Everyone is wanting one and no one has taken the lead yet, so here goes. . . .

I finished at 10:21 Saturday morning and was so exhausted that I couldn't sleep. I'm currently rereading so as to savor the final book and not focus so much on devouring it.

I can already tell that it isn't my favorite in the series, but I was (mostly) satisfied with Jo - I think she tried really hard to tie up all the loose ends before handing us this last installment.

I'll post some more later today or tomorrow, but I figured I would start the thread so that people could actually discuss the book (finally!) instead of talking around and about it.

Needless to say, if you're reading this thread it will contain spoilers of Deathly Hallows, so don't poke around if you don't want your own fun spoiled by the rest of us!

I have to give this a day or two to process (and possibly make it through a re-read.)

While reading the book I would get overly tense (Malfoy Manor and the battle at Hogwarts.) I'm sure the 3am pot of coffee had nothing to do with my anxiety though. heh. Honestly, I was so focused on getting the larger questions answered that I didn't devote any energy reading for style or tone.

Like I said above, I was fairly satisfied with the outcome (although reading through the Leaky Lounge has raised some doubts in my mind.) Hopefully on a second read some of my own (and other's) questions might be answered. One thing I will say is that the death count was really high - higher than I ever expected.

I suppose the part that I really wanted fleshed out was the epilogue, or perhaps even an added chapter to eulogize the fallen heroes/celebrate the dawn of a non-Voldemort world before the epilogue. In short, the end was awfully abrupt. I guess I imagined that we might get a better picture of what all the characters had gone on to do with their lives. A cloudy bit taking place on Platform 9¾, giving us the names of Harry/Ginny's and Ron/Hermione's children didn't leave me with a true feeling of closure.

So, what did you think?!?

I agree. When I first heard that there would be an epilogue telling what happens to main characters later in life, I was picturing a lengthy list of characters and one-paragraph bios (or longer). But it probably means something that she focuses on the children, and doesn't even mention their parents' occupations...

The house elves--which were never huge favorites of mine--made this a better book, imho. Kreacher and Dobby...love them to bits. And Kreacher telling his story is one of my favorite scenes in the book.

I'll wait on taking a peek into Leaky's lounge only because I want to enjoy the good things about it for a while. But I agree--she did a heck of a job. Just when I thought she was becoming dangerously predictable, she yanked the rug out from under me again. Honestly, reading the last few chapters reminded me of how I felt when I was 8 and reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time (under the covers with a flashlight in the dead of night)...

I have more things to say, but they'll surface in time.

I'm reading it aloud in Spanish to my boyfriend since the Spanish translation doesn't come out until at least September (something which has always bothered me--only the English-speaking world can be surprised?). Kind of makes me wish we were doing what the Germans did!

I haven't had anyone to talk to about the book so this is going to be a ramble. overall I greatly enjoyed it, although the many deaths were hard to take. Hedwig and Dobby and Lupin and Tonks hit me the hardest. I cried for Dobby and was angry at J.K. Rowling over Hedwig. was that really necessary?! I was really expecting Harry to die and I was mostly fine with that idea although I knew it would be hard to take. I thought J.K. Rowling (I can't seem to bring myself to call her Jo) handled that part quite well, and it was nothing like I had expected. Voldy's death was rather abrupt but later I thought the mode of death was fitting enough. I think that Snape's death hasn't fully sunk in yet because I'm preoccupied with his story and how I feel about it.
at the time of reading, I was okay with the epilogue but didn't like it a whole lot. the more I think about it the more dissatisfied I am though. last year when I first heard someone say that Ron and Hermione should end up together with a bunch of little Rons and Hermiones I cried out NO! I didn't want their friendship and story to be about who ended up with who and how many kids they had and what their names were. that seems so...grade school. earlier when I was thinking about possible endings for the series I thought one of the worst ones would be "and Voldy was killed for good and they all lived in happy happy joy joy land ever after" (and its variant "and Voldy turned good and and they all lived in happy happy joy joy land ever after"). and that's what the epilogue felt like. after the unabated loss it did feel like an initial relief, and far be it from me to want Harry to suffer for the rest of his life or to be dead, but...I just can't find the epilogue to be ultimately satisfying. I tell myself to just ignore it but I can't.
anyway, I want to reread the book, but my younger sister has it right now.

Thank God that it doesn't end with the tiny epilogue...



The long-rumored Hogwarts encyclopedia idea has been made official...plus the name of someone who was originally going to die, but didn't. (I'm about to check, but I suspect it's Hagrid...)

Partial transcript, with more info...

Good lord, there was some serious cheese factor in that epilogue.
Some plot points felt very strained to me. I'm still digesting.

Granted, but I loved this quote:

"Albus Severus, ... you were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

Agreed. It totally felt to me that that line was the only reason the epilogue was written.

I'm not even a little sold on the "everybody gets to marry and make happy little families with their first love, and their lost loved ones will live on forever in their children's names and memories...blah blah blah"

I think I was really hoping for a Hamlet-type ending. Lots of crazy twists, everybody dies, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (sp?) (maybe fred and george) end it all with something pithy.

Maybe I'm just too jaded for endings that happy:)

I averted my eyes when accessing this thread because I'm only like just past the wedding. However, I wanna say that JR is not pulling any punches. Let's see 1 minor character and 2 major characters (1 human; 1 animal ) already disposed of! Cripey, this could be a long and painful read for sure! Oh, and someone's minus an ear for good!

Cher

I've found myself really disappointed with this book, more so than with any other book in the Potter series. I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours, so obviously I found it engaging ... but there are a number of details and plot points that I felt were sloppy at best (and lazy at worst).

For example, one of my friends and I have been talking about the "Trace" on underage wizards. In Book 6, one of the characters states that the Ministry can only detect where magic is being done, not by whom, and that it's up to parents of wizarding households to enforce the no-magic ban. Then, by Book 7, suddenly there's a "trace" on underage wizard magic? Why was Harry blamed for Dobby levitating the cake, then? Introducing that concept throws inconsistencies into several key parts of the overall storyline, and frankly, it wasn't really necessary, except to introduce an epic battle early on in the plot.

Then there's the whole Harry-as-Horcrux bit. What seems fuzzy to me is that if Harry only survived Voldemort's Avada Kedavra because his mother's protection lived on in Voldemort, wouldn't that protection end as soon as Voldemort died? Theoretically, even if Harry could survive based on that protection, shouldn't he have died once Voldemort died? The concept was underdeveloped, and the explanation Dumbledore gives Harry in "King's Cross" is patently vague and unsatisfying. And frankly, I think it's a cheap plot trick--either kill Harry or don't kill Harry, but don't resurrect him from the dead.

And speaking of raising Harry from the dead, I was disappointed that Rowling ultimately proved unimaginative enough to resort to a classic Judeo-Christian Messiah storyline in order to resolve the plot. (Did any one else catch all the religous allusions throughout the book--the verses from Matthew and I Corinthians on the Dumbledore and Potter tombstones? Lee Jordan's radio handle, "River," as in the Jordan River? The hilt of Griffyndor's sword appearing as a "silver cross" in the lake?) I mean, really, when the series ends with the resurrected protagonist declaring that his death has protected all the people he died for, and he tells the antagonist that his "last chance" of a happy afterlife is to repent of his wrongdoing, the entire story becomes semi-allegorical in retrospect. I've always thought the books explored ethics and the nature of good and evil from a decidedly secular perspective, so the religous undertones of the last book were a complete surprise to me. I really thought Rowling was going to be more imaginative (and realistic) than to suggest that the defeat of a single "evil" character would make the world a better place. The end (especially the epilogue) rang hollow after the relative moral complexity of the earlier books.

I could go on, but this post is long enough already.

So, I spent ALL DAY yesterday on the sofa reading, reading, reading in order to finish! Now, what to say?

Did I like the book? Yes and no. Was I disappointed with the way she chose to end it? Yes, in a way. I feel somewhat let down because I know the story SOOOOOO well. Sacrifice and rebirth. Oh well, now if we could ONLY get that certain faction of folks to even read the books ... they just might get it. Afterall, if they believe that a lion could give his life and then be reborn ... why not a wizard?

Seriously, though, it was a good ending. I'm not sure her fan base could have really taken Harry truly dying in the end. I guess he really did die, he just simply made the choice to return and take Voldemort out once and for all. I still don't know how JK kept everything in order, and I give her great kudos for doing so. Will there be another generation of Potters, Weasleys, etc. with a NEW evil to face? I wouldn't be surprised. The epilogue pretty much spells that option out should JK so choose. I'd also like to know what Harry, Ron, Ginny & Hermoine's careers ended up being. Did they finish Hogwarts? We know about Neville. What about Luna? Lot's of ways she can still go and things that can be explored.

She really did not disappoint.

Although I took my time and read leisurely, I will be rereading it again as well. I'll now start rereading the whole series again so as to put everything into perspective even more.

If you have not read Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy as of yet, please by the boxed paperback set (cheaper that way) and read them during what's left of your summer. If you saw the "OoTP," then you saw the trailer for "The Golden Compass" which comes out in December. It's another series that I enjoyed as much, if not more than, HP.



Cher

Weird - while dreaming last night/this morning, Voldemort showed up in said dream in Kings' Crossing form. As I said weird.

Even weirder was waking up this morning thinking of 5 years down the road later and a whole new Potter series with the next generation. Harry's now dead (some sort of freak accident) and Big V's found ANOTHER way to come back and wreak more havoc.

Remember, Dumbledore DID SAY that he really wouldn't die ... he'd just remain there in that state.

Methinks I think too much!

Cher

Here are some pictures from the massive Harry Potter party that took place in my town:

Jeffrey's Myspace Blog