HP: Deathly Hallows - finished

[seldear]

600 pages, about 5 hours frantic reading for me. :)

I thought it was a good ending to the series. (ie. "Wow...")

On the whole, I enjoyed the story, the storytelling, the way she tied things up. Okay, so maybe the epilogue was a bit much. (Personal opinion.)

JKR's come a long way in ten years as a writer, and obviously that brief stint without an editor during her writing of Order Of The Phoenix has been duly rectified.

If anyone wants to discuss spoilers when they've finished, go for it. I'm all up for being spammitied and hijacked on the discussion front!

ETA: Harry Potter And The Book Disguises: no spoilers, just a bunch of book jackets for those who might be ashamed of being caught reading the HP books in public...

Comments

[nemesina77.livejournal.com]

I'm not able to get the book for another twelve hours or so, but, if you're still on, would you mind terribly telling me who dies? I read ahead on the last two just to find out because, if I don't know, I end up reading extra fast to get to those parts, and then I forget everything that I've just read.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

See, this kind of goes against the grain to tell someone who dies in a story. There should be some surprises in the book!

[nemesina77.livejournal.com]

I actually ended up reading it somewhere on a site, only to realize that everything my sister told me the other day was true. I actually got sick to my stomach when I read about one of the deaths, because the person was one of my favorite characters, I mean, I ship that character, and it just made me feel ill.

Overall I feel like she just tied up everything far too much, in a way, which I never say. Plus, one of the deaths I take issue with because of who said death directly affects.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Overall I feel like she just tied up everything far too much.

I liked that she tied it up so much. But then, I'm not as invested in ships or pairings; I really like the story in the HP books and JKR pretty much delivered as far as she was able IMO.

[lyore.livejournal.com]

Completely unsolicited opinion here, but I was pretty much spoiled, and from what I'd seen, I thought I'd hate, or at least severely the book.

But after reading it, I have to say I enjoyed it. (But I agree with seldear that the epilogue was a little O.o)

Anyway, just a comment that perhaps all hope is not yet lost.

[angelsasha.livejournal.com]

See my LJ for incoherent babbling. Feel free to join in :) Or you could be coherent, that would be fun too.

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

Loved it. Except for the one-sided Snape/Lily bit, but that's just the rabid James/Lily shipper screaming in horror. But I got more Marauders scenes out of it, so I'm a happy child.

I also thought the epilogue was a bit much (honestly, the names of the children couldn't be more cliche, except for the third who I thought was adorable) but she's had that written for years, so if that's the way she wanted to end it.

I'll probably post my own squee fest over at my eljay later this weekend, once I've got some proper sleep! All night reads certainly take a lot out of someone.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I also thought the epilogue was a bit much

Yes, a little bit too much. And the names she gave the kids? *shudders*

It was like fanfic!

PersonaIly, I thought that the epilogue was her way of saying "No sequels! Nothing happens for nineteen years, so I'm not going to write Harry in another adventure, so ner!"

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

"No sequels! Nothing happens for nineteen years, so I'm not going to write Harry in another adventure, so ner!"

Which is, obviously, completely her choice, and I really can't blame her! However, I do hope that some day she'll revisit the Wizarding World, even if it's with completely different characters.

The epilogue was VERY fanfic, especially the names of the kids, but... ya know what? It was happy. Happy happy happy. And Harry needed that, and damn it by the time I got to the end so did I!

That 19 years will be a fanfic writer's ultimate playground.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Harry needed that, and damn it by the time I got to the end so did I!

Awww...

That 19 years will be a fanfic writer's ultimate playground.

...as long as you ship Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione, anyway. :)

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Hmm, and I would care about the rest of fandom why? >;)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

because you're a thoughtful and considerate person.

*coughs*

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

*checks to make sure she's not accidentally signed in as some bizarre sockpuppet*

*points to icon* HEE!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I'll always love Harry/Luna.

Luna so completely rocked my socks. "I'd want some time alone, if it was me."

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

It was like fanfic!

That was exactly it! I thought I had walked into every "Second Generation" fic I had ever read when I opened the epilogue, which really disappointed me. But a big chunk of Harry Potter fans don't read fan fic, so maybe it'll seem less stuffed full of cheese than it would to us. The last few pages of it we all right though - I liked Albus Severus (unfortunate naming skills, those Potters) and the ending was fitting. The last word wasn't "scar" though, so I'm sure that's going to put somebody into a fit.

I'm staying away from all the major HP sites because the wank will really kill my enthusiasm for the book. It'll be entertaining, for sure, but really disappointing - especially if there's any wank like there was last year with the whole H/Hr, R/Hr, G/H ship wars. That's why I only shipped an established relationship while in that fandom - waaaay less wank to deal with.

At least, IMO, the epilogue gave the impression that Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny didn't see each other all that much. And I loved the fact that Teddy Lupin pratically lived at the Potters house.

What'd you think about all the deaths in this book? I think it's should be renamed Harry Potter and the Ginormus Bloodbath that Killed Someone's Favorite Character at Some Point in Time.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

I think there's less wank about the ships this time, because they're pretty damn obvious that Harry still thinks of Ginny and Ron and Hermione are a couple.

I was hanging out for a bit more of an open end so I could hook up Harry and Luna. ;) But that's okay. Luna rocked the casbah - she was adorable. *still loves*

Neville came good - really good. He was utterly and totally awesome, IMO.

The deaths...well, I was never expecting everyone to get through. Snape - definitely not. All the Weasleys? Not likely. Mad-Eye? Very unlikely.

As I described to a friend: "Voldemort kills Harry." And she was all "YAY!" (she just wants it to be over)

And then I told her that Harry kills Voldemort. And she was all "WHAT?! NO! HE CAN'T DO A BECKETT!"

*laughs*

Probably the deaths that got me were Remus and Tonks. I wasn't exactly expecting that, although it seals the circle for the Marauders.

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

Probably the deaths that got me were Remus and Tonks. I wasn't exactly expecting that, although it seals the circle for the Marauders.

Those are the ones that got me too. They had just had a kid, for Pete's sake! :( And then Dobby. Poor Dobby, I never liked him much, but I didn't expect him to die. Cried like a little girl when that happened, I'll admit it. Also cried like a little girl when Fred died. In fact, I cried mye eyes out every half hour or so - Ron and Harry's make-up scene and the Manly Hug of Best Friends, Lily's letter, the graveyard scene, Dobby's death scene, Kreacher's story, Percy coming back...the last three chapters or so were just an emotional mess for me.

Luna and Neville were really good, I agree. And Neville's a Herbology professor, hehe! DH certainly made up for the lack of time they had in HBP. In fact, all the minor character appearances were really good - Dean, Lupin, Kreacher, the rest of the DA. (was it just me or did I sense some Dean/Luna near the end?) I ended up loving Kreacher to bits by the end of the book. All he needed was some love, poor kid.

Also, Mrs. Weasley's wins at life for, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" and for kicking Bellatrix's ass.

I was actually a bit confused by Harry's resurrection scene, probably because my brain screaming "SLEEP FOOL!" at that point in time. Did he come back because he had mastered the Deathly Hallows or because Voldemort still anchored part of his soul to the living world? Or was it a combination of them both?

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

Gah, so many typos. *iz tired*

Harry Potter, weekend typo lord.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

The Dean/Luna angle was definitely there.

I was actually a bit confused by Harry's resurrection scene

Okay, as I understand it, Voldie AK'd Harry with the Elder Wand - which can't be used against Harry...

Wait. The second time he AKs Harry, the spell rebounds on Voldie.

Hmm...

[greenconverses.livejournal.com]

I think JKR is having a massive online chat in a few days about DH. I'm sure the same question will crop up in the somewhere and, if not then, sometime soon.

Was it just me and my sleep adled mind or did the Voldemort's death scene seem a bit...anticlimatic? All that monologuing.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

It was a bit of an anticlimax against all the other stuff happening. Possibly because, by that time, we knew Voldie was going down, so there wasn't any real...expectation...to his death.

[hwcarnage.livejournal.com]

I must be the only one who didn't have a problem with the kids names.

People give their kids names of meaning, D+L are middle named after their uncle/grandfather/great-grandfathers on either side of the family, not first-named cus I didn't want kids named James and George :/

Peter is middle named after his god-father (his fathers best friend) his brother (2nd son) is named after his father (as is the family tradition)

And my mum never had a son but she did name our hamster after her friend who died ;)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Hm. Maybe it's more of a UK thing than an Australian/American thing.

[alliesings.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a problem with it either. I've read (and even written) several versions of some of the scenes in the book as fanfiction, and I don't see that as a shortcoming of Jo's, but more that it illustrates how well she laid out her clues and how perceptive her fans are. Yeah, we knew Harry's son would be named James, but I still liked the ending and the opportunities for lots of filler fic.

[madjm.livejournal.com]

Loved it! That's pretty much all I can say right now. Going to sleep. :)

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

It was good, wasn't it? :)

[cheekygal.livejournal.com]

That book disguises website had me howling, especially 'The Man Who F-ed Sharks.'

Indeed, the internet is for insane amounts of silliness. ;)