I'm about a week late covering Harry Potter, as I finished the book in one day. Frinklin beat me by speed-reading through it in 5 hours. My Mom was amazed at this, "How can you finish a 750 page book in one day?"

"I have no children." I responded. Although Eden has two little ones and managed the feat as well. My Mom is a big reader and despite having two kids exactly in the HP age range (now 15 and 16) and me pushing them to read the series, it never caught on in their house. I think they'll enjoy them later in life.

Anyway...spoilers below I really enjoyed HP7. I thought the tone was perfect. You really felt exactly what Harry was feeling throughout the story; from the excitement and fear of leaving his childhood home and sadness at Mad Eye's death to the boringness and frustration during the endless search for the Horcruxes in the middle of the book. That portion of the book left me wanting anything to happen, anywhere, just as I imagine the characters were feeling.

I thought almost nothing could top that last 100 pages of book six for excitement where Dumbledore was killed and the Death Eaters where fighting and Harry was chasing down Snape...boy, was I wrong. The way Rowling wove the exciting moments in and out of the story - the visit to to Godric's Hollow and battle at Bathilda's home, the visit to Luna's father, the capture by Deatheaters and escape from the Malfoy's mansion, and the robbery of Gringots were all very well done.

The climactic battle of Hogwarts was exactly that - climactic in the ultimate. By the time it comes you are ready for it like no other. Ten years of reading, seven books, over 4,000 pages - it's time for it to come down. And Harry stands up to it mightily. What better way to show what a selfless, loving character Harry is than to have him sacrifice himself for his friends who have become his family. Harry sacrifices himself, and in doing so, saves himself.

The loss of Colin Creavy, Lupin, Tonks, Fred, Scrimgour, and Dobby (which hit me weirdly hard) felt true to the story. I don't think Harry needed to die, nor do I think Ron or Hermione's deaths would have added to the plot line.

I understand that a lot of people are annoyed at the cheery epilogue. I love a cheezy, sappy epilogue where everything turns out well at the end, so it suited me just fine.

Posted by: Ensie at 09:03 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Rowling is a great storyteller & her writing is immensely accessible. That's how people read it so quickly. FRED!

Posted by: Eden at July 26, 2007 10:33 AM (BDCWt)

2 Loved the ending, especially the final duel in front of everyone. And the epilogue fit perfectly with the book. ... and they lived happily ever after seems like a pretty good ending to me.

Posted by: Erik Hanberg at July 26, 2007 11:36 AM (7gFSi)

3 Eden, I KNOW! Frinklin totally called it too. We both called Mad Eye and he said he thought one of the Weasley twins was a goner. I thought they might be home free with the ear thing, but swore out loud quite a bit when Fred was killed. Erik, I'm so glad to hear that you liked the ending. I love happily ever afters, and this one with the characters all happy, in love, and with their children was perfect.

Posted by: ensie at July 26, 2007 11:41 AM (6We+3)

4 I, too, loved the epilogue. (I keep reading reviews from people who hate, hate, hated it, so it makes me happy when other people liked it too.) I loved that Harry, Ron and Hermione got to end up actually being family. It was nice...just a little snapshot of the future to let us know that things turned out all right.

Posted by: Erin at July 26, 2007 12:51 PM (wlZTb)

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