Finished HP & the DH a couple of hours ago...
Am feeling a great sense of anticlimax, probably because I read some spoilers a couple of days ago.
Much of it was very inevitable, really - Jo set things up in such a way in the preceding 6 books that I'd predicted many of them. The surprises:
- the hallows subplot - I thought the hallows would be the horcruxes
- Ron walking out on Harry & Hermione;
- the amount of time H, H & R spent in meaningless activity;
- the time it took for Hermione & Ron to finally kiss (loved how Ron become the champion of elves)
- the deaths of Remus, Tonks, & Fred;
- the kind-of redemption of Kreacher;
- the LACK of death of Hagrid;
- the not-very-much-of-a-redemption of Draco.
I wish Jo hadn't killed Tonks & Remus - that was really tragic, as Lupin so deserved some happiness. I wonder who raised Teddy - Andromeda?
I was disappointed about Snape's death - not tragic enough for my liking. I was hoping he'd sacrifice himself very directly to save Harry, rather than indirectly (as it turned out). I didn't cry at his death, though I was expecting to.
I was surprised that Draco didn't really redeem himself, other than by saving Goyle, and generally being unenthusiastic about death & destruction. Narcissa's lie to Voldemort was unexpected, despite her fears for Draco.
And I hate the epilogue - I'd rather have left some mystery about what happened to them. Though Jo didn't tell us what anyone other than Neville was doing to earn a living, which was a pity.
Now I feel quite flat - it's been a long trip, and I'm not ready for it to end yet!