The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A Nielsen [Discussion]

Hey, y'all! So, I just finished the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen, and since I marathoned the trilogy, I decided to do a single post devoted to discussing the trilogy.

For each book, I'll be doing a spoiler-free discussion, followed by the rating that I gave the book (A note though: these discussions WILL spoil the previous books in the series. To discuss book two, I have to talk about book 1, etc. So, if you haven't read book 1, don't read past the spoiler free discussion for book 1. I hope that made sense...). I'll then go into a spoilery discussion. Each of these discussions was written within 24 hours of finishing the book, and before moving on to the next one.

The False Prince

The False Prince centers around Sage, an orphan boy who is very clever, snarky, and a skilled thief. Sage is collected by Conner, a nobleman with a cunning plan. He needs an impersonator of the king's long lost son, and has recruited four orphan boys to compete for the role. But Sage will soon find out that things are much more complex than he originally thought. He must succeed... his life depends on it.

While I really enjoyed this book, I did have a couple problems with it. The biggest one was the twist. It didn't surprise me. I think there were some people who were surprised by it, but I just wasn't. When I heard that there was a twist, I thought "Oh I bet it's _______" and unfortunately, I was right. I was hoping the entire time that I was incorrect and that the book would surprise me, but it just didn't. And although it didn't hurt my overall reading experience, I was disappointed in it's predictability. That's not to say, however, that the book completely lacking surprises. There were definitely several smaller things which surprised me within the book.

The brightest spot for me was the main character, Sage. Sage is everything I love in a character. If I were to sort him in a Hogwarts house, he'd be a Slytherin. He's snarky, sarcastic, defiant, and proud, but he can back it up with his wit and cleverness. He can take care of himself and he's his own person and hates being ordered around. He's just super cool. 

I really appreciated the cleverness of the world building, The lessons are used both to teach the boys information that the prince should know, and to give us information about the world that the boys are living in. I also really enjoyed the plot. The book is about 350 pages, and there was never a dull moment. Sure, the entire book wasn't super fast-paced and crazy, but I was never bored and I never felt like the book dragged at all. And the last quarter of the book was just really epic, exciting, and fast-paced. 

Overall, I thought that this was a really great book. I ended up giving it 8.5 stars out of 10. (Which is 4/5 on Goodreads)

So there's really not much else to talk about except the plot twist itself. Honestly, when I heard that there was this major plot twist, I immediately thought "I bet the main character is actually the lost prince, pretending to be an orphan for whatever reason." and the entire book, I kept hoping that there would be some other twist and that I would be wrong for once (not trying to brag, this just happens an annoying number of times) but alas, I wasn't wrong. 

What did surprise me, however, was when Latimer was killed. That was the first really exciting thing that happened in the book, and it definitely did a great job of reeling me in. I also really enjoyed the little secrets that Sage keeps, such as the "gold" rock and actually being the one to steal the sword.

I think the last fourth of the book was definitely my favorite. Tobias attacks Sage, the boys have to hide in the tunnels, and then of course all the stuff that goes down once Sage actually gets to the castle. 

Since I'm writing this before continuing on to book 2, here are some things I hope to see going into the next book:

- As much as I like the name Jaron, I really hope that we get to continue to call him Sage. I don't think it's going to happen, but I'm going to continue to hope. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

- I really, really hope that a love triangle doesn't develop between the betrothed princess, Sage/Jaron, and Imogen. We just really don't need that. Imogen's the best. End of story.

The Runaway King

Book 2 opens with a bang as an assassination attempt stirs up trouble. War is coming, and the pressure is building. Jaron soon realizes that to save his kingdom, he might have to desert it. 

This book... there were points where I couldn't even deal with this book. It was so good. Like, I went into this series expecting to be blown away by book one because of all of the rave reviews, but The Runaway King is the clear star of this show (so far-- The Shadow Throne might impress me even more, who knows?!). The Runaway King was so fast-paced and action packed, and actually surprised me a lot more than The False Prince did! While there wasn't one big twist, there were so many twists and turns that kept me guessing the entire way through, and I was incredibly impressed. 

Also, I would just like to emphasize how much I love Jaron. Like, I'm willing to say right now that he is my favorite main character that I've ever read. Granted, main characters are almost never my favorite characters in their books/series, but Jaron is far and away my favorite character in this series. He's just too freakin' awesome. He's snarky and sarcastic and UGH he's great.

I enjoy The False Prince and The Runaway King for very different reasons, because even though they both have the same mood/feel/vibe, they are very different books. The False Prince is slower, but mysterious and intriguing, and I really enjoy when books are like that. However, The Runaway King is pure adventure. It's fast-paced and exciting, with thievery and pirates galore. I think that if I had actually been surprised by the twist in book 1, I might have rated it higher, because slow, intriguing, mysterious books with world-building are my fave. But since I wasn't surprised, I wasn't as impressed, and ended up enjoying The Runaway King more.

Overall, I really loved this book. This was super exciting and I enjoyed almost every second of it. I gave it 9.5 stars out of 10. (Which is 5/5 on Goodreads)

There were several times that I almost had to laugh out loud at this book. Jaron would get himself into a situation that seemed impossible to get out of and I would be like "Well how exactly do you expect to get yourself this terrible situation this time, Jaron? You're chained up in a cell perched over a cliff, and your leg is broken. I think you're officially stuck." And then what happens? Oh, he just casually climbs out the window and scales the cliff with his one good leg and then challenges the pirate king to a duel and wins. I mean, go you, Jaron. For real, he's just too dang epic!

I have to say, this book surprised me a lot more than The False Prince, even though I had expected the opposite. I did not see the Gregor thing coming. I got really annoyed with him and was sick of him trying to get someone to reign instead of Jaron, but I didn't think that he had betrayed the King by helping Conner. I was also really surprised that Jaron convinced Roden to come over to his side. I thought that there was absolutely no chance of it, but clearly he realized that he was being stupid.

Also, I am really annoyed at the love triangle thing, but I get why it is happening. Because clearly Imogen is the right girl for Jaron (RIGHT?! They have to end up together. PLZ, Jennifer Nielsen, let them end up together) but he has to be friendly with the Princess that he is betrothed to (who isn't terrible in the slightest, but Imogen.). And I'm not sure how this is going to turn out, because Nielsen clearly wants us to like Imogen and root for her to end up with Jaron, but it seems pretty unlikely and impossible at this point. The only redeeming thing about this love triangle is that it doesn't play an extremely prominent role. Yes, Jaron is constantly worried about Imogen, but that's just it... he's worried about Imogen. They're friends, and he's concerned about her and barely thinks about the princess. It isn't even until the end that romantic feelings are brought up, and even then, it's between Imogen and Jaron, but not Jaron and the Princess. Jaron and the Princess agree that they're friends. 

I know I'm being pushy here, but I'd rather just see a story where Imogen and Jaron really care about each other, but struggle to be together because of the war, the troubles they're going through, and they come from different classes. That would be so much better than a love triangle, even if they didn't end up together in the end. (and for the record, my ideal scenarios go: end up with Imogen = doesn't end up with anyone > ending up with the Princess. AKA, I like both of the first scenarios equally and am not a fan of the last one.)

The Shadow Throne

The Shadow Throne opens just as war is about to break out in Carthya. King Vargan has kidnapped Imogen, and Jaron embarks upon the journey to save everything that is most important to him. 

I thought that the conclusion to this trilogy was overall beautiful and emotional. There were several moments where I found tears falling from my eyes at moments of both despair and of joy. The Shadow Throne was an emotional roller coaster for me, going from wanting to throw the book, to wanting to hug it, to being down-right confused about what Jaron was doing. 

As wonderful as this conclusion was, however, it was not without its faults. Or rather, singular fault. As I said in the spoilery discussion of The Runaway King, there were several moments throughout this trilogy where I sat and thought, "Well how exactly do you expect to get yourself this terrible situation this time, Jaron?" and then he managed to come up with this crazy scheme that ended up working. And for the first two books, I really loved this, and I loved seeing him succeed in them because it was always so epic when he did. However, in this one it wasn't really like that some of the time. 

There were a couple times when I had to kind of suspend my disbelief. Some things were a little too coincidental for them to be perfectly planned out, and sometimes I just couldn't bring myself to believe that he had come up with that plan for the scenario he was in. It wasn't an overwhelming sense of "this is stupid," but rather a slight "meh, not sure if that's really that logical," and it didn't detract from my overall opinion about the book.

The Shadow Throne was also slightly less surprising than The Runaway King. There were a couple twists that were unsurprising, but there were also several things that I didn't see coming. 

Overall, I thought that this was an epic conclusion to the trilogy and ended up giving it 9 stars out of 10. 

So, as I was saying with the "suspending my disbelief" part of my discussion, I thought that there were a few plans that were a bit too coincidental. And I wanted one of Jaron's plans to epically fail at least once. But somehow, he managed to succeed constantly, and that bothered me. It was a little too neat and tidy. Everything wrapped up very nicely, but a little too nicely. 

Also, I wasn't surprised in the least bit when we found out Imogen was still alive. Honestly, I was waiting for it. I was acutely aware that there was still a chance she was actually dead, but unless the main character actually like sees the corpse/feels the pulse/ there's a funeral or something, I don't believe that they're actually dead. Like there was a book that I read last year (no spoilers!) where character #1 claimed that she killed character #2 and I was completely convinced that character #2 was going to pop up later in the book and not actually be dead. He/She didn't, so he/she is probably dead. However, I still think that there is a possibility that he/she is not dead. We shall see. Anyway, back to the point. I expected Imogen to pop up again, because it just wouldn't be a happy enough ending for Jaron if she was actually dead. Plus, this is a middle grade series that isn't very dark, so it would have felt very out of character for this book to suddenly get really dark and have one of the main characters die.  

So, that's all I have for my discussion about The Ascendance Trilogy! I hope that if you've made it this far in the post, you've actually read the trilogy (please don't read spoilers before you read the books!!!), so let me know down in the comments what you thought about the trilogy! Did you enjoy it as much as I did?

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! So, as you can see, I'm behind on my June challenge. Raise your hand if you're surprised! No hands, right? I figured. Anyway, the whole point of this was to re-read my favorite series and enjoy myself. I'm still mad at myself for spilling into July, but I'll be making up for it this weekend (hopefully).

As I said in the last posts, these Harry Potter posts will be formatted differently from the May discussion posts. I won't be writing non-spoiler sections for any of the Harry Potter books, simply because it's Harry Potter. If you haven't read the books already, go read them. At this point, there's almost no excuse for not having read the books except a lack of interest... in which case you probably wouldn't be here reading my discussion! I also will not be writing a summary of each book because, again, it's Harry Potter. If you don't know what Harry Potter is about, I'd really like to know what rock you've been hiding under because it sounds like an amazing place to get away and completely shut out all knowledge of the outside world.

Anyway, on to the discussion!

So, a little background. This was the first book of the series that I read at its release. This physical book is probably the one that is most special to me, because it's the only one I was able to get at its midnight release party (I would've done the same with book 7, but there were some circumstances out of my control, which I'll explain in that post). The release party wasn't extremely exciting- they had a Bertie Bott's station where if you ate a random bean you got a metal Harry Potter bookmark. I ended up getting a gross one, but I used that bookmark for forever and I still have it somewhere even though it broke. I also got a stuffed Hedwig, but I'm not sure where exactly that came from. And while the party wasn't exactly exciting, the ability to get it at midnight was very exciting. I'm also pretty sure (but not certain) that of all the books I own, this is the one I've had the longest. Nine years is quite a while.

On to the book. When I started this book, I instantly felt at home. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but I've read Half-Blood Prince more times than any of the other books in the series. So, beginning this book was both extremely familiar and extremely comfortable. And that was kinda the general feeling throughout the whole thing for me. I know that both Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix are longer than HBP, but nonetheless, I flew through HBP. Normally, 600+ pages seems like a marathon even if you really enjoy a book, but the entire thing felt like a walk in the park. 

The best moments of the book, for me, are the ventures that Harry and Dumbledore take into the Pensive. Voldemort's back-story is incredibly interesting, and I always loved getting to learn more about his past. I especially love the first memory- where Ogden visits the Gaunts. I'm not sure why, but I've always thought that memory was particularly interesting. 

The one thing that makes me really sad about this book is the lack of the Weasley twins. Throughout the series, up to this point, they have been very prevalent and now that they're not in it very much, I'm definitely missing them. Sure, we get to see their joke shop in all of its wonderfully perfect glory, but that's part of a chapter, and then they're gone for the majority of the book. This is one of my favorite Harry Potter books, and yet my favorite characters aren't in it. I'm not sure how that contradiction managed to happen!

Harry, Ron, and Hermione also learn a couple of the coolest wizard skills (in my opinion) in this book. First off, they learn to do magic without speaking, which is both cool and really helpful. They also learn to apparate, which is something I really wish I could do.

Also, horcruxes! I'm not the only one who thought they were horribly described in the movie, right? It's been a while since I've seen it (not one of my HP faves) but I remember that they didn't go into a ton of detail about horcruxes and I was wondering how anyone who hadn't read the book could be able to understand the movie. Anyway, the revelation that Voldemort has split his soul into several pieces is absolutely terrifying and interesting at the same time. 

And then, of course, we have one of the saddest deaths in the entire series. What really got me more than the actual death was the other characters' reactions to his death. Hagrid's false sense of hope was the one that I think really got to me. It's just the most definitive statement that Harry has to do this himself. He's been depending on Dumbledore to lead the way, but now it's all on Harry.

I know I haven't really said a lot about this book, but I honestly don't know what else to say about it but that I love it. I LOVE IT.

So, let's talk rating. Easy 5/5 stars. So great. Wonderful.

Favorite Quotes

Page 51: Uncle Vernon shouted, "Will you get these ruddy things off us?"
Harry looked around; all three of the Dursleys were cowering with their arms over their head as their glasses bounced up and down on their skulls, their contents flying everywhere.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," said Dumblefore politely, and he raised his wand again. All three glasses vanished. "But it would have been better manners to drink it, you know."

Page 55: "You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you."

Page 116: Set against the dull, poster-muffled shop fronts around them, Fred and George's windows hit the eye like a firework display.
.........
The right-hand window was covered with a gigantic poster, purple like those of the Ministry, but emblazoned with flashing yellow letters: 
WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT YOU-KNOW-WHO?
YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO
THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S 
GRIPPING THE NATION
Harry started to laugh. He heard a weak sort of moan beside him and looked around to see Mrs. Weasley gazing, dumbfounded, at the poster. Her lips moved silently, mouthing the name "U-No-Poo."
"They'll be murdered in their beds!" she whispered.

Page 120: "Harry, you help yourself to anything you want, all right? No charge."
"I can't do that!" said Harry, who had already pulled out his money bag to pay for the Decoy Detonators.
"You don't pay here," said Fred firmly, waving away Harry's gold.
"But-"
"You gave us our start-up loan, we haven't forgotten," said George sternly. "Take whatever you like, and just remember to tell people where you got it, if they ask."

Page 180: "Do you remember me telling you we are practicing nonverbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes" said Harry stiffly.
"Yes, sir."
"there's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor."

Page 282: "We're allowed to bring guests," said Hermione, who for some reason had turned a bright, boiling scarlet," and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it's that stupid, then I won't bother!
.........
"You were going to ask me?" asked Ron, in a completely different voice.
"Yes," said Hermione angrily."But obviously if you'd rather I hooked up with McLaggen..."
There was a puse while Harry continued to pound the resilient pod with a trowel.
"No, I wouldn't," said Ron, in a very quiet voice.

Page 298: "Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who had found himself trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of the team, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentator's podium. As the crowd shrieked and laughed, the wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring; Harry heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall," Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."

Page 326: Ron turned a little pink, but did not look displeased as he turned back to the sprouts. "Mind your own business."
"What a snappy retort," said Fred. "I really don't know how you think of them. No, what we wanted to know was... how did it happen?"
"What d'you mean?"
"Did she have an accident or something?"
"What?"
"Well, how did she sustain such extensive brain damage? Careful, now!"
Mrs. Weasley entered the room just in time to see Ron throw the sprout knife at Fred, who had turned it into a paper airplane with one lazy flick of his wand.

Page 335: "But you are normal!" said Harry fiercely. "You've just got a-a problem-" 
Lupin burst out laughing. "Sometimes you remind me a lot of James. He called it my 'furry little problem' in company. Many people were under the impression that I owned a badly behaved rabbit."

Page 357: "he accused me of being 'Dumbledore's man through and through."
"How very rude of him."
"I told him I was."
Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Behind Harry, Fawkes the phoenix let out a low, soft, musical cry. To Harry's intense embarrassment, he suddenly realized that Dumbledore's bright blue eyes looked rather watery, and stared hastily at his own knees. When Dumbledore spoke, however, his voice was quite steady.
"I am very touched, Harry."

Page 385: Harry spun on the spot, lost balance, and nearly fell over. He was not the only one. The whole Hall was suddenly full of staggering people; Neville was flat on his back; Ernie Macmillan, on the other hand, had done a kind of pirouetting leap into his hoop and looked momentarily thrilled, until he caught sight of Dean Thomas roaring with laughter at him.

Page 402: "Er-my-nee," croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them.

Page 449: "I love you, Hermione," said Ron, sinking back in his chair, rubbing his eyes wearily. Hermione turned faintly pink, but merely said, "Don't let Lavender hear you saying that."

Page 459: "Er- well- ghosts are transparent-" he said.
"Oh, very good," interrupted Snape, his lip curling. "Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"
.........
"Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart!" said Ron. "When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti  to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"
There was a ripple of laughter, instantly quelled by the look Snape gave the class.
"Another ten points from Gryffindor,' said Snape. "I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot Apparate half an inch across the room."

Page 578: "I am not worried, Harry," said Dumbledore, his voice a little stronger despite the freezing water. "I am with you."


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! I hope you enjoyed it, because I definitely enjoyed making it. I could talk about Harry Potter ceaselessly for the rest of my life and never get bored. If you have questions, ask in the comments! As you can tell, I'm a bit behind again (what a big surprise) but I'll be getting the rest of the posts out ASAP!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all in a few days!

The Infernal Devices Trilogy Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I finished the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare, and I've posted discussions about each of the books individually. Here are the links to all three posts:

Clockwork Angel

Clockwork Prince

Clockwork Princess

Now, I'm here to discuss the series as a whole, including my opinions about the entire series, my rankings of the books, rankings of the covers, and some of my favorite things in the series.

Series Summary

The Infernal Devices trilogy begins in 1878 and is centered around our main character, Tessa Gray, an American teenager who has just traveled across the Pacific Ocean to London to live with her brother, Nathaniel. She discovers that she has the unique ability to shapeshift into different people and finds herself becoming more and more entangled in the secret world of demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, and Shadowhunters (people who are half angel and half human, who protect people by hunting demons). She discovers that a mysterious leader named The Magister plans to use Tessa and her power as the centerpiece to a disastrous plan. And, in the midst of impending danger, Tessa finds her heart torn between two Shadowhunters.

Overall Opinions

I had read the first 4 books of The Mortal Instruments series (Cassandra Clare's other series, set in the same world, in present day) before reading The Infernal Devices, and had already fallen in love with the Shadowhunter world that Clare has created. This Infernal Devices series has only solidified my love of this exciting world. I had been extremely skeptical about its ability to impress me as much as The Mortal Instruments did, but I was happily extremely impressed. The characters at first glance seem like simple carbon copies of other characters Clare has created, but they are so incredibly complex and fascinating. The relationships between the characters are so well developed and beautiful, especially the love triangle. The love triangle is one of the best that I've read, if not the best. The three characters' relationships are all so unique and you know that no matter what happens, and who ends up together, everyone is going to have some sort of heartbreak. 

I fell in love with this trilogy in a way that I never expected. It's so hard for me to give it an actual star rating. A 5 star rating system doesn't seem descriptive enough for this series. Even a 10 star rating system doesn't seem descriptive enough. However, I'm not going to go crazy, so I'll go with a 10 star rating system. I don't want to give it a full 10 stars, just because I feel like I can't call it perfect. However, a 9.5 star rating doesn't seem to be quite good enough. I'm going to give it 9.75 stars out of 10. Excessive decimals? Maybe. But this series merited that rating. 

Ranking The Books

#3: Clockwork Angel

It almost pains me to say that this is my least favorite book of the series, solely because I loved the book so much. However, it just wasn't as good as the other two, simply because it was laying the foundation for the rest of the series. It wasn't quite as exciting as the other two books, and we hadn't yet gotten the development of the characters or the relationships between the characters that we grow to love in the last two books. And we don't get to see a ton of Magnus Bane. 

Favorite moment: Probably when Tessa and Jem first meet. It's too adorable.

Rating: Overall, continuing the 10 star system, I'd give it 9 stars out of 10.

#2: Clockwork Prince

This was a big step up from Clockwork Angel. We learn more about the characters in the series, the love triangle is incredibly believable and well-developed. There are secrets and betrayal that are just so incredible. There are so many more moments of action and excitement and I found it really hard to put down. It was really great.

Favorite moment: Maybe the moment when Magnus kisses Will. It's just too funny. 

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.5 stars out of 10.

#1: Clockwork Princess

I read this book almost in one sitting. If I hadn't been forced to go do some things (because unfortunately, there is such a thing as real life), I would have just sat there and read and read and read. This book was so action-packed. Something exciting was constantly happening. There were no slow points, and I just couldn't tear my eyes away from it. I was expecting Clockwork Princess to be better than Clockwork Prince (because the GoodReads rating avg. for Prince was 4.48, and Princess was 4.58). However, I wasn't expecting it to be that much better. The rating avg. for Angel was 4.29, so I figured that the difference between the quality of Prince and Princess would not be as large as the one between Angel and Prince. But I was wrong. I was astounded at how perfect of an ending it was. As I said in my Clockwork Princess discussion, I thought that it was the perfect combination of heartbreak and happiness. It was beautiful. 

Favorite moment: The epilogue. The epilogue. The epilogue. It was so beautiful.

Rating: It was a clear 10 stars out of 10. I couldn't have asked for anything more.

Ranking The Covers

#3) Clockwork Angel

I've never been the biggest fan of this cover. I don't think it's a very good depiction of Will. The background is really pretty, but the cover is nowhere near as dynamic in person as it is in the above image. I'm sure the hardcover is a bit prettier, but either way, this one is easily my least favorite cover. 

#2) Clockwork Princess

This cover is gorgeous. Tessa looks great, and I love that she has the codex and her clockwork angel. I especially love the bridge in the background because of the meaning behind it in the series. However, I'm not a huge fan of pink or rose gold, and that's kinda the color scheme of the cover. Also, I'm not a big fan of the building in the background. The buildings on the other books look nicer. 

#1) Clockwork Prince

This cover. This cover. This cover. Jem Carstairs. The blue color scheme. It's so incredibly gorgeous. I don't have any complaints about this cover. It's so great. I don't even know what else to say. It's just beautiful. 

Favorites/Least Favorites

Favorite character: It's a toss-up between Jem and Will at this point. They're both really great and dynamic and I love both of them. I also really love Magnus. 

Least favorite character: I'm not going to be obvious and choose a villain. I don't like Jessamine. I honestly don't. I didn't feel bad for her at any point. 

Favorite ship: Tessa and Will. I love Tessa and Jem as well, but I like Tessa and Will more. 

Least favorite ship: *This is a small spoiler, proceed with caution!* I would have to choose Gabriel Lightwood and  Cecily Herondale. It wasn't instalove, but it was pretty close. 

Spoilers!

Favorite moment: In the entire series, the epilogue. The epilogue. 

Least favorite moment: When Will and Jem's parabatai relationship was ended. It was such a painful moment. I think it was beautifully written, and it was one of the sobbing moments. It's such a bittersweet moment for me. It was so well handled, but I hated that it had to happen. My heart went out to Will at that moment. 

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So, there you go, that's all for the Infernal Devices Trilogy Discussion! Have you read the series? What did you think of it? A chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar should be up on Saturday. Sometime between now and then, I plan on getting my City of Bones discussion post up, and maybe even a City of Ashes discussion!

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

Clockwork Prince Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! This time, I decided not to update as I was reading. I began doing it, but got so engrossed in the story that I just didn't want to put it down to write notes. I also realized that I was doing it more for my benefit than anything, so I decided to try it without, just to see how it works.

Book Summary

If you haven't read Clockwork Angel, don't read this! I have to spoil the events of Clockwork Angel to talk about what happens in Clockwork Prince! 

OK, so Clockwork Prince picks up not too long after Clockwork Angel. Mortmain has escaped, but is still trying to get Tessa to use her powers, while Tessa is trying to figure out what she really is. In the meantime, Benedict Lightwood challenges Charlotte for the running of the Institute, and if the Shadowhunters living in the Institute can't find Mortmain in time, Benedict will take over. It's up to Tessa and the Shadowhunters to uncover the secrets of Mortmain's past and to find him before it's too late. 

Overall Thoughts

I really loved this book. I really enjoyed learning a lot of the big secrets surrounding the series, as well as seeing the relationships between the characters develop. There was one big secret- with two separate revelations attached to it- that I just couldn't keep my mind off of throughout the entirety of the book. The things we did and didn't figure out were just so intriguing and once I got about 200 pages in, I just couldn't put it down. 

One aspect of the book that I really enjoyed was how believable the love triangle was. Typically, the love triangles in YA books are completely unbelievable, and it's overtly clear who the main character will end up with (c'mon, did anyone really think that Bella was going to choose Jacob over Edward? Really?). And while I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on who Tessa will eventually end up with, it could just as easily end up going the other way, and I really like that. Kudos to Cassandra Clare for creating an actually believable love triangle! I do think that this book was focused a little too much on the relationships, but it seems like that was a little necessary, given how vague and unresolved it was in Clockwork Angel.

I also think that the similarities between the characters in the Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments became just a bit less pronounced, specifically in the comparison between Jessamine from the ID and Isabelle in TMI. I also think that the difference between Alec from TMI and Jem from the ID is more pronounced than I originally thought. I still think that Will and Jace are fairly similar and that Tessa and Clary are pretty similar, but the comparisons between them are also slightly less pronounced than it seemed in the beginning, especially with some of the discoveries in Clockwork Prince.

So, before I get into the spoilery discussion, I'll give my rating of the book. I really, really loved Clockwork Prince. I'd say that with all of the character and relationship developments, as well as all of the secrets that were uncovered, I'd say that Clockwork Prince would have to be at least a 4.5 out of 5. I may end up giving it a higher rating (and if so, I'll say it in the series wrap-up), but I'll leave it there for now. 

Spoilery Discussion!

Ok, so William Herondale. I was really surprised when I found out about how he believed that he had a curse on him. It explained so much of his erratic behavior. At this point, I'm really interested in seeing Will in his natural state rather than forcing himself to push people away like he had been for so many years. We've only gotten a small snippet of his normal self, so I'm excited to see what he's really like. Maybe he'll be less like Jace once his cold exterior has been torn away.

I thought that Jessamine couldn't get any more unpleasant, and then... she betrays the Shadowhunters. It's not completely surprising, just because of how desperate she was to find a husband and to get away from the Institute, but I didn't expect her to betray everyone in the Institute just to get away from being a Shadowhunter. As much as she and Isabelle seemed similar in the beginning, Izzy loves being a Shadowhunter, and would never do that. I'm interested to see how this plays out in the end and if Jessie will come back to the right side, end up finding someone, or maybe even choosing to be a Shadowhunter.

The love triangle was also really interesting in the book. We can really tell that Tessa is really conflicted with whether she's in love with Jem or Will. However, it does seem to me like she's going to eventually end up with Will. As much as she seems to really care about Jem, it's obvious that she wants to be with Will more than she does with Jem. Even though Cassandra Clare has made it believable for her to end up with either, I think that she will end up with Will, and I think that she should end up with Will (As much as I personally might choose Jem). Also, what's going to happen with Jem? If Jem gets killed off, I swear I will be murderous. And it's very likely, considering the fact that he's really sick. I'm just worried for him.

Aside from Will and Jem, the best character in the book is of course, Magnus Bane. I just love that Magnus is in both the Infernal Devices and The Mortal Instruments. He's one of the most hilarious and interesting characters in the entire series, and I just love how he manages to turn up out of the blue with some hilarious comment. Plus the scene where he kisses Will is just absolutely hilarious. Magnus is just great.

Plot-wise, I like that we're still in the dark about what Tessa really is. I'm really intrigued with the claim that Tessa's mom was a Shadowhunter and her dad was a demon. Is it possible? Is it not? If it's true/possible, and Shadowhunter blood is dominant, then does that mean that Tessa is technically a Shadowhunter, just with a special ability? Cassandra has created a lot of suspense leading up into the last book, especially after that intriguing ending with Cecily Herondale showing up at the Institute. What brought it on? And that last battle with the huge automaton was really exciting. What's going to happen now that Nate, the Magister's only confidant that we know about, is dead? I have to hand it to Cassandra, she's done a great job getting me excited about Clockwork Princess!

Favorite Quotes

Not all of the places marked in the book are below- I picked only my absolute favorites for this post- because as you can see, I have several marks in here. Like with Clockwork Angel, the blue tabs are Will moments, the purple tabs are Jem moments, and the green tabs are everything else. I think that a couple are Magnus moments, and another is the Henry/Charlotte adorableness.

Page 33: "Reparations," said Jem very suddenly, setting down the pen he was holding.
Will looked at him in puzzlement. "Is this a game? We just blurt out whatever word comes next to mind? In that case mine's 'genuphobia.' It means an unreasonable fear of knees."
Oh, William. Always the logophile.

Page 86: Tessa snorted. "And what color do you suppose the inner depths of your soul are, Will Herondale?" "Mauve," Will said.
Yes, Will Herondale, the first color I think of when I think of you is mauve.

Page 255: "Sophie did this?" he [Will] said, not for the first time...
"Yes," Tessa said, "and do stop repeating it."
"I think I may be in love with you, Sophie," said Will. "Marriage could be on the cards."

Page 318:"I am brave," Will said. ...
"Yes, you are," Magnus said, and kissed him. It wasn't the most dramatic kiss, but Will flailed his free arm as if a bee had landed on him; Magnus had to hope Camille would assume this was passion. When they broke apart, Will looked stunned. So did Camille, for that matter.
Magnus Bane, always one with a flair for the dramatic. Gotta love him...

Page 319: "Did you just kiss me?" Will inquired. 
Magnus made a split-second decision. "No."  
"I thought-"
"On occasion the aftereffects of the painkilling spells can result in hallucinations of the most bizarre sort."
Oh, Magnus...

Page 438: Meanwhile, Will appeared to be singing a song about how he had been right about demon pox all along.
"Demon pox, oh, demon pox,/ Just how is it acquired?/ One must go down to the bad part of town/ Until one is very tired./ Demon pox, oh, demon pox/ I had it all along-/ No, not the pox, you foolish blocks,/ I mean this very song-/ For I was right and you were wrong!"
"Will!" Charlotte shouted over the noise. "Have you LOST YOUR MIND? CEASE THAT INFERNAL RACKET!..."


So, there you go, that's all for this summer reading post! I plan to have a One Day Tumblr Challenge post up tomorrow. Hopefully, if I read quickly enough, my Clockwork Princess post should be up either Monday or Tuesday, and my series overview post should be up the following day. The rest of my plans are a bit up in the air, but I do plan on having another chapter of The Secret Lightning Scar up on Saturday. That might change, but that's the plan for now.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all tomorrow!

30 Day Harry Potter Challenge 2

This is a continuation of my first 30 day Harry Potter Challenge. If you haven't yet seen that one, click here to view it, or click on the tab that should be directly below this post's tab. I'm aware that there are, in fact, some duplicates. I'll answer these anyway, but probably with less detail than the first time. Enjoy!

I'll repeat this from my first challenge: In case you're unfamiliar with the acronyms for the books/movies, here's a quick guide... I'll probably use the real titles multiple times, but I'll definitely shorten some.
Book 1- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Shortened to SS.
Book 2- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Shortened to COS.
Book 3- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Shortened to POA.
Book 4- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Shortened to GOF.
Book 5- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Shortened to OTTP.
Book 6- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Shortened to HBP.
Book 7- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shortened to DH. for movies, I'll add pt.1/pt.2

1) Top 3 favorite characters and why
3) Ron. The Harry Potter series has the same problem as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The sidekick is much more likeable than the main character.
2) Hermione. I always identified with Hermione as a kid. Like me, she was always absorbed in her homework and reading and I loved that about her!
1) Fred & George. I love a good sense of humor, and it doesn't get much better than these two. Without them, many of my favorite moments from the series woudn't exist.
2) Top 3 favorite spells

3) Expecto Patronum. I think it's really interesting that it can take on a shape based on the person who is casting it.
2) Reparo. This would be so helpful in my life, since I often accidentally break things.
1) Wingardium Leviosa. The ultimate lazy spell. I would use this constantly to get things without moving.

3) What house do you think you would be sorted into?
I like the wording of this question. Because it makes me choose a definitive house. In all honesty, I hope, and believe that I would be sorted into Ravenclaw. Though, as stated previously, I do feel that I'm an even mix of Slytherin and Ravenclaw.
4) What do you think would be your favorite class at Hogwarts?
After all the video games I've played and the hours spent on Pottermore, I would definitely say that potions would be my favorite.
5) What would your patronus look like?
I've taken quizzes that have said it would be a dog. I think that or a horse would be cool.
6) List the books in order from your favorite to least favorite. 
-Deathly Hallows. Action packed and interesting.
-Half-Blood Prince. I thought the memories were really cool and was sad that for the most part, they weren't in the movie.
-Prisoner of Azkaban. At first I hated this one because he didn't fight Voldemort. But I love the time turner parts and the Trelawney stuff was really fun.
-Goblet of Fire. I enjoyed the Tri-Wizard Tournament.
-Order of the Phoenix. This one is kinda tied with GOF.
-Sorcerer's Stone. The best part of this one, for me, is the funny twin moments.other than that it's kinda just so-so.
-Chamber of Secrets. I don't know why, but this one is just not my favorite, both movie and book.
7) Favorite quote
From HBP, a sign in the Twins' store window- "Why are you worried about You-Know-Who? You should be worried about U-No-Poo, the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation!"
8) Favorite chapter from your favorite book
Well, I guess my favorite part of the book would have to be The Prince's Tale, where we get to see Snape's story.
9) Top 3 scenes from the series
I'm really not sure I could come up with 3 that were my absolute favorites...
10) Is there a character you didn't like in the books, but liked in the movies and vice/versa?
Ginny is definitely more likeable in the books, but I'm still not a fan. I guess Bellatrix got on my nerves in the books more than in the movies.
11) Your least favorite character
Umbridge, definitely.
12) Favorite villain and why
Does Draco count? Because I really like Draco, but idk if he can truly count as a villain. Hmm... Bellatrix is definitely one of the cooler villains.
13) If you could date one character, who would it be?
Fred, definitely... except for the whole dying thing. Maybe George in that case.
14) Whose death did you take the hardest the first time around?
Fred's. I cried like a baby.
15) Who is your favorite professor at Hogwarts?
Does it get any cooler that McGonagall? I don't think so. I also love Lupin.
16) What is your favorite magical creature?
Uh... Hippogriffs are pretty cool!
17) What would a boggart turn into in front of you?
A bird. They terrify me!
18) Which book have you read the most?
Half-Blood Prince. It was my favorite for the longest time, and I ended up reading it over and over. I've read 4-5 the least, possibly since they're the longest. I'll plan to read all of them, and then stop at the end of POA. Or I'll read 6 and then feel the need to read 7 as well.
19) What would Amortentia smell like to you?
I'm not totally sure if this is supposed to be my favorite smell in general, or like the most attractive way for a guy to smell. So either fresh chocolate chip cookies... or a nice cologne or something. IDK.
20) Which method of magical transportation would you prefer?
Broomstick! Or apparation.
21) Who would be your best friends at Hogwarts? (pick up to 3)
Fred/George, Ron, Hermione
22) Which character are you most like?
Combo of Hermione and Luna, with a bit of Fred/George and Ron thrown in. I'm also quite a lot like Ginny but I don't like a lot of things about her so I don't wanna compare myself to her.
23) If you played quidditch, which position would you play?
I would definitely be a beater. I'd love to fly around with a bat hitting bludgers.
24) Is there a job you'd like to have after leaving Hogwarts?
Maybe a journalist? Or a professor? I don't know.
25) Do you have a favorite magical item?
Other than a wand? I'd have to choose an invisibility cloak. I want one of those SO badly.
26) What's your favorite character pairing?
ROMIONE. (Ron+Hermione). I ship them HARD. I also love Nuna (Neville+Luna) which REALLY should've happened.
27) Which movie is your favorite?
I think POA sticks closest to the book, but I'm a bit of a sucker for DH pt 2. Those are my top 2 movies.
28) Who is your favorite actress in the films?
Emma Watson, for sure. She played a perfect Hermione.
29) Do you prefer the books or movies?
That's not even a question. BOOKS.
30) Has Harry Potter had an effect on you/ made you see things differently?
Sorry, but I wrote a huge paragraph for this one and don't want to repeat it. So... just go read that? :)

30 Day Harry Potter Challenge

It's been longer than usual since I've posted, so I figured I should probably post a challenge! I LOVE Harry Potter, as you'll see as I begin answering these questions. Also, I found 2 of these challenges, and the second one is actually labelled 2. I'm not sure yet if they overlap, but that'll be my next challenge after this one. Enjoy!

In case you're unfamiliar with the acronyms for the books/movies, here's a quick guide... I'll probably use the real titles multiple times, but I'll definitely shorten some.
Book 1- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Shortened to SS.
Book 2- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Shortened to COS.
Book 3- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Shortened to POA.
Book 4- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Shortened to GOF.
Book 5- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Shortened to OTTP.
Book 6- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Shortened to HBP.
Book 7- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Shortened to DH. for movies, I'll add pt.1/pt.2

1) Your favorite of the books
My favorite for the longest time, even after the release of the Deathly Hallows, was the Half-Blood Prince. DH is currently my favorite, followed by HBP and Prisoner of Azkaban.
2) Your favorite of the movies
The movies, for me, are a bit harder to decide. I would definitely say that the POA movie was really good and stuck really close to the book. That and DH pt.2 are probably my favorites of the bunch.
3) Which, if any of the films have made you angry by ignoring important parts of the book?
All of them. I'll take each one by one.
SS- All the things I loved about the first book (mostly the funny moments), such as Weasley twin antics, Lee Jordan's quidditch commentary, Ron screaming at Hermione "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?!" and of course, the potion room!!!
COS- Not as many complaints, but Peeves definitely made this one more interesting. But they cut him from ALL the movies.
POA- As much as I love this movie, I really wish it had started with Ron yelling at Mr. Dursley on the phone. It would've been awesome.
GOF- WINKY. DOBBY. Also, they left out the crucial part about Harry giving the twins his tournament winnings. They couldn't have opened their store otherwise!
OOTP- I wanted to see the part where Harry and the twins get banned from ever playing quidditch again. And the whole Weasley is our King thing. That got mostly cut.
HBP- DOBBY. Also, Bill and Fleur's relationship wasn't mentioned at all. And the way that the Ginny/Harry relationship was portrayed... no.
DH 1- I was honestly worried they were going to cut out the "holey" joke but they didn't! I think the only thing that annoyed me was Wormtail's death. It was kinda ambiguous and almost looked like he got knocked out, rather than his hand betraying him for saving Harry.
DH 2- The whole elder wand thing made me mad. They changed it from how it was in the book. Not ok. I did really love Neville professing his love to Luna though. Awesome stuff.
4) Least favorite female character and why
There are many female characters I dislike. Umbridge is definitely my least favorite by far. I also dislike Rita Skeeter and Lavender Brown. However, of the main characters, I have to say I'm not a fan of Ginny. She seems to serve no purpose other than to marry Harry and make the golden trio relatives in the future. It's not necessarily her character that I dislike (though there are some things about her that bother me) but it just seems her role is really one dimentional. And her character is pretty one dimentional in the movies. She's much more interesting in the books.
5) Favorite male character and why
The Weasley twins, for sure. They keep me entertained much more than the other characters. I absolutely love them. I also really love Ron.
6) What house would you want to be in?
This is possibly my favorite question. I like to consider myself to be a Slytherclaw. I'm very much a combination of the two. I decided to leave it up to Pottermore, and I came back a Hatstall. So I'm no closer to figuring anything out. If forced to choose, though, I would choose Ravenclaw every time, so that's where I would be at Hogwarts.
7) Favorite female character and why
Definitely Hermione. She has always been my favorite character alongside the twins and Ron. She's definitely what I was when I was younger. Now, I'm a bit of a combination between her and Luna. But Hermione has always been my favorite girl.
8) What do you think would be your favorite subject at Hogwarts?
I've played a lot of games of different classes, and I always seem to love potions more than anything else. Especially on the HBP PS2 game. I made potions on there for HOURS. I think it would be really cool to be in an actual potions class.
9) Least favorite male character and why
Gilderoy Lockhart. He's exactly the type of person I despise. I would also could Lucius Malfoy and Wormtail in this too.
10) Pick one: horcruxes or hallows.
It definitely depends on the situation. For example, in the book when Harry is trying to figure out whether to get information on the horcruxes or hallows first, I was totally pulling for horcruxes, because at that point, those were clearly the more important topic. However, in the case of favorites, I would definitely choose the hallows. They're really interesting and cool and I want an invisibility cloak. Horcruxes are just... terrible.
11) The character you relate to the most
I've often said that I'm a combination of Hermione and Luna, with the Weasley twins and Ron thrown in (which is probably why they're my favorites). I find that the non-annoying parts to Ginny's personality are a lot like me, but I can't bring myself to compare myself to her because of how much I hate her actual role in the series.
12) Your favorite pairing
Romione (Ron+Hermione) is my OTP, for sure. I think they're perfect. My non-canon ship is Nuna (Neville+Luna). I really hate that this didn't happen. My totally unrealistic ones that I would only ship if Ron died are Dramione (Draco+Hermione) and Fremione (Fred+Hermione). If you want to get into AVPM, I'm a huge Quirrelmort shipper. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're missing out on a great musical.
13) Least favorite of the movies.
As close as it stuck to the book, the first movie was the most disappointing for me, mostly because all the things that made me love the first book were left out (see the rant on #3). Harry was also really annoying because he was WAY too polite and always started his questions the same way. He would say "excuse me" before saying like ANYTHING. Actually... I think a lot of the kids did this. Lame script. I also didn't like the fact that the locations were different (not sure if they changed before or afte #2, but it was definitely different by 3). And I much preferred the location from 3 on.
14) Pick one: Team Voldemort or Team Harry
Normal books/movies, definitely team Harry.
AVPM on the other hand, DEFINITELY team Voldemort (maybe I should do an AVPM challenge?)
15) Who would be your best friends at Hogwarts (up to 3)?
Oh goodness. Can the twins count as one? I would say twins, Ron, Hermione.
16) Your favorite professor
Hands down, McGonagall. I love that woman and her sass. I also really like Lupin, but McGonagall still wins.
17) What would your wand be made of (choose wood and core)
Actually, for a 30 day challenge I did on Facebook one time, I went through the different woods and cores and their meanings for personality, and I came up with an Ebony, Pine, or Ash wand with a phoenix feather core.
18) Least favorite of the 7 books
Chamber of Secrets is definitely my least favorite book, followed by Sorcerer's Stone. I think there was a huge quality shift between COS and POA, both in the books and movies.
19) Do you prefer the books or movies?
Is that even a question? Obviously, I prefer the books.
20) If you could meet one member of the cast, who would it be?
The sad thing is that I feel like I wouldn't really want to meet the actors, I would want to meet the characters. Because I'm worried that if I were to meet the actors, it would ruin my views of them... like I already have lost a lot of respect for Daniel Radcliffe for showing up to the filming of Deathly Hallows drunk. I mean, my perfect little view of him as Harry Potter was already smudged a bit after seeing stories about his sex life. Just no.
21) If you could bring one of the characters back to life, who would you choose?
I'm sorry, all you people who would bring Dobby, or Snape, or Dumbledore, or Sirius, or Lupin back. I love all of them. But I love Fred more. I sobbed like a- oh wait... explanation for #23. I'll save it.
22) Pick one: Harry Potter or Twilight
This question is even more stupid than #19. HARRY FREAKIN' POTTER.
23) Any/all parts of the books/movies that made you cry
Fun story. When the DH book came out, I was 13 and was on a trip with my parents. We couldn't go to a midnight premiere, so I bought the book the next morning at the airport we were at. I spent all day on the plane reading the book, but I had to go to sleep rather than staying up all night to finish it. So, I got up the next day and read more. I got dragged to the mall in the middle of this, and refused to put the book down. And I got to the part where Fred dies in the middle of the mall. And I started crying right there in the middle of the mall. I was a wreck. I was sobbing in the movie too. And the part when the twins are asking each othe if they're ok. And when Dobby died. And when Snape died.
24) Any particular scene you wished was in the movies but wasn't
Ugh there are so many. One that I really loved, though, was the scene in SS when they're in the great hall singing the school song at their own pace, and the twins chose to sing at a funeral march pace and at the end, they were singing by themselves and Dumbledore was conducting them. Then he wipes his eyes and says "ah, music. A magic beyond anything we do here." which is awesome because the scene is hilarious and as a music major, it tugs at my little heartstrings.
25) Are you satisfied with the epilogue?
Simply, no. There are good and bad things. I like the setting. The fact that it was King's Cross at Platform 9 3/4. I thought that Harry's kids had cheesy, lame names. Harry, you can't just name your kids after your parents and the dude that wanted to bang your mom. Doesn't work. I like the little moment where Harry is like "if you wanna be a gryffindor, then you can be a gryffindor". As far as the movies, I really appreciated the fact that they aged the actors rather than getting different people. It wouldn't be the same without them. Without them, it wouldn't truly be Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny saying goodbye to their kids. However, it was WAY too short and vague. I felt like hey, I've put so much of my life into this series, into these characters, and you give me a half-hearted ending and told me how characters I don't care about ended up? NO. Everything was skimmed over. Draco and Harry acknowledged each other. Great. They don't totally hate each other like they used to. So what is their relationship now? Have they ever talked? If they talked, would they be friendly? How much has Draco changed? Neville is skimmed over. Oh look, he's doing exactly what you thought he'd be doing. But how's Georgie doing? What about Luna? Seamus? Dean? Is McGonagall still running Hogwarts? Is she still alive? How are Molly and Arthur? Seriously, so many holes. Half the stuff I know about the epilogue didn't even come from the epilogue. It came from interviews with JK Rowling, explaining things. That's how I found out that Neville and Luna didn't end up together, because LUNA ISN'T EVEN MENTIONED. UGH. I apologize for my rant.
26) If you were able to use one spell without a wand, what would it be?
I think this question is meaning that if I, as my unfortunately muggle self, could do a single spell from the wizarding world, what would I choose. And I'm sure that with a lot of time and dedication, I could think of a better answer, but I'll just stick to my regular "swish and flick." Seriously, there's a reason they teach it to eleven year olds. It's SO useful. Even more so than accio. Because accio just makes things come to you. I could clean my entire room without getting out of bed if I could use Wingardium Leviosa.
27) Which of the Deathly Hallows would you rather own?
I'm not trying to be the "smart one" here, but the invisibility cloak seems to be the most useful to a witch/wizard. Think about it. Unless you're going to be dueling all the time and attacking people, the elder wand isn't at all necessary. And people get killed over it. The resurrection stone doesn't REALLY bring people back, and just like the brother in the tale, the person could be insanely depressed. The cloak is definitely the most logical.
28) Who would be your nemesis at Hogwarts?
I would say either Lavender Brown or Pansy Parkinson. They're both annoying, snooty girls that I just couldn't deal with.
29) Is there a job you would want to have, were you a part of the wizarding world?
I actually don't know. I've never done much research into wizarding jobs. If I was good enough at one of my subjects in school, I could possibly end up a professor. I don't know.
30) Describe the affect Harry Potter has had on your life and how much it means to you
I'm not even sure it's possible to put it into words. Until the age of 10, I wasn't allowed to read them. My parents were told by one of their friends that there was devil worship in the books. Obviously these people had never seen the movies or read the books, but rather had heard this information from somewhere else. Which pissed me off once I was allowed to read them because I'd ALWAYS wanted to read them and had never been allowed because of this supposed "devil worship". NOT COOL. From that point on, Harry Potter became a huge part of my life, and it has been ever since. It lead to the best day of my life, which was the day that I got to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I only got to go one day, but it was absolute perfection. We were there from the time the park opened until almost closing time, and we spend the entire day at Harry Potter World. I got to ride the castle ride twice, the dragon ride twice (once for each dragon. If I remember correctly, I thought the teal one was more fun than the red one, which is funny cause red is my favorite color and teal is my second favorite), and went on the hippogriff ride just to say that we went on it. I bought 4 wands... which was partially the result of poor planning. See, I looked online before we went, because I wanted to see what all I was going to buy. And I was really disappointed that the Weasley twins' wands weren't there to buy. So, I went into the park knowing that I wanted to get Hermione and Draco's wands. But then in the shop off of the castle ride, I discovered that they did, in fact, sell the twins' wands and was too attached to the other two to let them go, so I just kept them all. I drank lots of butterbeer, bought a chocolate frog ( which melted too soon), as well as a lot of other cool things. ANYWAY. Clearly, Harry Potter has had a HUGE effect on my life and it means WAY too much to me to be able to put it into words.