[Blackwolf]

Greetings, fellow ChefElfers!

I see you have all been debating about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows whilst I was gone from here; well, being in on the Barnes and Noble Union Square premiere party was one doozy of an experience, I must tell you! I not only managed to be treated to a visit from Jim Dale, there was a lot of weird stuff going on! Actors portraying Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape and Hagrid hung out with the fans, hosted and judged a costume contest, and challenged some of those attending to a trivia challenge, too!

I myself had three encounters with big old Hagrid, during the second of which I kissed Norbert. On the mouth, mind you. Yes, I realize some of you are like, 'Ewwww!' for my even mentioning that, but remember, I wouldn't be Dragonmaster of the Grand High Istari if I didn't do challenging things with Dragons! Anyway, by the time we wrapped up, I didn't return to the ol' hovel until 2 o'clock inna morning; even now, I'm still recovering.

Anyway, I had a chance to read the book myself --- and no, I ain't telling you how it ends. I have, however, resolved to issue a press release three days from now, wherein I will --- again, without revealing the end, offer you mine own personal assessments re Harry Potter. Stay ye tun'd!

Master Blackwolf

[Bond]

Wow! What an experience! I wonder, did you manage to get some photos of the event?

[Chefelf]

I look greatly forward to it, Blackwolf! Jen is 100 pages from the end as we speak then she will fork the book over and it's my turn.

[Bond]

Well, I hope you enjoy it! It's a great (if dark) book, and I stayed up 'til 3 in the morning just to finish it. A fantastic read.

[Blackwolf]

Wow! What an experience! I wonder, did you manage to get some photos of the event?

Alas, no. I don't use a camera as much as I used to anymore; and digital photography per se has yet to be mastered by me Wizardly person. Indeed, I am seeking out the photos of me from the evening in question that were taken by the various local area newspapers; I can see I'll have to rely 'pon that expletive deleted Flicker.com, or whatever they call that thing.....

Meanwhile, I'm preparing to do Sterling Forest in two weeks, so be not surprised if you don't hear from me. And while I'm at it, I just thought I'd let you know, the 50th Anniversary World Santa Claus Congress begins today in Bakken --- the oldest amusement park in the world, located near Copenhagen, Denmark!

Master Blackwolf

[Bond]

Wow! Are you going?

[Storm]

When will it be permissable for me to start nitpicking the book?

[Bond]

The 12th of Never, perhaps?

[Storm]

Well, may as well start now...

Spoiler
Towards the end of the book, Neville pulls the Griffindor Sword out of the Sorting Hat, yet the goblin Griphook took the sword after escaping from Bellatrix's vault in Gringotts. How is that possible? Griphook did NOT take the fake sword either.

This post has been edited by Storm: 23 July 2007 - 06:05 PM

[Bond]

Spoiler

As Dumbledore said in COS, "Only a true Gryffindor could have pulled that out of the Hat."

This post has been edited by Bond: 23 July 2007 - 06:16 PM

[Storm]

Spoiler

That's ridiculous though. So it doesn't matter where the sword is actually stored, as long as you are a true Griffindor you can pull it out of the hat? Why does the hat possess this artifact? If Griphook's story is true, then the Goblins are the true owners of the sword. In fact, Griffindor may have even stolen the sword from the Goblins. I just don't see why that hat gets to claim the sword.

Another issue I have with this is that the trio spend months trying to figure out where the sword is. During this time, none of them mentioned that "all we would need to do is pull it out of the hat". They knew this fact from the Chamber of Secrets! Why wouldn't have any of them thought of it?

Problem #2: I find it unlikely that after 6 of his 7 Horcruxes had been destroyed, Voldemort would allow Nagini to be so vulnerable after "killing" Harry. There was no need for either Voldermort or Nagini to return to Hogwarts after "killing" Harry. The Death Eaters could have paraded his dead body around.

Problem #3: Voldemort's death. Apparently Voldemort dies because he casts Avada Kedavra and the elder wand makes the spell backfire on Voldemort since Harry was the true owner of the wand. Several minutes earlier, Voldemort used the Crucio curse on the "dead" Harry to make sure he was actually killed, yet it did nothing to Harry. Shouldn't the wand have caused the Crucio curse to backfire on Voldemort then?

After they build Voldemort up to be such a great villain, I cannot believe he was given such an unbelieavably lame death. It frustrates me that the only reason Harry wins and Voldemort loses is because of lucky coincidences. I was under the illusion from the Half-Blood Prince that Harry was going to have to learn how silently cast spells to defeat Voldemort (something which Snaped harped Harry on continuously in the HBP). I guess Rowling dropped that whole idea because she wanted to show that "You don't need to work hard to succeed, you only need to be lucky." Absolutely vomit inducing.

This post has been edited by Storm: 23 July 2007 - 07:03 PM

[Bond]

Spoiler

Well, then, what did you think of Snape's relationship with Lily?

[Storm]

Note: From now on, I am not posting any spoiler alerts. I'm under the assumption that if people come into this thread, they have read the book. Perhaps a mod could place a spoiler tag on the thread title.

I had no problem with the background information of Snape loving Lily. I think it was already hinted at in the previous book. In fact, I really enjoyed the entire chapter where Harry was able to view Snape's memories. The conversations between Dumbledore and Snape had an interesting dynamic to them.

Speaking of Snape though, another issue I had is that too many people died, and because there were so many people who died it was difficult to even care about their deaths. Some of them were just simply stupid, like Wormtail choking himself to death. I thought his life debt to Harry would be repaid in a more dramatic fashion. Fred Weasley dying...seriously, what was the point? And Lupin and Tonks also die with no explanation whatsoever. How can you give characters who have been in five of the books such a lame death?

[Jordan]

did that annoying girl die? the know it all?

[Bond]

Who, Hermione? No, she lives, marries Ron, and calls her two children Rose and Hugo. Ugh...