Shawn Adams Adams itibaren 9142 St. Stefan, Austria
** spoiler alert ** Now, it might be that I'm a little crazy for rereading the entire series, but I have to tell you, it's a heap of fun knowing everything that's occurring. Also, it's likely that I'll give five stars to all the books. I'm okay with that. First off, I don't see how Peter is a former Gryffindor. (Read: Erin, explain this to me as only you can.) It's a minor thing, but it's bothering the crap out of me. There are many things I appreciated about this book. For one, I do like that Ron and Harry have a falling out. Harry's gotten recognition for quite a few years, and as Hermione points out, Ron is rather accustomed to being overshadowed by his huge family, but it's quite another for it to happen with his best friend as well. It's a silly sort of fight that really adds to the story. I never quite remembered just how horrible Bartimus Crouch was. I suppose the film overrode my memory of the book. The fact that Crouch allowed the switch between his wife and son and then imprisoned his son in their house is just over the top. Yes, Barty Crouch did terrible things, but I don't see how his father was doing any better by continually taking over his son's mind. I was also fascinated with the Death Eaters. As Rowling keeps telling us, the Death Eaters are mostly made up of Slytherins. (I'm not going to get into that issue.) If Voldemort wanted loyal followers, he was looking in the wrong house. Most Slytherin Death Eaters did what seems natural to Slytherin: do whatever it takes to reach your end game. As disciples sometimes do, they scattered after the disappearance of their master. Sure, Voldemort assured them that he'd set up safeties in the form of Horcruxes to keep himself alive, but I can understand their instant terror at his disappearance. What if he was wrong? They were still members of the community, from old wizarding families that enjoyed a certain amount of respect and nobility, and the prospect of hiding out or Azkaban probably seemed none too warm. So they lied. Who stayed in Azkaban? Among others, that would be crazy Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch, who begged his father not to send him away, and pleaded that he'd done nothing wrong. So I don't really think he can go around calling other people cowards. And of course Voldemort gets upset that his followers have betrayed him. He should have gone for Hufflepuffs. I like the complexity of the political system. I neglected to remember that Cornelius Fudge considered blood purity to be an important thing, and he keeps it hidden until the very end, when you just want to give him a bit of a smack. You know that big things are about to happen, and I love that it's a great lead-in to the next book.