posted
Yes... I've been putting it off for years now.
I've finally started reading Harry Potter. I always thought of Harry Potter as a Tolkien ripoff, but I consider myself a reader and how can I avoid something so, well, everywhere. The first book was horrible. OMG... that was a struggle. I think the problem I had was that I saw the movie first and so there were no surpises. Second book was better...with the Weasly family, Ginny and young Voldemort.
What I found annoying was that some of the horrible situations could have been avoided by someone saying ONE word, or the almighty Professors using their brains. The plot devices were just so obvious that it was hard to enjoy at times.
But the third book now is really getting me interested at last. I REALLY hate Harry's family. He needs to seriously lay the smackdown on them. And in this, he does. What abusive, horrible people. Where is Social Serivces when you need them? And in book three the characters start to actually act like real people. They acutally speak up when they see something wierd or dangerous. You'd think though that the Minister of Magic, ruler of Britian, would walk around with guards or at least some staff members.
Anwyay, I'm looking forward to the rest of the book. Once I'm done I'll watch the movies up to this point and see how they compare.
[ November 26, 2005, 09:39 AM: Message edited by: Telperion the Silver ]
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
The fourth one is better then the third, the fifth one is okay but it moves kind of slow, and the sixth one is a behemoth but well worth the time.
Posts: 6026 | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Just started reading the first book. More than anything I'm charmed by Rowling's easy style. And she set Harry up as a character anyone could sympathize or believe in right from the start.
I read good fiction slowly, so this will take a little while, but I am enjoying the craft she put into this first book. I know it's nowhere near as easy as she makes it look.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm really liking their new Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. And the Dementors are super cool. Lupin is obviously a werewolf. But what exactly are the Dementors and if they aren't human why/how are they allied to the Magic Users and the Ministry?
I'm curious why to find out why magic users are hiding away like in Vampire the Masquarade. Probably for similar reasons that they are outnumbered and would lose any full scale war that took place if normal humans panicked.
Is part of Voldemort's plan to take over the human race or just the magic using side?
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
When it comes to interactions between magical folk and muggles, there would be fear and persecution if the muggles ever found out about the magical realm. I'm sure witches and wizards would fight back, but why do so if a war can be avoided by keeping the muggles ignorant?
Voldemort wants to rid the world of muggles and half-borns. He'd kill them all given the chance.
Regarding the stupidity of professors in the first couple of books, when you farther in the books you'll start to see that it may have all been done purposefully.
Book 3 is one of my favorites. I'm the minority because I love book 5 and LOATHE book 6. But then again, I consider the first book the best in the series.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
If the first book didn't hook me the way it did, I would have never continued with the rest of the series. I just love the humour of it, and the level of comfort and ease the magical characters have with the magical world they live in. Trying to remember what I absolutely loved about the first book, and I come back to the details like wizard crackers and chess pieces. I love how the mystery unfolds and the red herrings fall into place so that the ending becomes obvious upon the second reading. I love how even though it's been over six years since I first picked up a Harry Potter book, I still giggle like a little girl thinking about my favorite moments in the series. Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Book three is by far my favorite, no contest, no question. 1 and 2 are okay, but boring to me now, I don't read them anymore. Four is cool, average, worth a read. Five makes me want to kill people in a mass genocide from frustration, I don't read it often. Six is very good, but drags a LOT during long explanatory chapters. Just my two cents.
Dementors are magical creatures that are blatently evil. But they are difficult to deal with, so the magical community has corraled them into working at Azkaban as jailers, that way they get to get off on their freakish delights in tormenting prisoners and capturing escapees and fugitives, and that keeps them away from regular people. They were minions of Voldemort when he was prosecuting his reign of terror.
Another reason why magical people don't want muggles to find out about them, is that they don't want muggles looking for magical solutions to all their problems.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Rowling's plots do indeed feel contrived and painfully obvious at times, but as I've said before of Lord Of The Rings, the books are good enough that they survive their (many) failings.
I personally enjoyed the fourth book best, and I expect to enjoy the fourth movie best as well (though trying not to get my hopes up too much.)
Posts: 609 | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
"Book three is by far my favorite, no contest, no question. 1 and 2 are okay, but boring to me now, I don't read them anymore. Four is cool, average, worth a read. Five makes me want to kill people in a mass genocide from frustration, I don't read it often. Six is very good, but drags a LOT during long explanatory chapters. Just my two cents."
That's exactly how I feel (minus the mass genocide thing). I liked 1 alot the first time through, but now it's boring. The first one was good just because of it introduces such a cool world. I didn't like the plot or much else in it. I loved finding out all of details of the world the first time through, though.
Posts: 853 | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote: Don't think so hard, Telp. It's a magical world!
I'm used to The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings... I can't help it! I've been spoiled by JRR Tolkien. Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:Another reason why magical people don't want muggles to find out about them, is that they don't want muggles looking for magical solutions to all their problems.
Mmmm... but it's ok for the Magic Users? Sounds more like they don't want to be exploited...or to put it another way, are greedy of their powers and don't want to help lift the standard of living of their fellow man.
When did Humans first start using magic? Since the dawn of time? Was magic common during the Classical Period of the Roman Empire?
What is the ratio of normal human vs magical human?
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Mmm... good point about Hogwarts being the only school for Britain.
But the Prime Minister of the UK is in contact with the Minister of Magic... so the Government, or at least a few of it's top people, know about the magical community.
Do the magic users have a name for themselves besides wizard/witch? That's just and old name for wise man or wise woman.
But what it really comes down to is that "magic" is just another part of the Universe that this small minority are able to perceive and harness. Just imagine if the full force of the scientific community was brought to bear on this. It would change EVERYTHING about our undestanding of Nature and our ability to influence it. This might make space travel a reality. Colonization of the solar system and beyond. What is the genetic code that brings about a magic user? Mmmm... so many questions.
Just imagine if we could be generators that could harness and process whatever force the wizards and witches use. A whole new era of technology and cheep energy. Implants in non-magic users for them to use "magic". Genetic engineering to make the whole of Humanity magic using.
There should be a better name than "magic". Since this involves telepathy, telekinesis, dimentional travel and the existance of other life forms that have self awarness.
Mmmmm... I guess just like the sudden discovery of alien life this might bring about culture shock. That is another argument for the hiding away of these people and other "magical" beings.
But a system of education could be brought about to slowly teach, at least the industrialized world, about these new levels of being and influence.
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
There's limits to the magic in the world Rowling has created. I've seen a couple of essays out on the internet regarding Transfiguration. It seems boundless in potential but there are still magical folk who are poor and wear hand-me-downs and tattered clothes. And there is the basic fact that not everyone can use magic. There are squibs who can't do anything even with years of training. The fact that there are squibs even among pure bloodlines offers a wealth of questions regarding the nature of "magical" genes.
Rowling tells us as much as is relevant to the plot. Everything we know is being told to the readder through the eyes of a young boy who didn't even grow up as a part of the magical community. The wealth of unnecessary information was one of my problems with Lord of the Rings.
Posts: 1733 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Okay I realize I'm a bit of a freak in this regard, but I actually liked the fifth book. I honesty think each book has been better than the last, but then I have yet to meet anyone who agreed after reading book 5. Oh well... just thought I'd throw it out there that maybe the fifth isn't SO bad...
Posts: 187 | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I love this series. She really gets it for one thing... And, she's good at foreshadowing. I love how some random thing becomes important in the plot later. I love the funny little touches like "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans" which just cracks me up so much and the pictures talking to people and how the plot just gets deeper as harry matures through each book.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
My favorite is 3, partly because it's the one I was reading when my hyper book-craze period began and I've read it so often, and also because of the characters it introduced.
After that the order's 6 (I liked the development, even if not too much happened), 4 (the tournament), 1, 5, and 2.
Posts: 973 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I read book 1 before the movie came out and I loved it. I've loved every book. I watched movie 1, tried re-reading book 1, and couldn't stand it. I'm making another attempt to re-read book 1 and I'm faring better.
I really think the first movie was a piece of crud and it very well might ruin the book for many people and I base this on the fact that I loved the book *before* the movie, but have a hard time with it *since* the movie.
I haven't watched the 2nd movie because it got similar reviews as the 1st. I'm glad the 3rd movie turned out to not be such a bomb.
Posts: 1209 | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I loved book 5, followed immediately be book 3. Even though it's the most talky and philosophical sort, I really enjoyed book 6. The end of book 4 gave me real shivers, more so than 5 or 6. 2 introduced so much more to the plot. And 1 . .. well, it's last on my list.
Posts: 1735 | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
My favorite thing about the series is the things you notice when you go back to the first couple of books after reading the rest. Rowling clearly had a lot of the major details planned out from the start, as little details that you don't even notice on your first time through the first book just pop out at you when you go back to read it again.
Besides that, I enjoy the way Rowling has been able to construct a fairly complex story while keeping the language to a level that can be enjoyed by younger readers and devoured more quickly by adults.
Posts: 45 | Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged |
book 5 was the most dissapointing, i thought. It seemed like a lot of issues got wrapped up for the sake of convenience rather than plausability or closure. For instance, does nobody care that Dolores Umbridge is never caught and punished? For torturing a child!? sure, she gets run out of school to the delight of everyone, but really, that's the kind of justice a 5-year-old expects.
posted
Telp, it took me a while to get into the series, because I was expecting something like LotR, I guess. It's way more lighthearted and less serious and real than that.
The plot twists and stuff don't get me excited, since they feel too contrived, though I can see that others are having great fun with them. What I love is the clever inventiveness, the humor, and just the sheer imaginative playfulness of it all.
It's not real, though, in the way that Tolkien is real, you know? Tolkien is about life, to me, with all its struggle, depth, beauty and reality. Harry Potter for me is just for fun. Given that, I do think it's great fun. I hope you enjoy it, too.
After book six I felt a deep need to read book seven. Like, Now. The idea that we have to wait maybe two years or more for book seven is intolerable. I'm trying not to think about it until then. Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Just a thought: I was watching Buffy the other night, and I got to the episode where Xander brings Willow back by telling her he loves her. And I was thinking, does anyone else think that that is sort of whats going to happen with Harry and Voldemort? All we hear throughout the books is how Harry's greatest power is his ability to love, and that would make sense. In reality, Harry cant beat Voldemort in a duel or fight, so that could be how it happens. It also redeems Voldemort which I think some people are looking forward too. I dont know it just seems like an interesting thought.
Posts: 457 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just finished watching first, second, and third Harry Potter movies.
And now, I really dislike Chris Columbus. The first and second movies REALLY suck. His directing style is all so sickly sweet and he does not understand the idea of pacing. I was about to pull my hair out these movies dragged on so much. And the characters talked sooooo.....slowly....and didn't seem like real people. Maybe that's because most of them were little kids, but I bet it's just how Columbus directs. The music didn't move me at all either.
But... movie three was AWESOME! THAT was a real Harry Potter movie. I love the new Dumbledore. Everyone's acting was so much better and more believable. The music too was better and properly reflected what was going on.
And, wow, the Weasly twins are really cute now! So is Malfoy.
I'm going to try and see Goblet of Fire today. Cheers!
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
yeah, I hate the HP 1 and 2 movies. PoA was a good movie. It wasn't great, and it paled in comparison to the book, but it was good. Saw it twice and wasn't bored either time. Although I was embarrassed for Daniel Radcliff during that scene where he started "crying".
Posts: 866 | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I just saw PoA too, preparing to see Goblet of Fire tonight! I loved the books from the start, but I think it's because I only read the first one thinking they were "children's" books, and I'd better read them before I let my kids read them. I was delighted with her humor and imagination and the whole world she created. I guess if I'd been expecting an epic like LotR, I'd be disappointed too. But I found I really loved the whole series.
5 was painful the first reading, but I enjoyed it more when I re-read it. 3 was really good, I liked it so much because Harry finally had a DADA teacher that actually helped him! But so far 6 has been my favorite, since it resolved and explained so many things that were weird or made no sense in the first 5. Can't wait for book 7.
Posts: 1522 | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
I don't really see HP as being completely lighthearted. It starts that way, because it's through the perspective of a kid who is practically abused and sees it as a faery land to escape into so as not to deal with his skeazy relatives. But the older he gets the more he realises that good and bad are not simple black and white things, that even some of the good guys, or the ones that think they are good guys do horrible things and that the magical world has some of the same prejudices and pain of the real world. So it gets darker and scarier in places and sexuality begins to creep in as well. So I think the books are quite realistic for books about a magical world, at least Harry's feelings are the sort anyone can experience having lost parents or having had that feeling of not quite belonging.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote: And, wow, the Weasly twins are really cute now! So is Malfoy.
Just wait until you see all three in Goblet. One of the twins has really great hair (you tell them apart because of that). Malfoy, who didn't have my attention before, sure does now. Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Telperion the Silver: Finished with Book Four: Goblet of Fire... Eager to see the new movie too.
I went to see the latest movie this evening with the family. It was rather disappointing. If you hadn't already read the book, you would be hard pressed to figure out what was going on. We had all read the book, and still had a hard time figuring this movie out. Character development and motivation were nonexistent. There were characters (like Rita Skeeter) who were so trimmed down that my son commented that he couldn't figure out why they were even in the movie. I just couldn't work myself up to caring about anyone or anything in this movie.
Posts: 10397 | Registered: Jun 2005
| IP: Logged |
I LOVED it!!! I cried so hard at the end. Wow. The pacing was perfect throughout the movie.
When Weasly family and friends all got to the World Cup my heart was swelling in my chest with glee! SO awesome!! I really felt what they might have felt with that huge event. And you begin to see too how powerful the circle Harry moves around in... a circle that has never really been shown it's importance. When they get to the Top Box...and you see all the High Nobles and the Minister and other officials of the Magic Government. And Lord Malfoy is there too. Mmm...
My lord... and I can say this because they are of age... the twins are hot. Yum. And Cedric? Holy moly... *drools*
The changes they made from the book were small and totally understandable. Well... except for that whole dragon breaking out and Harry and it fighting on the castle. That was a little cheesy. I loved all the the little banter and little details of human behavior that they put in... that really, and finally, made the characters feel real.
Again, I think all the changes were super. The part where Professor McGonagal tries to teach dance... fun stuff!
I can understand why they took out Winky and introduced Barty jr. earlier. Made everything nice and smooth. I would have liked to see more of Hagrid and his crush and the whole Giant thing.
The biggest thing I think that's lacking is the Parting of the Ways, when Dumbledore breaks away from the Minister of Magic. This I feel is key to the future plot, and a HUGE event... Dumbledore is the tower of goodness and here he is breaking away from the Government because said Governmet is blind to the threat. When finally the whole secret stuff is brought to light and the authorities that can actually do something to stop the coming Dark War wake up.... or should I say, Harry Potter wakes up and realizes what is really going on.
Oh, and Snape is my hero. Long live Snape!! The secret hero...
When Harry sees his Mom and Dad and Cedric.. *sobs* and when he jumps back with Cedric's body and people start freaking out and his Dad is screaming... *more sobbing*
I love this movie. Must read the next book!!!
Oh.. another thing I was sad they left out was how Mrs. Weasly kinda becomes like Harry's new Mom. I really liked that from the books.
[ November 27, 2005, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Telperion the Silver ]
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
His directing style is all so sickly sweet and he does not understand the idea of pacing. I was about to pull my hair out these movies dragged on so much. And the characters talked sooooo.....slowly....and didn't seem like real people. Maybe that's because most of them were little kids, but I bet it's just how Columbus directs. The music didn't move me at all either.![[Blushing]](graemlins/blushing.gif)
![[Party]](graemlins/party.gif)
