The midnight release was, like, the worst-planned thing ever -- there were people crowding the lines even after announcements told them every 30 seconds to get out of the way until their number was called. And people were shouting spoilers.
So we finally finished the book, and managed to get a good amount of sleep, go to the mall, and go grocery shopping too. Also
lysimache was writing in the margin angry comments, putting hearts by Snape's name, and fixing all the punctuation errors, of which there is a disgusting amount. (Did anyone else notice?)
Anyway.
Wasn't the last word supposed to be "scar"? Also, how come Mrs. Weasley got to call Bellatrix a bitch? Isn't this supposed to be a children's book? Are we supposed to teach our children to use misogynist insults?
My basic prediction going in was that everybody Harry ever loved was going to die. So, what, it was Tonks, Lupin, Colin, Mad-Eye, Hedwig, Fred.... I'm particularly sad about Tonks and Lupin (*sniffsniff*), though I guess I should have seen it coming. WAAAAAAAAAH. At least Ron and Hermione are alive.
We were also predicting that Harry was going to at least lose his magic or somehow end up forever changed, which I consider the standard ending to this kind of fantasy lit, a la Frodo. But, no, Harry's raising his 18 children (seriously, how many does he have?) named after dead people with Ginny, and of course Ron and Hermione get together and everyone leads happy happy married het lives. Bite me.
I think Jen is particularly traumatized about Snape, though she did correctly predict that Snape would die, proving his innocence, and that he would have secretly loved Lily, a theory that is apparently called "Lollipops," I am told.
Me, I think that if you want your main character to spend chapters conversing with or hearing the memories of people you have already previously killed off, you may wish to reconsider your plot.
Speaking of the plot, I was not a big fan. It was kind of predictable, and I was falling asleep the first few chapters. It also isn't what I would call really well-written. There were what I would consider worldbuilding holes, such as the fact that JKR has stated there are no wizarding universities, but there are clearly academic journals. Um.
And, um, shouldn't Harry know spells other than Stupefy or Expelliarmus? Good thing Hermione's around to do all the magic.
Not sure what else I have to say. Maybe I'll think of more later. *sniff* Lupin! Tonks!