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Filled: That Harry Potter Void
Sep. 20th, 2011 10:36 amI finished the book around 3 am. I was so. nervous. Seriously, I can't remember the last book I read where my favorite characters were allowed to survive, so I was on pins and needles throughout. I mean... I think I have to go all the way back to Percy Jackson. (But does it really count if I didn't actually have a favorite character in that series?)
Anyway. I'm not giving anything away, including whether they survived, though I will say that I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending. - Not that it was weak or inconclusive at all; just too fast.
Review Of: The Warrior Heir, The Wizard Heir, & The Dragon Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
Endings are actually just the weak point of this series. Chima spends so much time building the story up that she doesn't really have long enough to resolve it in as much detail. I suppose that's to be expected with Teen Fiction, though. I'm so used to longer novels where it seems absolutely everything is fleshed out, usually to a fault. There were definitely points where I felt that the narrative was moving too fast to have the emotional impacts she was aiming for.
It's a fantastic series, though. -And ongoing, too. According to Chima's website, two more books have been approved.- I wish it was more widely known. A quick glance for any fandom revealed very little fic and even far less art. The books themselves won a couple of awards, though.
Would I recommend it? Most definitely, and highly at that. Not only for the characters, who are wonderfully flawed throughout, but also the desperate plot. Plots, more like, because there are several.
Also, because as a Harry Potter fan, it filled a void for me left by the Order of the Phoenix.
I was so incredibly disappointed with the Order's role in the 7th book - they did a radio show. Ooo! How daring. I had expected they would be doing more; that the secret of what exactly the Order was doing, especially as agonizingly hinted in Book 5, would be worth the anticipation. Of course, JKR never really gave us anything towards that; it was crushing to me. I'd expected the alliances built across the world in GOF would come to play as well, but they didn't. Especially at the end of HBP, I came to have high hopes for my favorite characters: I'd thought that Remus would become the leader of the Order and that Tonks would have a central role in it to shine as the young Auror. Instead, JKR just turned him coward and immediately incapacitated Tonks from the plot line, even to her eventual death. - If she'd still killed them after some important central leadership roles, even passingly mentioned, I may have actually not hated the book. But no. She ultimately invalidated everything they stood for, never once letting them have a true victory. Even Teddy repeated the very cycle she was supposedly ending.
So I've been looking for a long time for something like this series. I initially looked through fanfiction, and while I've certainly not done any sort of exhaustive search, I hadn't found the story I needed.
Finally, that wait is over: This was that story.
It's far from Harry Potter, to be sure. I mean... it's all about magic, and there's a character who reminds me of Kingsley Shacklebolt. But I think even the limitations and rules of magic in this story make more sense than HP. (Why not just run around screaming Avada Kedavra at your enemies? Why waste time with stuns and charms when there's no real limitation except that it's taboo?) Also, Chima actually delivered, despite her rushed tying up of loose ends. (It was a big plot: she's totally forgiven.) There's of course the fanfiction benefit there, as well: plenty of room for fic involving my 4 favorite characters, should there be any inclination. Something JKR also did brilliantly, though both probably unintentionally.
I don't mean to rag on Harry Potter so, because I'm still in love with those characters and the world, but JKR did disappoint me, and I finally feel a sense of resolution. It's like... the resolution of a cliff hanger that I've been on for years.
I did say in my last entry that I'm obsessive about my fiction. ;)
Anyway. I'd say to anyone to pick up these books and give them a chance. And particularly to any Harry Potter fans, if you were disappointed by the Order of the Phoenix's role, definitely give it some consideration.
Anyway. I'm not giving anything away, including whether they survived, though I will say that I wasn't entirely satisfied with the ending. - Not that it was weak or inconclusive at all; just too fast.
Endings are actually just the weak point of this series. Chima spends so much time building the story up that she doesn't really have long enough to resolve it in as much detail. I suppose that's to be expected with Teen Fiction, though. I'm so used to longer novels where it seems absolutely everything is fleshed out, usually to a fault. There were definitely points where I felt that the narrative was moving too fast to have the emotional impacts she was aiming for.
It's a fantastic series, though. -And ongoing, too. According to Chima's website, two more books have been approved.- I wish it was more widely known. A quick glance for any fandom revealed very little fic and even far less art. The books themselves won a couple of awards, though.
Would I recommend it? Most definitely, and highly at that. Not only for the characters, who are wonderfully flawed throughout, but also the desperate plot. Plots, more like, because there are several.
Also, because as a Harry Potter fan, it filled a void for me left by the Order of the Phoenix.
I was so incredibly disappointed with the Order's role in the 7th book - they did a radio show. Ooo! How daring. I had expected they would be doing more; that the secret of what exactly the Order was doing, especially as agonizingly hinted in Book 5, would be worth the anticipation. Of course, JKR never really gave us anything towards that; it was crushing to me. I'd expected the alliances built across the world in GOF would come to play as well, but they didn't. Especially at the end of HBP, I came to have high hopes for my favorite characters: I'd thought that Remus would become the leader of the Order and that Tonks would have a central role in it to shine as the young Auror. Instead, JKR just turned him coward and immediately incapacitated Tonks from the plot line, even to her eventual death. - If she'd still killed them after some important central leadership roles, even passingly mentioned, I may have actually not hated the book. But no. She ultimately invalidated everything they stood for, never once letting them have a true victory. Even Teddy repeated the very cycle she was supposedly ending.
So I've been looking for a long time for something like this series. I initially looked through fanfiction, and while I've certainly not done any sort of exhaustive search, I hadn't found the story I needed.
Finally, that wait is over: This was that story.
It's far from Harry Potter, to be sure. I mean... it's all about magic, and there's a character who reminds me of Kingsley Shacklebolt. But I think even the limitations and rules of magic in this story make more sense than HP. (Why not just run around screaming Avada Kedavra at your enemies? Why waste time with stuns and charms when there's no real limitation except that it's taboo?) Also, Chima actually delivered, despite her rushed tying up of loose ends. (It was a big plot: she's totally forgiven.) There's of course the fanfiction benefit there, as well: plenty of room for fic involving my 4 favorite characters, should there be any inclination. Something JKR also did brilliantly, though both probably unintentionally.
I don't mean to rag on Harry Potter so, because I'm still in love with those characters and the world, but JKR did disappoint me, and I finally feel a sense of resolution. It's like... the resolution of a cliff hanger that I've been on for years.
I did say in my last entry that I'm obsessive about my fiction. ;)
Anyway. I'd say to anyone to pick up these books and give them a chance. And particularly to any Harry Potter fans, if you were disappointed by the Order of the Phoenix's role, definitely give it some consideration.
