What everyone has said, especially including all the "Neville, BDH!" and "Fred, noez!" "Harry can't die now that baby Ted has no mummy and daddy!" and "'what a wonderful payoff' as opposed to 'obvious'" and the bit about the middle dragging a bit: I didn't mind the length of the "wandering lost", just the breadth of the repetitive squabbling about the same things. I just think something more interesting could have been done with that tension and feelings of futility, instead of simply "Ron is a git, triplefold with the locket".
I will mention that I was actually expecting rather a higher bodycount, which may be my adult inclinations foisting themselves upon what is still really a children's story. I did feel the "Oh crap, all bets are off" once Hedwig went down. But then JKR seemed to pull back and put the kid gloves back on. I really wanted to see our kids really come to face with the "kill or be killed" of it all, maybe some moral dilemnas involving "but they're under the Imperius curse, and aren't committing these acts of their own volition". Maybe just have someone they merely stunned or disarmed come to and a chapter later come back and kill a student.
Hmmm, what? Wrong book? Oh.
It's interesting reading all the reactions (both locally and afield).
Some folks think it's too fan-ficish.
Others (like on P-C's LJ) are trying to sort out the wandlore order of Elder Wand succession.
Most people dislike the epilogue. Which is a little weird since that kind of flash forward is usually very satisfactory (see: American Graffitti, World According to Garp).
Even though Ron is one of The Trio, his big moment seems kind of small compared to Neville's Big Moment. Plus Ron was, once again, a git.
Offing Remus and Tonks offscreen was kind of lame. People were more moved by Dobby's death.
Lots of resonance with: Buffy, Narnia, LotR. (Name your heroic mythic cycle.)
Teddy Lupin
does
kind of remind one of Teddy Ruxpin.
Teddy Lupin does kind of remind one of Teddy Ruxpin.
Thanks for that image!
Others (like on P-C's LJ) are trying to sort out the wandlore order of Elder Wand succession.
I just got back from watching HPatOotP (finally) and I was trying to remember if the wand battle b/w Dumbledore and Voldemort is the same in the book. If so, that sort of screws with the whole Deathstick theory.
Hey, guys, I haven't posted here in a really long time, but I was reading all of your thoughts and I just had to post.
I loved this book so much. I think it's my favorite of all of them now. The stuff that really got to me was Ron's departure and return, everything that ever happened to Severus Snape, and of course, when Harry walked into the forest, turned the stone three times, and asked his family to stay with him to the end - gah!
I think it had to have a happy ending because so much crap had happened to Harry prior to this final chapter - this book was all about triumphing over death, and I think that really meant Harry coming to terms with all of the people he had lost previously. Or really, just the notion of loss.
Other things I liked (although there was so much):
Harry calling him Tom Riddle at the end - I've always thought that everyone should call him Tom and not the self-important name he gave himself.
Harry naming his son Albus Severus - Snape always was, even before this book, sort of a father-figure to Harry (a semi-horrible one most of the time, but still).
Dumbledore telling Snape that maybe the Sorting hat chose Snape's house too soon. That and when Snape asked to look into Harry's eyes before he died just about killed me.
Neville leading the resistance at Hogwarts and kicking some serious ass (and with plants, too!).
The fact that Voldemort ultimately bit the dust because he, just like everyone else (except Dumbledore) underestimated who Snape was as much as he underestimated Harry.
For the 'shippers out there, from Wikipedia:
Harry, uses it once to summon his parents, Sirius and Lupin.
See what trouble not using the serial comma can get you into?
See what trouble not using the serial comma can get you into?
Trouble? Or the hidden truth?
Okay, that's so much better than the parents, god and ayn rand quote.
Just finished and feeling drained. I totally skipped to the end of this thread so I haven't read other observations but I have to say that I was tense all the way through the book and am unbearably sad that none of the Marauders made it out alive and to a happy ending or that the Weaselys lost their Fred.
And wow -- folks are so smart to figure out the Harry is the last Horcrux thing.
And wow -- folks are so smart to figure out the Harry is the last Horcrux thing.
Really? I thought that was very common speculation.
Actually, I think just the scar is the Horcrux. Maybe I'm wrong about that. They are all intermingled with the blood and whatnot.
