I think who dies depends on how much JKR wants to redeem the darkness. there's poetry in the survival of the "wrong" people, i.e., Percy. I think Lupin's storyline is going to be utter heartbreak whether he lives or dies. That character's been done poorly by at every turn, and it's gotten very epic. I think there's some real narrative elegance to the possibility of Snape surviving, but I expect he won't and am just hoping for a good death. I love that character and whether he's good or evil, I just want it to make sense and have him not snivel in the end. I know the deaths in book 5 and 6 wrecked people, to the point that people I know were hestitant to start reading them because they knew what was coming. I sort of teased them about it, but I can feel that dread creeping into me with 7.
When I finally started reading the books (I was 20, a slow starter), I read one a day including the Manhattan phone book that is 4, and 5. When 6 came out I read it in 5 hours, so I think it's safe to say that I'm anxious for book 7 to come out. I'm just worried about it being an inappropriate ending. I think no matter what happens, there will be people upset, and there will be outrage. However, I also think the author knows her characters as well as her own children and she'll do them justice.
However, I did (and hold by this) think that the ending of 'Hannibal' (the book, not the monstrosity that was the movie) was the only way it could've ended.
For me I started when 4 came out, as my then parter had 4 delivered at midnight from UrbanFetch and said he wouldn't tlak to me until he was done reading it, and tossed me the first three. what's amusing is that he was never overfond of the deep sorts of companionships I always found in fiction, and it was right at the end, and it amuses me, that this of all things was the parting gift.
And yeah, her ability to do math aside, I do thnk JKR loves her characters, as evidenced by the backstories that keep emerging in the more recent books. People who don't care about their characters don't do this.
My roommate my sophomore year of college was a die-hard fan and one day they were playing Chamber of Secrets at our school's movie theatre. Since I'd dragged her to The Two Towers, she dragged me to Harry Potter and I was hooked. We were both reading book 5 at the same time ( I was re-reading it) and all you'd hear from our dorm from time to time was 'That HORRIBLE Delores Umbridge!'/
hillarious icon! And yeah, Umbridge is the worst worst worst. To the point that I can't bring myself to reread five. There's something about the nature of her cruelty that completely distresses me as perhaps nothing else in the series does.
She gets me nice and fired up and at this time of year (impending finals of DOOM), and keeps me from crawling under the covers and reading nothing more imposing than SkyMall.
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Date: 2006-05-04 12:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 12:23 pm (UTC)However, I did (and hold by this) think that the ending of 'Hannibal' (the book, not the monstrosity that was the movie) was the only way it could've ended.
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Date: 2006-05-04 12:27 pm (UTC)And yeah, her ability to do math aside, I do thnk JKR loves her characters, as evidenced by the backstories that keep emerging in the more recent books. People who don't care about their characters don't do this.
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Date: 2006-05-04 12:29 pm (UTC)We're teh geek.
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Date: 2006-05-04 12:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 12:33 pm (UTC)She definetly has a Napoleon complex though.