When the last few Harry Potter books came out, here was my reaction, generally:
Book four...
Initial release: "Oh, hey, the new book's out already! Awesome!" I had only started reading the books after the third one came out; my first HP book was a softcover copy of the first book, and I got hardcover copies of the second and third for Christmas that same year, devouring each of them in a day or less. Actually, two days combined for the second and third, which I read back to back, staying up 'till sunrise to finish Chamber of Secrets, sleeping a little during the day, then starting immediately on Prisoner, which I similarly finished at about sunrise the next day. I had heard another book was coming out and was very excited to read more. My family went to somewhere, Atlanta I think, for a trade show or something, and I walked into the local Barnes & Noble one day and there was a whole stack of them by the door. It wasn't until after the fourth one that I started watching release dates for the books more carefully, so this was akin to me getting them months early without warning; a pleasant surprise. Especially pleasant, actually, since I had very little to do in the hotel room that weekend except read anyway.
During the two-day span I read it in: "OMG SO GOOD"
The last minutes of reading it: "Well, that was really good! But is it just me or did the ending seem a little rushed, like it needed just a tiny bit more editing?"
Book five...
Initial release: "OMIGODOMIGOMIGOD I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS". By this point, I was relatively active in the HP fan community online, and most of my friends and family had also gotten into the books. I was actually reading editorials and theories about this one. I even went to the Barnes & Noble "Midnight Magic" party for the release, dressed up (if you can call putting on a black pleather duster, carrying around a Hedwig-like stuffed owl, and marking a roughly lightning-shaped "scar" on my forehead in a makeup distinctly not intended for foreheads which is something you should apparently never, ever do unless you don't mind getting an awful lot of zits... "dressing up".) Yeah. I was a dork. Also, I totally got shown up by the people actually getting paid to go to the event, because one of the employees - I s*** you not - was dressed like Snape from that scene where Neville's bogart gets itself reimagined into snape in a frilly dress and ridiculous hat. Still, I saw a lot of friends at the release and damn, was it fun. It was a tiny bit annoying that so many of the activities were so obviously aimed at little kids, even though most of the people there were actually older than that, but still, fun. I hung out, I sat and read, and then I got the next book in an awesome series, what more could I want?
Reading it: Somewhere in between "Eh, it's not quite as riveting as the last one" and "OH MY GOD I MUST FINISH THIS". The genius of that one was Umbridge, of course, a villain so vile that you have to keep reading, just to see if she gets her comeuppance. A villain so wonderfully vile, in fact, that even though he complained about the quality of Rowling's prose (something about an "amateurish" overuse of adverbs or something), Stephen King nonetheless could not resist praising that very same villain. Stephen King. Yes, that Stephen King. The themes of oppressive regimes was also pretty interesting, especially in what's ostensibly a "children's book". I was not surprised to find a few months later that it was the first of the books to be nominated for an adult fiction - as opposed to just children's fiction - award. I was a little perplexed with a couple of the characters, but hey, Tonks was cool, we saw more of Mad Eye Moody, more of Sirius Black and Remus and really, it was a good book.
Upon completion: I was sad to see a certain someone go, but it was a very good ending, really excellent and cliffhangery and "oh damn how'd I not catch that and that and that...!?", and just really a great setup for another book.
Book Six...
Initial Release: "Woot! I can't wait to see what happens next!" Got it the day of the release after preordering it. Did not dress up, but did come in at the end of Midnight Magic, and chatted with a few friends before picking up the book. It was nice. Also, I had been wanting to see what happened since the end of the fifth book, which had, again, a great opening for a good sequel.
Reading the first chapter or two: "OMG SO FUNNY TAKE THAT FANGIRLS I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH THANK YOU JO!" (It was common practice amongst many a Snape fangirl at the time to inexplicably have Snape living in "Snape Manor" or some such, a ridiculous idea considering he's a bloody teacher. It was really great to see this subverted in a major way. Also, kind of interesting to see a book of hers start with another character for a change, instead of with Harry at the Dursleys'. Sidenote: fans affectionately call her "Jo", since she didn't particularly care for being called "JK", which had been something her publisher decided because they thought - in hindsight, foolishly - that boys would refuse to read a story about a schoolboy that was written by a woman).
Reading most of the rest of the book: "ROWLING, YOU TRAITOR!" Despite the subversion in the first chapter, Rowling spent most of the rest of the book basically feeding fangirl fantasies and, dare I say it, almost writing as if she had been reading more fanfic of her work than she had her own work. Secondary characters act inexplicable considering previous actions or are barely touched on or both, and Harry randomly gets the hots for Ron's sister, gets over a loved one's death with almost absurd alacrity, and develops a paranoid (well, seemingly paranoid) obsession over Malfoy that, while completely non-sexual, sure enough, got interpreted as such by the subsequent fangirl entourage. It was nice to see updates on certain characters (especially the Weasley twins), but most of the book was a shipper's paradise, and not too awfully much more. YARGH. The first time I was seriously annoyed with a Harry Potter book, and the first time I honestly started to think "Maybe she really isn't getting enough editing or something... I think she's maybe under a wee too much pressure and in a wee bit too much of a rush to get the next book out. Make that a WAY bit too much of a rush". I later heard an urban legend that she had caved to pressure to finish the next book and just out and out hired a ghostwriter. Sadly, while I did not quite believe it, I saw where people were coming from. I did, however, admire Slughorn 's character of all things (or rather, I liked the more nuanced portrayal of a Slytherin), and thought the fact that vampires finally make an appearance - vampires being one of many fangirl obsessions - and it's only for one page, and the vampire himself is bored stiff, was very amusing. Still, the whole middle part of the book drove me bananas.
Reading final few chapters: "Oh thank GOD. We're back to the plot again, instead of all the poorly-handled 'ships." The Inferiori and the idea of horcruxes and the like, was all very interesting, and I liked the semi-ambiguous ending with Snape and all, and the guts Jo must have had in order to kill of a certain someone... also, the 'ships were less sucky at the end than at the beginning, and is it just me, or is the concept that Ginny might have been dabbling in her brothers' stock in love potions, but matured towards the end, not all that crazy?
Afterwards: "Eh, I'm annoyed at her, but I want to see how it ends, so I'll buy the next book anyway."
And so has been my feelings toward book seven for the past two years.
And then, I saw an article on Reuters about the HP online community. I remembered that I hadn't really been a part of it for ages, and I got a little nostalgic. Then I was reminded that this is it. This is the end. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that will never, EVER come again, one that has been infuriating and yet, so fascinating and so great, and all the speculations and all the bets hedged and the wild theories and the insanely intricate analysis and the books examining every little symbol or literary or mythological or folkloric reference every little chapter or scene or sentence or word or implication and the wondering and the waiting and the excitement and the exhilaration and the anticipation and the mystery and and and and... IT'S ALL ABOUT TO BE OVER. This is, in complete and utter truth, the last chance I get to have all that. This is it, the moment of truth, the piece de resistance, the final word. The final book. All that teasing, all that pouring over the books, all that everything. It comes down to this, the final, final FINAL book. The last chance to excited, exhilarated... the last chance to feel that nervous, hopeful, beautiful anticipation, and I happen to be on that time of the month anyway, and so it's all just about making me cry with just sheer emotion.
Two years of barely caring, a few months of "oh, so that's when it's going to come out." Two years of utter, unadulterated apathy. Hundreds upon hundreds of days and thousands of hours of either barely thinking about the whole damn franchise, or thinking "I suppose it'll be nice to see how it ends", if I thought of it at all. Two years of figuring "I'll just put it on preorder again, and I'll pick it up over the release weekend, no need to bother with silly parties or anything, right?"
Two years of that, two YEARS of that. And now, after yesterday? After one little news story, one dinky, space-filling "hey look another Potter book and the fans are nuts about it and what do you suppose will happen to the fandom once the source material's all dried up?" story? Suddenly, I'm thinking like I did when books five and six came out.
Suddenly, I'm excited.
I'm remembering that at one point, I really did love and even obsess over this series...
I'm remembering how much I was dying to know how it ended...
I'm remembering how much I cared about the characters...
I'm remembering what it's like to be, in short, a fan again.
Suddenly, everything is all sunshine and roses and camaraderie with fellow fans and just sheer, physically tangible, heart-fluttering, breath-quickening, near tear-jerking anticipation and God DAMN will I want to cry if this book isn't any better than book six, but I can't even conceive of that at this point, because all I can think of is the cliffhangerish book six ending and the characters I once loved and the series that was, at one point, my absolute favorite. All I can think about is how good books 1-5 were, and think, "What if this is just as good as those? What if she's gotten the magic back? What if it's even better than the first five?" Or Hell, at very least, "What if it's at least better than book six and has a real good ending?"
...as well as, admittedly, both "I wonder if all the nut jobs predicting that the chess game was completely symbolic were really all that nuts?" and "WTF did she mean by 'the last word of the last book will be scar'? WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN ARGH ITS DRIVING ME NUTS JO YOU HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE TEASE". And if that don't show how high my Nerdy Fan Quotient is, I don't know what does.
Thanks for the rollercoaster ride, Jo. It's been frustrating at points, sure, and I'm so very scared that the best part is already over, but honestly, it's been a great ride. And you have been a wonderful, mind-bogglingly good tease, for which I enormously applaud you.
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