HP7 review: Better late than never
I didn’t dare to write my review when I finished reading Harry Potter & the Deadly Hallows because I was afraid I wouldn’t be coherent AT ALL ( Do any of you remember my HBP review?) and I wanted it to be a proper review because this is the last book, there won’t be any more Potter books to look forward to, no more exciting anticipation and fannish extrapolation. This is the last one.
“Deadly Hallows: Edah’s Infamous Review of Doom”
The book was vast and damn near epic. There were many things about it that made me laugh and sniffle but I really fucking hated the “nineteen-years-later” epilogue. The happily-ever-after-ness of it reeked of childish, juvenile simplicity that was everything the HP series was not. Besides, it may be the end of the series for Rowling, but I don’t see why she had to end it so irrevocably for the readers and fans as well. It made me want to stab my eyes out. An implied happy ending with open-ness after it would have been better than this - ugh. So final, so cheesy, so badly written.
THE EPILOGUE MUST DIE.
That said, I loved it. I loved so much about it. It’s definitely one of the best books of the series. The story just kept me going and going.
The Plot
I kept flashing to fanfics I had read. Lots of it. I very much doubt Rowling reads fic so maybe the reason I thought of fics all the time is because the HP fic writers have been coming up with EVERY POSSIBLE CONVEIVABLE IMAGINABLE, IMPOSSIBLE INCONCEIVABLE AND UNIMAGINABLE variation to the ending of the story for 10 years and I happen to have read many of them.
For example, I thought of A Thousand Beautiful Things when I read the polyjuiced Harrys chapter. The part when Harry goes off to his death reminded me of every planned death fic ever, particularly If You Are Prepared and Beautiful World. George losing his ear reminded me of The Children - and I could go on but I’m afraid you don’t have idea what those are about and this is about the book anyway.
I’m glad my predictions were correct: Regulus, Kreatcher being involved in his betrayal, Mundungus taking the locket, Snape being Dumbledore’s man and his unrequited love to Lily (but everybody knew that already, yes?), Harry being a horcrux and surviving the final battle, etc.
The story got me from the beginning at Malfoy Manor and Draco’s early appearance. It got a bit dull to just have three and then two characters around for extended scenes but apart from that everything felt like it had its place and helped things come full circle. As good a choice as it was not to have the 7th book set in Hogwarts like the previous six, it was so brilliant and perfect that the final battle happened at Hogwarts. I heart Hogwarts for life.
I loved how the it seemed like the entire wizarding world was involved in some way or the other: house-elves, goblins, centaurs, giants, Threstrals, Hippogriffs, Acromantulas, dragons… so very epic and really cool. It was great to learn more about the non-wizard part of the magical world.
I didn’t like the Hallows plot much but the search for the Horcruxes worked fine, not weary and repetitive. I did like the idea that Harry was a Horcrux and that he had to sacrifice himself to be destroyed like the other Horcruxes but I didn’t buy the whole Harry/Voldemort connection thing that came out in this book: the wands, the double connection between Voldemort and Harry through Harry’s blood, nor his equivalent of his mum’s Protection Through Love spell to everyone at Hogwarts. It’s nifty and all but I felt like there were many loopholes that made me all “OK, if you say so” so Harry didn’t have to die.
The ending was awesome. I loved the battle and that Harry’s signature spell undid Voldemorts desire to kill. Harry calling him Tom Riddle and offering him remorse. Harry explaining everything, declaring Draco Malfoy’s name in this final showdown with Voldemort and, of course, Magical World United.
I was seriously impressed by the way Rowling showed the dangers and cost of war. The deaths in general were handled well, too - I’ve never been a Dobby fan but I felt bad when he died. I’ve always loved the twins, so when Fred died my heart broke for George. And I yelped “YOU... KILLED REMUS!! You actually did it, you byoch!!” when we find out Remus died. Rowling is cold. I love it.
Also, Hedwig’s death? That was lame. Lamest part of the book. “The owl”? SHE NIBBLED ON HIS EAR, OK? AND HE FED HER TOAST. She was Harry’s companion, and he was so loyal to her, he would not even look at other owls! I liked that moment before Harry leaves Privet Drive when he points out the doormat to Hedwig, because Hedwig is the only one who knows, she’s the only one who was there with him at the Dursleys and he said “You never knew me then!”
I loved Regulus’s backstory, his contrast with Sirius, how he sacrificed himself by drinking the potion instead of making Kreacher do it. That’s the Regulus I had imagined, you know. I would like to know more about him, his relationship with Sirius, how he was like at home or in Hogwarts, and the reason he turned against Voldemort, etc. etc. but I guess that’s up to us.
The Characters
Harry. Oh, my... Harry was Harry. And for the first time I loved him, deeply. His doubts, his bravery, his anger and frustration at Dumbledore, his insecurities were all real and understanding; he wasn’t irrationally mean to Ron and Hermione like he was in OotP, he forgave Ron for leaving him (“Dumbledore must have known you’d always want to come back.”) And when he was walking to his death it just broke my heart. I adored him in this story.
“But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here…”
That paragraph. That paragraph. Oh, Harry, Harry, Harry, how could I had not been in love with you until this book. I knew he wasn’t dying forever and it still blew me away. Of course he kisses the Snitch. Of course it all ties together in the end. And he’s holding Draco’s wand. And I almost cried.
The only time I wasn’t drawing hearts for him was when he yelled at Remus.
Voldemort. He seemed more thoughtful than usual, particularly in the first chapter, and it reminded me of Dumbledore. “Luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans”, “That flighty temptress, adventure” That first chapter made me love him ridiculously. He stroked his angry snake! He compared wand sizes with Lucius! He knew more gossip than any of his Death Eaters!
Hermione was annoying as usual, all perfect with her super purse, etc. etc. but loyal to the end so I forgive her, besides she proved to be a good friend because she stuck with Harry all the way, even at the expense of the guy she liked.
Ron, oh Ron. I love that guy, Ron Weasley. Seriously. He got most of the good lines in the story, and I love every single thing he did and said. I completely loved that he messed up enough to actually walk out on the quest: he’s Harry’s best friend, but he’s also in love with Hermione and it was perfectly understandable that he thought she preferred Harry, savior of the wizarding world and one of the popular guys at school, instead of him. But he came back, no groveling but like a hero. And he gave Harry the wizard Kama Sutra.
Ron wasn’t a sidekick. Ron was a person. Ron was great.
I very much enjoyed the fact that he remembered what Hermione said about food being one of the exceptions to transfiguration. The trio does a better job of listening to each other in this book, I think.
Snape. I was blindly convinced he was a good guy and I’m glad we got the full story. It was brave to give Harry his memories, knowing how much he didn’t want him to know about his love for Lily. I have to admit I was almost crying while reading that chapter but I felt somehow cheated by Harry’s response to Snape’s memories: there wasn’t a real response. I mean, Harry wasn’t able to respond, because obviously the next chapter had to be him dealing with accepting death and going to meet it, and then he brings it up with Voldemort, of course, but… I don’t know. Harry has hated Snape with passion and been suspicious of him from Day 1, and he has always been a hardcore Lily/James shipper and the next time we notice, one of his kids is named Albus Severus. I guess that’s what I felt let down by, the fact that his main response/acceptance was represented by Albus Severus Potter. Rowling used the kid as a plot, to show Harry’s feelings about Dumbledore and Snape. It feels really wrong.
I also loved Dumbledore, he was omnipresent (and apparently omniscient too). He was the manipulative jerk I always thought he was but never thought the books would admit he was. I liked the explanation of Dumbledore’s delirious babblings when he was drinking the potion to get the locket in HBP and his sketchy past over all. I also loved the fact that Dumbledore wanted the Resurrection Stone the most to bring his family back, just like Harry did. I always wanted to know more about Grindelwald. Many extra points for Dumbledore comparing Voldemort with himself. DUMBLEDORE BACKSTORY RULES.
Remus was… off. He has always been one of my favorite characters (and my favorite Marauder, of course) and he was great in the few limited roles in OotP and HBP but he didn’t seem himself here. He seemed unhappy in his marriage to Tonks.
Much love for the secondary characters, in particular Neville, Luna: Lovegood oddity, the twins, Percy and Seamus. The other DA members too, and McGonagall (her relationship with Harry is LOOVE) and the rest of the Hogwarts teachers. Ginny still felt like a Mary Sue that joined the books via OotP and I think perhaps when Ron said “Accio brain!” in OotP he took away Tonks’. About Cho... I, err, I’m sorry about saying she was a bitch. Caring about her friend was right and it did not mean she was a traitor. “I got the message.” Yes, of course you did, Cho.
Umbridge came back, bitches. Oh, Dolores, I missed you. “To be punished”, “Undesirable Number One” is such an Umbridge thing, I was so happy to see her one more time.
I loved Kreacher too, the poor old elf. He’s the best house elf of the century.
I think the Malfoys got exactly what they deserved, and this is from someone who likes them. Lucius was humiliated but not broken. I perversely liked how his wand was taken from him and destroyed and how he showed up bearing the injuries of his punishments. Narcissa got a chance to shine (Rowling loves mothers, come on!) by saving still-alive!Harry from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. I really truly adored how both Narcissa and Lucius put their son’s welfare about their allegiances.
Draco was centrally important to how things came about, but not central to the text. He remained the whiny, duplicitous brat he’d always been, but at the same time he changed. He was sentimental and distraught about Crabble’s death even though Crabbe sneered at him about his family just moments earlier. And he tried to help the trio by not recognizing them. I was hoping for a sort of reconciliation between Draco and the trio but I’m not at all unhappy that he ended up punched by Ron and then slinking off quietly to sit with his mum and dad. He lived. And held Harry so tightly it hurt.
I whish we’d seen more of them, though. I wish we’d seen more of their fall from grace, more of Lucius and Narcissa’s relationship.
What I did not like AT ALL was the lack of Slytherins. What happened to ‘We must unite inside her or we’ll crumble from within?’ Please, JKR, you couldn’t have left two or three Slytherins? Not a single one from the entire house? I bet all their Polyjuice potions taste like bogies, just like Goyle’s.
I know he’s been dead for two books, but I still wanted more Sirius mentions. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I’m also sad that Pete’s death was such a footnote affair, I hoped for a big Remus/Petter showdown; the last of the Marauders settling the score, but eh, what can we do. I admit being utterly won when the Marauders (I’m incluiding Lily in that designation) were all there with Harry in the woods. I love that generation.
The Pairings
Harry/Ginny? Rowling, if you want me to believe the epilogue, please give me a Ginny who’s at least a little more than a comfort Harry thinks about once a month or so. OK, apparently her kisses are better than Firewhisky, but that’s not enough. It was painful to read it - there’s nothing real there, it made me think of her as anything but Harry’s reward for himself, and a symbol of his happy and peaceful future life. That “Harry, let me snog you senseless even though we’re not dating” was bleh.
Lupin/Tonks was almost as uncomfortable as Harry/Ginny. I huffed at the idea that Remus and Tonks were married not because of my allegiance to the Love of Lupin and Black but because Rowling never showed us how it happened. She never showed us how they got from members of the Order to Tonks wilting over her thwarted love, and then within four weeks of the showdown in the infirmary, they’re married?! The most solidly characterized part of that whole relationship was Remus’ regret over marrying Tonks, regret I could totally understand for all the reasons he mentioned, and regret that made me want to stab Harry.
Ron/Hermione were cute together, even with the clichéd “let’s snog before we die” moment. I’m a horrible hater and I don’t like Hermione but Ron deserves everything he wants and he wants her. It made me so happy to see him so in love. Ron chose the girl who he knew well, who he talked to and who fought alongside with him. They’re one of the few pairings in the books that really make sense and Harry being supporting and understanding makes it even better. I liked their romance a lot.
Unrequited Snape/Lily hurts. I really liked the fact that Snape and Lily Potter used to be best friends and he fact they were both very proud characters, and had an interesting relationship. I liked that she was friends with a Slytherin, and Snape’s eternal yearning was terribly tragic. I liked that he loved her enough to say "save the man I hate too" and protected her son, whom he didn't like, even after she was dead. His devotion to her made him more human and complex.
I saw a lot of little Harry/Luna all over this book. I wish it were true.
The Fun
“Deadly Hallows: Edah’s Infamous Review of Doom”
The book was vast and damn near epic. There were many things about it that made me laugh and sniffle but I really fucking hated the “nineteen-years-later” epilogue. The happily-ever-after-ness of it reeked of childish, juvenile simplicity that was everything the HP series was not. Besides, it may be the end of the series for Rowling, but I don’t see why she had to end it so irrevocably for the readers and fans as well. It made me want to stab my eyes out. An implied happy ending with open-ness after it would have been better than this - ugh. So final, so cheesy, so badly written.
THE EPILOGUE MUST DIE.
That said, I loved it. I loved so much about it. It’s definitely one of the best books of the series. The story just kept me going and going.
The Plot
I kept flashing to fanfics I had read. Lots of it. I very much doubt Rowling reads fic so maybe the reason I thought of fics all the time is because the HP fic writers have been coming up with EVERY POSSIBLE CONVEIVABLE IMAGINABLE, IMPOSSIBLE INCONCEIVABLE AND UNIMAGINABLE variation to the ending of the story for 10 years and I happen to have read many of them.
For example, I thought of A Thousand Beautiful Things when I read the polyjuiced Harrys chapter. The part when Harry goes off to his death reminded me of every planned death fic ever, particularly If You Are Prepared and Beautiful World. George losing his ear reminded me of The Children - and I could go on but I’m afraid you don’t have idea what those are about and this is about the book anyway.
I’m glad my predictions were correct: Regulus, Kreatcher being involved in his betrayal, Mundungus taking the locket, Snape being Dumbledore’s man and his unrequited love to Lily (but everybody knew that already, yes?), Harry being a horcrux and surviving the final battle, etc.
The story got me from the beginning at Malfoy Manor and Draco’s early appearance. It got a bit dull to just have three and then two characters around for extended scenes but apart from that everything felt like it had its place and helped things come full circle. As good a choice as it was not to have the 7th book set in Hogwarts like the previous six, it was so brilliant and perfect that the final battle happened at Hogwarts. I heart Hogwarts for life.
I loved how the it seemed like the entire wizarding world was involved in some way or the other: house-elves, goblins, centaurs, giants, Threstrals, Hippogriffs, Acromantulas, dragons… so very epic and really cool. It was great to learn more about the non-wizard part of the magical world.
I didn’t like the Hallows plot much but the search for the Horcruxes worked fine, not weary and repetitive. I did like the idea that Harry was a Horcrux and that he had to sacrifice himself to be destroyed like the other Horcruxes but I didn’t buy the whole Harry/Voldemort connection thing that came out in this book: the wands, the double connection between Voldemort and Harry through Harry’s blood, nor his equivalent of his mum’s Protection Through Love spell to everyone at Hogwarts. It’s nifty and all but I felt like there were many loopholes that made me all “OK, if you say so” so Harry didn’t have to die.
The ending was awesome. I loved the battle and that Harry’s signature spell undid Voldemorts desire to kill. Harry calling him Tom Riddle and offering him remorse. Harry explaining everything, declaring Draco Malfoy’s name in this final showdown with Voldemort and, of course, Magical World United.
I was seriously impressed by the way Rowling showed the dangers and cost of war. The deaths in general were handled well, too - I’ve never been a Dobby fan but I felt bad when he died. I’ve always loved the twins, so when Fred died my heart broke for George. And I yelped “YOU... KILLED REMUS!! You actually did it, you byoch!!” when we find out Remus died. Rowling is cold. I love it.
Also, Hedwig’s death? That was lame. Lamest part of the book. “The owl”? SHE NIBBLED ON HIS EAR, OK? AND HE FED HER TOAST. She was Harry’s companion, and he was so loyal to her, he would not even look at other owls! I liked that moment before Harry leaves Privet Drive when he points out the doormat to Hedwig, because Hedwig is the only one who knows, she’s the only one who was there with him at the Dursleys and he said “You never knew me then!”
I loved Regulus’s backstory, his contrast with Sirius, how he sacrificed himself by drinking the potion instead of making Kreacher do it. That’s the Regulus I had imagined, you know. I would like to know more about him, his relationship with Sirius, how he was like at home or in Hogwarts, and the reason he turned against Voldemort, etc. etc. but I guess that’s up to us.
The Characters
Harry. Oh, my... Harry was Harry. And for the first time I loved him, deeply. His doubts, his bravery, his anger and frustration at Dumbledore, his insecurities were all real and understanding; he wasn’t irrationally mean to Ron and Hermione like he was in OotP, he forgave Ron for leaving him (“Dumbledore must have known you’d always want to come back.”) And when he was walking to his death it just broke my heart. I adored him in this story.
“But he was home. Hogwarts was the first and best home he had known. He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here…”
That paragraph. That paragraph. Oh, Harry, Harry, Harry, how could I had not been in love with you until this book. I knew he wasn’t dying forever and it still blew me away. Of course he kisses the Snitch. Of course it all ties together in the end. And he’s holding Draco’s wand. And I almost cried.
The only time I wasn’t drawing hearts for him was when he yelled at Remus.
Voldemort. He seemed more thoughtful than usual, particularly in the first chapter, and it reminded me of Dumbledore. “Luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans”, “That flighty temptress, adventure” That first chapter made me love him ridiculously. He stroked his angry snake! He compared wand sizes with Lucius! He knew more gossip than any of his Death Eaters!
Hermione was annoying as usual, all perfect with her super purse, etc. etc. but loyal to the end so I forgive her, besides she proved to be a good friend because she stuck with Harry all the way, even at the expense of the guy she liked.
Ron, oh Ron. I love that guy, Ron Weasley. Seriously. He got most of the good lines in the story, and I love every single thing he did and said. I completely loved that he messed up enough to actually walk out on the quest: he’s Harry’s best friend, but he’s also in love with Hermione and it was perfectly understandable that he thought she preferred Harry, savior of the wizarding world and one of the popular guys at school, instead of him. But he came back, no groveling but like a hero. And he gave Harry the wizard Kama Sutra.
Ron wasn’t a sidekick. Ron was a person. Ron was great.
I very much enjoyed the fact that he remembered what Hermione said about food being one of the exceptions to transfiguration. The trio does a better job of listening to each other in this book, I think.
Snape. I was blindly convinced he was a good guy and I’m glad we got the full story. It was brave to give Harry his memories, knowing how much he didn’t want him to know about his love for Lily. I have to admit I was almost crying while reading that chapter but I felt somehow cheated by Harry’s response to Snape’s memories: there wasn’t a real response. I mean, Harry wasn’t able to respond, because obviously the next chapter had to be him dealing with accepting death and going to meet it, and then he brings it up with Voldemort, of course, but… I don’t know. Harry has hated Snape with passion and been suspicious of him from Day 1, and he has always been a hardcore Lily/James shipper and the next time we notice, one of his kids is named Albus Severus. I guess that’s what I felt let down by, the fact that his main response/acceptance was represented by Albus Severus Potter. Rowling used the kid as a plot, to show Harry’s feelings about Dumbledore and Snape. It feels really wrong.
I also loved Dumbledore, he was omnipresent (and apparently omniscient too). He was the manipulative jerk I always thought he was but never thought the books would admit he was. I liked the explanation of Dumbledore’s delirious babblings when he was drinking the potion to get the locket in HBP and his sketchy past over all. I also loved the fact that Dumbledore wanted the Resurrection Stone the most to bring his family back, just like Harry did. I always wanted to know more about Grindelwald. Many extra points for Dumbledore comparing Voldemort with himself. DUMBLEDORE BACKSTORY RULES.
Remus was… off. He has always been one of my favorite characters (and my favorite Marauder, of course) and he was great in the few limited roles in OotP and HBP but he didn’t seem himself here. He seemed unhappy in his marriage to Tonks.
Much love for the secondary characters, in particular Neville, Luna: Lovegood oddity, the twins, Percy and Seamus. The other DA members too, and McGonagall (her relationship with Harry is LOOVE) and the rest of the Hogwarts teachers. Ginny still felt like a Mary Sue that joined the books via OotP and I think perhaps when Ron said “Accio brain!” in OotP he took away Tonks’. About Cho... I, err, I’m sorry about saying she was a bitch. Caring about her friend was right and it did not mean she was a traitor. “I got the message.” Yes, of course you did, Cho.
Umbridge came back, bitches. Oh, Dolores, I missed you. “To be punished”, “Undesirable Number One” is such an Umbridge thing, I was so happy to see her one more time.
I loved Kreacher too, the poor old elf. He’s the best house elf of the century.
I think the Malfoys got exactly what they deserved, and this is from someone who likes them. Lucius was humiliated but not broken. I perversely liked how his wand was taken from him and destroyed and how he showed up bearing the injuries of his punishments. Narcissa got a chance to shine (Rowling loves mothers, come on!) by saving still-alive!Harry from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. I really truly adored how both Narcissa and Lucius put their son’s welfare about their allegiances.
Draco was centrally important to how things came about, but not central to the text. He remained the whiny, duplicitous brat he’d always been, but at the same time he changed. He was sentimental and distraught about Crabble’s death even though Crabbe sneered at him about his family just moments earlier. And he tried to help the trio by not recognizing them. I was hoping for a sort of reconciliation between Draco and the trio but I’m not at all unhappy that he ended up punched by Ron and then slinking off quietly to sit with his mum and dad. He lived. And held Harry so tightly it hurt.
I whish we’d seen more of them, though. I wish we’d seen more of their fall from grace, more of Lucius and Narcissa’s relationship.
What I did not like AT ALL was the lack of Slytherins. What happened to ‘We must unite inside her or we’ll crumble from within?’ Please, JKR, you couldn’t have left two or three Slytherins? Not a single one from the entire house? I bet all their Polyjuice potions taste like bogies, just like Goyle’s.
I know he’s been dead for two books, but I still wanted more Sirius mentions. I don’t think it’s unreasonable. I’m also sad that Pete’s death was such a footnote affair, I hoped for a big Remus/Petter showdown; the last of the Marauders settling the score, but eh, what can we do. I admit being utterly won when the Marauders (I’m incluiding Lily in that designation) were all there with Harry in the woods. I love that generation.
The Pairings
Harry/Ginny? Rowling, if you want me to believe the epilogue, please give me a Ginny who’s at least a little more than a comfort Harry thinks about once a month or so. OK, apparently her kisses are better than Firewhisky, but that’s not enough. It was painful to read it - there’s nothing real there, it made me think of her as anything but Harry’s reward for himself, and a symbol of his happy and peaceful future life. That “Harry, let me snog you senseless even though we’re not dating” was bleh.
Lupin/Tonks was almost as uncomfortable as Harry/Ginny. I huffed at the idea that Remus and Tonks were married not because of my allegiance to the Love of Lupin and Black but because Rowling never showed us how it happened. She never showed us how they got from members of the Order to Tonks wilting over her thwarted love, and then within four weeks of the showdown in the infirmary, they’re married?! The most solidly characterized part of that whole relationship was Remus’ regret over marrying Tonks, regret I could totally understand for all the reasons he mentioned, and regret that made me want to stab Harry.
Ron/Hermione were cute together, even with the clichéd “let’s snog before we die” moment. I’m a horrible hater and I don’t like Hermione but Ron deserves everything he wants and he wants her. It made me so happy to see him so in love. Ron chose the girl who he knew well, who he talked to and who fought alongside with him. They’re one of the few pairings in the books that really make sense and Harry being supporting and understanding makes it even better. I liked their romance a lot.
Unrequited Snape/Lily hurts. I really liked the fact that Snape and Lily Potter used to be best friends and he fact they were both very proud characters, and had an interesting relationship. I liked that she was friends with a Slytherin, and Snape’s eternal yearning was terribly tragic. I liked that he loved her enough to say "save the man I hate too" and protected her son, whom he didn't like, even after she was dead. His devotion to her made him more human and complex.
I saw a lot of little Harry/Luna all over this book. I wish it were true.
The Fun
- “Our mutual attraction…” Rowling, you kill me.
- “The man he needed so badly he could think of little else.” Need I say more?
- He felt it slide over him, powerful, muscular -
“Yes,” whispered the voice, “Yesss… hold you… hold you…” - “But the fact remains that he can move faster than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo” *dies*
- Accio is the official spell of Deadly Hallows. I can’t pick between accio Hagrid, accio random muggle boy’s hair or Dumbledore’s Books.
- Harry looked at Kendra and thought of Native Americans? WTF. WTF. WTF. Seriously. Randomly problematic.
The End
I read the first four Harry Potter books in September 2003. That was four years ago. It may not seem much for those who followed the series since kids, but those four years are more important to me than I can explain.
Harry Potter & Deadly Hallows was about bigger themes and deeper relationships. There’s a lot to pick on, but he niggles I have with it are really minor, compared to the amount of OMG WIN that fills me every time I think about this chapter or that. It was like HP: Greatest Hits and I want more of everything, many of my favorite details in the books were there and everybody beamed. There are some gaping plot holes that bug me in light of the rest of the series and some awful and unnecessary romance, but they’re kind of unimportant in the grand scheme of things, which, after all, is Harry’s story. I think it ended very well for all involved. I really loved this book. The story is finished.