HP: DH
Waxing lyrically isn't my style, as I save that all for my fics. I'm much better at lists. I love lists.
As I mull it over, Bbook seven has its great moments, like all the HP books do, but it has a whole hell of a lot more flaws that can't be excused as it's the last book.
Of the good:
-Neville was much more of a hero than Harry in his few short scenes.
-Trelawny's beaning the bad guys with crystal balls. Go Sybil!
-Ron's humor. It kept the flow from being totally down/sullen/ploddy. When he was gone, things dragged.
-I liked all the people that died, as they weren't incidental characters. (And I cheered when it was Tonks, b/c I'm petty and hated her.)
-The fact that the Malfoys only wanted to protect each other made me love them more.
-Specific chapters I really really liked seem to be all the action ones: where everyone is chased after Harry leaves the Dursleys, the crashing of the wedding and them on the run, the DEs showing up in the forest after Harry says Voldy's name, the Hogwarts battle, going into and out of Gringotts.
-In fact, the two best chapters are probably the Gringotts one and the Ministry one. The three came up with a plan, but it didn't run smoothly at all, reminding us that a) they're 17, b) they're not perfect, and c) the bad guys aren't stupid.
-Really, the bad guys were the least stupid of everyone in this story. Sure, Voldemort should've come up with some of these plans earlier in the series, but at least they were real villainy. Taboo-ing his name, putting out ransoms, registering/imprisoning muggle-borns, etc.
Of the bad:
-There was no follow up to the important people that died, like there had been with Dobby. Fred needed a better send off.
-Everything about wandlore made no sense. Just say "someone made a superwand" and let that be it.
-None of the good guys were really bad guy spies.
-There was not a single younger Slytherin that was good. Slughorn was and Snape was, but otherwise zilch. With all the stances about muggleborns and purebloods being alike, she goes and does this. Talk about hypocritical!
-Draco needed to at least choose the right side at the end. Everything that happened to him in book six and Dumbledore's sacrifice for him ending up being for naught.
-If Snape was put in place at Hogwarts under Dumbledore's cunning scheme to protect the children, why were the children getting crucioed? I can see him letting bullying slide, but DE-teacher induced punishment such at that makes Snape into a bad hero figure.
-The lack of importance of the Ghosts/Goblins/House Elves/Centaurs. Yes, us fans tend to make things get more importance than they really are, but these dudes were in all six books and we were bashed over the head with some of them, yet they played an insignificant role in the final showdown. It was a huge letdown and a waste of paper to give them so much time in the previous books.
-Wormtail's death was very anticlimactic, too. By not choking to death the person the Dark Lord said not to kill is the repayment of a life debt that was made such a big deal of in book three?
-I still hate that with Snape as a good guy all along, it wasn't spelled out enough in book seven his heroicness. He didn't do anything hero-worthy to make up for his supposed badness.
-And Harry conveniently being there as Snape bites it to get the memories instead of having a personal showdown/reveal is not only ridiculous, it's lazy writing. That, perhaps, was the worst part of the entire series.
Overall, book one and book six are still my favorites. The rest fall somewhere along a line depending on my mood, my desire for Draco, and whether Mars is bright in the night sky.
I am very much enjoying reading the commentary of those who don't like the books/aren't big HP fen, b/c you get to see it without those filters. I readily admit that isn't the best series in terms of writing quality; in fact, actually, it's subpar to the extreme. It's the characters and the world created that sucked me in more than anything and made me a fan. That, and the fanfiction.