SNRK!!!!
While I'm inclined to simply invite you to fuck off and actually read the book before getting involved here, I think I'll do that after a somewhat more civil rebuttal:
Book 1: Harry got out of his encounter with Quirell by being harmful to the guy on contact. Perhaps a slight cop-out, but well justified, so I'm prepared to let it slide. Besides, he did have to get through a series of trials and locks invented by some of Hogwart's best teachers in order to get there in the first place, that probably counts for something.
Book 2: Fawkes turning up with the hat and sword - Harry declared his loyalty to Dumbledore, Fawkes turned up. Again, justified. Besides, even with the sword and phoenix, it was hardly an easy fight.
Book 3: Fought his own way out of a tight corner. No help whatsoever.
Book 4: Aided through the tri-wizard tournament by a death eater who meant him harm anyway. Subsequently got himself out of harm's way without much in the way of aid, AND helf his own against Voldemort, completely without assistance.
book 5: Hard fight, godfather killed, got out of it, but only barely. Dumbledore's arrival did little bar saving Harry's life.
book six: Hard fight, mentor killed, got the crap kicked out of him by Snape, NO HELP.
I've not seen a single example of obvious DEM in the entire series. Rowling is at least competent enough not to fall back on that tired old mechanism. Sure, she's not afraid to bring in a little extra help for Harry, but she's always sufficient justification for it, and the incoming help has never managed to single-handedly save the day and provide a happy ending - Dumbledore didn't save Sirius, for example - so it isn't DEM. DEM is the ending of "Shaun of the Dead" not of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which was the closest Rowling has ever come to using it.
Now for the bit where I get uncivilised.
We know you don't like J.K. Rowling, or the Harry Potter books, OR the extended franchise. We are at least sufficiently intelligent to have gotten that much into our heads the first time you said it, never mind that you've been playing the same shit like a stuck record ever since. Shut the fuck up, go back to the other HP thread and let those of us who want to retrospectively discuss THIS BOOK on its own, without your "Rowling is a hack" attitude, get on with it.
Or have you actually
read HP&HBP and come up with something relevant, intelligent and useful to add to the discussion?
Now, I know I'm being nasty here, and I apologise, but while I'm prepared to hear you out on the whole "Rowling = bad" argument, you've just added one too many straw to the proverbial camel. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Don't be so quick to assume that people give a flying purple fuck about your opinion. You're not a fan, FINE. I'm cool with that. What I object to is your barging in here and beginning to spread the same old shit around all over again. We're discussing the book in retrospect here, and while you're entitled to both have and express an opinion, I really must stress that, as far as I'm concerned (obviously, I can't speak for everyone else), that your opinion will not be welcome on this thread so long as you haven't actually read the book, cover to cover, and thought about it for a while.
Anyway, rant and topic deviation over.
I enjoyed it, but I think the previous 2 books were better.
I'd have to disagree with your saying that Order of the Phoenix was better... that one seemed to be the uninspired one to me. Rowling trotted along at a steady pace and never once seemed to hit that extra creative burst she has. Goblet of Fire, however...
Jury's still out on that, really. I think I prefer HBP, but that may be because I've always preferred stuff with a darker edge to it. Both novels were definitely written in a higher average gear than the rest of the series.
It seems like this one was filled with a lot more romance than the previous books
Tell me about it. round about Chapter 15, there was one hell of a love web going on.
Like I say, I just wish Rowling had used "Kissing" instead of "snogging". I know it's a typically Brit-kid word, but I still find it to be an uncomfortable term. In fact, her handling of the kissy stuff in that section of the book was more than a bit uncomfortable for me, simply because of the language she was using. The short space where Harry and Ginny finally got together was much more comfortable.
That may have been deliberate, mind. Using the slightly coarser language certainly created an impression of awkwardness and wrongness, so when the relationship fell properly into place, it just worked better. Interesting technique, though I think Rowling could still have been somewhat more subtle...
Whatever, I'll think about it some more...