My friend Tami bought her book on Saturday, but is trying to stretch it out. She started it on the train into work this morning, called me with her opinion so far (the Death Eaters had just showed up to ambush the multiple Harrys), and said she'd read some more at lunchtime. She just called me to mourn over the loss of Hedwig and Mad-Eye, and I told her that the death and destruction was just beginning. She'll be calling me back tomorrow morning with more opinion. A delayed read-n-post is always fun!

I quite liked it. I was, for other reasons, an emotional basket case while reading it, which probably helped more than hindered.

I agree with those that think the travelling camp bits dragged, and I also didn't like what I'm sure was supposed to be a big payoff: Harry chatting with Albus. I still think Dumbledore's a bit of a jerk, and listening to him wax so complimentary over Harry's personality made my eyes roll. Harry won, true. And he had to make some really big decisions to get there. But didn't Dumbledore read HP5? Wait--I guess he was pretty wrapped up in himself there too.

Gigantic HP7 meara! For even more thoughts, see the LJ post.

When Harry used the Resurrection Stone, I admit it...I started sobbing. And cried pretty much through the end of that chapter.

At first, I thought, "What? That's the purpose? To 'give him strength' or something?" And then I started thinking about what the fuck he was doing, walking into his own death, and goddamn, I'm tearing up right now.

Unfortunately, I thought Remus and Tonks were toast for quite some time now, ever since I read an interview with JKR where she said she just had to kill off two characters, and she cried over doing so.

She cried over writing the words "Remus and Tonks"? Because that appears to have been the extent of their death scene.

Hedwig's death was the first time I blurted "NO!" reading DH, but it wasn't the last.

Oh man. I had to re-read that a bunch of times to believe it just happened. Took me completely by surprise.

I'd feared for the twins, and I'll never be able to read the earlier books quite the same way knowing that Fred doesn't make it.

Yeah, I was one of those people who never bothered to differentiate the two in my mind, and apparently, Fred is the worse one to have killed. I'll pay more attention to him on the re-read. Stopped me right in my tracks, that did.

Instead of it all feeling predictable, it was more like everything snapping into place. I guess she really set it all up properly, so they were payoffs instead of obviousness.

JKR is excellent at plotting. I heart her.

I surprised myself by sobbing when Ron but the socks on Dobby.

I couldn't believe how sad I was for Dobby. I never really liked him, and then she made me want to snuggle him.

It was a bit quick and neat, but oh, how I loved the Kreacher turnaround!

Making sandwiches!

Yes, it dragged in parts, but honestly? How much can I complain about dragging when I couldn't stop reading? Loved it.

Heh, exactly. The first few chapters were incredibly intense, and I didn't know how she could keep that pace up the whole book...and she didn't. The middle was a little slower, but it still kept me turning the pages.

Love that Harry didn't kill Voldie with an AK, that Voldemort basically did it to himself.

Hubris was his downfall! I'm glad that Harry saved the day with fucking Expelliarmus! That's awesome.

I definitely liked Dudley's change of heart in the beginning, but that was just the right amount of schmoop for me.

That got a big awwwww from me.

I've always wanted to know more about Aberforth,

Whereas I didn't realize he existed before this book. This is what I get for not re-reading the books beforehand!

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.

I was wondering that myself, megan! Because if he were using the Elder Wand against Voldemort, he should have kicked his ass, no problem.

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.

I agree with all that, Juliebird. All told, I did expect WORSE from the deaths. And I was puzzled by the lack of discussion given to the constant use of Unforgivable Curse by the good guys. And such.

Harry calling him Tom Riddle at the end - I've always thought that everyone should call him Tom and not the self-important (continued...)

( continues...) name he gave himself.

Hee. That was pretty nice. And he was like, "HOW DARE YOU??"

Actually, I think just the scar is the Horcrux. Maybe I'm wrong about that. They are all intermingled with the blood and whatnot.

See, I kind of thought that too, but he still has the scar at the end. I thought he'd lost it when he died, since he didn't have the scar in King's Cross.

It was specifically the Expelliarmus that gave him away, so the others could've been using stuns and stupefies.

Isn't the Stunning Spell Stupefy ?

1. Diary, Harry 2. Ring, Dumbledore 3. Locket, Ron 4. Cup, Hermione 5. Diadem, I don't remember? Draco? No, Crabbe with the fire. 6. Snake, Neville 7. Harry, Voldemort

Niiiiice. That's actually fucking awesome. This was truly a team effort (even though, sure, Harry could have done the locket, cup, and diadem himself if he'd wanted to).

Three cheers for Hermione!

She was fucking awesome in this book.

Plus, Hedwig was still mad at Harry when she died, which just made me SO sad.

And the last words Harry ever spoke to Lupin were in anger, calling him a bad father, basically.

Overall, I loved it. Not going to unseat POA as my favorite, but I loved it more than OOTP and HBP. I am looking forward to re-reading the series at some point.

And he was like, "HOW DARE YOU??"

Yep. Although it was more, "YOU DARE?" "Yes I dare!"

One thing that doesn't seem to be a major point of discussion anywhere: what the fuck was up with the Deluminator? It...hears voices and teleports you now?

It...hears voices and teleports you now?

Evidently, Dumbledore foresaw Ron's temper tantrum, and wanted to give him a way back.

He's tricky, that Dumbledore.

I love that they can send messages with the patronuses. (Patroni?)

two things - i really like the epilogue - not so much on its own merits, but because I hated 'and they lived happily ever after' as a kid. I always wanted to know if they had kids , etc. - So as a kid I would have loved it. As an adult - it ends the series. I think it is possible to write more books in the Hogworts universe, but it won't be harry's story.

As for ron, isn't it obvious that he was going to have harder time with any difficulties that had to be faced? He had a safe , world, with a safe place. His view of the world was conservative ( in the why change - this is the way it has always been ) . It makes sense to me that he was the easier target for the Horcrux.

Deluminiator - light - light is often a guide? that was what I assumed