So yesterday I finished the seventh Harry Potter book, and I am simply amazed at the writing ability of J.K. Rowling yet again. She must have had every single important detail of the plotline planned out from day one, because without key elements from the previous six books, the seventh book could not have been written as amazingly as it is. It cleans up any loose ends, and still holds an element of surprise when the reader begins to think that all hope is lost.
The Deathly Hallows begins with Voldemort and his followers, showing the beginning of his regime as the most powerful wizard, yet again. The consensus on Snape is still that he betrayed Dumbledore and anyone against the Dark Lord. He joins in the chase after Harry when Harry is being moved from his home on #4 Privet Drive to the Burrow, and one of the Twins' ears is blown off. Hedwig is killed, as well. These are just the beginning of the killings that are yet to come in the fight every wizard faces to be free from Voldemort.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione set off to find the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them, encountering a great many obstacles along the way. They have no idea how to destroy the Horcruxes they have got, until one night they find the sword of Godric Gryffindor in the lake. They destroy the locket from the descendants of Slytherin. Tonks and Lupin get married, and have a baby named Teddy, after Tonks' father. Harry is named Godfather. The three teenagers proceed to break into Gringotts and escape very narrowly on the back of a dragon, getting the cup of Helga Hufflepuff which is the fourth horcrux in the process.
In between all of this Harry discovers the existence of the Deathly Hallows, three separate objects which together would allow the owner to master death. He has the Invisibility Cloak, and the Resurrection Stone, (which happened to be one of the Horcruxes) but does not beat Voldemort to the Elder Wand. The Elder Wand is the most powerful wand of all wands, and it would be almost impossible to beat anyone that had it.
Harry needed to find the fifth Horcrux quickly, because Voldemort discovered that Harry had found out about them. Harry escaped into Hogwarts, and immediately the entire castle began armoring themselves for a huge battle. Everyone wanted to help while Harry tried to find the lost diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, which he soon realized he had already seen in the Room of Requirement. He raced there, only to be confronted by Malfoy and his two best friends. A cursed fire spread rapidly through the room from Crabbe's doing, which incidentally destroyed the diadem in the process. Harry saved Malfoy, twice that night in fact, from death as well.
Harry needed to kill the snake Nagini, which he knew had to be the sixth horcrux. He saw in Voldmort's mind that he was in the Shrieking Shack, and rushed there. He listened at the door and realized that he was about to kill Snape. He left immediately after doing so, and Harry rushed in to see Snape beckoning him to catch his memories. Harry went back to the castle and watched them in the Pensieve, realizing that Dumbledore had a much bigger plan all along, and that Snape had not, in fact, killed Dumbledore. Snape had been in love with Harry's mother, and therefore decided he would do all he could to protect Harry's life. Harry also realized he himself was the seventh horcrux... And that for Voldemort to die, he too would have to die along with him.
He began to go find Voldemort and accept his death- after all, Fred had already been killed in the battle, along with Tonks and Lupin, and he did not want anyone else to die for him. Along the way, he told Neville to kill the snake the next chance he got, in case he couldn't himself.
Harry faced Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest when the time was almost out for the rest of his friends, and Voldemort used the killing curse on him- Harry did not protest. As it turns out, this actually saves Harry and kills the part of Voldemort's soul inside of him instead. He pretends to stay dead, as Voldemort brings him through the crowd to show them that their hero is dead. Neville kills Nagini, and Harry proceeds to slip off to fight Voldemort on his own. He kills Voldemort, and he wins the war he fought for so long.
There are so many details that make the story so amazing and mind boggling, and it is impossible to recreate the suspense and inability to quit reading it in just a blog. Truly an amazing work, and a stroke of genius to have a chapter titled "Nineteen Years Later", which shows Harry and Ginny married, Ron and Hermione married, and their children being sent off to Hogwarts.
I loved this book, and series itself!
Stacey
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Q2 Blog Post #2 (Late Coupon)
I never actually got started on A Change Of Heart, I simply couldn't get into it. I did, however, read the sixth Harry Potter book yesterday on my way to my cabin, The Half Blood Prince. I got through almost 3/4 of it in the 4 1/2 hour drive, and finished it after dinner once we got up here. I love the woods in the winter. It's so beautiful and relaxing.
**If you have not read the sixth Harry Potter, and want to, do not read ahead!
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is amazing. I became engrossed in the book immediately after picking it up and turning the first page. The Half Blood Prince starts off with Harry stuck in his room, awaiting the arrival of his headmaster, Dumbledore. He does end up coming to get Harry, warning the Dursleys that Harry must return once more before he comes of age in the wizarding world to remain protected for another year. They proceed to The Burrow, where Harry's best friend Ron and his family live. We find out that Fleur Delacour (from the fourth book in the Triwizard Cup) is marrying Ron's older brother Bill, and none of the women in the household are too pleased about that. Everyone in the wizarding world is becoming more and more afraid of the return of Voldemort, taking precautions that wouldn't actually help them if the Death Eaters were to attack.
Everyone is now eating their words that they had previously scoffed at Harry with. He was right- the Dark Lord has returned and there will be a huge fight ahead of them if they are ever to be rid of him. The times are increasingly less safe, and pandemonium is beginning to break out where the Dark Mark appears.
Hogwarts seems to be the safest place to be- after all, Dumbledore is the headmaster. Harry finds out more than he's ever known about Voldemort's past as Tom Riddle, including his lineage and ambitions as a schoolboy at Hogwarts himself. Dumbledore shows him various memories that hold all this information, and Harry attains one from Professor Slughorn. This professor is a returning one, who is extremely interested in collecting "prize students" and attaining connections with various esteemed members of society. This memory that Harry attains gives both him and Dumbledore confirmation that Voldemort indeed, even as a 16 year old, was planning his ascent to the throne of Dark Lord. In the memory, he had asked Professor Slughorn how "horcruxes" had worked. It was evident he was planning on splitting his soul, and storing it in different objects so he would never fully die. He also said, however, something about splitting it 7 times. This would be unimaginable for any normal wizard, powerful as they might be.
Dumbledore promises Harry he can accompany him to destroy a Horcrux he has located. 2 of them had already been destroyed. Throughout this entire time, Harry has suspected that Draco Malfoy has taken his fathers' place as a Death Eater, and alerts his friends to keep an eye out when he leaves with Dumbledore to destroy the horcrux.
Dumbledore and Harry leave to a cave far away, encountering many different obstacles before they finally get to the middle of a lake in a cave that is filled with dead bodies with the Horcrux in the middle. Dumbledore is severely weakened while trying to get at the horcrux, and when they escape and return, the Dark Mark had been placed over Hogwarts. Harry and Dumbledore sped back to the school. As they were rushing in, Harry threw on his invisibility cloak and Dumbledore froze him with a spell, just as Malfoy came in and blasted Dumbledore with his own spell. It was his job to kill Dumbledore, but was not able, and Snape came in and used the "Avada Kedavra" spell on Dumbledore himself. Harry, unnoticed under his cloak and frozen, watched this all happen. There was a fight going on underneath them, the Order of the Phoenix had come to try and help.
The Death Eaters escaped- everyone was in shock over Dumbledore's death and Snape's betrayal. The funeral was held and many people from all over came. Harry made the decision that he would not rest until either he or Voldemort is dead- no matter how long it took. He had also been dating Ron's sister Ginny, whom he told he could not be with while he was seeking out the Dark Lord.
I really enjoyed reading this book, as I stated before, I could not put it down. The first time I read it (when it first came out) I literally cried when Dumbledore died. It seemed impossible that so much could go wrong, but then again, when has anything ever been easy for Harry and his friends? The journey ahead of them seems ominously long at the end of this book, especially without Dumbledore guiding them. There is also a lot of foreshadowing throughout this book, which is hard to catch the first time around. Harry hid his Potions book in the very Vanishing Cabinet that the Death Eaters got into the castle with. There are many other examples, such as when Hermione suggests that the person who had owned his potions book was in fact someone whose mother or father had had the last name of Prince, as the back read "Property of the Half-Blood Prince". (Snape's mother was Eileen Prince, and the book had belonged to him.)
I plan to read the last book in the Harry Potter series next.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Stacey
**If you have not read the sixth Harry Potter, and want to, do not read ahead!
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is amazing. I became engrossed in the book immediately after picking it up and turning the first page. The Half Blood Prince starts off with Harry stuck in his room, awaiting the arrival of his headmaster, Dumbledore. He does end up coming to get Harry, warning the Dursleys that Harry must return once more before he comes of age in the wizarding world to remain protected for another year. They proceed to The Burrow, where Harry's best friend Ron and his family live. We find out that Fleur Delacour (from the fourth book in the Triwizard Cup) is marrying Ron's older brother Bill, and none of the women in the household are too pleased about that. Everyone in the wizarding world is becoming more and more afraid of the return of Voldemort, taking precautions that wouldn't actually help them if the Death Eaters were to attack.
Everyone is now eating their words that they had previously scoffed at Harry with. He was right- the Dark Lord has returned and there will be a huge fight ahead of them if they are ever to be rid of him. The times are increasingly less safe, and pandemonium is beginning to break out where the Dark Mark appears.
Hogwarts seems to be the safest place to be- after all, Dumbledore is the headmaster. Harry finds out more than he's ever known about Voldemort's past as Tom Riddle, including his lineage and ambitions as a schoolboy at Hogwarts himself. Dumbledore shows him various memories that hold all this information, and Harry attains one from Professor Slughorn. This professor is a returning one, who is extremely interested in collecting "prize students" and attaining connections with various esteemed members of society. This memory that Harry attains gives both him and Dumbledore confirmation that Voldemort indeed, even as a 16 year old, was planning his ascent to the throne of Dark Lord. In the memory, he had asked Professor Slughorn how "horcruxes" had worked. It was evident he was planning on splitting his soul, and storing it in different objects so he would never fully die. He also said, however, something about splitting it 7 times. This would be unimaginable for any normal wizard, powerful as they might be.
Dumbledore promises Harry he can accompany him to destroy a Horcrux he has located. 2 of them had already been destroyed. Throughout this entire time, Harry has suspected that Draco Malfoy has taken his fathers' place as a Death Eater, and alerts his friends to keep an eye out when he leaves with Dumbledore to destroy the horcrux.
Dumbledore and Harry leave to a cave far away, encountering many different obstacles before they finally get to the middle of a lake in a cave that is filled with dead bodies with the Horcrux in the middle. Dumbledore is severely weakened while trying to get at the horcrux, and when they escape and return, the Dark Mark had been placed over Hogwarts. Harry and Dumbledore sped back to the school. As they were rushing in, Harry threw on his invisibility cloak and Dumbledore froze him with a spell, just as Malfoy came in and blasted Dumbledore with his own spell. It was his job to kill Dumbledore, but was not able, and Snape came in and used the "Avada Kedavra" spell on Dumbledore himself. Harry, unnoticed under his cloak and frozen, watched this all happen. There was a fight going on underneath them, the Order of the Phoenix had come to try and help.
The Death Eaters escaped- everyone was in shock over Dumbledore's death and Snape's betrayal. The funeral was held and many people from all over came. Harry made the decision that he would not rest until either he or Voldemort is dead- no matter how long it took. He had also been dating Ron's sister Ginny, whom he told he could not be with while he was seeking out the Dark Lord.
I really enjoyed reading this book, as I stated before, I could not put it down. The first time I read it (when it first came out) I literally cried when Dumbledore died. It seemed impossible that so much could go wrong, but then again, when has anything ever been easy for Harry and his friends? The journey ahead of them seems ominously long at the end of this book, especially without Dumbledore guiding them. There is also a lot of foreshadowing throughout this book, which is hard to catch the first time around. Harry hid his Potions book in the very Vanishing Cabinet that the Death Eaters got into the castle with. There are many other examples, such as when Hermione suggests that the person who had owned his potions book was in fact someone whose mother or father had had the last name of Prince, as the back read "Property of the Half-Blood Prince". (Snape's mother was Eileen Prince, and the book had belonged to him.)
I plan to read the last book in the Harry Potter series next.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Stacey
Monday, November 10, 2008
Q2 blog post.
The book I have decided I am going to read for quarter 2 is most likely going to be A Change Of Heart by Jodi Picoult. I have enjoyed reading her other books in the past, including My Sister's Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, and The Tenth Circle. I am hoping that with this new book she may stray a little from the plotlines of her previous books, or structure I should say, because I feel that she really doesn't go far from the same path with different subjects.
I have received many recommendations to read this book, including the fact that it was on the list on Mrs. B's blogs as a "recommended read." I am excited to get started with this book, although it will be hard to not read it all at once- once I get into something I can't put it down.
I have received many recommendations to read this book, including the fact that it was on the list on Mrs. B's blogs as a "recommended read." I am excited to get started with this book, although it will be hard to not read it all at once- once I get into something I can't put it down.
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