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Ok, so, I read Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education. Well, actually I read it twice, as soon as I finished I started again. I had a lot of thoughts ok!
It thrilled me how this book was both in conversation with Harry Potter and stood on its own. There were little fun things like El, the main character, not liking treacle tart, which made me laugh out loud. There was a concerted effort to make the school and the characters more diverse, which has long been a critique of Harry Potter.
And as a reader of Astolat's Harry Potter fic*, I could literally recognize the tropes she borrowed from her own interpretations of the characters.
(*I've read them all despite not being a shipper of Harry/Draco. Astolat just does such staggeringly good world building I literally could not resist. I reread them frequently.)
( Spoilers Ahoy )
I'm a little curious to see where the next two books in the series go. I haven't bought it yet (libraries! Support libraries!) but I'm strongly considering it. I got to have that third re-read you know. :D
Basically, highly recommended, with the caveat that if death of teenagers is a no, it's ok to give it a pass.
(Also, I should clarify, as I think this is my first HP post in a while, that I'm not at all ok with JKR's bigotry and I'm still figuring out what that means for me as a fan, but I can't just...turn off the fandom hyperfixation, and I'm working on being a more critical fan and vocally supporting the trans community in particular, but giving up isn't happening here. You CAN block my "fandom: harry potter" tag if you have an advanced account; I'll make sure to tag everything.)
It thrilled me how this book was both in conversation with Harry Potter and stood on its own. There were little fun things like El, the main character, not liking treacle tart, which made me laugh out loud. There was a concerted effort to make the school and the characters more diverse, which has long been a critique of Harry Potter.
And as a reader of Astolat's Harry Potter fic*, I could literally recognize the tropes she borrowed from her own interpretations of the characters.
(*I've read them all despite not being a shipper of Harry/Draco. Astolat just does such staggeringly good world building I literally could not resist. I reread them frequently.)
( Spoilers Ahoy )
I'm a little curious to see where the next two books in the series go. I haven't bought it yet (libraries! Support libraries!) but I'm strongly considering it. I got to have that third re-read you know. :D
Basically, highly recommended, with the caveat that if death of teenagers is a no, it's ok to give it a pass.
(Also, I should clarify, as I think this is my first HP post in a while, that I'm not at all ok with JKR's bigotry and I'm still figuring out what that means for me as a fan, but I can't just...turn off the fandom hyperfixation, and I'm working on being a more critical fan and vocally supporting the trans community in particular, but giving up isn't happening here. You CAN block my "fandom: harry potter" tag if you have an advanced account; I'll make sure to tag everything.)
