Harry Potter(1980 - )
Our fanfiction recommendation is a hilariously funny fic by the name of This Means War by Jeconais. The synopsis goes: When the Weasley Boys interfere in Ginny's relationship with Dean, they make the biggest mistake of their lives. The witch decides that revenge is in order, and her first point of call is a new boyfriend - Harry.
I can't say enough good things about this fic. It is a definite read. It is obviously Harry/Ginny so for you shippers out there this one's for you. Also it is rather short only 10 or so chapters so it is a fast read. It is based upon the premise of Wizarding email which I find hilariously funny. It can be located on Jeconais's author page here and it is also posted at PhoenixSong if you want to check it out there as well. Good luck and happy reading!
On a side note if you have read Anya's Naked Quidditch Match, which can be found at here, it is very similar in that it is also written in email format and it is so funny it will have you laughing all day. Check this one out also!
As Dan Radcliffe revealed in this interview with MTV, filming for Half-Blood Prince begins today! Stay with us in the coming months as we bring you the latest set reports and other filming news.
Half-Blood Prince will be in theaters November 21st, 2008.
In an upcoming exclusive interview for Dark Horizons, actor Jim Broadbent confirms not only that he has been cast as Horace Slughorn in the upcoming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," but also talked a little about his role in the fourth "Indiana Jones" as well. Here's an excerpt from the interview which took place last week at the Toronto Film Festival:
Question: You must have a comfortable life which is hard to give up unless something comes up you want to do.
Broadbent: Yeah I had basically three months in Lincolnshire in the summer and suddenly now I'm back on the rollercoaster again and I've got to finish off Indiana Jones next month and I've got a bit on Young Victoria and it's all been sort of stacking up and then I'm doing Harry Potter.
Question: Who are you?
Broadbent: Who am I? He's called Horace Slughorn. He's a retired teacher ofmagic who's drawn back out of retirement because he's got some secrets they need in the battle against the Deatheaters and he's quite star struck as a teacher and he's drawn back into the fold because he likes to notch up celebrity students, and he's drawn back by Harry.
Question: Is he a comic character?
Broadbent: He is quite a comic character, yes. I haven't started yet. I've had endless costume fittings and makeup and ...
Question: What kind of costumes?
Broadbent: Tweedy sort of things with a bit of padding. He's an older man, I'm aging up again.
Question: Have you read the book?
Broadbent: Yep, yep, yep. I haven't read them all but I've read mine.
Question: And who are you in Indiana Jones?
Broadbent: I'm Indiana's academic colleague at Yale. I'm his friend and colleague - there's a couple of my scenes to go.
Question: What will you do next?
Broadbent: After that? Harry Potter goes 'til May. And that's enough to begin with. I've got something of my own I'm hoping to get going and I'm not talking about ...."
Source: Dark Horizons
Warner Brothers has announced this evening that the Harry Potter series is the largest-grossing film franchise to date globally, surpassing Star Wars and and James Bond. Totaling $4.47 billion in ticket sales (with two films left to go, WB points out), several high-ups at Warner Brothers are quoted in the press release:
In making the announcement, Alan Horn [President & Chief Operating Officer] said, “It would be an understatement to say we are proud of the success of the Harry Potter films. We also want to congratulate all of the extraordinary actors, filmmakers and artists who have shared this remarkable cinematic journey with us.”
Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, said, “It is a thrill to see the Harry Potter franchise reach this unparalleled mark, and, with two movies yet to come, it is amazing to think what heights the franchise could reach by the end of the decade.
Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner Bros. Pictures President of International Distribution, added, “This worldwide box office record once again proves that the appeal of the Harry Potter movies knows no border, no age limit, and no language barrier. Each of the five films has captured the hearts and sparked the imagination of audiences everywhere.”
Of note, Variety has published an article comparing the Potter film franchise to the other big ones:
Bond, which dates back to 1962, has generated $4.44 billion worldwide and the "Star Wars" pics have pulled down $4.23 billion since the first release in 1977. None of the tallies account for inflation or rising ticket prices.
And domestically the "Star Wars" franchise still far outpaces the boy wizard. All told, the "Star Wars" pics have grossed $2.18 billion, while the "Harry Potter" franchise has grossed $1.41 billion. But then there are still two more "Potters" to go.
And all three have generated millions upon millions in downstream ancillary coin for their studios, once homevideo and TV revenue are added into the tallies.
Press release from Warner Brothers below
Press Release: WARNER BROS. PICTURES’ HARRY POTTER FILMS COMBINE TOBECOME THE BIGGEST FILM FRANCHISE IN HISTORY
Harry Potter Film Franchise Surpasses James Bond and Star Wars, With Two Films Yet to Come
BURBANK, CA, September 10, 2007 – With the success of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ Harry Potter films have now become, worldwide, the top-grossing motion picture franchise in history. The announcement was made today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer and Alan Horn, President & Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros.
The combined worldwide box office gross for the five Harry Potter films to date is in excess of $4.47 billion, surpassing the box office totals of all 22 James Bond films and the six “Star Wars” movies.
This impressive record comes even as “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is still going strong in theatres around the globe, and with two more highly anticipated Harry Potter films—“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”—still in the offing.
In addition to holding the franchise box office record, all five of the Harry Potter films have the distinction of being among the 20 top-grossing box office hits of all time.
In making the announcement, Alan Horn said, “It would be an understatement to say we are proud of the success of the Harry Potter films. We also want to congratulate all of the extraordinary actors, filmmakers and artists who have shared this remarkable cinematic journey with us.”
Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. Pictures President of Domestic Distribution, said, “It is a thrill to see the Harry Potter franchise reach this unparalleled mark, and, with two movies yet to come, it is amazing to think what heights the franchise could reach by the end of the decade.
Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, Warner Bros. Pictures President of International Distribution, added, “This worldwide box office record once again proves that the appeal of the Harry Potter movies knows no border, no age limit, and no language barrier. Each of the five films has captured the hearts and sparked the imagination of audiences everywhere.”
The next Harry Potter film, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” will open on November 21, 2008. The seventh and final film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” is planned for a 2010 release.
Source: Mugglenet
In two new interviews with Daniel Radcliffe, Dan discusses upcoming filming of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which starts shooting on Monday, September 17 and the soon to be released December Boys.
Our fic for this week is "Taking Control" by Fake A Smile. This is a work in progress but it is so fabulous that I have to recommend it. I normally don't like to start or recommend WIP but this one is a really thriller and the author is very dedicated to the fic and you can also be added to his yahoo groups page for information about updates. He is not just going to leave this fic unfinished.
"Taking Control" covers Harry's summer at the Dursleys after Sirius's death in the 5th book and also into his 6th year. The 6 & 7th books will be irrelevant in this fic. It follows its own path. What I love most about this fic is that Harry grows so much in this story and trains really hard for the upcoming battle with Voldemort. He realizes Dumbledore and the Order are not training him themselves so he trains and learns magic in secret. It also has a Harry/Ginny romance thrown in the story but it is gradual, not immediate like in some fics. It has some arguments between the trio so they are not the best of friends in this fic but the reasons for the arguments are valid and in my opinion it is just Harry standing up for himself and his beliefs while he doesn't do that in cannon.
It is definitely worth a read as it has Harry magically stronger and more developed than in cannon and he is training and fighting in battles with Death Eaters right under the Order's nose. It is funny watching Dumbledore be stuck in a corner. The fic can be found at SIYE here. I highly recommend you stop by and take a look!
The fifth Harry Potter movie has received numerous nominations for this year's Scream awards, honoring the newest and hottest in horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comic genres.
Order of the Phoenix is nominated under the following categories: the ultimate scream, best fantasy movie, fantasy hero (Daniel Radcliffe), most vile villain (Ralph Fiennes), best sequel, and best f/x. Beginning tomorrow, you can vote online until October 19th. The awards will be aired on Spike TV on October 23rd.
In other "Phoenix" news, the movie has become the highest grossing IMAX 3D live-action film release ever.
Earlier today, Daniel Radcliffe made an appearance on NBC's TODAY show. In this interview, Dan discusses his new movie December Boys and that filming for Half-Blood Prince will begin in "two weeks time." He also says that Equus coming to Broadway is a definite possibility and if it does come to the US next spring, he will reprise his role. You can watch this interview here.
Albus Dumbledore
1881 - 1996
What did you like best about Deathly Hallows Poll Results! It seems we have a clear cut winner with the reunion of Harry/Ginny receiving 65% of the vote!
Harry and Ginny reunite! - WINNER!!!
13 votes (65%)
Harry Lived
9 votes (45%)
Ron and Hermione kissed!
5 votes (25%)
Snape Died
2 votes (10%)
The British Board of Film Classification updated their website today with a list of some deleted scenes that are to be included on the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD.
Its fic recommendation time and I am about to recommend one of my all time favorite fanfictions. This is a classic that you will read over and over again, as I have done. It's called The Refiner's Fire & The Time of Destiny by Abraxan. It can be found here at SIYE on the author's page along with several post-Hogwarts additions called A Fox's Tale, A Very Harry Christmas, Beginnings, Hedwig's Tale, & On Second Thoughts. Though I would recommend reading the main story first otherwise these will not make sense. His fanfiction and author updates can also be found on his website here.
The Refiner's Fire is a sixth year fic that pics up with Harry's life at the Dursleys after the events of 5th year and the death of Sirius. He matures greatly in this chapter of his life and of course we have Voldemort trying to murder Harry every step of the way. His sixth year of Hogwarts is full of exciting adventures at every turn with a little H/G and R/H romance thrown in the mix.
Its sequel The Time of Destiny is really about Harry coming into his own and working with Dumbledore to finish and end the war. This fic covers both the summer before Harry's seventh year, and his entire last year at school. It is a great story about Harry coming into his own with the help of his friends and growing magically into a rival to Voldemort. Plus it includes two fantastic epilogues that really tie up the loose ends of the story.
I really hope you all stop by and read these fics. They are excellently done by a fabulous author that is now currently completing his own book. Please comment and let me know how you like them. Happy Reading! :)
EXCLUSIVE HOGWARTS TO HIT WEST END WITH WIZARD SHOW
By Sean Hamilton
Boy wizard Harry Potter is taking to the stage in a musical based on the smash-hit books.
Casting agents have been told to start looking for a young lad to play Potter in an all-singing, all-dancing version of J.K. Rowling's magic at Hogwarts. Producers are already working on script ideas and hope to bring the musical to London's West End next year.
They are looking for a big-name composer to write the music. A theatre insider said: "The musical has the potential to be huge. You are already off to a head start with the most popular book of recent times. Eveyone loves the characters and the mythical world Rowling has invented.
"The difficulty is condensing the seven books into a manageable show. They are exploring various ideas. One possibility is to tell the whole story. Another is to just take a single plot.
"The plan is for spectacular flying scenes, live Quidditch and big showdowns with Voldemort." Daniel Radcliffe, 18, starred in the Potter films.
J.K. ROWLING is expected to write a special Harry Potter book in aid of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day in 2009. She did spin-off books for Comic Relief in 2001, which raised £22million
Source: Sunday Mirror
Hey all bloggers! If you have yet to do it be sure to check out WizardRock.org for some great wizarding music. They list all the current popular wizarding music so that fans like us who just can't get enough of reading about Harry Potter can now listen to it all the time! The lyrics are great and all about what goes on in the wizarding world and Hogwarts. Check out some of my favorites below:
Harry and the Potters
The Whomping Willows
Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls
Most of the bands sell merchandise and CD's and are also listed on MySpace.
Villagers back Potter filming plan
By Benjamin Parkes
The producers of the Harry Potter movies met with the residents of Lacock on Wednesday night to negotiate with the locals.
Scenes from the first two Harry Potter blockbusters were filmed in the village and in the cloisters at Lacock Abbey.
In the most recent film, Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix, the cloisters courtyard is enhanced using computer animation and featured as a courtyard in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
But the filming crews want to return to Lacock with many of the main characters to capture a series of spooky night scenes for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.
Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the protagonist Potter, is set to be involved in the local filming.
Around 40 residents attended the meeting and all but one voted in favour of the filming taking place.
The movie-making teams now have permission to return for four days in October and film scenes between 5pm and 5am. High Street and Church Street will be closed and the bus stop outside the George Inn looks set to be relocated for the duration.
In return for the inconvenience, Warner Brothers has promised a sum of £30,000 to be paid to the village, which will be split between the Abbey owners National Trust, and Lacock Parish Council. Additionally, each resident will receive a sum of £200 to ease the inconvenience and there will be a secure parking service for locals.
National Trust property manager Graham Heard attended the meeting and called for a minute's silence before business got underway to mark the death of Lacock postmaster Michael Hands on Sunday. Nearby in Neston, filming for the BBC's new period drama Lark Rise to Candleford, starring Dawn French and Julia Sawalha has been hampered by the inclement weather.
A spokesperson for the BBC said: "No-one has been able to get down on to the set and we have had to change all the schedules. "The floods put us back somewhat and the weather has been terrible throughout the summer. "Then we were delayed further when foot and mouth disease broke out and we put a halt on filming again. "Things are improving and we hope to get going soon."
Source: Wiltshire Times
J.K. Rowling would be undertaking an Open Book Tour this fall in the United States, making three appearances for school children only at schools in Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York City. She will also be appearing at Carnegie Hall in New York on Friday, October 19 at 7pm, and as a reminder, tickets for this stop are available to the public via a special sweepstakes which will close in one week on August 31.
Check out the Deathly Hallows Fan Poll to your right and vote for your favorite moment of the book! Is is that Harry lived despite all the odds, Snape finally met his doom, Ron and Hermoine's surprise kiss in the heat of battle, or that our favorite couple Harry and Ginny reunite and live happily ever after!
During the Los Angeles premiere for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, SnitchSeeker taped an interview Dan Radcliffe gave with a television station on the red carpet in which the actor gives an eerily accurate guess for the ending of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows less than two weeks before the book's release.
There is a transcript of the interview below.
Quote:
Dan Radcliffe: (On the kissing scene with Katie Leung) … bigger deal than it possibly was. You know, it was fine. In many ways it was like any other scene.
Channel 18: You’re 17 years old. You’re going to play a 16-year-old in the next one?
Dan Radcliffe: Sixteen in the next movie, yeah.
Channel 18: Do you think it’s harder to believe?
Dan Radcliffe: (shakes head no) If you think about, for instance, Brokeback Mountain … at the beginning of it the character’s younger than Heath Ledger and at the end of it he’s older. So, you know, actors play younger roles than their age all the time.
Channel 18: J.K. Rowling has her ending for Harry Potter, what would you like to see happen to Harry?
Dan Radcliffe: I have no idea. You know, I think Harry will live. I didn’t always think that. I think he’ll live. I think maybe Snape will be the hero.
Source: SnitchSeeker
Daniel Radcliffe from the Harry Potter series will be doing publicity in the U.S., UK and Australia for his upcoming movie December Boys in the coming weeks and a list of scheduled events and interviews has appeared online.
Dan will be a guest on the Live with Regis & Kelly, Rachel Ray Show, the Tonight with Jay Leno show and the Jimmy Kimmel Live show in the U.S., to name a few. You can keep up-to-date with his appearances on shows in the States by going here as the lists of guest appearances are updated weekly.
There will be two premieres for the movie, September 9th in Melbourne at the Rivoli Cinemas in Camberwell and on September 11th at Hoyts, the Entertainment Quarter. Additional interviews with Dan and Australian media we appear shortly thereafter.
You can go here and here for the complete lists on the publicity tour for December Boys which includes media screening information.
The movie opens in the U.S. on September 14 in limited release, and nationwide on September 28. Additional release dates will be announced shortly.
Source: DanRadcliffe
Recently, we let you know that crime writer and neighbor of JK Rowling, Ian Rankin, speculated that JK was "writing her Edinburgh detective novel" in city cafes. In a new interview today with Mr. Rankin, he now states that: "This is a joke that got out of hand."
There were 600 people in the audience, and only one person didn't laugh.
Meanwhile Emma Schlesinger, speaking for Rowling's literary agent, Christopher Little called the rumours were "unfounded" and that: JK Rowling is taking a well-earned break following the English language publication of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows and there are no firm plans as yet as to what her next book may be.
Since the original quote of Mr. Rankin has spread like wildfire over the web let us hope that this new information will put this matter to rest.
Source: HPANA
Author spotted in Edinburgh, Scotland, cafes working on next offering
Source: MSNBC
J.K. Rowling has been spotted at cafes in Scotland working on a detective novel, a British newspaper reported Saturday.
The Sunday Times newspaper quoted Ian Rankin, a fellow author and neighbor of Rowling’s, as saying the creator of the “Harry Potter” books is turning to crime fiction.
“My wife spotted her writing her Edinburgh criminal detective novel,” the newspaper, which was available late Saturday, quoted Rankin as telling a reporter at an Edinburgh literary festival.
“It is great that she has not abandoned writing or Edinburgh cafes,” said Rankin, who is known for his own police novels set in the historic Scottish city.
Rowling famously wrote initial drafts of the Potter story in the Scottish city’s cafes. Back then, she was a struggling single mother who wrote in cafes to save on the heating bill at home.
Now she’s Britain’s richest woman — worth $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine — and her seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide.
In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Rowling said she believed she was unlikely to repeat the success of the Potter series, but confirmed she had plans to work on new books.
“I’ll do exactly what I did with Harry — I’ll write what I really want to write,” Rowling said.
The office of Rowling’s literary agent, Christopher Little, was not immediately available to comment late Saturday.
With Pottermania slowing down a bit now that we've got the one-two punch of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows behind us, we have a new audio interview with director David Yates that took place during the production of Order of the Phoenix.
Yates discusses the process, feeling frantic at that stage of filming, advantages of joining a franchise, the enjoyment of the experience, working with the cast and contributing to the series
According to a posting on actress Emma Watson’s website, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been nominated at a new National Movie Award in the UK in the category of “Best Family Movie.” Emma has also been nominated for her role as Hermione Granger in “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.” The website says these new awards will be shown on UK channel ITV September 29, and the winners are chosen via a nationwide poll with voting forms to be “available in every cinema outlet throughout the UK, and published in national newspapers, magazines, and online.” We are trying to obtain more information about these new awards and will update when we can. Congratulations to the whole Order of the Phoenix team!
We are in the middle of continuous layout and design updates. Thanks for coming back!
For all Harry Potter fans you now have a chance to purchase hundreds of pictures taken on the set of the movies. British company Comprints, in coordination with Warner Brothers, is offering pictures, known as 'Unit Photography' will be available via http://www.movieprints.co.uk/ as well as on-line via Amazon and Waterstone's. Prices start at £5.00 for prints and £40.00 for canvases.
On May 30th, 2007, Warner Brothers and Universal held a joint announcement revealing plans for a Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Florida. Use the link below for more information!
Hi All! This is the kickoff of my fanfiction recommendation list where once or twice a week I will post my favorite fanfics that I have recently read and would definitely recommend you give them a read or two.
I am going to start off by recommending Melindaleo’s The Seventh Horcrux. Melindaleo is an excellent author and this fic has been recently passed around the web as the fake Deathly Hallows. It is that good!!! She starts off the fic right after Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ends and goes right into a seventh year fic. It's got all the action, adventure, & drama you expect from a good harry potter book with a little romance and angst thrown in to spice things up. I don't want to give too much away but sufficient to say her characters are in line with cannon and her writing style is similar to JK Rowling. In fact some of the similarities between her fic and the seventh book are eerily similar. If this had been the actual Deathly Hallows you would not have been disappointed in the least. Her completed work can be found at her site where she also has numerous one-shots and a great 6th & 7th year fanfic that are certainly worth a read. She is also posted at SIYE and Phoenixsong. If you have already read The Seventh Horcrux and would like to chat about it in detail PotterFicWeekly has recently started breaking down Melindaleo's The Seventh Horcrux and discussing it in depth chapter by chapter on their site. If you have never read fanfiction before this would be a great place to start, the writing is superb and the story couldn't be better. Till next time - Finite Incantatem!
Rowena Ravenclaw is the new Wizard of the Month at JKRowling.com
Medieval (precise dates unknown)
One of the four famous Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Rowena Ravenclaw was the most brilliant witch of her time, though legend has it that a broken heart - cause unknown - contributed to her early demise.
Her image shows her wearing her diadem (tiara).
The below article is an interesting look at some of the reasons why J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series has proved so popular with both children and adults. I think you will find it a good read. Enjoy!
The Secret Behind Harry Potter's Popularity
By Eoghann Irving
Many articles have been written on the subject of Harry Potter and his remarkable appeal to the mass market, but that's not going to stop me putting in my five cents on the subject.
I came to Harry Potter late myself, having dismissed the books as something for children for several years. It was a silly dismissal on my part since I can name several children's books that I still happily read. However, a couple of years ago the staggering media coverage of the movies forced me to read the books to see what all the fuss was about. Since then, like most everyone else, I have been captivated.
I have read all of the Harry Potter books in order, watched the movies and read many articles about various aspects of both Harry and J.K. Rowling and I believe that I have identified two key elements in the success of Harry Potter. I make no claims that these are the only elements, but I believe they are central to its appeal to both children and adults.
GROWING UP ALONG WITH THE READER
One obvious feature of the Harry Potter novels is that Harry ages. With each book, a year goes by. While this is not unique to Harry Potter, it is unusual for a writer to stick with a single feature character over so many years. Particularly when those years encompass the key ages of ten through seventeen.
As a result of this, and the fact that the books have come out over an approximately nine year period (most likely ten by the time the final book is published), the children who read the Harry Potter and the Sorceror's/Philosopher's Stone have effectively grown up with Harry Potter.This reflection of Harry's growth towards adulthood conveniently mirrors the same growth that Rowling's core audience was experiencing. It also has the side benefit of attracting the interest of adults, many of whom became aware of the books through their children but discovered something with a little more depth than the average children's tale.
So the increasing sophistication helped Harry Potter capture an ever larger audience, but what was it that appealed to them in the first place?
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARCHETYPES
The Harry Potter books are packed full of archetypes. From the Dursely's, a family that will be very familiar to anyone who has read the works of Roald Dahl, to Lord Voldemort (Tolkien anyone?), to the boarding school environment (a setting used in many older British children's books) to the magical creatures which inhabit Harry Potter's world.
Now, it's important to be clear on this point. I am not suggesting plagiarism. Those allegations have been made and in each case, clearly showed to be false. No I am talking here about archetypes:
"the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype."Like all writers (like everyone), J K Rowling has been influenced by her own experiences, by what she has seen and by what she has read. In creating Harry Potter she has called on much of that and made use of (knowingly or unknowingly) many archetypes from both fantasy and children's literature. Archetypes are present to some degree in almost all fiction and used well can create extremely satisfying stories.
They also tend to create stories that have a mass appeal, because archetypes are things that we are all familiar with to some degree and humans by nature (whether they will admit it or not) like the familiar. Don't believe me? Look at one of the most popular movie series of all time.
Star Wars was heavily influenced by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with A Thousand Faces which maps out the common underlying structure of myths using archetypes. It is the use of that very structure which allowed Star Wars to break out from the sci-fi niche and become a cultural phenomenon. The use of archetypes made the alien situation less threatening to audiences.Make sure you sign up for a chance to get your Book signed come this October!..
from Scholastic.com
" J.K. Rowling is coming to the United States! She will be visiting schools in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and New York City to chat with children, and also be visit New York City's historical Carnegie Hall for a special event.
1,000 lucky fans will win the grand prize: tickets to that very special New York City event with J.K Rowling in Carnegie Hall!
For more information, check out the press release."
Good luck Everyone!
JK Rowling did it again!!! I absolutely loved Deathly Hallows from the start at Pivet Drive with the Harry Potter body doubles (poor Hedwig...sacrificed for the greater good) to the horcrux hunt ending with the epic Battle of Hogwarts where the Voldemort/Harry showdown took place. The book actually screamed action, action, action! I thought the twist of the Deathly Hallows in book 7 was interesting and how nobody predicted that in the end it would come down to the elder wand. JK Rowling really threw us for a twist in this book introducing these objects into the fray and the fact that Harry had a deathly hallow in his invisibility cloak since book 1 shows you how well out she planned the story from day 1.
It wasn't a huge shock to me to discover the seventh horcrux was Harry himself. The fact that Harry was a horcrux was heavily predicted (can someone say Melindaleo's "The Seventh Horcrux") and I feel it made sense considering how Harry lived as a baby and his ability to see occasionally through Voldemort and Nagini's eyes and speak Parseltongue. I loved the scene were he was walked to his death with his ghost family by his side and was prepared to give it all up to save others. The resulting battle afterwards where he revealed he was truly alive and not dead was one of the best moments in the book, in my opinion. I loved the final scene that followed where he outsmarted Voldemort and ended the war. Later, in the headmaster's office he shows how truly noble he is by separating the deathly hallows so no other evil could find and use them.
The realization of Snape being in love with Lily and actually good really shocks you to your core. I think in the end he really got what he deserved and I was glad she closed the book with his death. Even though he was on the side of the light and working for Dumbledore I believe his death was warranted on the fact of all the evil acts he committed in his lifetime fighting for both sides. On thing that does irk me is that Jo allowed the Malfoy family to once again get away with murder literally. I would have at least like to have heard that Malfoy Sr. was put in prison or his fortune taken away. It pains me to think that Harry has to put up with that family in the future. If there was ever a sequel I could totally see Lucius being the next Dark Lord. I bet that would be a fun fanfic to write!
On another note, I am glad that most of the Weasley family survived only suffering minor losses with the death of Fred and the loss of George's ear. With such a huge family I was sure Jo was going to off more of them. The loss of both Tonks and Lupin though is really unnecessary I feel. I know in her interview on the Today show she said she wanted to leave behind an orphan similar to how Harry was orphaned in the the first war but we didn't even see how they died in some noble fight she just shows them dead. As far as Mad-Eye Moody's death we aren't glad to see him go but we always knew he would go down fighting.
Finally, I love how the trio stuck together and went off on their horcrux hunt. As much as I would have loved to see more of Ginny in this book it makes sense that it was the three all the way through to the end - they are the foundation of the series. On the other hand, I would have liked to see more of Ginny during the book but it is enough that Harry mentions and thinks of her lovingly and as long as I get my fluffy ending, per the epilogue, I am happy.
Well guys & gals, here are my initial thoughts of the book. Please let me know what you think and feel free to comment with your own opinions of Deathly Hallows. Finite Incantatem!
Hey all! Check out this amazing review by Stephen King of the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling. I think it does the series justice as only a writer of Stephen King's skill and talent can due. He understand more than most the obstacles facing writers today and gives Jo plenty of complements in his review and talks about what the series means to fans of all ages today and going forward.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20044270_20044274_20050689,00.html
