Me and Pepper the only ones that have finished??

I need to see what everyone else thinks. I really liked it, although there was a LOT of fighting in it. However, it will make a great movie with all that action. Am I the only one that felt it was a bloodbath???? :blink:

I cried in only one place: when Dobby died. It was so sad. I was worried about Neville at the end for a bit. (So glad he had such a big role in this one!!!) I'm glad that Dumbledore and Severus were actually good guys. I was worried about DD for a bit. too!! :lol:

Not sure I was happy about the epilogue though; I think the book would have been just fine without that glimpse into the future.


MODS: Please move this to the book talk section. I swore that's where I was when I posted this. :angry: Thank you mods!!

I've posted in several places that I finished yesterday afternoon.

I cried in several places - both tears of sadness and happiness. But I cried the most when Dobby died.

I liked the epilogue. Although I knew that Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione would be together, it was nice to know that for sure and see their children. And I choked up when we got Harry's second son's full name - Albus Severus. I would have liked to know what jobs they all had - the only one we found out about was Professor Longbottom teaching Herbology. So happy for Neville; he's had a soft spot in my heart since the first book (when he gets 10 points at the end for standing up to his friends and causes Gryffindor to win).

Yes, it was a bit of a bloodbath, but they were in a major fight. If everyone had come through it unscathed, it just wouldn't seem very "real" - although I hated losing both Lupin and Tonks.

Oh, and I loved Mrs. Weasley in the end! Stay away from my daughter!

As far as filming, there are a lot of important parts that I'm not sure how they're going to come across on film, so I think this is going to be a pretty difficult one to translate. We'll see what happens in a couple of years!

The epilogue didn't feel right to me. I thought it was too busy with all the children... I had trouble keeping straight who belonged to whom. Plus, it didn't tell us what happened to George, Luna, or the Dursleys.... and I want to know. Loosing Fred really has to have affected George... and I don't remember his reaction even being mentioned. I would LOVE to know what Luna got up to, and I'm curious if Harry and the Dursleys ever reconnected... particularly after the way he and Dudley parted company.

Also, did Hermione manage to find her parents and bring them back? How did being saved by the trio affect Goyle? And how did the loss of Crabbe affect him?

I guess I was left feeling like there were a lot of things left unanswered... several of them brought up in this book.

I missed them being at Hogwarts all year.

Hedwig's death was the one that got me the most, though I was really torn up about Fred too.

I'm honestly still not sure that I really liked the book. :shrug:

Things repeated over and over again....

Could she have picked a more expected generic ending? Argh! I hate Ginny! I would have picked Cho before Ginny.

I'm very disappointed. I don't think she put as much effort into this one as she did the others.

I loved the whole book. I'm glad we got a glimpse into their future.

This was the best book out of all of them.

I would've liked to have seen more about what happened to everyone else, too...

Overall I like the book, but why did Fred have to die.... :cry:

Yeah, I cracked up too. I was very surprised to see the B word! LOL :lol:

And I understand about the bloodbath, there was a lot of fighting in this one, but geez - Tonks AND Lupin?? Teddy had just been born. But with HP as his godfather, the cycle kinda continues, doesn't it?

I'm not a big fan of Ginny, but I absolutely hate Cho. Harry should have ended up with Luna. :P

I think the only mention of George reacting to Fred's death was just when the whole Weasely family was gathered around his body, and Mrs. W and George were crying over him.

I finished up the book last night.

While I liked the book overall, I do have to agree with some of the things you all have said...

- There were so many things that were not addressed in the epilogue and I found that disappointing. While I'm glad that certain characters lived happily ever after, I wish that we found out what happened to everyone else. (And, the way she ended it I can see some spin-off series about the kids at Hogwarts, either done by her or by someone else at some point)

- There was sooo much action that at certain points I felt rushed through the book
And, yes, it was a bit of a blood-bath. And, while I understand why it was necessary, this book doesn't really deal with the consequences of those losses like the earlier ones did (not that they were perfect in that respect, either)

I liked the way she tied things together with Snape

Pepper... I felt the same way as you.

I nearly did cry when Dobby died. That was so sad :(

I also felt, in a way, it was a cop out the way she killed Voldemort so easily in the end and Harry escaped with barely a scratch. I would have been sad if Harry died, but in some ways I felt like she was moving, until this book, in that direction.

I told Tom that I was so PISSED that she gave us a 19 years into the future thing, but we didn't get to see - did Harry get the Auror job? Who's headmaster of Hogwarts?

Oh, and I have always had this deep "need" for Snape to be a good guy. I dunno why. I just have. I was cheering when reading the part where they show his memories.

All the journey crap could have been condensed down. Oh, look, a new forest.

I also wasn't happy she killed off both Tonks and Lupin :(

And yes, she didn't answer a LOT of questions I had... it's almost as though she has opened herself up for a final final book. LOL.

Loved it..but I'm a sucker for a happy ending. ( But the death toll - Lupin & Tonks?!!!)

Cried most over Dobby, but also over Mad Eye & Hedwig.
Like others I wasn't sure about the epilogue, but I think it was in there to show Harry's respect for Snape at the end and I did fill up when Harry was taling to his son at the end.

Favourite bit was Molly killing Bellatrix. Loved Neville & Luna, as ever, and did think most of the loose ends were tied up.


BTW, in the past I''ve been under the impression the adult and junior editions were the same book with different colours..Can anyone confirm, cos some of the language was a bit rich for littley's??

That's the term I was thinking of: cop out. There were so many ways it could have gone...why take the easy route?

I enjoyed it, but did feel there were parts that were overlong - after the initial chase it seemed to drag a bit before the action picked up again.

I agree with Pepper about them not being at Hogwarts - somehow it didn't seem right until they were all back there at the end. Glad McGonagall was there! And I'm also glad that Snape turned out good in the end.

And whilst JKR has said this is the last harry Potter book, I agree that she has left the way open to write about the children.

I for one hope she doesn't.


I loved that Trelawney was included in the fighting; I was cracking up as she lobbed those crystal balls at the bad guys! :lol:

I'm not sure if it would work but I could see it happening.

I felt like the book was so slow over the journey/trying to figure out where the other horcruxes were hidden. Then at the end, a bunch of details were left out. I was really sad that we didn't learn what happened to Luna and so proud of Neville :wub: that I cried. Neville has always been one of my favorites. I loved that his Gran came and wanted to help him fight, that made me smile.

More should have been done with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Did they apologize to Harry in the end? I think it was pretty clear that they no longer supported Voldemort - but did that also mean that their fascination with the Dark Arts was ended?

I teared up when Mad-Eye and Hedwig died, and bawled my eyes out over Dobby and Fred. I cried when Harry asked his parents and Sirius if dying hurt too. The whole thing with Dumbledore after Voldemort "killed" him was weird, I know it tied up some loose ends and was glad Dumbledore could still be there for Harry, but it just seemed a little 'out there' and had too much of a religious undertone for me. :erm:

The ending was a little too predictable but I'm still glad she ended it the way she did. I don't know why she had to go and kill off Fred though. :cry:

I have a full and very long winded review posted on my book blog, but in short I was rather disappointed. The story dragged horribly, the ending and epilogues, as others mentioned, was horribly cliche, and Severus' backstory was also up there on the overused/overdone aspect. Hell, how many fanfics have I seen that used thi exact same scenario and were nearly exact replicas?

And even though I didn't care much for the Tonks/Remus pairing I couldn't help but think it was horribly stupid and immature of them both to run into battle like that when they had a child at home.

Ah, don't get me wrong there were some great points, but over all I was disappointed.

I did like Dumbledore's backstory and the revelations about him though. Many have disagreed with me and thought I was seeing a darker side that wasn't there simply because of my love for Severus Snape. Nice to see I was right.

I'm done and I liked it!

I kind of felt that reading it what watching the last episode of Lost will be like - trying to tie too much up in too small a period of time. But I thought she did a fairly good job with it.

I thought the worst death was Fred. And honestly I'm surprised that Ron didn't name one of his kids Fred.

I also agree that the ending didn't answer enough and was a little confusing.

The other part I didn't like was the the elder wand being under Draco's (and thus Harry's command). It was a bit too convenient and I couldn't remember Draco ever taking Dumbeldore's wand.

Ohh I also quite liked how Harry's Quiddich team came back to help him out. I thought that was sweet and I'm looking forward to seeing Wood in the movie :wub:

When you have a series like this, with so much readership, I think it's hard to satisfy everyone. I was honestly happy with the ending.

Hated the deaths, of course... And I even felt bad when Snape bit the big one, partially because I like how Alan Rickman portrays him in the films.

I can't believe it is over, but I guess it had to be.

well, in the movie it sure looks like that way... :lol:

Done. :) I'm spent.

Some thoughts...

Agreed & disagreed with many points raised here. Briefly:

Bloodbath, indeed! That word came to my mind quite early and I see I'm not the only one... :wink: Well, really, though, defeating Voldemort and an entire army of followers wasn't going to happen neatly, was it? We'd have bitched about that, if it had happened... :P

I always was confident that Snape was always, as Harry puts it "Dumbledore's man." I figured he was going down in the last book - I imagine this is the character JKR had mentioned "hoping" to save but realized that it couldn't be done. I never believed that Harry would die. I just didn't see it building up to that.

Weepy bits for me: Dobby - especially Luna's little eulogy - & Fred's deaths. I've always adored the twins and I felt Fred's death quite keenly. Percy's reunion with his family. Neville's scenes, bless his heart ; :wub: I love that boy and I'm thrilled with the way he came into his own. I suspect JKR is particularly fond of him as well. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when the house-elves came charging out of the kitchen, armed to the teeth...

If you'd told me, after I first read HP & TPS, that one day Harry Potter would not only call Severus Snape "one of the bravest men I've ever known" but name his own son after him, I'd have thought you were under an Imperius Curse. I appreciate that JKR has led us on such a merry chase along Snape's path to redemption; I too have been inexplicably fond of the character. (I'm sure Alan Rickman has nothing to do with this... :whistle: )

I know many of you think the epilogue was cheesy and cliched, and at the same time are miffed that we weren't given more details about what happened to this character and that one. I have thought about this, and here's what I think... (look out, she's putting her pedantic hat on...)

I think that she chose this open ending for her readers' sake. Part of us wants desperately to know what happened to the Malfoys, how the Weasleys dealt with Fred's death, if Hermione's running the Ministry of Magic yet, what Luna's up to...but at the same time, I think she wants part of that discovery to be up to us. Let's face it, there are probably as many different theories about "what happened the next day" as there are readers. How can one definitive ending satisfy everyone? And let's be honest, there simply isn't enought time or space in the book to provide that kind of closure. So, I think the ending she decided on was, in a way, a final gift to us. We can all decide for ourselves what happens to Our Heroes as life goes on off the page. After all, as Dumbledore says to Harry at one point, "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

Anyway, as one writer trying to see into another's mind (without the aid of a lightning scar), that's my take. I'm satisfied. I'm going to miss you Harry. Thanks for a hell of a ride.

I finished about an hour ago, and am still processing... I'm not normally such a slow reader, but I DID read the whole thing out loud, remember! ;)

Like I said, I'm not sure yet, but I think I may have really disliked it. :erm: I mean, there were some really nice moments, but overall I feel really disappointed. My main complaint is that this one really did feel like a book... I mean I felt the author's hand a lot more in this book then in any of the others... I could feel the characters and plotlines being manipulated, rather then feeling like I was reading a naturaly unfolding story. I can also say I didn't cry once.

I dunno, maybe it'll be like the movie Titanic... for some reason I liked that movie a lot better a few months after I'd seen then I did right after, it was like it had to grow on me or something...

In HBP, when Draco comes out the door to the tower, he does Expeliarmus (I know I spelled that wrong - too lazy to look it up) and Dumbledore's wand goes flying off the tower. So that's why Draco was the one to "control" the wand.

I enjoyed the book...sure, I thought some parts dragged a little...and I so wanted to slap Harry through most of the book (of course, Voldemort isn't the brightest bulb on the planet either)...but in the end I'm happy! Sure closure on the other characters might be nice...but that would probably just be too constricting. What would we talk about? :)

I'm thrilled with the Snape ending (if he couldn't live). I would have been extremely disappointed if there hadn't been closure on that.

War is a bloodbath...and it was a war so that doesn't bother me. Sure, it would have been nice if it was characters that we didn't know or care about who were killed...but that's not reality.

Now, I'm going to read the whole series...front to back!


Pepper/KD: So what were you discussing in the other room yesterday?

We were counting up how many people/creatures died to start with and came up with 9-12 depending on how you wanted to count. Let's see if I can do it (and someone let us know if we forgot anyone):

1. Hedwig
2. Mad-Eye
3. Dobby
4. Fred
5. Lupin
6. Tonks
7. Snape
8. Crabbe
9. Colin Creavy
10. Peter Pettigrew
11. Bellatrix (one of the few Death Eaters we probably cared lived or died)
12. Voldemort
13. Harry (technically)

Then we moved on to our thoughts about the book, mostly talking about the epilogue (so you're right that leaving out fates of many characters left us a lot to talk about) and other parts of the book.

Edited to add Pettigrew.

Don't forget Pettigrew.

Thanks! I edited my post.

And Ted Tonks too, though he's not exactly one of the 'original' ones. And the Muggle studies teacher.

And yep, done reading the book too. Agree with some of your comments (too slow in parts, the epilogue wasn't exactly the best thing ever) but overall I really liked it. Loved Hermione on this (she rocks and without her Harry wouldn't have actually made it past puberty) and Harry's sacrifice was really powerful (and, you know, I did say I believed JK would kill Harry off and she did... err... sorta).

I, too, have been saying since the last book that Harry had to die for Voldemort to die, too. So, I was right! :lol:

So theoretically if anyone were to do that same spell on Harry while he was holding the elder wand, they would control the wand?

Sorry Rowling... don't like that part of the plot. :yuck:


Nou - the other part I didn't like was how nothing happened while the 3 (or for a while, just the 2) were trying to figure out where the horcruxes were. Boring!!

Just finished, and I loved it!!! But then, I love a happy ending with all loose ends tied up. (I felt they were.)

I must be the only one that feels like that the ones who died were mainly peripheral characters, not "main" ones. I was sad about Dobby, Fred, Lupin and Tonks, but I felt a sense of relief that it wasn't Harry, Ron, Hermoine, or Hagrid. I'd even have been more upset over Neville or Luna. I think I was really expecting it to be Hagrid until he was dragged off into the forest by the spiders. Then I knew he was going to survive. I was much, much more broken up over Dumbledore's death in #6.

I also have to eat humble pie here. I never trusted Snape. *Bows head and qietly admits to having seriously misjudged him.*

The twist with Aberforth was really interesting. I liked him a lot.

Over-all, it was a very satisfying read for me, although I missed Hogwarts for most of the book. I was glad the final battle took place there. It felt right.

I loved Neville's gran! How wonderfully feisty she is! I also thought that Neville, himself, and McGonagall were great - as always.

Hubby and I both got it read in one day (we knew when we got to school on Monday the kids would spoil it for us!) I thought it was okay, nothing too surprising as every twist was pretty standard-issue-literary-tool stuff. And lots of really bleedin' obvious (come on, who didn't guess that from the SECOND Tonks and Lupin announced they were getting married that at least ONE of them was going to kick it?)

Some particular thoughts I had...

1) If I had little kids would I read this to them? I'm thinking no...never mind the violence, but there's tonnes of bad language, and lets face it, it does get a little bit sexy there with Ginny and Harry on Harry's birthday... I know JKR's characters have grown up and her readers along with them, but these ARE kids books...

2) I would have liked to know what Harry, Ron and Hermione did with their lives too! Did Harry get the Auror job like Candieb suggests above? My theory would be with no Dark Lord and no dark magic would you even NEED Aurors? And wow did they hurry up about having kids or WHAT? Do wizards have kids earlier than everyone else - one minute they're dating, the next they all have 11-12 year olds or older!

5) Voldemort died too....well, too easy. It was all over, poof, like that. Terribly anticlimactic. I had to go back and read the page again slowly just in case I missed something. Call me an action-junkie, but I would have liked to see the Dark Lord go down with a bit more of a fight, not just accidentally Kedavra himself like a Funniest Home Video...

4) I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE KILLED DOBBY!! THAT B*TCH!!! WHY, WHY!!!!

:cry:

Actually in interviews, Rowling has stated that these are not children's books - that's not her audience. It's the publishers who have marketed them that way.

The epilogue is 19 years later. They're 17 at the end of the events (actually, Ron is 18 and perhaps Hermione also by the end - I can't remember her birthday). 19 years later makes them 36 (egads!). We know that Albus is 11 since he's just starting Hogwarts, not sure entirely how old James is. So if Albus is 11, that means Harry was around 25 when he was born. That doesn't seem too young to me.

The only reason he was "easy" to kill in the end was because they had already gone through all of the horcruxes. Plus he was using a wand that didn't work well for him. *shrug*

But don't wizards live a very long life? I mean, if I were to live till 300, I probably won't want a kid till I'm 100. But then I don't remember Hogwarts kids talking about their visit to great-great-great-great-great-great grandpa.

So from the Chamber of Secret on, he has been dying a slow, long death...

Yeah...and don't forget you-know-who was just plain arrogant

No... they'd have to successfully use that spell (or otherwise get his wand away from him), and KEEP it. Most of the time when that spell is used, the wizard who lost his or her wand dives for it and gets it back.

Only if the lost wand is KEPT by the person who took it, or (in Dumbledore's case) if the person who lost their wand dies before reclaiming it, would the wand loyalty transfer.

So in order to get the wand's loyalty, someone would have to take Harry's wand and keep him from getting it back. (And it doesn't have to be that one, remember, the wand transfered loyalty to Harry when Harry took Draco's OTHER wand. The elder wand was buried with Dumbledore.)

My nephew started reading the books when he was 8 (1997)...he's now 18! I think the books grow up with the readers! Of course, my 12 yo nephew finished it on Sunday and loved it too!

I know I read the book fast (I'll go back and read it slower after DH reads it) but weren't Ginny and Harry just snogging? Is that too sexy? Yep...that's all they were doing...
"...and then she was kissing him as she had never kissed him before, and Harry was kissing her back, and it was blissful oblivion, Ginny, the feel of her, on hand at her back and one in her long, sweet-smelling hair --
The door banged open behind them and they jumped apart."

WELL DONE, JKR!!!!!! I loved it.

I guess I missed this. I wasn't aware that they lived for 300 years. The only long-lived wizard I remember is Nicholas Flamel with the Sorcerer's Stone. Does anyone have a reference for the life span of wizards in Harry Potter?

Tonks was pretty young (though Lupin was a bit older) before having their son. And Lily and James were in their early 20s when they had Harry. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley don't seem all that old. Same with the Malfoys. So I think Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione were about par for the course with how old they were when they had kids.

I'm gonna post this here since it does have a spoiler in the article...

You ever read a review and wonder if you were reading the same book?
http://www.bloggernews.net/18873

It's really funny though! Wha? My hubby is a stay at home parent, for the most part... I'm interested in his take.

I left a comment on the blog.