I personally thought almost everything about OotP was a poor choice,
Yes! Thank you for being another person to agree with me!
It opened great, dark and grown-up, with interesting twists on minor characters and the awesome scene with Mrs. Weasley and the boggart.
And then... we went back to school. Where we were an angsty teenager. And Sirius' character development took a turn that contradicted his behavior in books three and four. And then he died. To screw with Harry some more.
I dislike how the themes keep doubling back on themselves. Yes, we know Harry's the underdog and we know he doesn't have parents! You've told that story, and well done. Now show us the rest of the story--how he makes his own family with Sirius and becomes not-an-underdog! Nope. She killed off Sirius instead, to put Harry back where he started.
I also really disliked all the obvious death-of-a-main-character fake-outs. Too meta. Playing with the audience. "I told you I was going to kill one! Guess which! Nope! Not this one either!"
Ahem.
I once would have said that there's no way the trio is in danger, because that's just a Bad Choice, thematically and for the energy of the series. However, after Sirius' death, I'm not so sure. I had Lupin pegged as being killed off, and Sirius surviving.
Similarly, I used to be sure that Dumbledore was toast--by all the rules of high fantasy, it's the only choice--but now I'm not sure.
Yes! Thank you for being another person to agree with me!
It opened great, dark and grown-up, with interesting twists on minor characters and the awesome scene with Mrs. Weasley and the boggart.
And then... we went back to school. Where we were an angsty teenager. And Sirius' character development took a turn that contradicted his behavior in books three and four. And then he died. To screw with Harry some more.
I dislike how the themes keep doubling back on themselves. Yes, we know Harry's the underdog and we know he doesn't have parents! You've told that story, and well done. Now show us the rest of the story--how he makes his own family with Sirius and becomes not-an-underdog! Nope. She killed off Sirius instead, to put Harry back where he started.
I also really disliked all the obvious death-of-a-main-character fake-outs. Too meta. Playing with the audience. "I told you I was going to kill one! Guess which! Nope! Not this one either!"
Ahem.
I once would have said that there's no way the trio is in danger, because that's just a Bad Choice, thematically and for the energy of the series. However, after Sirius' death, I'm not so sure. I had Lupin pegged as being killed off, and Sirius surviving.
Similarly, I used to be sure that Dumbledore was toast--by all the rules of high fantasy, it's the only choice--but now I'm not sure.