Okay, this book pissed me off, because so many wonderful characters had either appeared or started to come into their own in OotP, including Tonks, and Neville, not just Luna, and then they got dropped by the wayside. Plot points, too. I wanted to know what the hell happened with SPEW, and the veil, and the giants, and so many other things! This book was the beginning of the down hill slide.

Luna was GREAT at the slug party....don't get me wrong, but I thought she'd have more to do than she did.

Yes, that's true. She stayed in character.

For some reason, I thought Luna was a little off in HBP. Not as off as other characters, but I remember that line about her knack of saying uncomfortable truths, and I was like, really? I mean, yes, she did have the knack to say uncomfortable truths, but it was... it was weird to find it articulated that way.

And I was disappointed too, that the whole sextet idea was dropped off the wayside. I thought Harry's world was opening up, but it seemed like it was just shrinking down to him and the other Weasleys. What is with JKR never carrying things over, it seems? OotP had great momentum... and then it was just snipped off.. *shrug*

I wish JKR had listened to Luna (and Neville) more. Those two seemed to be looking for friends the whole book... X-/

Strangely enough, it was actually HBP that got me shipping H/L in earnest - it was seeing that even though I found Harry a lust-crazed jerk for large swaths of the book, the moments he shared with Luna in HBP still showed the Harry I'd loved from previous books.

I agree.

I liked H/L since OotP, but you're right, Lady Aeryn. Harry and Luna's moments together were very beautiful. Luna brings out the very best in Harry.

I was mourning the canon death of this ship, and trying to figure out H/G to really appreciate the H/L in this book. (Neither am I going to read this book ever again.)

I remember reading about how Harry needed a date for the Slug Party, and I was like, "Take Luna, you dolt!" And he finally did! Although it seemed like he needed to be reminded that she existed. But at least he spoke from his guts! It practically bypassed his brain that, "How would you like to go to Slughorn's Party with me?" or whatever the line was.

I've been talking to my Girl Scouts about why they no longer like the Potterverse. I's mostly a case of wawnting to avoid last year's fad, but it's got a lot to do as well with the downhill slide starting in HBP. They didn't like Luna getting shuffled to the side, and they hated the way Ginny jumped right onto Harry the minute he paid her the slightest bit of attention. I believe now more than ever that HBP was the beginning of the end in more ways than one. The quality just went straight down from there.

I find it disappointing that people see HP as a "fad" and don't just like it for what it is. Oh, kids.

I agree that HBP was the beginning of the end. Even OotP, with the uproar some people had over it, didn't have the same result as HBP.

Strange thing is, by the end of OotP JKR had set us a potentially very intriguing and interesting relationship for H/L -- the fact that she turned her back on a great development for the carnal lust we saw in the book was dissapointing, to say the least.

Hey, I really think Harry Potter was a fad and don't see much more in it at times. It depends on which day you catch me. It was a great premise with some good characterizations and intriguing settings, but it quickly turned to crap as far as I'm personally concerned. And I have no respect for JKR at all anymore.

I'm wondering if people will look back on this in time and see a popular phemonmena, or great literature. I certainly don't see great literature. If I had not met so many wonderful people because of it, I would deeply regret the time I spent on it.

Well, the younger generation are generally more apt to "follow the flock", as it were, so in that sense it's understandable, at least

I started out liking it for being a very entertaining series of books. Not great literature, but entertaining, and fun, and I liked the fact that it was drawing in such a wide audience, not just kids. It soon became an exercise in frustration, though, with all the plot holes and cliches.