Mediocre, utterly.
The character that dies does so in a way that, while dramatic and full of tension, amounts to being pointless. Whilst I realise what was gained was significant, and that this particular characters death will prove instrumental, they really should have had a better end. But that was not the most dissapointing part, for me.
The character that is revealed to be on the wrong team is done so rather early in the book. This character was very complex, and deserved a lot of respect. I actually think that it was the best written character in JKR\'s arsenal - an accidental success, in my opinion. They are revealed for what they are, which is exactly what they appeared to be when they were first introduced. Essentially, that makes the pages and pages of character development utterly irrelevant. That part was handled badly. Still, this is not the most dissapointing part.
No, the thing that dissapointed me most was the overall mediocre plot of the book. All the evil deeds are revealed in the last chapter, a la Deus Ex Machina. There\'s no real sense of foreboding, no build up. It just happens, and is explained away rather frivolously. It\'s the same damned pattern every book since 2 has used, but this time it is more glaringly obvious. Any and all speculation up until that point is null and void because the final answer is plucked from the ether... conveniently.
It\'s as if in draft, JKR got to the end and said \"Oh, bugger. I forgot to put in something other than teenage dramas and angst\" and rewrote (only) the first and last chapters to include the grand sweeping plot. The lack of respect that she gave two of the main, and most loved, characters - plus the extremely weak plot and the over use of deus ex machina plot devices are what make this book the worst of the lot.
What follows is my personal and unsubstansiated opinion, but this further reinforces my firm belief that the first book was not penned by JKR at all. I have no proof other than the absolute certainty that she has been trying to capatalise on the first book and is rapidly losing the magic.
Regardless of my wild accusations, this book was just not up to standard. In the end when the character dies, you feel enough betrayed outrage to demand to see the next book, which I believe is the only reason it happened other than to reinforce the Hero Complex into Harry. They killed one character and villainified another, severly damaging the remaining interesting characters in order to sell the next book.
G R Fox, out.
P.S
As far as the betraying character goes, I am anticipating one of two things. Either things are exactly as they seem (easy to write, and I think this is what will be taken) or there is some other reason that it happened. To preserve the complexity and integrity of the character, I can imagine that they may have been ordered by their victim to do what they did, at all costs in order to gain the trust of the enemy and become a very valuable asset in the fight. This would mean that next book the character is revealed as being on the side of good all along, reinforcing their victims \"misplaced\" faith. This would be harder to write, and I can\'t see it happening. Either way, the fate of this character at the final battle is now reduced to 50/50. Where\'s the mystery in that? Poor writing and character development. Psh.
