[Peace~Karen]

This thread contains spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Continue at your own risk!
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Discuss away! Did you like it? How good were your predictions? What were your favorite parts? What emotions did you experience? Any unanswered questions? ...

[Rachel]

I thought it was a little slow in the beginning. I go back and forth about liking the ending. In a way, I was happy that Harry didn't die. Yet a part of me has been ready for that to happen since the beginning. I think that for the length of the book, she should have taken more time to give the background of the bit characters a little more. It seems like everything was lumped together.

I didn't like how there was so LITTLE said/felt about Hedwig either. I think the "war" was shorter than expected.

I don't know, I feel a little let down. I liked the book more than the last two she wrote. I like that she did put an epilogue on the end to show Harry having a life with Ginny, etc.

I can't wait for Jose to finish it so that we can discuss. Elizabeth gets it next. lol

[Sarah]

I loved it. I loved the faster pacing and loved getting away from the familiar formula of the school year. I really liked the first six books, but found them mostly just entertaining--a pretty normal story made creative by the very original setting. But this book was far more mature (not just content; also the writing) so I was able to escape into it more thoroughly and as a result was also more moved by it--on the edge of my seat at times, and also crying. The final battle was easily as good as anything Robin McKinley ever wrote and right up there with C.S. Lewis (influenced heavily by that, I think, but IMO that's a good thing!); I *sobbed* when Dobby died.

I also liked it that nothing came easily to them in this book. They had to go looking, and without the distractions of schoolwork and Quiddich the search itself was at times frustrating and miserable and at other times just plain hard work. I liked the moral dilemmas they faced (i.e. the choice to rob Gringotts and all the thorny issues involved there. And wasn't that the first time Harry ever used an unforgiveable curse? And do the ends justify the means?).

I really liked how Snape's character played out in the end. I expected his death to be more dramatic with a public revelation of his true loyalty, but keeping it private like she did made his self-sacrifice all the more heroic. In many ways he was far braver than Harry--he went back to Voldemort knowing he was facing his own death and knowing also that in all likelihood he would be reviled by the people he actually supported.

As it turns out, I had predicted the major plot points correctly, although I would have been fine with any other outcome (so long as Voldemort was defeated, that is!). It meant that there weren't any real surprises, but the way the story was told more than made up for that.

I didn't like the epilogue. It seemed to be thrown in there for younger readers who really do want the happily ever after and the "and THEN what happened" questions answered, as well as for any people who want a sequel--by making Harry 36 years old and the father of three kids headed off to Hogwarts, it means his story really is over. After the battle and the mop-up the day after, I'm happy to let my imagination take over. By putting in the epilogue, I actually ended up with MORE questions (i.e. what kind of careers did they all have? Did they go back to school to finish up their final year? What about the people NOT mentioned in the epilogue, like Charlie and George?). But that's no big deal--it didn't hurt to have it there; it just didn't seem to add much.

Do you think there was a chapter cut out about Hermione and Ron going off to get the basilisk fangs and destroy the cup? It seemed odd to me the way they disappeared, were mentioned only as "where are Hermione and Ron?" and then turn up having done a major task with just a brief explanation.

[Peace~Karen]

I loved the book. It's my second favorite in the series, behind book 3. Here are a few of my thoughts, in no particular order.

I was never a believer in the "Harry is a horcrux" theory, but I loved how it played out.

I was disappointed in the bit at the end with Harry as the master of the Elderwand. Yes, I can see how Draco became master when he disarmed Dumbledore -- but Draco never took possession of the wand. When Harry disarmed Draco, he took Draco's normal wand -- not the Elderwand. I think it's a stretch for that act to make Harry the new master of the Elderwand -- but it's not so much of a stretch that it ruins the story for me. I can overlook it.

I've been thinking about it today and I think she had a better ending available to her. Harry's choice to sacrifice himself for his friends conferred the same ancient magical protection on all of them as his mother's sacrifice conferred on Harry 16 years earlier. We see that this new protection even extends to Harry when Voldemort's cruciatus curse does not hurt him in the forest. Instead of Voldemort's final killing curse rebounding on him because Harry is the true master of the Elderwand, it would have been a nice parallel to have that final curse rebound because of the protective magic of love -- the same thing that caused Voldemort's first downfall. Oh, well. Still, it was a nice parallel to see Voldemort underestimate again the power of self-sacrifice.

I cringed at all the allusions to WWII (much too close to reality) and I enjoyed all the allusions to The Lord of the Rings (especially the discord among the 3 due to the locket).

I was never a fan of Dobby but I was really sad that he died. I loved the turn of events with Kreacher (the story-line I guessed, but not the change in his disposition) -- especially him leading the charge with the house-elves during the battle.

I expected a lot more interaction with Dumbledore throughout the book. I was pleased to see that they had to work almost all of it out without him.

I thought we would learn more about Sirius and the veil in the Dept of Secrets. I've never been satisfied with the way that ended in book 5. Guess it will never resolve any more than that.

I had guessed that Dumbledore's proof of Snape's conversion was that Snape loved Lily -- I just expected that we'd learn about it earlier in the book and before Snape's death. Albus Severus Potter -- love it!

That's all I've got time for now.

Peace,
Karen

ETA -- Had to add that I just LOVED seeing Neville come into his own. I especially enjoyed the parallel between the destruction of the 1st horcrux and the last. Those horcruxes were each destroyed by one of the boys to whom the prophesy may have referred. In both cases, an act of bravery allowed the boy to pull Gryffindor's sword from the sorting hat. In both cases the sword was used to kill a snake controlled by Voldemort. Very cool!

This post has been edited by Peace~Karen: 23 July 2007 - 03:27 PM

[Peace~Karen]

Sarah, on Jul 23 2007, 04:02 PM, said:

Do you think there was a chapter cut out about Hermione and Ron going off to get the basilisk fangs and destroy the cup? It seemed odd to me the way they disappeared, were mentioned only as "where are Hermione and Ron?" and then turn up having done a major task with just a brief explanation.

No, I don't think anything was cut. I guessed immediately what they were doing when Harry was told that the pair said something about going to a bathroom. The only thing I couldn't figure out was how they would get in. Ron remembering how to say "open up" in Parseltongue seemed another stretch to me -- but I was fine with it.

[Sarah]

Peace~Karen, on Jul 23 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

I was never a believer in the "Harry is a horcrux" theory, but I loved how it played out.

That was the one thing I thought was blindingly obvious from book 6, so I was glad to be right--I would have felt like an idiot if I had been wrong after insisting on it for two years!

Peace~Karen, on Jul 23 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

I was disappointed in the bit at the end with Harry as the master of the Elderwand. Yes, I can see how Draco became master when he disarmed Dumbledore -- but Draco never took possession of the wand. When Harry disarmed Draco, he took Draco's normal wand -- not the Elderwand. I think it's a stretch for that act to make Harry the new master of the Elderwand -- but it's not so much of a stretch that it ruins the story for me. I can overlook it.

That was some tricky switching around, wasn't it? Made my head spin until I re-read it. But it went along with the idea of wands choosing their owners, and this wand in particular apparently had to be won, but the actual possession wasn't important--even if you don't use the elder wand, you're still the master of it if you've won it, which is why Harry could be the master of the elderwand in the end but only use his holly and phoenix wand. The wand won't recognize any other master unless Harry is defeated by someone (which makes me hope he never became an auror--too risky for someone who wants to die undefeated!).

Peace~Karen, on Jul 23 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

I've been thinking about it today and I think she had a better ending available to her. Harry's choice to sacrifice himself for his friends conferred the same ancient magical protection on all of them as his mother's sacrifice conferred on Harry 16 years earlier. We see that this new protection even extends to Harry when Voldemort's cruciatus curse does not hurt him in the forest. Instead of Voldemort's final killing curse rebounding on him because Harry is the true master of the Elderwand, it would have been a nice parallel to have that final curse rebound because of the protective magic of love -- the same thing that caused Voldemort's first downfall. Oh, well. Still, it was a nice parallel to see Voldemort underestimate again the power of self-sacrifice.

Oooh, that would have been nice! But I thought the actual blood had something to do with the magical protection of self sacrifice? That is, Harry's mother could die for him and confer that protection on him because they were related by blood, and when Voldemort took some of Harry's blood that gave HIM some of that protection. Or something.

Peace~Karen, on Jul 23 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

I was never a fan of Dobby but I was really sad that he died. I loved the turn of events with Kreacher (the story-line I guessed, but not the change in his disposition) -- especially him leading the charge with the house-elves during the battle.

That's why I was shocked to be crying so hard! I always thought he was just irritating, but I think that's why it was so sad when he died. It was hard to like him, but he didn't care--he was the embodiment of loyalty, and loyalty that was chosen rather than forced and he died because of it.

Peace~Karen, on Jul 23 2007, 04:16 PM, said:

ETA -- Had to add that I just LOVED seeing Neville come into his own. I especially enjoyed the parallel between the destruction of the 1st horcrux and the last. Those horcruxes were each destroyed by one of the boys to whom the prophesy may have referred. In both cases, an act of bravery allowed the boy to pull Gryffindor's sword from the sorting hat. In both cases the sword was used to kill a snake controlled by Voldemort. Very cool!

Neville is awesome. I loved the descriptions of the Room of Requirement done up as a rebel lair. So cool!

[mom2kylenkatie]

I have not yet read any of the books but I plan to now that they are all out. Glad you brought the discussion over here. I am hoping that people who read HP will join in here on a regular basis!!

[arwenb]

Love it love it love it. I don't have time for a long thoughtful post right now, so I will leave it at that.
ITA with Karen about Neville and how coolly she tied in the sword and the horcruxes and the snakes!!!

[eriess]

I read the Order of the Phoenix out loud last winter to the family and it read horribly. Her writing was bad bad bad - geared towards younger readers and hard to follow. It was also very slow. Deathly Hallows was exceptional and a great surprise. I can't wait to get them through Half Blood Prince to #7.

She kept it moving along and I pretty much had most of it guessed but the way she played it out was great. I loved it. I suspected Snape because Dumbledore couldn't have been that much of a boob.

I cried with the stone and his family and friends showing up. I was in tears for Neville. It rocked.

Yay!

We started HBP last night. Ian and Jace are stoked since we took them to see OOTP last week. They were astonished at how much was left out of the book for the movie. Guess it's good to learn now huh?

ITA with Karen about the LOTR bit. The stone and the locket were both reminescent. Odd and yet comforting to me. LOL

[Peace~Karen]

Kathryn asked me today, "If Harry could open the snitch because of it's flesh memory of him, how did Dumbledore open the snitch?" Best I could answer is he must of used some advanced magic to hide the ring and then make it so that only Harry could re-open it. I love it when my 6 year old notices those little details!

[arwenb]

Peace~Karen, on Jul 24 2007, 05:32 PM, said:

Kathryn asked me today, "If Harry could open the snitch because of it's flesh memory of him, how did Dumbledore open the snitch?" Best I could answer is he must of used some advanced magic to hide the ring and then make it so that only Harry could re-open it. I love it when my 6 year old notices those little details!

oooh - that is a good one!