I have done more reading the past two weeks than I have in the past few months...maybe not playing an MMO is a good thing. First off, I finally got around to reading Breezewood: Birth of a Hero by Mike. Much to his surprise, I actually enjoyed it. It was obvious that it was a self-published, first novel set in the Dungeons and Dragons world...but none of those three things are bad. I could go into detail about what was wrong and right with the book, but I think it is more telling that I finished it in two sittings. I normally get far too distracted by mundane things to finish off books in short order.
The other two were books 6 and 7 of the Harry Potter Series. With minor exception, I thoroughly enjoyed book 6. Even knowing most of the little secrets of the book from overhearing conversations, reading the web, and people simply telling my what went on, I still tore through it and enjoyed the experience. While I also enjoyed book 7, it felt rather forced. It bounced from being entirely too predictable to being insanely convoluted. I will break the post here incase I slip anything spoiler worthy and you don't want to know them.
I had two major issues with the book: Harry was suddenly smart, and the ending was weak. Harry, who spent the previous six books being totally mediocre in intelligence, suddenly is able to make tremendous leaps of insight. He exemplifies courage, chivalry, and boldness making him an ideal Gryffindor, but intelligence and wits were qualities that came from Hermione. If these books were real, Hermione would have been in Ravenclaw, and Harry and Ron would have failed out by book 4.
The ending...shudder. It was near perfect until after Snape died. The fight inside Hogwarts was far better than I would have imagined it would be. I had really hoped the final fight would have taken place then and there, but no, we had to have the scene in the Shrieking Shack about wands because it was the one thing other than Quidditch Harry has ever understood without Hermione's hand holding. I know, I know, "How else would we get Snape's Memories?" Well, had he not sprouted wings and flew away when being chased by Flitwick, McGonagall, and Pomfrey (I think it was her) it could have all happened there. Oh well, the memories were coolish, so moving on. It was still going strong until right after Neville killed Nagini. Had I stopped reading there I probably would have been happier with how it ended. The only thing of note that happens after that is Mrs. Weasley going all badass and killing Bellatrix.
The wand mechanics was lame and a waste of time. The wand chooses the wizard is as in depth as it should have ever gotten. It would have been much cooler if in the conversation with Ollivander, he confided to Harry that wands don't really do anything and it was really all about the wizard (much like it is with elves and goblins). Or maybe even let Ollivander wax intellectual about wands and Harry later 'discovers' that wands were useless. Then when big V and Harry are doing the circle they could have talked about something interresting, like maybe exposing to everyone about his history. As it was, it reminded me of the first time I was playing the boardgame 'Life' with one of my older sisters. There was so much back and forth "I tought it worked like this?" "uh no, it is like this" "well, I know this is like this" "Nope, I thought I mentioned that. It is like this" "Are you sure you are not just making up rules?" "You are just a sore loser" "Sore loser? I could be winning for as much as I understand the rules."
There was a lot left unsaid in the book some implied, some not. (Something else there might have been room for if J.K. dropped a lot the wand stuff...cough.) A couple of more things were answered on an interview at msnbc.com and there are a couple of more links on the bottom of that page that might be interresting. Still, a lot left unsaid, but she does mention a possible encyclopedia later on, which could go a long way in explaining the lack of info.
