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So I gather some of you are reading it now... I've ordered it, in the same bookstore that was carrying a newspaper that called it a flop in its review So what do you guys / gals think?

Remember, the poll options are in comparison to JKR's usual quality.

And this is a no spoilers thread.

I haven't read the whole thing yet, so I can't say.

First to vote; Excellent! Although I was wondering what the whole point of Harry going to school is, since he learns most of the neat stuff outside of class ...

Finished it on the same day it was released. It was very good but it feels a little bit rushed. Too many new characters got crammed inside....

Who voted it was bad? What was the reason?

I'm willing to be dimes to drachmae that the person who voted "Just plain bad" just voted thusly because they don't like the series in general and haven't even picked up the fifth book, much less read it and found it wanting. After all, it was released yesterday and no one who's been a big enough fan to get it on the first day and read it that same day is going to seriously poo poo it.

Yeah, you're probably right, Gil...

generator_g1, how do you read the damn thing in one day? You must do a reading wpm count for yourself someday And I thought I was fast

And there I was thinking the reviewer for the newspaper trashed the book because he was forced to read it in one day and had to take it on the book

I read it in just under 11 hours. Honestly I should've waited, now it will be ages till the next one!

*blanches and gibbers*

11 hours???

I'd be done with it if my brother and sister stopped acting like asses and let me read it (they just hold on to the book and taunt me). From what I've read, it's a lot different from the first two, but it's of a great quality. I like the room that they practice the illegal class in, though

generator_g1 wrote:Who voted it was bad? What was the reason?

Probably didn't like the fact that there was no..."no comment" option.~Jason

Hello? Vorlon1701? This is the fifth book in the series. Are you reading the right book?

not

Crown wrote:I read it in just under 11 hours. Honestly I should've waited, now it will be ages till the next one!

And I thought I was a fast reader
Roughly 14 for me, split over today and yesterday. And while I couldn't agree more on the 'ages til the next one' bit, I don't think I could have done otherwise. Hell, it took some serious effort to not just read the night away and finish it in one go...

Needless to say, I thought it was brilliant, and it could indeed have been longer.

The really tough question is: will I live to see the next Harry Potter come out?

Dahak wrote:The really tough question is: will I live to see the next Harry Potter come out?

If you jinxed it with this you're going to be really really sorry

*puts Dahak on the list*

JodoForce wrote:COULD HAVE BEEN LONGER? THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHILDRENS' BOOKS!

Not anymore. They're books for teenagers now. Rowling expected the readers to age right along with the main characters, remember?
So the target group for book 5 would be 14-16 year olds, which should easily cope with it.

JodoForce wrote:COULD HAVE BEEN LONGER? THESE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE CHILDRENS' BOOKS!

Sure it could've--she hasn't broken the 900-page marker yet. Duh. She came close this time, but not close enough. Ah, well--maybe book six...

Besides, what should it matter? She's telling her story, in her way--that's what makes these books so good. Why be limited by a stereotypical view that children's/young adult's book need to be short? Obviously she's done alright with them.

Plus, to trim your story in length because the popular consensus says that's what you're supposed to do for your target audience is just like musicians who purposefully write songs that are between three and four minutes long, so they end up on the radio. If your song ends up being seven minutes long and, to you, is perfect as it is, should you chop it in half so you might get more people interested in it, at the expense of destroying what you just created? No. Same thing with J.K. Rowling's books.

I haven't read it yet, but I will eventually, although I'm unlikely to shell out any money for it(probably get it as a gift).

As for length...if it doesn't drag, length is fine, as long as it's not some 1000-page monstrosity with 300-400 pages of real plot(coughjordancough).

HemlockGrey wrote:I haven't read it yet, but I will eventually, although I'm unlikely to shell out any money for it(probably get it as a gift).

As for length...if it doesn't drag, length is fine, as long as it's not some 1000-page monstrosity with 300-400 pages of real plot(coughjordancough).

No, it certainly doesn't drag. Hence people tearing through it in less than 12 hours.

Zaia wrote:

HemlockGrey wrote: As for length...if it doesn't drag, length is fine, as long as it's not some 1000-page monstrosity with 300-400 pages of real plot(coughjordancough).

No, it certainly doesn't drag. Hence people tearing through it in less than 12 hours.

Well those of us that can read that fast anyway.
Actually, to me it felt kinda like an 800-page book with about 950 pages worth of plot. The end, especially, felt kinda hurried. I would have wished for a more elaborate winddown.

Maybe you should stop before you give away too much to those still reading, Master Bruce

Thank you, Alfred. I shall heed your words.

...So read on, you sissies, I wanna talk about it (yes I know there's a thread over in OSF but that's mainly in-universe speculation)

EDITed fo typo removal. Nothing to see, move along.

Crown wrote:I read it in just under 11 hours. Honestly I should've waited, now it will be ages till the next one!

Eh, I read it in 8 hours, and that's including lunch and breaks...

I'm half way done with my second time
Oh, and I'm not skimming it, I actually read it

JodoForce wrote: generator_g1, how do you read the damn thing in one day? You must do a reading wpm count for yourself someday And I thought I was fast

I bought the book at around 12 noon at finished it at around 9 pm. my friends and I were having a Gundam exhibit at a local toy convention and I just started reading it at our exhibit table and before I knew it I was already reading the end just as the convention was drawing to a close...

AS TITLE POSTER I NOW DECLARE THIS THREAD TO BE OPEN TO SPOILERS

Maybe a mod can change the title for me

Well, I put my vote in, and it's 'below par'

If I were to give my impressions for the beginning, middle and end parts of the story separately, they would be 'average', 'excellent!' and 'just plain bad' respectively. The ending has a slapped on feel to it and has so many plotholes I can see my desk lamp through the back cover with 50 pages to go The vulnerability angle and shattering the illusion that certain people seem completely infallible is nice and all but that certain person must have been fed a Stupefying Pill to have acted as dumb as he did, and ditto for our protagonist.

And once and for all, why doesn't Harry just walk through the fire? The stick-your-head-into-the-fire trick is neat and all, but it was only useful for Sirius and completely counter-productive for Harry. At first it was just annoying, but at the end, if he'd just walked through the fire the whole disaster would have been averted Not to mention that mirror he had Why didn't he at least get stricken with grief at realizing that if he'd used the mirror the whole disaster would ALSO had been averted