I must say...I really enjoyed book two. It was a fun ride and had some nice twists in it. I still can't quite shake the Tolkien feel to it....the giant spiders, in particular. Even the fight scene with the snake felt like a combination of Eowyn's battle with the fell beast, as well as the first age worms. The encounter between Harry and Tom Riddle, though, was awesome. That was a great ending.
I quite liked the Moaning Myrtle scenes. Out of all of the ghosts in these books, she was the first that really felt like a ghost. I get why she's haunting Hogwarts...I don't really get that from the others, except perhaps for the Professor.
The only thing that really got under my skin was Dobby...he annoyed me to no end. And when Harry figured out that Lucius Malfoy put the diary in Ginny's transfiguration book? Yeah, I'm calling that bull. A kid (or anyone, really) who just went through everything he went through remembering such an inconsequential moment from ten months prior? Get real. I get that it makes a neat and tidy ending, but that's one of the moments that I took out my imaginary red editor's pen and slashed right through those lines.
I don't really have much more to say about the plot, other than it's quite strong. I absolutely adored all of the scenes with Ron's elderly owl. What an adorable little creature. And Professor Gilderoy was a whoot, and I loved that Hermione loved him. She's such a smart and savvy little girl, but not even she can resist a pair of baby blues.
The whole feud between Draco and Harry is laid on thicker than snow in Alaska, and I don't really understand why Snape would seem to encourage it. I still find Snape interesting, but I think Rowling rather dropped the ball a bit in terms of character development. Plot was obviously her primary focus...and it certainly benefitted from her efforts.
As for the 'What HP Girl Are You?' quiz, I got Luna Lovegood. I haven't seen her mentioned in the books yet so I really can't say if I feel there's anything to it, but I am a bit surprised by the three of you thinking that I'm like Hermione. She is much too enterprising, too studious, too prompt to be me.Now, off to book three!
Snape encourages the Draco/Malfoy feuding because he is the most unethical teacher in history. Clearly you have to actually be possessed by Voldemort or something to actually be fired from Hogwarts.
ReplyDeleteI must say your foray into the world of HP is making me quite a bit nostalgic - I haven't reread any of the books since book 7 came out, but I feel like it might be time to change that.
I'm glad your enjoying the books so far. Yes, Myrtle is an interesting one, and I like how she's portrayed in the movies. Honestly the Draco vs Potter thing seems like it was supposed to mostly be rivalry, like kids from opposing teams, but it's way amped up for that...he has no real reason to dislike the kid that heavily except for being in different houses and disliking his dad's politics...and he's a bully.
ReplyDeleteOh and I got Luna too and am not very Luna like. I think I'm more like Hermione and upon thinking on it your more like Ginny then Hermione or Luna. Ginny is a bit more quiet, naturally brilliant and doesn't work too much at it, is not prone to crying or emotional outbursts and she's a bit introverted with that whole diary/Tom Riddle thing...she feels misunderstood and ignored. You were alot like her when you were her age.