Status Updates From Wind That Shakes the Seas a...

Ch 21

Two chapters to go, but I feel like we could have ended with the chariot flying away and that would have been fine.

I’ll have a lot to critique when it’s time to write my review, but I don’t have a bad word to say about that battle besides RIP Pansy.

I love this series and I get they’re fighting a war, but sometimes it seems like the author is making the story grim just for the sake of it.

I realize that 25% of this book is ~180,000 words (so enough to be a novel on its own), but what kind of crazy person introduced a whole new subplot 75% into a story?

Everyone talking about getting married/joined at 15 years old is crazy, especially since wizards live about twice as long as humans. They do not need to worry about marriage anytime soon.

Perhaps I’m just remembering something that happens later, but I don’t get how Harry using Dumbledore’s and Voldemort’s magic to replace the magic of the linchpins to free the Northern Goblins isn’t the obvious thing to do with it. He was going to do it with his own magic at the end of last book, anyway—maybe now he’s actually considered about the inheritance issues that Light families would object to?

I can’t feel much sympathy over the reveal that Voldemort has Snape because maybe someone would have figured it out earlier if one single person had thought to try telling Snape even just “brb, off to the Dursleys’”

I remembered a huge fight with Dumbledore but couldn’t recall details, so when I read Dumbledore attacking Harry at school in COoDM, I thought that must be what I was thinking of and was underwhelmed. With good reason—this one was WAY better.

I thought compellers were immune to stuff like possession, though I suppose I might have just made that up in the years since I’ve read this.

I get why Draco and Snape are mad, but I’d be tempted to not mention Digle’s stabbing attempt too, given they accuse him of actively risking his life even when something completely out of his control happens. Draco got mad at him for the Dark striking him with lightning as if that were Harry’s fault, after all.

I’m glad Harry is healing, of course, but it’s a little tiring reading someone’s therapy sessions.

Another strong memory is Harry in the Room of Requirement after the trial, so good. I loved Connor’s testimony too, though it makes me sad that Harry and Connor aren’t sitting together, and didn’t travel together, and we don’t even know if Connor was alone or not. I get they’re growing apart, but IME, there’s not much that draws siblings together like a child abuse trial.

“After all, as Harry could now parrot from numerous books on the subject, abused children weren’t supposed to love their parents.” I’m not sure if that’s the author making something up, or if that was the actual view of things in the ‘90s, or if this is meant to illustrate wizards’ general lack of child-development knowledge. Because I’m pretty sure no one now would ever make that argument.

One of my strongest memories of this book is Harry’s takedown of Henrietta. So glad it’s just as good as I remembered.

I love the matrilineal aspect of Opalline descent, that someone with that name, or a woman who marries into another family, and female descendants of these women, count in the clan, but apparently not male descendants of those women. It’s like if my sisters all got to count as Millers but I’d be stuck as only a Mueller.

The Slytherin v. Ravenclaw aspect of the series is one of its weak spots, IMO—seems a little pointless to spend so much time redeeming Slytherin if you’re going to just make a different house a bunch of assholes.

I remember liking Argutus, but his line about Harry smelling like pain and enduring the pain is eye-rollingly heavy handed.

Aaaand now I need to take a break because I have gotten fuck all done and if I don't shut this down for at least a few days I'm going to get sucked into a hyperfocus hole that doesn't end until I've finished re-reading the rest of the series