Harry Potter Stuff!
I got through with my copy last night, so here are some of my thoughts on the end. *Is such a sheep*
I finished my copy in almost two days. If not for work, I would have probably clocked in at about a day, but did well enough.
First off, the deaths were a little more numerous than just the two mentioned. I wonder which two JK had in mind when she announced it. Dobby and Fred's deaths were touching, and to me, portrayed realistically. I'm annoyed Fred died, and the book never goes into how George got along without who was very likely the closest person to him. That was a plot question that I was hoping got answered. Like many people, I wanted to know what Harry ended up doing with himself job-wise after he left Hogwart's. I was cheering for Neville since the poor kid finally got to do something cool--he is in ur shack, killing ur snakes! Well, I know he wasn't in the shack, but still, Neville rocks in my books now. I sort of had a feeling Percy would make amends, and while I didn't like him before, my opinion of him has risen greatly.
The wedding = win. Great-aunt Muriel reminds me of someone I once knew (also aptly named Muriel) who was a total bitch.
Mad Eye's death, as well as those of Remus and Tonks, didn't really bother me one way or another. They received brief mention at best, and while I know every death in a book, especially in a war, can't be all 'OMGWTFbbq!' from the rest of the cast, it felt somewhat abrupt to me. Lupin was being weird, and as Shira pointed out when we chatted about it, too Sirius-esque in some points of the book. Yes, I can understand he was freaking out that his son might inherit his lycanthropy and go werewolf, but Remus, dude, put on your grown-up panties and cope. If he did have your condition, help him through it. Make it so his life doesn't suck as bad as yours did.
Speaking of Sirius, I wish there was more of him in the book. I was expecting something more than 'I went through the veil and now that you have the Resurrection Stone, I'm here as a ghost-zombie sorta-ish thing for two pages, yay!' Seeing how young Lily and James were when they died was kind of surprising, since I always imagined them as older than twenty.
Snape's memories were heartbreaking. I would have never guessed the silver doe was his. I wish he'd had more time in the book too, but it was nice to finally see that he had some more depth other than 'I'm a Death Eater and dislike Harry because he reminds me of his father, rar.' It was almost touching to see him and Lily as kids, but seeing James and Sirius as such jerks begs the unanswered question: 'If James really was that big of a prat and Lily disliked him for it, how do they finally end up together?' That question nags me some. To think if things had been different, Harry might have been Snape's son. Petunia finally got some fleshing out too, which was nice to see. Once, she loved Lily so much that she hoped to go to Hogwart's with her. At least, that's how I saw it.
I wish they'd mentioned something more of the Dursleys other than them leaving and not coming back. Dudley was finally displaying human emotion.
Draco got handed a raw deal. He loses almost everything he had since his parents are Death Eaters, and after all the rivalry built up between them in the preceding books, I wanted something more than 'I saved you from a fire your own stupid friend created, now you owe me.' I wonder how he got his life back together after Voldemort ripped it apart. Yet another unanswered question.
The part where Harry almost dies and speaks to Dumbledore was made of win. Finally, Dumbledore admits things didn't go quite the way he thought they would, thus fleshing him out as a character.
I liked the ending before the epilogue. Harry saves the wizarding world and goes to bed, the end. When I reached the epilogue itself, though, I wasn't so thrilled. I'm one of those people that doesn't go for the whole neatly-tied-in-a-bow-they-all-end-up-together-with-kids kind of conclusions. They come off as too cliche-Disney for me and I was hoping for something substantial. Again, Draco gets the shaft--receding hairline and a nameless wife. His kid has a cool name though. Harry's kids, as well as Hermione and Ron's, I couldn't have given much of a flip for. I wanted to know more about Teddy, but alas, it wasn't to be. I think I'm one of those people that's going to pretend the epilogue was fanfic and nothing more, kthx. I know that's harsh, but no, nobody's changing my mind about it, sorry. :P I'm also sorry if I offended anyone who happened to like it.
I think I'm going to go on Amazon and get another book. I feel devoid of reading material now.
I finished my copy in almost two days. If not for work, I would have probably clocked in at about a day, but did well enough.
First off, the deaths were a little more numerous than just the two mentioned. I wonder which two JK had in mind when she announced it. Dobby and Fred's deaths were touching, and to me, portrayed realistically. I'm annoyed Fred died, and the book never goes into how George got along without who was very likely the closest person to him. That was a plot question that I was hoping got answered. Like many people, I wanted to know what Harry ended up doing with himself job-wise after he left Hogwart's. I was cheering for Neville since the poor kid finally got to do something cool--he is in ur shack, killing ur snakes! Well, I know he wasn't in the shack, but still, Neville rocks in my books now. I sort of had a feeling Percy would make amends, and while I didn't like him before, my opinion of him has risen greatly.
The wedding = win. Great-aunt Muriel reminds me of someone I once knew (also aptly named Muriel) who was a total bitch.
Mad Eye's death, as well as those of Remus and Tonks, didn't really bother me one way or another. They received brief mention at best, and while I know every death in a book, especially in a war, can't be all 'OMGWTFbbq!' from the rest of the cast, it felt somewhat abrupt to me. Lupin was being weird, and as Shira pointed out when we chatted about it, too Sirius-esque in some points of the book. Yes, I can understand he was freaking out that his son might inherit his lycanthropy and go werewolf, but Remus, dude, put on your grown-up panties and cope. If he did have your condition, help him through it. Make it so his life doesn't suck as bad as yours did.
Speaking of Sirius, I wish there was more of him in the book. I was expecting something more than 'I went through the veil and now that you have the Resurrection Stone, I'm here as a ghost-zombie sorta-ish thing for two pages, yay!' Seeing how young Lily and James were when they died was kind of surprising, since I always imagined them as older than twenty.
Snape's memories were heartbreaking. I would have never guessed the silver doe was his. I wish he'd had more time in the book too, but it was nice to finally see that he had some more depth other than 'I'm a Death Eater and dislike Harry because he reminds me of his father, rar.' It was almost touching to see him and Lily as kids, but seeing James and Sirius as such jerks begs the unanswered question: 'If James really was that big of a prat and Lily disliked him for it, how do they finally end up together?' That question nags me some. To think if things had been different, Harry might have been Snape's son. Petunia finally got some fleshing out too, which was nice to see. Once, she loved Lily so much that she hoped to go to Hogwart's with her. At least, that's how I saw it.
I wish they'd mentioned something more of the Dursleys other than them leaving and not coming back. Dudley was finally displaying human emotion.
Draco got handed a raw deal. He loses almost everything he had since his parents are Death Eaters, and after all the rivalry built up between them in the preceding books, I wanted something more than 'I saved you from a fire your own stupid friend created, now you owe me.' I wonder how he got his life back together after Voldemort ripped it apart. Yet another unanswered question.
The part where Harry almost dies and speaks to Dumbledore was made of win. Finally, Dumbledore admits things didn't go quite the way he thought they would, thus fleshing him out as a character.
I liked the ending before the epilogue. Harry saves the wizarding world and goes to bed, the end. When I reached the epilogue itself, though, I wasn't so thrilled. I'm one of those people that doesn't go for the whole neatly-tied-in-a-bow-they-all-end-up-together-with-kids kind of conclusions. They come off as too cliche-Disney for me and I was hoping for something substantial. Again, Draco gets the shaft--receding hairline and a nameless wife. His kid has a cool name though. Harry's kids, as well as Hermione and Ron's, I couldn't have given much of a flip for. I wanted to know more about Teddy, but alas, it wasn't to be. I think I'm one of those people that's going to pretend the epilogue was fanfic and nothing more, kthx. I know that's harsh, but no, nobody's changing my mind about it, sorry. :P I'm also sorry if I offended anyone who happened to like it.
I think I'm going to go on Amazon and get another book. I feel devoid of reading material now.