Well, here it is at last - the end of a series that my family and I have been enjoying for many years. And though I have a few quibbles about this novel, for the most part I found it to be a satisfying read in and of itself as well as a very nice ending to the story of Harry Potter. I thought Rowling tied up all the story threads nicely, and when I finished reading I felt happy and satisfied, which is a tribute to her abilities as a fabulous storyteller. I hope that she will continue writing.
I dislike spoilers, so I won't say anything else, but if you want to discuss the book with me click on the comments. :-)
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For the most part I was astonished at the sheer number of major and minor characters that Rowling managed to kill off in the space of 600 pages. I tried counting to see if it added up to seven, since that seems to be an important number in this series, but no - there were more than seven deaths: Hedwig, Mad-Eye, Dobby, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevey, Crabbe, and of course Voldemort. Did I forget anyone?
High points for me:
* Neville Longbottom finally stops being the comic relief and really comes into his own as a strong, brave Gryffindor
* Mrs Weasley attacking Bellatrix. Go Molly!
* Ron's middle name... ha ha ha
* Harry finally getting to visit the house where he lived with his parents and visit their graves
* Everyone lives happily ever after
Quibbles:
* How come Patronuses started being able to talk and wander around the countryside in this book?
* Deathly Hallows is a dumb name for those three magical objects
* It was a little bit too convenient that Voldemort unknowingly used the resurrection stone as one of his Horcruxes
* I wish she'd taken the time to have the characters go over the list of Horcruxes because I lost count of how many there were, how many they found, and such part way through the novel and was confused when suddenly Harry was talking about the last one.
* I would have liked to see Rita Skeeter get her just desserts!
* I was getting pretty fed up with Harry and Voldemort either just missing each other (followed by the torture of Death Eaters by V.) or else meeting up and then Harry getting away. It seemed like Rowling tried too hard to come up with reasons why nobody defeated anyone (so she could draw out the book a bit longer) - that whole thing about wands that think for themselves or whatever it was they did could have been cut from the story, IMO.
* The Ron/Hermione pairing didn't work for me in the last book but I was willing to give it a chance... and I'm sorry to say it still doesn't work for me. The chemistry just isn't there. Ron still seems like too much of an idiotic sidekick without much real talent or personality, and Hermione is smart and confident enough that she doesn't need to pair up with a man like that to feel good about herself.
* I really thought it was unnecessary for Harry to use the Cruciatus curse. I could see how the Imperius curse might have been his only option when he was desperately trying to get into Gringotts, but his choice of "Crucio" for Amycus Carrow and the comment about really meaning it didn't fit in at all with Harry's character for me.
* Percy showing up at the end and having a sudden change of heart after hardly appearing at all - Huh? She'd have been better off killing him if she had to get rid of one of the Weasleys.
OK, enough complaints - I very much enjoyed this book, honest!
my biggest quibbles (aside from some of yours):
I really don't like the Ginny/Harry thing either, and they seem a little too much like Harry's parents to seem entirely healthy.
What happened to Luna?
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