Favorite Harry Potter novel?

[HappyDayRiot]

^ Well, seeing as the SPEW stuff comes to precisely nothing at all other than giving Ron something to say to make Hermione kiss him, I'd have to agree with you on that one.

Voted Goblet of Fire as best book but not a fan of the film at all. The opening is just awful:

-Cedric Diggory enters by jumping out of a tree
-Harry's " I LOVE MAGIC!" line. Shameful
-The Quidditch World Cup - "Let the final commence!" "Gosh what a final!" Dreadful.
-Zero explanation of why the wands act as they do in the graveyard battle. It would have taken one line from Dumbledore, ONE LINE, just to mention what the hell Priori Incantatem means
-Also, Dumbledore grabs Harry by the neck and basically slams him against a wall. What!?

 

[CaptainCanada]

That the wizarding world hides itself away and mentally assaults those who happen to notice it is bad enough; to have Hermione be overtly political yet never once broach the subject drives me up the wall. Bless the filmmakers for ignoring it entirely!

Perhaps Hermione would prefer they stay hidden too. Wizards want their existence private, and they do the minimum to keep it that way.

 

[Gaith]

But what right do they have to assault nonmagical people, and what obligations do they have to the rest of the world? I don't think Hermione would answer "none" to either of those questions.

 

[coolghoul]

^ I think some of that topic was kinda raised in one of the books. Muggle Relations. But the magical folk due to their insularity just don't understand what people are talking about and they move on.

Re the Elf-welfare, I don't think this is something that could be solved in either the timeframe of the HP books or even within the confines of the Hogwarts and the 3-4 magical families that are focused on in the books. It's larger than that and it will take more dedication.

Also, the thing is more complicated - the elves are a different species. Some of what is seen in the books (the rest of the elves rejecting Hermione's ideas) is similar to the reaction of people who would be afraid of the major change that is being proposed. I think it's early stages as yet on getting Elf-Reform passed in the MoM.

I'm surprised that not more people are talking about Centaur integration or 'Save the Giants' tho'. The Elves get all the nice press cos they are cute!

 

[Crystalline Entity]

I voted Goblet of Fire, where the buildup of Voldemort as a truly great threat in the first three books is finally and terrifically realized at the end.

I'm torn about the last three books (or more accurately, 2 1/2). They have wonderful character elements and subplots, but for two years things basically stand still; in OOTP a whole year passes before Voldemort attempts to get the prophecy and we're stuck waiting for the rest of the Wizarding World to catch up to the obvious, whereas in HBP we don't see Voldemort in action at all!

The opening of DH is great, but everything from the attack on the wedding to the visit to Godric's Hollow is a waste. The less said about the whole Elder Wand thing the better, but I must admit, The Prince's Tale, The Forest Again, and Kings Cross are my favorite chapters in the whole series. It was obvious Rowling knew what she was building up to, and she didn't disappoint. It's just that, like the namesake of the penultimate chapter The Flaw in the Plan, it was a little rocky leading up to it.

 

[Gaith]

^ I think some of that topic was kinda raised in one of the books. Muggle Relations. But the magical folk due to their insularity just don't understand what people are talking about and they move on.

Was it? I don't recall any such discussion.

 

[coolghoul]

^ I think some of that topic was kinda raised in one of the books. Muggle Relations. But the magical folk due to their insularity just don't understand what people are talking about and they move on.

Was it? I don't recall any such discussion.

It is referenced indirectly in a in-passing sorta way. Don't recall what it was. Basically that the magic folk find the muggles weird - the good ones think of them as being harmlessly stupid (cos how can they survive without magic? 'Those humans are crazy' to quote Obelix from the Asterix comics). And the evil ones regard them as slightly above animals. In any case, muggles are thought of as beings to avoid rather than anything else.

 

[Gaith]

^^ There's numerous instances of wizarding people talking about Muggles, sure, but I don't recall any discussion of possibly revealing themselves, except to scare Prime Ministers about things they can do absolutely nothing about, har, har.

 

[CaptainCanada]

I'm surprised that not more people are talking about Centaur integration or 'Save the Giants' tho'. The Elves get all the nice press cos they are cute!

The Centaurs are isolated by their own choice; they have no interest in interacting with anybody else (indeed, a "Centaur Liason Office" has been existence for centuries, but has never once been used).

One of the things I like about Rowling's depiction of interspecies relations in HP is that it's not a zero sum game of mistrust; the centaurs, apart from Firenze, choose to live by themselves. Same with the Merpeople. In fact, both of those groups hate goblins so much that they asked to be classified as 'Beasts' rather than share the 'Beings' category with them.

One issue with regard to House Elves that I would really want some clarification on is exactly what the elves are. In CoS, they're described as only coming with really old manor houses and the like; and there are no 'wild' Elves, nor does Hermione in the course of her SPEW advocacy ever say they ever has been. So, were the Elves once free and then forced into this condition, or are they magical entities that sort of exist to fulfill that function (there's plenty of such creatures in fairy tales, etc.)? If it's the latter, then while there obviously needs to be cultural change in how they're treated, they may just be performing their raison d'etre.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Goblet of Fire.

A lot of people say the series matured and darkened with Prisoner of Azkaban and while that is true to some level, I still felt like Rowling kept things relatively safe. Which is odd because I see the film version in an entirely different light.

But with GoF, as mentioned before, the last 100 pages or so is just riveting. I was glued to the page and I finally understood the term "page turner" -- I couldn't put the book down. I mean, the death of Cedric is handled so casually and brutally it just took my breath away. I was stunned.

Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince are definitely the most needlessly bloated of the series, but even a bloated JK Rowling Harry Potter novel is still immensely entertaining and satisfying.

 

[Agenda]

I'm one of the few who really likes number two, as well as the movie that was based on it. Overall though, I think four was the best.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

-Harry's " I LOVE MAGIC!" line. Shameful

I have never understood why people have a problem with that line. There's nothing wrong with it.