Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ( W/ SPOILERS!!!!!!!)

[himynameisntmark]

Ok so who else thought the "19 years later" bit was written like a 14-year-old fangirl writing a fanfic? I would've much prefered a list of characters names and a description of what they became. Like, for example:
Neville Longbottom: herbology teacher at Hogwarts, dating Luna Lovegood.
Harry Potter: Married to Ginny Weasley, three kids, Seeker for England Quidditch Team.
Or something like that. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE DOES AND IT BOTHERS ME!
Also, when Fred died I was very upset with JK. I've come to terms with it now but I'm still getting over the fact that she killed BOTH Tonks and Lupin. Shame on her for doing such a thing.

[Bjam]

Yeah, the epilogue was pretty much shit. When I heard the rumours that a favourite journalist was coming back I figured that it would be Rita Skeeter doing some big "Where Are They Now" column on the 20th anniversary of Voldemort's downfall or something. But no, instead it was "Oh look, let's name the kids after people that were sorta assholes and abandoned Harry." And Scorpius? Scorpius?! Also, no Luna in the epilogue

Other than that, I really enjoyed the book Dobby dying surprised me. It was the line, "Harry placed the elf into the grave, arranged his tiny limbs so that he might have been resting" that really got me. Fred, Lupin, and Tonks were depressing (though, really, as soon as Harry was made godfather Ted Lupin was so screwed )

Also, Neville? Fucking badass. Chopped off a snake's head with the sword of Gryffindor while on fire. Actually, the whole of the Battle for Hogwarts chapters were really great. Trelawney with the crystal balls, McGonagall generally being a badass, the house elves with cleavers chopping into the Death Eaters' shins, the suits of armour coming to life, Mrs Weasley calling Bellatrix a bitch... Super awesome.

What a fun book.

[HeuristicsInc]

Yeah, the battle was great. The "fanfic" style epilogue was a big complaint around the internet. M says she heard that JK wrote that part a long time ago, but it could probably use some editing now if that was so. I am also bothered by not knowing what Harry is doing now. Maybe he doesn't have to work, isn't he still rich?
Neville really grew up when he wasn't in the shadow of Harry etc. the last year. That's very cool.
-bill

[Heather. Redmon.]

I loved finding out Snape's real deal. That Hogwarts battle was fantastic! The whole book was so good. I didn't mind the 19 years later part too much. I was so emotionally drained, after hours and hours of reading and trying to finish that the nice bit of fluff at the end was fine by me. I thought it was really cute how little Albus Severus Potter was afraid of being sorted into Slytherin. It just seemed like such a normal thing for a little wizard to be worried about. It was cute to see Harry be a dad. My favorite of the series as well. I guess she did leave it nice and open for more if she wanted to pick up a story with the next generation of young witches and wizards.

[HeuristicsInc]

more info on epilogue activities in this article. example:

As for his occupation, Harry, along with Ron, is working at the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic. After all these years, Harry is now the department head.

“Harry and Ron utterly revolutionized the Auror Department,” Rowling said. “They are now the experts. It doesn’t matter how old they are or what else they’ve done.”

-bill

[Niveous]

Finally I've finished it and I enjoyed it.

It was surprisingly better done than I expected. Throughout the book, Harry had gotten so much help from everyone else or dumb luck or some other deus ex machina. Then at the end, he figures it out and his own and wins on his own. That was well done.

I didn't mind 19 Years Later. The idea of both Ron & Harry hooking up with their high school sweethearts was a bit fanfic. (And that is coming from someone who actually did marry their high school sweetheart.) But it was nice to see Harry as a dad relating to A.S. Potter.

All in all, it was a nice cap to the Harry Potter series.

[Reist]

I'm so glad this was the last book. Although I totally expected Ron, Hermione or Harry to die, I'm glad they didn't. The epilogue seemed a bit silly, but the last few lines made up for it. I have a good feeling deep inside me now that the story is finished, and that it's finished well, even though I'm kind of sad it's over.

p.s.

more info on epilogue activities in this article. example:

That was a really cool article. I want to get my hands on a copy of that Harry Potter Encyclopedia when it comes out.

[Lunkhead]

As I was reading it I wanted to talk about it, with spoilers, but having finished it I feel like she did a good job wrapping it up, as I really feel like there wasn't much left to talk about. I wasn't expecting so many people to die, because I'd heard that whole "two major characters die" thing. Two? I guess I don't understand how she defines "major". Maybe she meant Harry and Voldemort? And not Snape, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Mad-Eye, Colin, Hedwig, Dobby, Wormtail, etc.? Anyway, I thought she wrapped it all up nicely, and though the Epilogue was a bit skimpy it was better than nothing.

[Caravan Ray]

Finished it on the weekend. I loved it. Probably the best one since Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry became very Christ-like in the end - but I suppose that was always going to happen. If you are going to write a fantasy adventure story - may as well borrow something from the original.

Looking back over the whole 7 books - what a wonderful series. They will age well. In 50 years they will be seen as a far greater literary achievement than The Lord of The Rings. Snobs will always say it is popularist nonsense - but people wont be reading Clive Cussler in 50 years. As a group - I would quite happily rate those 7 books as the most wonderful thing I have ever read.

My summary of the series:
First 3 books: All perfect. Great stories, building in complexity to the Prisoner of Azkaban - the best of the series.
Book 4 - Good story - too long. JK's popularity seemed to mean that people were too frighteend to edit her.
Book 5 - the ramblings of an author sufferring severe depression
Book 6 - Return to form. The jokes returned. No real story though, more just setting up the finale...
Book 7 - ...and everything gets nicely wrapped up. The whole plotline convinced me - a happy ending with some sadness - what more could you want. Wonderful seeing Dumbledore humanised and not left as some all-benevolent Gandalf type character.

Thank you JKR. Job well done.


EDIT:

My main problem with the Epilogue was WTF is Draco Malfoy doing sending his kid to Hogwarts? The poor kid - all the teachers will be going - ahh I remember your Dad - he tried to kill the Headmaster. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to send his kid off to Durmstrung or something? As if Prof. Longbottom is going to treat him fairly in Herbology! What were they thinking?

[ddd]

It was an amazing end to the series. Oh, just probably the best book I've ever read! JK apparantly wrote the epilogue in 1990 so that may explain its amateurish-ness. "All was well" bugged me until I read this. Still, that chapter gets the job done, despite letting us know that Harry went on to bone Ginny, and Ron to do Hermione. That's a weird thought!

bjam, "Oh look, let's name the kids after people that were sorta assholes and abandoned Harry." -they didn't really though, did they?!

Only now, looking at the series as whole, I realise how incredible the whole thing is. In my head, it really isn't like 7 books at all. The way every small bit of history, every place and thing in the magic world and every character is subtley introduced at some stage and later proves to be extremely important is just genius.

I'm still so wrapped up in the whole universe of the books that remembering that it's fiction makes my head spin (Dumbledore: "Of course it's in your head. But that doesn't mean it isn't real")! hahaha...

[fodroy]

I agree with this guy.