Harry Potter #7

I finally finished reading Deathly Hollows at 2:30am Tuesday morning. I had no plans to stay up that late, but the final hundred or so pages offered nothing even remotely resembling a stopping place, and it's only fitting that I lost sleep at least one night for this book.. as any other time I would have stayed up Friday night/Saturday morning instead and had it finished by Saturday night.

Deathly Hollows is, by far, the best book of the series. It is also not a children's book, whatever the series may have been earlier on. But this one more than any other was worth every minute stolen to hide away and read instead of whatever else I might have done with my time. The others were good, but I was a less critical reader when I initially went through them, and re-reading the first six books in the past two months I discovered parts that didn't live up to my new standards, that dragged or seemed off or missing something, that didn't entirely live up under my criticism, so that I was afraid I would be disappointed with Deathly Hollows. I didn't want to lose the enchantment the books originally had for me.

There were some places where I stopped and said "hey, that was clumsy writing, why didn't the editor fix that?" And there were places and scenes where I do think she led us to expect more than we got. A few, but this is a 700+ page book we're talking about, and despite this and my newly critical style of reading I absolutely loved the book. Rowling plays with and throws away stereotypes, showing plenty of good qualities in some of the bad guys, plenty of bad qualities in the heroes, managing to show how a larger range of characters than I'd ever be willing to deal with all change and grow and react, what their faults and strengths are, building beautifully from the previous books. She told a good story, with twists that completely surprised me, though others I was able to guess from the clues here and there throughout the earlier portions of the book.. and the series. Before this winds up sounding like too much of a love song, I do have criticisms as well, but as they're all more specific and involve spoilers.. oh, what the heck, I'll stop my "non-spoiler" portion here. Everything else below, so if you really don't care what you end up finding out about the book, then highlight to read....

Item one (and my major complaint): Pettigrew's silver hand. It's actions either didn't fit or weren't explained enough. At the very least, Pettigrew should have had a scene in the book where the power showed up earlier, before dealing with Harry, to show the hand's ability to.. I assume.. no, I'm not assuming, I have no idea what it was supposed to do. Help Pettigrew kill? What was included in the power to make it turn on him? Did it just act for his will to hurt/kill people, like it had a life of it's own, it's own desire to kill, and when Pettigrew stopped directing it the hand took action on it's own on the closest person? But he must have been close to plenty of other people and not tried to kill them. Did the hand hate mercy? It seemed.. anti-climatic.. for Pettigrew's debt to Harry to be so randomly paid by the silver hand, without any clue to the readers beyond the knowledge that it's... silver. That was annoying and didn't entirely make sense.

Item two: I want a better redemption for Percy, darn it! He can't just walk back in there and not DO anything! Actually, I thought he should have repented at the last minute, turning around to die to save someone in his family, but I'm sure there would have been other possible ways of showing a decent redemption than.. "oh, oops, I've been a prat, I'm here now, don't hate me, huh?" Then again.. I suppose real life often isn't so dramatic and perfectly arranged, and given that she's done such a good job of making this real in every other way, perhaps it's really much more normal for family members to come back from an argument, no matter what sort, express remorse and say a few things and go on like normal than for one of them to die at the end of every big argument. Still, I wonder if he's the one who got the reprieve..

Item three: I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO GEORGE. And I would have liked to hear from McGonagall again, just once. I'm even a bit curious about the Dursleys.. okay, I don't care about Vernon at all, but maybe Petunia and Dudley.

Item four: I was hoping Draco would get a chance to redeem himself. I wanted to see him make a choice. Well, no, more specifically I wanted to see him make the choice Dumbledore would have had him make a book ago, which he could have once more when he accepted Harry's mercy. But then again, I want a spectacular redemption for everyone who isn't already clearly evil. And he works well as a scared little blustery boy.

Item five: Snape. I was right! (Cue dashed hopes for big revelation scene where everyone suddenly realizes..). It was different, but I'm pleased.

Item six: The walking into death scene was absolutely amazing. Rowling managed to hit upon exactly how hard, and how easy, it can be to believe you're walking into your own death. His feelings and the whole setup were perfect. Also, I don't see how Harry could possibly have been more heroic. After all, he's defeated Voldemort plenty of times already, that one's expected and nothing new.. this was new. This was brilliant, and very well written.

Item seven: Why'd Ron have to go crazy for a while? It really isn't bad for the story, it's just that I hoped they would have a truly unbreakable friendship and loyalty to each other, minor bickering allowed but no running off and abandoning anyone. If nothing else, it would prove someone else out there believes this is possible.

Item eight: Except that Harry's feeling toward Kreacher seem to change unnaturally quickly (nothing beyond the first kind sentance seems to be a struggle), Kreacher was cool. Talk about there being more to a character than initially meets the eye... I liked this turn of events.

Item nine: Lupin and Tonks... so not fair. Not that I didn't guess, when Harry became godfather, especially after comparing himself to Sirius, but then I dismissed the thought because it would be too similar. Silly me.

Item ten: All my guesses at deaths, with the exception of Snape, turned out to be wrong. So did my guess on the "Harry is a Horcrux" debate.

Item eleven: Couldn't she have found a slightly better way for them to figure out R.A.B. then "Oh, look at this sign we never noticed before, hanging right on this door of our house!" I'd accept it if it had been mentioned before.. had it? I just reread the series and if so, still don't remember.. but unmentioned, it seemed far too much like, oh, by the way, this is here because I can't write a better search scene for them. I don't mind any other part of that series of events. Just the actual sign.

Item twelve (and final thought for now): Luna rocks. Also, I really liked Neville's part in this. It's nice to see how he's grown up and what a special wizard he's become.

Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics

In the past couple weeks I came across an offer to review two separate books. Both are offered on R.A.G.E Media. Guerrilla Apologetics for Catholics, the first of these two, takes a different approach than many other books by presenting ten different questions for a Catholic to ask instead of answers to the usual questions we're called upon to answer. The book includes a Catholic explanation for each of the questions, and having read through them, they're fairly easy to follow and understand.. none of that "err..what?" language from all my theology books. What clinched it for me as a useful book, though, was the first chapter: Guerrilla Apologetics 101. It does cover the basics, including the fact that only God's grace (not you) can cause someone to convert, and the oft-missed fact - at least in most generic Christian-converting-non-Christian books I've had a chance to read - that being civil is, y'know, nice. And keeping a relationship is more important than arguing so much about beliefs that you end up unable to stand each other's company.

It's also only about sixty pages, not including space at the back for notes. Not quite pocket sized, though..

What's My Author Doing Now?

I've been a huge fan of Orson Scott Card's science fiction ever since I first read Ender's Game. Neither before or after becoming Catholic did I find much interest in his Mormon works, though I did eventually read Saints, and read all three books in his Women of Genesis series. I'm willing to follow him through fictional works that don't simply spout off full-formed Mormon doctrine, because, first of all, he seems to have a definite respect for Christians (including Catholics), and second of all, when you don't go too deep into the theological issues there isn't quite as much conflict. While I might deeply disagree in any discussion about which baptism is valid, whose prophesies to believe, or whether I can add rum to my coke, the surface issues are similar; there is at least faith that is not shared in any way by many people, similar life-issue standing points and moral values, and though I don't intend to get into a discussion about what is the same and different between Catholicism and Mormonism, I can respect and work with a faithful Mormon - not that I wouldn't still pray for said person's conversion, but that's not exactly the point I'm making. In fact, none of this is.

OSC had a fair number of fiction (science fiction, fantasy, suspense) as well as Mormon works already published by the time I started reading his books. He did not, however, have any strictly political works. Religion came up sometimes in his fiction; politics were present sometimes; but in no book or story I read was it clearly intended as a statement on the political and social issues present today. It was always a "what if," as much SF is, not a "here's where we are" that is common among some other authors.. not generally in the same genre, it's usually the political thrillers. The two newest that have just been announced on his website both seem to be political, or at least social, though only one threatens to be a political thriller.. similar to what Empire was, though I voiced my concerns about that initially as well (a review, finally, will follow, as having missed my "just read it" reason to review, I just discovered another).

One of these two new books is set in the Ender's Game universe. Simply because of this, I can guarantee that I will possess it the very first day it comes out. In fact, it's set during the time period of Ender's Game, while Ender is still at Battle School. It involves Ender. In theory, I couldn't be happier... but the description sets the theme of the book as a battle over religious holidays and gift giving. I avoid political books out of habit (actually, out of deep revulsion, I get so frustrated with them) (except Empire), and tend to avoid certain types of religious discussions - this type - the same way. The religious battle is a common one in the United States today. Common, and, where seen, the religion side of it is either entirely watered down or else so far-fetched that even most faithful Christians call it fanatical and not in a good way. (Yes, there's a good way to be called fanatical; my family thinks I'm fanatical all the time). Most prevalent though is the watered down, look, we can all be happy and love each other and celebrate this together and pretend we really believe the same thing even though I actually totally disagree with you because I really don't believe anything except that God is love and gosh, neighbor, I love you so much, let's all just be friends and embrace our diversity, celebrate our diversity, and, y'know, tolerate each other, because whatever you believe is right for you, and whatever I believe is right for me, and we've both got our own truths even though they're entirely contradictory, and isn't it wonderful because, after all, God is love. Err.. rant over. But I think I've made my point. And I have to wonder why my favorite author decides to write a book, in the Ender universe no less, that includes in the description the words "But Dink Meeker, one of the older students.....thinks that giving gifts isn't exactly a religious observation.....The War over Santa Claus will force everyone to make a choice."

What war? What choices? Why are we even writing this book? And what does this have to do with Ender? In fact, in the Ender universe during the time Ender was at Battle School, religion was so suppressed that he had to have explained to him the psychological problems caused by having one Catholic and one Mormon parent, particularly in that they both wanted to follow their faith and neither could.. he was baptised, but they never observed anything. Presumably no one did. Where is this battle coming from? And yet I have to assume that OSC knows his own universe well enough to pull it off. And here is an author whose political newspaper columns (published online) I follow faithfully, NOT because he's OSC (because, quite frankly, there are many SF authors whose real life opinions on things I can't stand to read more than a sentence or two of lest I remember it while trying to enjoy their fiction), but because his opinions are often similar to my own and, when not, at the very least possess some sort of intelligence.

And I admit it: it's nice to see an SF author who not only isn't afraid to take a stand (I don't know when that's been a problem), but is willing to take a stand FOR good old fashioned moral values, when most SF writers tend to be on the far side of liberal when you look at the political, religious, moral scale. I only wish this guy were Catholic; we could use someone like him. But even he isn't well known except by hard core SF fans, and I joined a mailing list once centered around OSC and his works only to discover that, once I converted, I completely disagreed with nearly everyone else on the list on nearly anything important. So it's also nice to see one place, one other person, for whom science fiction and religion do NOT conflict to the point of being incompatible.

The second book comes out about a month or so earlier (Sept 18 vs. Oct 30), and is definitely more political. It's a thriller showing the "promise and danger of new genetic medicine techniques." I'll be getting this one as well, of course, partially because I can at least assume his final conclusion will be similar to my view on things, and partially because Empire did turn out so well.. but I can't decide whether I wish he'd stick to other genres, or whether to be glad that he's turning out something the general population is more likely to read yet that carries the opposite message so many other books present.

Somewhere in all this I've buried a point - I don't know whether I've succeeded in making it known just now - and I'd certainly welcome comments, if I've managed to write something intelligible, or even if I haven't. Or do these types of books, and these types of arguments, and the watery positions that usually accompany them along with the oft-repeated arguments and inability to listen to one another and, well, so on, not annoy anyone so much as they do me? Whatever my final decision on the matter of welcoming a new voice in these arguments in the SF field, I can't help but wish we'd at least get some intelligent debate; rarely do I encounter any argument that begs honest discussion when I'm unwillingly exposed to these tides.

(The books in questions, by the way, are A War of Gifts and Invasive Procedures, the second co-written by Aaron Johnston).