The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

[IRC]

Don't need the drama if someone accidentally reads a spoiler in the other topic.

See you in a couple of hours Patryn.

[Kire]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

Cool, thanks for making the topic. Inquiring minds want to know!

[H2SO4]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I've never read a harry potter book, but am very interested in whether or not Harry dies

[Patryn]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

Wow, am I the only one who's finished it? Guess I'm lucky that the Schuler's I bought it from was super efficient. I was out of there with my friends by 12:10 AM and we were like 50th in line (out of like literally about 500-600 people. It was nuts).

Well, I'll try to remember what I wrote....

*** SPOILERS ***
The ending was about as good as you could possibly hope for. Was it the best ending ever? No. But it did its job.

I'm a little shocked and annoyed that one of my friends called the twist of Harry being a Horcrux. I never thought that they'd go that dark, but then again Rowling found a way to have her cake and eat it too.

Overall I'm satisfied. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for (I missed all the happy character interludes, but then again given the tenor of the book they wouldn't have fit AT ALL).

Oh, and Ron does NOT die. Simple man is being an idiot.

There are about half a dozen people who do. It's kind of a bloodbath at the end.
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

Could we please ban simple man now? Please?

Anyways, I finished reading it about two hours ago, but had to sit and digest before I could really sum up my feelings on the finale.

SPOILERIFIC BELOW
*** SPOILERS ***

It starts off really exciting, and, well, bloody. The frantic escape from the Dursley's makes me excited for the movie. Then it stops being interesting for a little while, because they aren't dealing with anything that *really* matters in the scope of the book (or the series). I'm referring here to the very minor characters Bill and Fleur and their dragged out wedding. They should have just dealt with it as they did Tonks and Lupin's wedding, as in not at all.

The only purpose for the wedding is to introduce a couple of characters that play minor roles in the rest of the book, and could probably have been dealt with in a more succinct fashion, ie. not describing every little detail leading up to the wedding, in which nothing important or very interesting happens. There's some dialogue and perhaps some necessary character development, but it all felt wrapped in a "we're gonna sit around and not do anything for a while" scene.

Things start happening again, and it gets exciting for a while, long enough for them to discover the first Horcrux of the book, but they start to mill about in frustration and confusion after that for what feels like WAY too long. Also a necessary break from the action, but it was just too long again.

It sort of proceeds in this fashion for the rest of the book, but at least after the second time, it never feels too long or slightly unimportant or unnecessary to the forward motion of the book.

A lot of the loose ends that I had figured on being tied up were. The centaurs, the house elves, pretty much all of the secondary characters and events were dealt with in a satisfying manner. Except for Grawp, because the only real purpose he played was to be the defense against Voldemort's giants, and that is underwhelming, considering how much time was put into setting him up.

The only character that I felt should have been given more of an ending was Luna Lovegood. I had her pegged as being Neville's love interest, but Rowling seemed to hint more at she and Dean Thomas being involved, which sucks, because Dean is such a non-entity when you get down to it.

Neville rules. All the way. Everything I expected of him in this book he was.

Snape turned out to be good after all, which once I got about halfway through the book I knew he was good, only because Rowling didn't make any attempt to assuage the reader at any point on his status as a bad guy. I was disappointed because I just wanted him to be bad.

The big fight, the finale, was very satisfactory for me, because most of it was what I'd come to expect. The people that died in the battle in a large way left little impact, as they just weren't *major* enough to be impacting, though still heartfelt.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all live, and so does Draco, and it is these five characters that we gain insight into for the epilogue, plus a little score for Neville as Herbology teacher.

It's basically a sappy happy ending, but with such a wide fanbase, you can hardly blame Rowling for ending it the way most people wanted it to end, and not the way they sure it was going to end (with Harry dead, or both Ron and Hermione dead {i was expecting Ron, to be perfectly honest}).

So all in all, it was satisfactory, I'm glad I stood in line at the midnight release to get it, and I can say with confidence that this book is better than all but Book 5 and Book 3/6 in my most humble of opinions. It probably rates about the same as 3 and 6 for me, which are tied in my opinion for second best.

*** END SPOILERS ***

[Patryn]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

My defense of some of Rick's critique's:

*** SPOILERS ***
I think the wedding stuff was necessary, just because the rest of the book is so depressing and downtrodden. I mean, for 3/4 of the book Harry, Hermione, and sometimes Ron are on their own and on the run, that you need that small glimmer of light to contrast with the dark. Odds are that most of that stuff will be cut for the movie though.

I do agree that there were a few plodding moments where the story halts to get into the mindset, but I think Rowling was trying to really get you in the mindset of Harry, where basically everything in the world was against you, and you're off on what seems to be a hopeless quest.

Towards the end, the deaths do kind of bleed together, but Mad-Eye and Dobby both made me gasp, as did Fred. Honestly, at the end there I was rushing, so when Lupin came out of the second Hallow, I had to go back because I hadn't quite taken in the fact that he died. Tonks was kind of the same way.

I anticipate that as perfect as the final duel between Voldemort and Harry was, the movie will make it a lot more action packed, but the setting of it is just so perfect.

Speaking of the movies, the writers may be saying to themselves "oh damn" as they read of all this great foreshadowed stuff that they cut all paying off in the book. Like Dobby, who pays off for all his character buildup and got basically none of that in the movies. On the bright side, maybe this will affect the script for HBP, as they know now what they HAVE to include.

I agree that Neville came through brilliantly.

All I can say is that if any book needed to have the twenty different endings that Return of the King did, it was this book. I honestly would not have minded another 50 pages of denouement.
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Bon]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

As of 5 minutes ago, I finished reading the book.

I'm sulking right now, because now I don't think I'll ever find another book that hyped me like this series, However:

*** SPOILERS ***
That B-word quote from Mrs. Weasely to Beatrix was truly a highlight of the book. I was like, "Weasely, kick her ass!" Also, I'm glad Harry and Ginny finally got together for good
*** END SPOILERS ***

[Big Rick Cook]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I think that Patryn and I will just have to agree to disagree.

*** SPOILERS ***


I do agree that the wedding is necessary, but all of the buildup ****** me off. It was so unnecessary. And the actual waiting around while building up that the whole world was against Harry felt just far too long. Thus why I said it was necessary, but way too long.

Halfway through their camping romp, about the time Ron finally left, I was like "FINALLY, something is happening. We get it, the whole world is against them, move on now."



*** END SPOILERS ***

[neobi]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

If this is the spoiler topic why are you all using spoiler tags?

[Patryn]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I'm using them to be extra careful. It is book seven, after all, but it's the first weekend. I think eventually we'll stop.

[BeeZee]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I just finished it a couple minutes ago, so my thoughts are kind of jumbled, but I'll scribble some random stuff down anyway.

*** SPOILERS ***


I felt like the book kept beating me over the head with the fact that most of it takes place outside Hogwarts. Not that this is a bad thing, per se, and of course it was mostly spelled out at the end of Half Blood Prince that Harry would be traveling, but I can't help but miss the sheer character and charm that Hogwarts adds to the writing. I feel that the school is easily as important a character as Ron or Hermione, and I would've liked to see more of it here, even though I know that it was intentionally omitted.

I wasn't especially surprised that Harry turned out to be the seventh Horcrux. I never really considered it initially, but all the Harry Potter fansites have been speculating that for a while, so the revelation lost a lot of thunder for me.

The section towards the end really had me believing Harry was going to die. I was envisioning this dark, bittersweet ending where everyone mourns Harry at his funeral or something. It would've taken some major balls on Rowling's part to do it, and as much as part of me didn't want to see Harry die, I can't help but feel like turning the series into a tragedy would've been something special. But then again, I'm a 'tard like that.

I think the book played it pretty safe with the rest of the deaths. Moody, Fred, Lupin, Dobby, and co. basically allowed there to be a body count without killing off any of the real central characters. Like a lot of people, I was expecting Ron or Hermione to die, and I don't know if I'm disappointed or happy that they didn't.

I enjoyed Snape being proven good, and I liked that Harry would eventually name his child Albus Severus and cite Snape as one of the bravest men he had ever known. I felt that the bit with Snape planting the sword and having Lily's patronus was one of the cleverest parts of the book.

I was disappointed by the Deathly Hallows themselves, and I don't feel that they added much to the book other than an excuse for one more mystery that ultimately convoluted things a bit too much. Along with the logic used to explain Harry still living at the end, I think this book might have finally pushed the magical explanations in the series into almost jRPG territory.

I found the writing to be a bit hurried in places. There were a fair number of times when I had to go back and re-read the past few paragraphs because I had missed something important that the writing glossed over. I don't know if this is a widespread impression; I might've just been reading too fast.

I have mixed feelings about the rest. There were a few lulls- the wedding, a lot of the aimless wandering- and there was also a lot of INSANITY. For every scene that was spent randomly disapparating to breezy country locales, there were two with someone narrowly escaping the death eaters in any number of crazy situations. In retrospect, there was a lot of tension to most of it.

Man, I dunno. I think I liked it.

*** END SPOILERS ***

[IRC]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I had her pegged as being Neville's love interest, but Rowling seemed to hint more at she and Dean Thomas being involved, which sucks, because Dean is such a non-entity when you get down to it.

What are you talking about? Dean Thomas fills the vitally important role of being the only person in the entire series with a normal name.

For me I didn't mind much of the pace or the wedding scene or Harry and Co simply camping for weeks. Stuff like the wedding is where Rowling is at her best, describing the world of magic that Harry lives in. And she's been doing the massive flash forwards in all the books so I didn't mind the latter.

But she's horrible at describing action. Way to quick paced and not descriptive enough. Basically a few flashes of light and boom flying away on a dragon. But I might just be like BZ and be reading to fast.

The deaths I felt were underwhelming. None of the Order of the Phoenix members ever really connected well except the Weasleys. So Mad-Eye and Tonks dying didn't really affect me. And I felt that she never developed Lupin properly what with him being friends with Harry's dad. The whole thing with him and Grimwauld Place was just weird. But I did notice that little Teddy Lupin had both his parents killed during Voldermort's reign of terror. Sound any other character we know?

And Fred's death was kind of sad but it came out of nowhere and you didn't have time to properly digest it. Harry and Co had just escaped the cursed flames and then boom Fred's dead. On the same note I'd have been a lot more moved by Percy's reunion if not for the fact that he hadn't been mentioned since the fourth book. Afterthought.

But Dobby's death really got to me. Really well done.

I found it a bit too much of a deus ex machina that Dumbledore's brother was a bartender in Hogsmeade all this time. And that he happened to know Dobby to send him to rescue Potter and Co. And that Neville happened to find a secret passage into his bar. But it ended up being a nice summation on the Dumbledore plot.

And I still don't know what the hell was going on with Draco and the Elder Wand. I think that was one plot twist too much. I was expecting Voldermort to either be so enraged or so demoralized that Harry was able to achieve his greatest goal by seemingly conquering death that Harry was able to take him in a duel. Nevermind worrying about how Harry managed to come back to life. I'm just going to accept it without question. Figure it'll be easier that way.

But man is that going to **** off all those Christian groups that protest Harry Potter. Someone should make a shirt that says, "Sure Jesus rose from the dead, but does he have a Patronus?"

And I agree that if anything deserves the LotR ending treatment it was this book. That's always been one of the series' highlights that the endings always managed to sum up everything nicely and give you enough aftermath so that you didn't end up feeling like you needed more. And this one just ends. The epilogue was nice and all but I wanted to see the aftermath in the present. I don't feel cheated or anything. It just would have been nice.

And what's up with Neville? I know she had him come into his own the last couple of books but I don't really see him as the Rambo type. Although when Harry told him about Nagini I thought she was going to do the ultimate fake out and have Harry die and take out the snake and then have Neville kill Voldermort and end up being the child of the prophecy after all.

AND, with my last complaint I just gotta say that I never liked Ginny as Harry's love interest. That one came out of nowhere too. Back in like Book 5 or 6 or whenever it was I mean.


Oh man, I totally forgot to list all the awesome parts. Cause it is really a great book. I'll come back to it later but for now here they are. The revelation of Snape's role was one of the highlights of the entire series. Right up there with Harry seeing his parents in the mirror of Erised and having Sirius sign his permission slip to Hogsmede. Adult Ron making wisecracks in the epilogue, finally comfortable in his own skin. Harry's final talk with Dumbledore at King's Cross. Great summation of their relationship.

[BeeZee]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

Yeah, the book was FULL of cool scenes. I really want to read the book again and actually take my time with it.

I think, with an extra hundred pages towards the end, a bit more polish, and one or two less twists at the end, this could be my favorite Harry Potter book. As it is, the more I digest it, the more I like it, but I'm not sure if I feel that it's the best one.

[IRC]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I don't know if I could quantify it either but it certainly does the job of wraping up the series well.

[Bon]

Re: The Harry Potter Spoiler Topic. Now you can't cry if you ruin it for yourself

I don't know if I could quantify it either but it certaintly does the job of wrapping up the series well.

Fixed. The way you had it was a little comical.

Back on point, I'd list this as one of my favorites, second to number 6.