Short Story Companions

Next up from the archives, we have two books that are collections of short stories and act as companion books to popular series.

The Last Apprentice: The Spook's Tale: And Other Horrors Joseph Delaney

A nice slim volume to keep us happy (by which I mean scared) until the next Last Apprentice Book, Clash of the Demons, comes out (Which it has! Huzzah!)

The majority of this book is made up of three short stories. The first is the eponymous Spook's Tale, the longest of the three. It tells us of an adventure John Gregory had when he left home to become a priest. Along the way he met the Spook he would eventually train with and had to face a bone-snatching boggart and a witch.

Then comes Alice's story of what happened in Attack of the Fiend, when she goes to Pendle alone.

The third tells of how and why Grimalkin became the witch assassin and also offers reasons as to why she's willing to partner in Tom Ward's quest to rid the world of the fiend.

The last bit is filler-- a run down of the major villains we've seen so far and excerpts from the previous books that illustrate their villainry.

This is a great one for fans and the reader is left with some very big (but enigmatic) clues as to what will happen next in the series!

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Standard Edition J. K. Rowling

This is a collection of fairy tales from the world of Harry Potter. These are the tales that wizarding children grow up on. A copy of this was rather important during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

They contain all sorts of morals that you usually find in such things and are illustrated by Rowling herself. It doesn't add much to the Harry Potter story, not in the same way Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them did. (If you haven't read it, you should. You'll find out that there's much more to Crookshanks than meets the eye.) But, it is still enjoyable and super-fans will probably really like it. I know I did.

Half Blood Prince

There's been lots of talk on the new Harry Potter movie. I just want to say that I loved it and this paragraph from a review in the Shanghai Daily perfectly sums up why:

Previous installments played out in a supernatural bubble bearing little connection to our ordinary little muggle world. "Half-Blood Prince" brims with authentic people and honest interaction - hormonal teens bond with great humor and there's heartache that will resonate with anyone who remembers the pangs of first love.


Review found via Shanghaist

Nonfiction Monday

Here's a little nonfiction coming at you on a Monday evening...

Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died: Controversial Views from the #1 Fan Site Emerson Spratz and Ben Schoen

I was so bitterly disappointed by this book. I really enjoy Mugglenet.com and their previous effort, Mugglenet.Com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End. I was also hoping that this book would fill a void that exists in every hardcore fangirl (or fanboy). The series is long over and most of our friends have moved on with their lives and the ones who haven't, well, we've gone over everything over and over again and just keep having the same conversations. So, maybe this book would offer new ideas and fresh insights?

But, no.

Their arguments have a distinct lack of nuance. The series does contain quite a few complexities, but they're all glossed over. There are some big questions asked, but the arguments aren't there. Honestly, it reads like some of the comments on their website, ones written in chat speak by tweenybopper fans who think they're hardcore but don't know how to spell Hermione.

For example, in their debate on who's more helpful in Harry's quest, Ron or Hermione, Hermione gets credit for finding Nicholas Flamel in the library, but completely overlooks the fact that Harry found him first on the chocolate frogs card.

I could have done without such "debates" as "Would you rather shave Hagrid's back or give Voldemort a foot massage" or "Who would you rather make out with: Voldemort or a Dementor" and taken longer, more well-thought out arguments on the bigger questions. Instead, their arguments seem slap-dash and hasty.

Moreover, some of their views are just, well, despicable.

They spend much time bemoaning how little we find out about the future of the wizarding world. One of the things they harp on again and again is the role of other magical beings. They seem to feel disappointment that their role hasn't seemed to change, that the war didn't change enough. BUT they then argue that House Elf enslavement is ok. In debating whether or not S.P.E.W. was good for the house-elves, the fail to really discuss that it didn't work because Hermione was working for instead of with them, they instead argue it was bad because (and I quote, from page 109):

House-elves have carved out a cozy mutually beneficial existence for themselves, not altogether different from the relationship between dogs and their owners. Dogs provide unconditional love and loyalty, and their owners respond by providing them life's essentials. And so it is with the house-elves, who cook and clean for their owners and in return receive safety, food, and shelter. The house-elves are happy with this relationship and their place in society.

Before anyone points out that the authors argue both sides of every point, and that paragraph from one of their arguments, I quote from their verdict on the debate:

[Hermione] fails to appreciate the beauty in the relationship [house-elves] have with humans.

Given the two examples of house elves we see are Dobby, who is routinely forced to punish himself by odious owners, and Kreacher, who's former owners mount house-elf heads on their walls... I just can't stomach this and am, frankly, offended. Their views on goblins are no better.

Overall, a disappointment, and to put it bluntly, a waste of money.

roundup is over at In Need of Chocolate.

Surfing With Jennie

Ok, here are just a few internet goodies I discovered this weekend.

First off, the Harry Potter Musical. Seriously, block off 2 hours of your time and watch this full length musical that crams most of the Harry Potter series into one story. Parts are hilarious (lines, prat falls, and the fact that Ron is ALWAYS eating). There is some language, so I wouldn't recommend it for younger audiences, but it's well done. (I have the "Voldemort is Going Down" song in my head. The vocal/band balance is a bit off in the first few videos, but stick with it.

Also, I just noticed that the original cover for Neil Gaiman's The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is the same as the album art of Counting Crow's This Desert Life. Is this a revelation or did everyone else know this 10 years ago?


AND! For all you twitter-ers out there, did you know the entire cast (characters, not actors) of Mad Men is on twitter? Start following Peggy Olson, Ken Cosgrove, and of course Don Draper and everyone else. I think Sally Draper's feed is my favorite.

This is why I love Meg Cabot

So, I'm slowly but surely catching up on my blog reading. So, here's a real gem I've come across: Meg Cabot on grandmothers and smut, and the new Harry Potter posters.

My Heart Still Pines for Harry

So, Graphic Novel week isn't totally over-- I have a few more reviews to do. But, it's nonfiction Monday, so it's time for some nonfiction!

Do you remember the first time you read Harry Potter?

I do. I was going to tell you the story, but, well, it was really, really long. And probably boring to everyone who isn't me, so I deleted it.

As you are probably aware, I am a massive Harry Potter geek. Last Friday morning I was in a sad mood. To snap out of it, I made a pot of coffee and starting blasting wizard rock. I instantly felt better. I am the Queen of Harry Potter trivia on Facebook, and have read the books and seen the movies way too many times.

So, I was excited to read Harry, A History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon Melissa Anelli (webmistress of Leaky Cauldron.)

You have to love a book with phrases such as this: Bellatrix Lestrange, the Death Eater who made Lady Macbeth look like June Cleaver. (page 80)

This is a history of how Harry came to be and how he changed the world, and how a the rise of Harry and the rise of the Internet came together to create an unheard of fan response. Fan sites, conferences, a music genre and more fan fiction than any other story, and all for a series that was still being worked on.

With the exception of some good background journalism in the publication history of the series, This isn't a book to analyze the series, but rather to analyze the fans. Why did they gravitate towards it? Why did they form such a community? What are the facets of the community? Why did we go so insane? And just how delicate is that balance between fan love and copyright legal issues? (Very, very, very fine)

Did you know that Harry and The Potters didn't write the first wizard rock song? Nope. They might be the first wizard rock band, but the band that wrote the first wizard rock song? That would be Switchblade Kittens. (Their latest release, Rebel Princess, is all about books by Meg Cabot.)

An excellent book for the total Harry nerd. I am amazed at how much Harry really did change children's literature. Yes, I knew he got kids reading, I knew he kick-started fantasy back up. And while I knew that the length of the later novels opened the door for other longer novels to be published for kids, I didn't know that Sorcerer's Stone was twice as long as what publishers were looking for in those days. Now, it's a totally normal length.

Have your books ready, because I know that when Anelli would discuss a scene, I had to go reread it. My geeky heart was well-satisfied by this.

I leave you with this quotation:

He [Barry Cunningham, who acquired Sorcerer's Stone at Bloomsbury] knew what he wanted: books children hugged, books they loved, books that made them feel like the author was their best friend. Not the books that were prevalent at the time, "books dominated by 'issue,' or 'problems,' which were very popular with teachers and adults but I felt didn't have the sense of fantasy and adventure that children really responded to." (page 45)

(emphasis is all mine)

Nonfiction Monday round-up is over at L. L. Owens!

More Harry Potter

See, I post on Potter and then there's all this BIG POTTER NEWS!

First off, in case you missed it, the teaser trailer for Half Blood Prince is now out and circulating on the internets:



AND! Even more exciting is the release of Tales of Beedle the Bard which are the fairy tales that Rowling wrote for charity last year. Proceeds are going to charity AND the book is annotated by none other than Prof. Dumbledore.

I am seriously, dork-lisciously lusting after the Collector's Edition

And here's some more Potter love for you:

Listen to Potterwatch by The Basilisk in Your Pasta (how bad is it that I ALWAYS misread that as "The Basilisk in Your Pants?")

And... for some more video silliness

Mr Potter, I presume?

It's been over a year now, so maybe I should *finally* get around to reviewing

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

Because I'm sure I have something new to add to the discussion. However, I can't review this without some spoilers. I just can't, and it's my blog, so I don't have to. SUCKERS. Normally, I put my spoil-y bits on my spoiler blog but that is not the case today. You have been warned: see--



After reading it, I posted my initial thoughts here. And they still stay the same.

It was interesting, after reading Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince, I immediately picked up Sorcerer's Stone and worked my way back through the series, ending by rereading the most recent one. That was my plan for Book 7, but when I put it down shortly after dawn that Saturday morning, I was shattered. And I never reread this final book. Last week, I checked out the audio and last night I finished listening to it, but it's taken me this long before I could revisit it. I don't know why. There's something about Harry, and about this series, that grabbed me, and many readers, in a way other books haven't, and let's face it, I'm a total book dork, so I think it messed with my brain.

I'm still unsure of what to say about this book. I'm still struck by how funny it is. Even when I was crying, I was laughing. Always the tone of surprise...

Luckily, the Weekly Geeks provided many questions for me to answer about the book, so I don't have to craft my own review. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Alessandra asks: How did you like it? Was it very far from what you expected? And what did you think about the epilogue?

1. I loved it.
2. Yes and no.

Some things were exactly what I expected--Ron and Hermione would finally hook up, characters I loved would die, they would find all the Horcruxes, Harry himself was a Horcrux (even though I really, really, really wanted to be wrong on that one), Percy would come back, Snape really was good, RAB was Regulus, Voldemort would be defeated.

Some things weren't--the humor, I was surprised at some of the people she killed off (I mean really, HEDWIG?!), the whole Hallows thing, all the camping camping camping...

3. The Epilogue was... interesting. That really wasn't what I was expecting, I mean, there wasn't anything in it that surprised me, but I was thinking more of an Animal House type thing where it was be something along the lines of:

Harry Potter married Ginny and they had 3 kids with overly predictable and boring names. He became an auror and never returned to finish his last year of school.

Neville Longbottom became Professor of Herbology and married Hannah Abbot.

Luna Lovegood disappeared into the jungle and proved the existence of everything Hermione said wasn't real.

Draco Malfoy suffers from male pattern baldness.

I did want more information-- what jobs people had, what about everyone who didn't have kids, etc.

Jackie M asks: What were your thoughts on the revelations Snape revealed to Harry right before the last battle? What did you think of the "Deathly Hallows"?

I always knew Snape was good. (Seriously, before the book came out, I wore my Trust Snape shirt all the time.) I liked the revelations-- I mean, the After all this time? Always. Totally got me. Also, I think they explained things well as to his actions and motivations.

Now, I long suspected, but hoped against hope that Harry was a horcrux. As it became obvious during that part that he was, I just kept going "no! no! no!" I couldn't believe it! Luckily, it all worked out in the end.

The whole Deathly Hallows thing? I have to say, kinda lame. I'm not entirely sure they were necessary. But I do like when Harry finally makes that decision between Hallows and Horcruxes and turns his back on the hallows, which is something I didn't really grasp when I read it, but struck me more on the listen.

Bart's Bookshelf asks: How did the various character deaths affect your reading of the book?

I think only 1 death affected my reading, and that was Hedwig's. Don't get me wrong, everyone else affected me but Hedwig was the only that changed my reading. For those who aren't into Potter, Hedwig was Harry's owl, since the beginning, and she was mad at Harry for being cooped up in her cage and then caught a killing curse meant for him. All this happened within the first 15 minutes of my reading.

The quick death of such a long-standing, yet admittedly minor character, but one loved by Harry, set the tone for the rest of the book. I knew at that moment that this was going to be nothing short of a blood bath. I hadn't recovered yet when we found out that MadEye was gone. Due to the overwhelming emotions this brought out in me, I didn't cry much for the body count racked up "off screen." Where I felt sad for MadEye, Lupin, Tonks, etc, I didn't really cry for them. Colin, however got me. He was tiny even in death... man.

My one main unresolved question from the series though, my one burning question I never see addressed, is a character death question, and here it is:

DID LAVENDER BROWN SURVIVE?

Last we saw, she was chucked off a balcony into the foyer and is "twitching feebly". Greyback goes to eat her, but Hermione curses him away and then Trelawney chucks crystal balls at his head. Then the whole place is overrun by giant, man-eating spiders and we never see, nor hear anything about Lavender again. WAS SHE EATEN BY GIANT SPIDERS?

Because really, for Ron's ex-girlfriend to be eaten by spiders?

Bookchronicle asks: I am a long time Harry Potter disliker though I am attempting to amend that. Why do you find the series and particularly the final book appealing? W1.as it what you expected? Are you disappointed that it's the end of the Potter world?

If you don't like Potter, you don't like Potter. And you know what? THAT'S OK. I am a total fan girl geek, but if you have the boy wizard a fair shot and it wasn't your thing, THAT'S OK. Now, if you never even tried it, but are anti-Potter, I have no time for you, but if you tried it and don't like it? THAT'S OK. Not every book is for every reader, Potter included.

Now, the questions:

1. I don't know. I read the first book in one sitting. My boss told me to read it and loaned me her copy (this is back when I was working ILL for my college library, way before I became a children's librarian). I sat down to read a bit of it. Eventually, I had to go to the bathroom, but wanted to finish my chapter but then, I couldn't leave it there! I had to keep reading. I'm surprised my bladder didn't explode, because I held it for half the book. It's not the best writing, but the story is good, and Rowling makes you care about the characters, maybe not all of them, but some of them.

Anyway, I've read lots of articles on the appeal of Potter-- partly the Cinderella escapism, the blending of a school story with an apprenticeship story. It's oddly funny. I also think the characters had a lot to do with it, and not necessarily the main characters, but there is a whole slew of really great secondary characters. My favorites are Ginny and McGonagall. We don't see a lot of them, but when we do (especially Ginny in the later books when she gets a personality) there's something really there. Or the twins are fantastic. The scene where they drop out of school is priceless.

When follow dorks and I would play that "who's going to die" guessing game, my strongest feelings were for the minor characters.

3. I wouldn't say disappointed, she ended a story arc that was 7 books long. While I would welcome more, I'm not expecting it. I am however, sad. Just as sad as I was when I finished Narnia in 6th grade. Luckily, I'm a librarian, so I had other things to read to keep me going. And we still have movies to look forward to and the whole Potter-mania thing that won't die for quite some time yet.

And that's it for Harry. Let me know if you have more questions though-- I love to talk Potter.

It is done (safe to read)

I finished it. And it FUCKING KICKS ASS.

Click here for some initial thoughts. Spoilers abound.

Poetry Friday! Potter Edition!

OK, this isn't a poem, it's a song. By The Ramones. And, technically, we're down to 12.5 hours here on the East Coast. Woo!

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just get me to the airport put me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me on a plane
Hurry hurry hurry before I go insane
I can't control my fingers I can't control my brain
oh oh oh oh

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers I can't control my toes
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go I wanna be sedated
Nothin' to do no where to go-o-oh I wanna be sedated
Just put me in a wheelchair get me to the show
Hurry hurry hurry before I go loco
I can't control my fingers I can't control my toes
Oh no oh oh oh oh

Ba-ba-bam-ba ba-ba-ba-bam-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bam-ba ba-ba-ba-bam-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bam-ba ba-ba-ba-bam-ba I wanna be sedated
Ba-ba-bam-ba ba-ba-ba-bam-ba I wanna be sedated

And.... here are some book reviews to keep us entertained until later tonight.

Mapping the World of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Exploration of the Bestselling Fantasy Series of All Time ed. by Mercedes Lackey

I finished reading this yesterday morning while waiting for the nice people at Honda to fix my fuel door. This was actually quite good. I picked it up after my boss showed it to me and I read part of Sarah Zettel's essay "Hermione Granger and the Charge of Sexism". This is not a book of predictions, but rather well-thought out commentary on different aspects of Harry. If you can get your hands on a copy before tonight, check out Lackey's family's Harry Potter drinking game. Hysterical. It'll be outdated soon, so I wish I had read it earlier so I could have recommended it earlier. Ah well.

And... here's my review of the last volume of another popular series, which, um, Holy Cow, I read in October...

The End

When we last saw the Baudelaire orphans, they were trapped in a boat with the evil Count Olaf, drifting out to sea. They finally reach an island where other people can see through Olaf’s silly disguises and nefarious (a word here which means overly scheming and really just not very nice at all) ways. But are they safe? Does isolation and conformity lead to safety? This bittersweet end to the popular A Series of Unfortunate Events doesn’t answer all of our questions, but it answers enough and Snicket tells us which questions he will not answer, and why.

Many people have complained that the end is inconclusive, and not necessarily happy and that Snicket leaves too many threads unfinished but...

Would we really have been happy with it any other way? If it wrapped up nicely and succinctly, would it still have been A Series of Unfortunate Events? No. We were told from the beginning not to expect a happy ending and Snicket kept his promise. But it's not a sad ending. And we don't know how the all the threads played out because... well, in life, you know what happens to you, and you know what happens to some other people, but you don't know what happens to everyone.

It didn't answer all my questions and in some ways left me very disappointed but it was the perfect way to end this series and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Harry Potter Meme

Kelly's telling us we all get to play. Yay! I like memes better when everyone plays-- where tagging is fun, sometimes it seems like a popularity contest and kids get left out.

Sorry, there have been hordes of kids in today with clique-y issues. Lots of kids feeling left out. I don't want bloggers to feel the same...

Anyway...


1. Butterbeer or pumpkin juice?
Butterbeer. I love butter. I love beer. I'm not sure how the two go together, but I imagine something sweet and creamy, almost like eggnog, but not as thick... and not spicy, but you know what I mean? Maybe?

2. What House would you most likely (or want to) be in in Hogwarts?
Don't we all want to be Gryffindor? I'd like to say that I'd be a Ravenclaw.

3. If you were an animagus, what animal would you turn into?
See, do you get to pick anigmagus animals, or is it something linked to you that you have no control over, like your Patronus? If I had no control, the animal I most resemble is a slug. If I get to pick, I want to be a... lion.

4. What character do you empathize with, or resemble best?
Hermione, but I wish I was Ginny.

5. What position do you play at Quidditch?
I'd be awful at Quidditch, but Beater sounds fun. But I have no depth perception, so I think I'd just get bludgers in my face all the time, knocking me off my broom.

6. Which teacher is your favorite?
McGonagall all the way baby!

7. Any Harry Potter 7 predictions?
Millicent Bulstrode and Seamus will have a love child who will accidentally shoot Mr. Burns.

Oh wait, no. Harry will defeat Voldemort. Snape will die protecting one of the kiddies, because he was good after all. A jerk, but on the right side of the fight. Neville, Luna, and Ginny aren't going to wait in the background and will bully their way into the fight as well, a la Order of the Phoenix. Harry and Ginny will get back together. Ron and Hermione will snog like there's no tomorrow, because, for them, there might not be. Bellatrix is going down and Neville will have a hand in it. Percy will get his head out of his duff and make nice with his family, but it will take something big to get the siblings to welcome him back. Umbridge will survive, but will have to eat her hat. Hogwarts will reopen, but the magic trio won't be there. Seamus's mam won't let him come back to school, nor the Parvatis. There will be a massive horrifying attack on Hogwarts that will kill off a lot of background characters. Dudley is a wizard. (She said someone will display magical ability late in life, I'm going for Dudders).

The following people will survive: McGonagall, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Hagrid, one Weasley parent, Lupin, Tonks, the Dursleys, Mrs. Figg, Firenze, Umbridge.

The following people will die: Voldemort, Snape, Pettigrew, Bellatrix, one Weasley parent, a Weasley brother or two, Moody, Ollivander, Colin Creevy, Luna, the mean centaur (Bane? I keep thinking McBain, but that's from Simpsons).

I don't think she'll be so cruel as to kill off only one twin. I think they'll both survive, or both die. I'm hoping survive. I'm really hoping she doesn't kill Harry off, and I'm not expecting her to, but I also won't be surprised if he dies.

BIG EXCITEMENT!

Today the guys over at Mugglenet.Com were in town giving a readng of their book (which I review below), but I couldn't go. I had to work. But, that's ok, see, I promised you big excitement and here it is:

Check out how I spent my afternoon:

That's my coworker and friend Becci on the left, me on the right. But, I have to say, that's a day of Harry Potter cruelty when you have to decide between the Knight Bus and a Mugglenet reading. It's a hard life I lead, I know.

Here's what the thing looks like on the outside:

This is the "front" side, which has the door and stuff.

This is the "back" side.

Here's the Harry Potter bookshelf, which is to the right when you walk in. Across the way from the bookshelf, is a big blowup of the Deathly Hallows cover art under glass.

Then, looking from the bookshelf down the bus, this is it.





Of course, in the gear up to the end of the series, there is lots of speculation about how it will end and how the big questions will be answered. Is Dumbledore really dead? Will Harry get his head out of the #$@ and take Ginny back? Will Ron and Hermione ever get their act together and snog already? Where are the the other horcruxes? Who is RAB? And, of course, the big one, just whose side is Severus Snape on?!

These books attempt to answer the questions...

Mugglenet.Com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End by Ben Schoen, Emerson Spartz, Andy Gordon, Gretchen Stull, and Jamie Lawrence

This is an excellent book written by some hard-core Potter fans. So, out of the two questions they give their predictions on that have already passed (when will the book come out and what will it be called) they were totally wrong, BUT! their evidence is solid and their arguements well thought out.

Such questions they debate are is Dumbledore really dead? Is Harry a Horcrux? What is Neville's Destiny? and the role of prophesies. The great thing about this book is that even though the authors clearly state a side in the debate, they do offer both sides of the arguement. The authors think that Dumbledore is really dead (which I agree with) but they also make the most convincing arguement I've ever seen that Dumbledore lives.

I don't agree with all of their predictions and I think they ignore some crucial evidence. I really respect the book for sticking to a very strict set of sources-- the books, and interviews with J. K. Rowling. Also, they never present their conclusions as given fact, they are always very explicit about what their opinions are and what we know for sure.

Sadly, that is not the case with The Great Snape Debate by Amy Berner, Orson Scott Card, and Joyce Millman. (This is only available at Border's stores until after Deathly Hallows comes out.)

The concept of the book is great. One side of the book is the case for Snape's innocence--flip it over and it's the case for Snape's guilt.

Be warned, despite what the cover says, Orson Scott Card is NOT an author this book-- he has a 30 page essage on Snape, but the rest of the book is by Berner and Millman.

They make a lot of assumptions without any textual evidence--I can understand why people would assume that Lucius Malfoy took a young Severus Snape under his wing at school, but there is nothing in the "cannon" about this, yet the author's take it as fact and base their arguements on it. They say that Dumbledore isn't entirely trustworthy because he's made bad decisions in the past, such as letting Tom Riddle attend Hogwarts-- completely misisng the fact that Dumbledore wasn't headmaster at the time, so it really wasn't his decision.

In addition to faulty assumptions for which we have no evidence, they also use such things as the movies as evidence for what might happen in Book 7. Despite the fact that J. K. Rowling approved the movie scripts doesn't mean they can be taken as evidence because it's not like she wrote the scripts. Plus, they use the film career of Alan Rickman as evidence. I'm not entirely sure what that has to do with anything.

There are lots of sidebars that are supposed to be humorous-- like what's on Snape's iPod, or the fact that Snape's secret vice is really Dancing With the Stars. Where I appreciated the inclusion of The Best of the Smiths, Vol. 1 on Snape's iPod, the rest of it was just lame.

I bought the book because Orson Scott Card's name was on it. His essay is really good, but the rest of the book is just a crappy thing quickly churned out to make a fast buck.

Find me elsewhere

Hey dudes!

Check out these recent book-related posts I have over at Geek Buffet:

Harry Potter and the BIG FAT SECRET, pt II

Judging People by Their Covers

More book reviews this week, I promise.