tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post543541232800520791..comments2023-08-18T04:37:47.001-04:00Comments on Byzantium's Shores: chronicling the misadventures of an overalls-clad hippie: Deathly HallowingKelly Sedingerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10704114189919711467noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-60698289719235967462007-08-08T21:51:00.000-04:002007-08-08T21:51:00.000-04:00Hi. I remembered to drop back in here. My problem ...Hi. I remembered to drop back in here. My problem is that I don't have a lot of time for blogging right now, so that topic struck me, and I ran with it while the steam lasted, but I couldn't drop in the little posts on other topics I might normally have done in the past.<BR/><BR/>Of course, I knew what you meant by the comment. My question is, what does my blogging about atheism have to do with whether or not I read fantasy? <A HREF="http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/entries/2006/10/16/an-answer-out-of-time/2123" REL="nofollow">I wrote a post about that last year</A>. I don't know if you recall. <BR/><BR/>By the way, thanks for reading.Call me Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704646008578216859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-89996851856273157792007-08-02T22:33:00.000-04:002007-08-02T22:33:00.000-04:00It's just a jape about the fact that lately you're...It's just a jape about the fact that lately you're blogging all atheism, all the time. That's all. (Not that I have a problem with the atheism stuff, mind you.)Kelly Sedingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10704114189919711467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-32296894413640190032007-08-02T22:28:00.000-04:002007-08-02T22:28:00.000-04:00If I even read any fantasy anymore? I'm not sure I...If I even read any fantasy anymore? I'm not sure I understand the comment.Call me Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704646008578216859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-57659550478550417722007-08-01T21:59:00.000-04:002007-08-01T21:59:00.000-04:001. The "master stroke" is not Harry vs. Voldy, but...1. The "master stroke" is not Harry vs. Voldy, but Harry vs. Voldy <I>in front of everybody else</I>. So often the final confrontation takes place in isolation -- Luke vs. Vader, Frodo and Gollum, Holmes and Moriarty, Darien and Rakoth. Here, everybody's watching. I loved that.<BR/><BR/>2. I disagree. I think the series has done pretty well at depicting Harry having more and more direct control over his abilities, while still showing that he didn't know everything yet. Harry's been less passive each time out, in my view.<BR/><BR/>3. I didn't really have any desire for Snape, but I think most expected him to have a much bigger moment than he did, which is why I liked it so much. And it fit, in that Snape's been Voldy's biggest mistake the whole way, and even at the end when Voldy still treats him as an afterthought it turns out that Snape was anything but. Anyway, what I was referring to here wasn't the manner of his death but the <I>actual moment at which he shuffles off the mortal coil</I> -- i.e., his desire to look into Lily's eyes one last time.<BR/><BR/>Reading your blog lately, I've been wondering if you even read any fantasy anymore!!Kelly Sedingerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10704114189919711467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338557.post-73324865052928397572007-08-01T21:47:00.000-04:002007-08-01T21:47:00.000-04:00Just finished it. I have to say I liked it. Just a...Just finished it. I have to say I liked it. Just a few comments on your comments:<BR/><BR/><I>:: I love that Rowling had it come down to Harry versus Voldemort, for all the marbles, in front of everybody. That was a masterstroke.</I><BR/><BR/>A master stroke? You mean there was someone, somewhere, who didn't completely expect it to end that way? I always have, right from the beginning of the first book, known it would end with the two of them face to face. That part I found entirely predictible.<BR/><BR/><I>:: There's a little too much deus ex machina in the front half of the book.</I><BR/><BR/>Just in the first half of this book? The entire series has been one big <I>deus ex machina</I> after another. Harry never actually acted until this book. The entire rest of the series he just rode the wave, and stuff happened around him he had no control over. The end of every book required a scene where Dumbledore explained to Harry WTF just happened, cause Harry didn't have a clue.<BR/><BR/><I>:: The single best thing in the book, and maybe the best moment in the entire series, is the moment of Severus Snape's death.</I><BR/><BR/>Actually, I was hoping for a somewhat more redemptive moment for Snape. Again, I wanted him to ::act:: not just have the story roll over him, and Harry realise after he was dead that he'd been a good guy all along.<BR/><BR/><I>But I do think Rowling missed an opportunity here. In the Epilogue, it would have been cool if another of the new students heading to Hogwarts had been Dudley's, yes?</I><BR/><BR/>Yes. Agree 100% here.<BR/><BR/>In addition, maybe because of my own blogging focus, I got a huge kick out of the early descriptions of the Deathly Hallows, and the back and forth between Hermione's stout skepticism, and Ron's flat out belief.Call me Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704646008578216859noreply@blogger.com