than one occasion. This time, even Ron gets into the spirit, as his jealousy over Harry rears its ugly head after Harry is announced as the fourth member of the tournament. Sure, Harry could have handled himself better in their mini-feud, but is it too much to ask for a little understanding, Ron? In fact, even when they were getting along, Ron grated on my nerves for most of the book, as his new favorite hobby seemed to be complaining.
Overall, this wasn't too bad of a story, although I did find a couple of plotholes, and everything just seemed to wrap up a little too conveniently, if you will. Nevertheless, the story itself was very suspenseful, and kept me wanting more. Overall, I'll give Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a 7.02950 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Now that that's out of way, today's review is actually of the fourth novel in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. In this novel, Harry Potter doesn't actually touch the Goblet of Fire, but it dramatically changes his life and nearly gets him killed anyway. Yes, once again, poor Harry tries to go through another year at Hogwarts, a school for wizards, without causing too much trouble, but trouble has a funny way of finding Harry Potter and his friends. For one, his wand gets jacked at the Quidditch World Cup, and is later used to summon the Dark Mark of Voldemort, the most evil wizard in the world and the man that killed Harry's parents. Also, this year at Hogwarts, an old tradition is restarted with the revival of the Triwizard Cup, a competition between a wizard or witch from three rival schools, Hogwarts being among them. Even though the competition is limited to students over 17, Harry somehow gets picked by the Goblet of Fire. This comes as a surprise to Harry, considering he didn't try to enter the tournament. So, in addition to all of his troubles with mastering magic, Harry now must compete in a tournament that requires him to complete tasks that are quite advanced for any wizard, much less a fourth year student at Hogwarts, and figure out who entered him in the tournament, as he has a feeling that once again, somebody wants Harry dead. All that, and more, can be found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. A few notes about this book, and there are SPOLIERS ahead, so proceed with caution.
- The first thing I noticed about this book is that it is a lot longer than the previous three. At 754 pages, this book is nearly as lengthy as the previous two books in the series combined. However, like the previous three books, this book only covers one year in time. It just so happens that a lot more seems to happen this year than in the other three years.
- In the Goblet of Fire, there are many other subplots going on along with the main narrative (which is basically Harry vs. Voldemort) which expand the Harry Potter universe. For example, there's the Quidditch World Cup, which is pretty much like soccer's World Cup only without vuvuzuelas and concealed to most of the public by an insane amount of magic. Plus, there's the introduction of two new wizardry schools, Beauxbatons, which seems to be a French school, and Durmstrung, which seems to be a Russian or Eastern European school. This, I felt, was a welcome change to the story, as it showed that the world of magic is not just merely confined to Hogwarts. If anything, I would have liked a bit more information about these two schools, particularly Beauxbatons and their competitor in the Triwizard tournament, Fleur Delacour, as there really wasn't any depth to her character.
- There are many new characters in The Goblet of Fire. One of which is a nosy newspaper report for the Daily Prophet named Rita Skeeter. Skeeter is the worst kind of journalist, one that isn't above bending the truth or using espionage in order to write a more compelling story. Skeeter causes a lot of problems for Potter, particularly when Draco and his fellow Slytherins start feeding her information. If I were an ameteur psychologist, I'd say that the creation of Skeeter was the result of the author's frustration over her coverage by the media, but I'm not and besides, Rowling denied that notion. Still, I do wonder.
- Also, Hogwarts once again has a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher. This time it's a former auror (basically, an investigator and capturer of dark wizards) named Mad-Eye Moody. Why do they call him Mad-Eye, you ask? Well, it's because he lost an eye during his career as an auror, and decided to replace it with a magically enhanced eyes that can rotate 360 degrees and see through anything, walls, invisibility cloaks, a dragon's belly, whatever. Perhaps an airport should hire Mad-Eye Moody as their security officer so they don't have to violently pat down passengers anymore.
- This book not only takes a turn in the length of the book, but also seems to take a more adult turn in general. For the first times, relationships and romance become a theme in the book, particularly with Hermoine and Ron. Harry and his cohorts act more like teenagers in this book rather than kids, and there are times where Harry feels uneasy about being so heavily protected, as if he thinks he knows all the answers like any other teenager. Also, there are more disturbing scenes in this one, such as, well basically everything that happens after the third stage of the tournament begins. Also, this was really the first Potter book that ended on a definite down note.
- One thing that kind of annoys me about the Harry Potter books is that most of the student body at Hogwarts seem to have a short memory. Once again, Harry finds himself in a perilous situation not of his doing, and once again, most of the school hates him for it. Never mind that Harry's saved their sorry butts on more than one occasion. This time, even Ron gets into the spirit, as his jealousy over Harry rears its ugly head after Harry is announced as the fourth member of the tournament. Sure, Harry could have handled himself better in their mini-feud, but is it too much to ask for a little understanding, Ron? In fact, even when they were getting along, Ron grated on my nerves for most of the book, as his new favorite hobby seemed to be complaining.
Overall, this wasn't too bad of a story, although I did find a couple of plotholes, and everything just seemed to wrap up a little too conveniently, if you will. Nevertheless, the story itself was very suspenseful, and kept me wanting more. Overall, I'll give Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire a 7.02950 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Canon Book Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
This review idea comes from Canon Review reader Maggie W., who is a big fan of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and wanted me to read and review the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Before I read this book, I must admit that I had very little knowledge of Harry Potter and his world. Sure, I heard the names Harry Potter and Voldemort and Quidditch and the like, but my knowledge on the subject was sparse. To be honest, I just had no interest in the whole Harry Potter saga. For all I knew they all flew around on brooms and turned each other into frogs, which, actually, wasn't too far from the truth. However, that's only really part of the story. In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter in the beginning is just a poorly treated kid who lives with his aunt and uncle who are his only living relatives. He sleeps in a closet, gets treated like dirt by his aunt and uncle and is constantly picked on by his spoiled cousin and his posse. One day, a letter is addressed to Harry that will change his life forever, as he learns that he is a wizard, like his parents, and is taken to Hogwarts school to learn the skills to become a great wizard. However, Hogwarts proves to have its own hurdles to climb for the young Potter. A few notes about this book, and I am warning you in advance that there are SPOILERS ahead:
- There are two different titles to this book, which is kind of strange. The original book was titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but for reasons beyond me, it was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the book was first sold in America. Anyway, just to clear up any confusion, I'm going to keep referring to this book with the Sorcerer's Stone title, because that's what my copy of the book says.
- The Harry Potter saga, so to speak, has taken some criticism from religious types for promoting witchcraft and for having Satanic undertones. To that I say hogwash. The idea that Harry and his friends could be seen as some sort of Satanic cult was the furthest thing from my mind after finishing the book. This book is a fantasy story, full of magic and wizards and other things beyond the realm of possibility, not a Wicca guidebook or some sort of religious text. But I guess some people just think that anything that doesn't fit their strict, buttoned-down philosophy just has to be evil. Go figure.
- Harry's life before discovering his magic skills really sucks hard. He lives in a closer under the stairs and is treated as an afterthought by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. Interestingly enough, the Dursleys are portrayed as the type of people who would complain about a book like Harry Potter being evil and what not, as the Dursleys are the ultimate conservative family unit, looking down at anything different. Their son Dudley actually reminded me of a couple of people I knew, as he's a big spoiled brat who bullies people, including his doting parents, to get what he wants. Then again, if I had the misfortune of being named Dudley Dursley, I'd be a miserable person to be around as well. Anyway, back to Potter, whose life sucks because he lives in a closet and the only things he had are things Dudley can't use anymore. Even though the Dursleys seem to treat Potter as a third-class citizen, they take extreme measures to ensure that Harry never learns of his magic skills (which are only significant enough to nearly destroy the baddest wizard of them all, Voldemort, after he fails to kill a then two-year old Harry). You would think they would have been happy to rid themselves of Harry for nine months out of the year, but due to their fear of the unknown, the Dursleys go to great extremes to keep Harry from receiving his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.
- One problem I have with the story, and it may be just me being picky, but I wonder why it took the main villian in the story, whose name I won't mention so as not to spoil to story, so long to come up with a plan to steal the Sorcerere's Stone in order to free Voldemort. I mean, it took him until the last week of school to finally decide to go after the stone. Surely he could have come up with a way to get past the various protection devices to get the stone in less than nine months. Or maybe not, I don't know. I will say that Rowling did a great job of concealing that character's main intentions, as the story led you to believe that it was another person trying to steal the stone, so the reveal came as a huge surprise to me.
- Rowling mixes in a lot of familiar aspects of the common concept of wizardry, such as wearing robes, using magic wands, and flying on broomsticks, but she also throws in a few original ideas of her own in there. One of them is the sport of Quidditch, which as best as I could tell is a bizzare mixture of soccer, basketball, and dodgeball played on brooms in mid air. The person with the hardest job in Quidditch has to be the goalkeeper, who must defend three different goals at different heights against four other people, all the while trying to dodge two heavy balls hit by the game's 'beaters'. The beaters can't score, but they do get to hit the crap out of heavy balls with clubs, so that would probably be pretty fun. Harry eventually joins his house's Quidditch team as a seeker, whose lone purpose is to catch a small, elusive golden ball called the snitch, which only seekers can touch. Catching the snitch not only scores 150 points (regular goals are worth 10 points) but also ends the game. Seekers are usually the fastest players on the teams, however, they also are the person most likely to take a severe beating in the game due to the importance of catching the snitch. Well, I guess the game makes sense to them, because I could barely make heads or tails of what was going on during the Quidditch parts of the book. Seems like it would be mass chaos in mid-air and one hard game to officiate.
- One of the things that I think made this story so popular is that, even though this is a school and land of wizards and magic, the characters are all relatable in some way. There's the know-it-all overachiever (Hermoine), the rich snob who bullies those he considers 'under' him (Draco), the clumsy, but likable oaf (Neville), and the extremely strict teacher that all the students hate (Snape). Rowling does a great job of making these seemingly larger-than-life characters seem like regular people, making the story easily accessible to both kids and adults reading the book.
Overall, I'm surprised to say that this was quite an entertaining read. It is an engaging story that kept me interested from beginning to end. It's not very long, so one can read it in a few hours. Even though it's considered a kids book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a book that can be enjoyed by all readers from 8 to 800. I'll give the book a 7.3 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
- There are two different titles to this book, which is kind of strange. The original book was titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, but for reasons beyond me, it was changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the book was first sold in America. Anyway, just to clear up any confusion, I'm going to keep referring to this book with the Sorcerer's Stone title, because that's what my copy of the book says.
- The Harry Potter saga, so to speak, has taken some criticism from religious types for promoting witchcraft and for having Satanic undertones. To that I say hogwash. The idea that Harry and his friends could be seen as some sort of Satanic cult was the furthest thing from my mind after finishing the book. This book is a fantasy story, full of magic and wizards and other things beyond the realm of possibility, not a Wicca guidebook or some sort of religious text. But I guess some people just think that anything that doesn't fit their strict, buttoned-down philosophy just has to be evil. Go figure.
- Harry's life before discovering his magic skills really sucks hard. He lives in a closer under the stairs and is treated as an afterthought by his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. Interestingly enough, the Dursleys are portrayed as the type of people who would complain about a book like Harry Potter being evil and what not, as the Dursleys are the ultimate conservative family unit, looking down at anything different. Their son Dudley actually reminded me of a couple of people I knew, as he's a big spoiled brat who bullies people, including his doting parents, to get what he wants. Then again, if I had the misfortune of being named Dudley Dursley, I'd be a miserable person to be around as well. Anyway, back to Potter, whose life sucks because he lives in a closet and the only things he had are things Dudley can't use anymore. Even though the Dursleys seem to treat Potter as a third-class citizen, they take extreme measures to ensure that Harry never learns of his magic skills (which are only significant enough to nearly destroy the baddest wizard of them all, Voldemort, after he fails to kill a then two-year old Harry). You would think they would have been happy to rid themselves of Harry for nine months out of the year, but due to their fear of the unknown, the Dursleys go to great extremes to keep Harry from receiving his acceptance letter to Hogwarts.
- One problem I have with the story, and it may be just me being picky, but I wonder why it took the main villian in the story, whose name I won't mention so as not to spoil to story, so long to come up with a plan to steal the Sorcerere's Stone in order to free Voldemort. I mean, it took him until the last week of school to finally decide to go after the stone. Surely he could have come up with a way to get past the various protection devices to get the stone in less than nine months. Or maybe not, I don't know. I will say that Rowling did a great job of concealing that character's main intentions, as the story led you to believe that it was another person trying to steal the stone, so the reveal came as a huge surprise to me.
- Rowling mixes in a lot of familiar aspects of the common concept of wizardry, such as wearing robes, using magic wands, and flying on broomsticks, but she also throws in a few original ideas of her own in there. One of them is the sport of Quidditch, which as best as I could tell is a bizzare mixture of soccer, basketball, and dodgeball played on brooms in mid air. The person with the hardest job in Quidditch has to be the goalkeeper, who must defend three different goals at different heights against four other people, all the while trying to dodge two heavy balls hit by the game's 'beaters'. The beaters can't score, but they do get to hit the crap out of heavy balls with clubs, so that would probably be pretty fun. Harry eventually joins his house's Quidditch team as a seeker, whose lone purpose is to catch a small, elusive golden ball called the snitch, which only seekers can touch. Catching the snitch not only scores 150 points (regular goals are worth 10 points) but also ends the game. Seekers are usually the fastest players on the teams, however, they also are the person most likely to take a severe beating in the game due to the importance of catching the snitch. Well, I guess the game makes sense to them, because I could barely make heads or tails of what was going on during the Quidditch parts of the book. Seems like it would be mass chaos in mid-air and one hard game to officiate.
- One of the things that I think made this story so popular is that, even though this is a school and land of wizards and magic, the characters are all relatable in some way. There's the know-it-all overachiever (Hermoine), the rich snob who bullies those he considers 'under' him (Draco), the clumsy, but likable oaf (Neville), and the extremely strict teacher that all the students hate (Snape). Rowling does a great job of making these seemingly larger-than-life characters seem like regular people, making the story easily accessible to both kids and adults reading the book.
Overall, I'm surprised to say that this was quite an entertaining read. It is an engaging story that kept me interested from beginning to end. It's not very long, so one can read it in a few hours. Even though it's considered a kids book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is a book that can be enjoyed by all readers from 8 to 800. I'll give the book a 7.3 out of 10. Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any comments about this or previous posts, or ideas for future reviews or posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com.
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