The Red Hen, also known as Joyce Odell, is a friend of this blog. There are very few people in Fandom whose opinions I weight as heavily as I do the Red Hen’s, as should be evident by the place and weight I gave her thoughts in Who Killed Albus Dumbledore?. But, because we approach the books from different, even contrary perspectives, we have rarely agreed on plot-point speculations or over-arching themes. Most of the influence has been Joyce-to-John, believe me, but I remember with delight that she thought my theory of Voldemort’s wand being a Horcrux was sufficiently interesting to be adapted into her theories (albeit in unrecognizable form!).

I greeted Deathly Hallows with celebration. The Red Hen thought the finale was a failure. I asked her when she had put her thoughts together if she would share them with us. This weBlog has several failings, the most egregious of which is that we very rarely criticize or see the short-comings or failings in Ms. Rowling’s writings. Yesterday, in an interview with Time magazine, I went so far as to say that comparisons with Tolstoy and Tolkien were only inappropriate if the standard is majesty of language; the themes of the Harry Potter novels, the accessibility of this meaning to readers, and the impact of the message on a generation are equal to or, in accessibility and impact at least, greater than War and Peace and The Lord of the Rings. Any site proclaiming stuff like that requires a sober corrective from an equally serious reader.

I urge you, consequently, to read the Red Hen’s Post Mortem. It’s personal, cogent, and based on a magisterial command of canon. Read More “Red Hen: Deathly Hallows is Disappointing Departure from and Ending to Seven Book Series”