Harry Potter 7-for those who have finished reading

thedrowner

I'm dying to talk about the book with someone but i'm afraid of putting spoilers in my post

without giving anything away, i've just finished the book, it was so good

has anybody else finished reading it yet? (i had to give up most of my sleep to get it read but it was worth it)

MooseJam

Never read a HP book and never will, not even the blurb on the back

valor

yeah just finished it

Rabidlamb

Finished it only an hour ago.
I take it spoilers are not required due to the Post's title.

Anyway, a great payoff in the end... & I mean the end. There's no where for her to go after the "19 Years Later" final chapter. When she said that she wrote the ending years ago I wonder did she mean the epilogue or Harry's final battle with Voldermot. Knowing that deaths were coming slightly softened the blow & the Snape reversal was well done.

Overall 9/10.

On another note the early spoilers were way off, Bloomsbury kept this one well under wraps.

Taters

I read the story (in short) on wikipedia.. Harry marries Ginny?!

I read that Hedwig the pigeon dies. NOT HEDWIG!
Anyways, yeah I might read it properly some other time.

Irish Wolf

thedrowner wrote:

I'm dying to talk about the book with someone but i'm afraid of putting spoilers in my post

without giving anything away, i've just finished the book, it was so good

has anybody else finished reading it yet? (i had to give up most of my sleep to get it read but it was worth it)

6 years here and you've never happened upon the HP forum?

gerire

hi, it was very good. very impressed with how the snape thing worked out. shame about george and lupin and tonks. loved but feel bereft now - there is nothing to look forward to ever again....

athtrasna

It was a real page turner alright. Cried a bit towards the end, just wanted to give Harry a hug.

Think it tied all the lose end up properly, was glad about Snape and even the Malfoys in the end.

Robbiethe3rd

Just wish harry got to talk to all those who died (especially Snape!) before they were all killed, great book, great series, cant believe its over.

thedrowner

i'll have to check out the harry potter forum when im up to no good tomorrow, thanks irish wolf.

yeah, i pretty much cried all the way through the last hundred pages, from when snape was killed

cant say which death affected me more, snape, or dobby (my mum ran crying from the room when dobby died, it was quite distressing and silly to watch!), they were both really touching.

she didn't really kill off any of the "important" characters though, it was a bit tame in that respect but if i'm honest, i prefered it that way. i'm glad harry was granted a reprieve. j.k.rowling actually said in an interview that somebody was granted a reprieve from dying, as she was writing the book, so i wonder if that was harry? (check out www.the-leaky-cauldon.org/)

the final chapter was a bit silly i guess (although i discovered today that i skipped two pages by accident, so i'll have to go back and read it again and maybe it'll make a bit more sense)

it's definitely my favourite book though,which is a good compliment i guess because for me, all of the other books came with anticipation for the next release, which maybe made them feel more special than they would have been if they weren't in a series.

linryan

I would have like Harry and Snape to have had a conversation but it overall it was excellent. I cried when dobby died! I thought the book was very dark and unlike the others, full of action from start to finish. I thought the 19 years later bit was a bit odd, with all the kids named after murdered people but hey.

The Bollox

Rabidlamb wrote:

Anyway, a great payoff in the end... & I mean the end. There's no where for her to go after the "19 Years Later" final chapter. When she said that she wrote the ending years ago I wonder did she mean the epilogue or Harry's final battle with Voldermot. Knowing that deaths were coming slightly softened the blow & the Snape reversal was well done.

I'd assume she meant the 19 years later bit, as it was in a competly different tone to the rest of the book which had nothing to do with the fact there was no more Voldemort

Blush_01

A guy on the train on Saturday came up to me and gave out to me for reading the end first because I was in the Epilogue at 5pm. Jesus, some people need to f'in relax! I spent 10 minutes explaining to him that I'd read the bloody thing. Muppet. (Sorry for the rant.)

Ok, I have a few questions.
1) What happened to Luna? She just disappeared and I always thought herself and Neville would end up together.
2) How can anyone say she concluded it effectively so that there can never be more of them, when she has Harry packing his kids off to school with everyone else's, and the fecking thing ends with something as patently crap as "All was well."? That's either inviting trouble on Harry, or indicating a future series on the kids. There's no way that all could be well. That's like saying the weather in Ireland was sunny - it invites rain. There's more going on there.
3)Who's the headmaster of Hogwarts?

thedrowner

i imagine mcgonagall would be the new headmaster.

luna did kind of disappear i guess.

oh, i thought it was really fitting that neville killed nagini, bseeing as the prophecy could have been about him

Crumble Froo

at the same time though, harry got rid of the diary, dumbledore got rid of the ring, ron got rid of the locket, hermione got rid of the cup.. i cant really remember now.. did harry get rid of the diadem? anyway, neville got rid of the snake, and harry got rid of voldemort....

which, when put like that, kinda minimises neville's impact on things.. id kinda wanted a bigger final part for him, though i was oddly proud of him for the way he handled things in this book, and the character development.

supernic

Technically Crabbe got rid of the Diadem 'cause it was his fire that destroyed it. which is a bit weird, but i think pretty cool that those fools in some part caused their lord to die.

I just finished reading it last night, and i have to say i couldn't put it down once i started, i really enjoyed it (though i still stick with my original favourite, #3). I thought the twists were great, and was especially glad to see that Snape wasn't evil after all (i completely believed he was evil from the very beginning- and thought i was so right after #6, so i should have trusted Dumbledore shouldn't i?!).

I did miss the humour a bit, but i don't think it would have worked being such a dark story if it had loads of funny bits. The final face-off at Hogwarts was so fitting and well done (and i hate to say this, but after the giant spiders came in i did kinda think 'if they do this right, it'll be a great movie'). I think i probably had more of a teary when Dumbledore died in #6 than this as i really didn't expect it, but overall the adventure was totally unreal and i was super impressed with Rowling's ability to combine 2 quests into the one story and ravel them in so amazingly together, what a talent!

What i didn't like was the '19 years later' chapter, that was schmaltzy bollocks. Absolute rubbish, and i think put there more for adults who want to believe in enduring love (are we really expected to believe they all married their childhood sweethearts and lived happily ever after?!) rather than kids who i think would be more than happy with knowing good defeated evil and the trio live. Dumbing down to adults is a bit sad really.

What i also found annoying was it seemed that there were very strong female/male roles being filled which i don't remember being so distinct previously. I mean after the 50th time Hermoine 'burst into tears and Ron put his arm around her' and 'Neville helped Hermoine climb through...' and don't get me started on the beauty of Ginny, i was like what the hell? When did the chicks all become so frail that they can fight evil but not climb through a hole and cry at every given opportunity? I understand that alot of that was (A) to demonstrate that they were growing up and being more, i don't know, aware of each other and (B) to show that these boys, like, really like these girls. Which is nice and all, but i though very repetitive and unecessary.

Ps: Hedwig is an owl. But then, if you're the sort of person who'd read it on bloody Wiki and then actually comment on it in a forum for peeps who've read the book, then you're a bit of a twit anyway, aren't you?.

supernic

MooseJam wrote:

Never read a HP book and never will, not even the blurb on the back

bugger off you idiot, why would you even bother commenting?

frizzefreckles

I finished it last night. I cried the whole way through the chapter where Harry knew he was going to die, and yet I knew that JK couldn't let Harry die and Voldemort live. I enjoyed seeing the whole of Dumbledore's story and Snape's was fantastic but I couldn't help but think through the whole thing that maybe that had all been a set up. Admittedly I had thought that Snape hadn't really killed him and Dumbledore would come marching through flames at some pivitol moment.
I enjoyed reading the last chapter but I'm an oul romantic, it was also a nice way to finish reading at 2 in the morning giving my brain a break from all the action.

gubbie

Blush_01 wrote:

Ok, I have a few questions.
1) What happened to Luna? She just disappeared and I always thought herself and Neville would end up together.
2) How can anyone say she concluded it effectively so that there can never be more of them, when she has Harry packing his kids off to school with everyone else's, and the fecking thing ends with something as patently crap as "All was well."? That's either inviting trouble on Harry, or indicating a future series on the kids. There's no way that all could be well. That's like saying the weather in Ireland was sunny - it invites rain. There's more going on there.
3)Who's the headmaster of Hogwarts?

JK Rowling has been quoted before the book was released that Luna and Neville never get together. And sure you could ask the "Where is she now" about every character... I mean we don't even know if Harry ever got his ambition of becoming an auror (I always thought it a bit odd that he would since he was so anti the Ministry from start to finish) or if he just opened a shop on Diagon Alley
I'd say McGonagal's the Headmaster (if she's still alive that is)

I don't want there to be more books. Not in the same kind of sense. Maybe just one more, like she said, like an encyclopedia for charity or something but I think we know everything that we ever wanted to know about all the main characters. Them tiny bits that people nit picked over are the things she can put in

Cried my eyes out when Dobby died... dunno why, I hated him in the second book, but I suppose cos it was just so innocent

My top3 now are:
#3
#7
#4
Quality books!

Though I don't think there was one romance in the whole series that I liked. They were all just too wet and corny. Enid Blyton could write better romance

Which brings me to wonder about my final point about when they finally make this into a movie: The books go on and on and on about Ginnys beauty and how every guy fancies her and on and on, but Hermione would beat her hands down in a who's hotter competition, wipe the floor with her

Livvie

I need to read it again because I went through it like I was expecting Armageddon at any minute.

I screamed out loud when Snape was redeemed - I always claimed he was going to turn out to be good. Well if not good, then certainly not evil. I couldn't believe that Dumbledore who had been put on a something of a pedestal by JKR, was going to turn out to be such a bad judge of people, so I was 90% sure that Snape would be the main twist - she kept us waiting though and I started to despair.

I enjoyed it a lot. I'm sure there are loads of flaws, but who cares. It's basically a kids book anyway. Comparisons with other works, such as LOTR, aren't really necessary. There's room in the world for all kinds of fiction - anything that encourages reading is good.

Now I'm off to investigate the HP forum.

Blush_01

gubbie wrote:

sure you could ask the "Where is she now" about every character...

You could, but not every character was as involved as Luna. For her to just disappear was a bit shít. Speculation about who did what is fine, but it still doesn't tie up the loose ends the way they should be tied for the final book of such a massive series.

I remain disappointed.

The Bollox

it would have killed the series if she went into such detail at the end, I think the ending in the book is far superior to what you are suggesting. too much detail would smother the brilliance of what she made

EamonnKeane

It is mentioned that Dean takes Luna's hand as they leave the Room of Requirement, so I suppose they ended up together. The epilogue was unnecessary and maybe the ending struck me as a bit too happy, a few too many loose ends tied up. Also, I found it hard to believe that it took them so long to think of going back to the chamber of secrets.

Crumble Froo

well the only reason tehy went into the chamber was to get the basilisk fang, and in all fairness, that was more or less within minutes of reaching hogwarts.

Fids

Finished it last nite and like almost everyone else cried rite throught the last 100 pages or so.... Part of me was delighted that Harry didnt die but there was also a part of me that wanted JK to do the unexpected and at one point I was really excited to think that both of them would die, in a weird sick way of course.... Fred and Dobbys deaths both brought out the whinger in me.

Have to say tho, I loved every minute of it and read like a train out of control coz I needed to get to the end in case someone spoiled it for me. Think I will start all over again and find the pieces I may have missed first time round.

Sad to think its the last book, but at least we have 2 more movies to look forward to.

tHE vAGGABOND

Yea the epilogue is one of the most pointless parts in any book ever

gubbie

Blush_01 wrote:

You could, but not every character was as involved as Luna. For her to just disappear was a bit shít. Speculation about who did what is fine, but it still doesn't tie up the loose ends the way they should be tied for the final book of such a massive series.

I remain disappointed.

Or maybe she ended up in the nut house and JK thought it too sad to put in the last chapter

John

I thought the epilogue was grand, it's hard to finish off such a long running story without disappointing some though. I was surprised one of the main three characters didn't die (and stay dead), my money was on Ron doing something heroic and sacrificing himself for Harry/Hermione.

emmakelly2

I just finished reading the book last night and I have to say, somewhat shamefully, that I was crying incontrollably....
Not only was I crying tears of joy at Harry's triumph but I was mainly crying at the thought of never buying another Harry Potter book again

I was so happy Snape turned out to be good and that Harry finally saved the world, like I knew he always would!!!

The last chapter "Nineteen Years Later", the one JKR wrote in 1990, was a bit of a disappointment. This is mainly due to the fact that the story does NOT clearly end. "All was well" sounds like something you say before something terrible happens!!
One part of the chapter I did like, however, was how Harry named one of his children Albus Severus and said that Snape "was the bravest man I knew", which I thought was nice considering he hated him for so long!!

Overall, I have to say this is one of my favourite HP books, although Prisoner of Azkaban will always be my #1!!!

The Bollox

if the epilogue wasn't written near the beginning I would hold it against her, but I think she had the right idea, it made sure she didn't go off track

OS119

i really enjoyed the book, but i found the epilogue enormously dissapointing in both a moral and story-telling sense.

it was badly written, but that could be forgivable, but its main failing was a moral one. Harry had been appointed God-Father of Lupin and Tonk's baby shortly before they were killed, yet the epilogue didn't mention the child at all - perhaps JKR didn't notice the 'full-circle' of Harry being responsible for the welfare of an orphan whose parents were killed fighting Voldemorte. i was all so very disappointed to see that none of the many (somewhat vommit inducing) children weren't named for Fred.

take these moral failings out and the epilogue was trite-gush falls, i'm actually very sad that i read it, she'd be doing herself a favour if she had it removed from future editions.

Elbows

Who the hell do you think teddy lupin is in the epilogue?!!!

ZorbaTehZ

OS119 wrote:

i really enjoyed the book, but i found the epilogue enormously dissapointing in both a moral and story-telling sense.

it was badly written, but that could be forgivable, but its main failing was a moral one. Harry had been appointed God-Father of Lupin and Tonk's baby shortly before they were killed, yet the epilogue didn't mention the child at all - perhaps JKR didn't notice the 'full-circle' of Harry being responsible for the welfare of an orphan whose parents were killed fighting Voldemorte. i was all so very disappointed to see that none of the many (somewhat vommit inducing) children weren't named for Fred.

take these moral failings out and the epilogue was trite-gush falls, i'm actually very sad that i read it, she'd be doing herself a favour if she had it removed from future editions.

/sigh ...

Breezer

OS119 wrote:

i really enjoyed the book, but i found the epilogue enormously dissapointing in both a moral and story-telling sense.

it was badly written, but that could be forgivable, but its main failing was a moral one. Harry had been appointed God-Father of Lupin and Tonk's baby shortly before they were killed, yet the epilogue didn't mention the child at all - perhaps JKR didn't notice the 'full-circle' of Harry being responsible for the welfare of an orphan whose parents were killed fighting Voldemorte. i was all so very disappointed to see that none of the many (somewhat vommit inducing) children weren't named for Fred.

take these moral failings out and the epilogue was trite-gush falls, i'm actually very sad that i read it, she'd be doing herself a favour if she had it removed from future editions.

Well Teddy Lupin was mentioned but since he was 19 in the epilogue Harry's part in raising him would have been over anyway. Although I agree that if she was putting in an epilogue it could have been set slightly earlier, maybe when Teddy was going to Hogwarts, and like you said, focus more on the full-circle aspect.

I agree that it was a bit unbelievable that they all married their childhood sweethearts, and the multitude of kids all named after other characters were a bit much, but I liked the bit where Harry called Snape the bravest man he knew alright.

Also Voldemort's death was a bit undramatic; I was expecting the expelliarmus spell to knock him to the floor and for Harry to stand over him and say something about his parents, Cedric Diggory, Sirius, Dumbledore... Instead it was just 'Oh, he's dead now.'

I think it'd have to be my favourite of the books though, it was so different to the others. Darker, although there were moments of comic relief: the image of Mrs Weasley going for Bellatrix like a raging bull (was this the one and only time Rowling actually used a swear word?) and Luna's father's insistance that he had a crumple-horned snorkak horn in his house lightened the atmosphere from time to time.

8/10 - would have been 9/10 had it not been for the epilogue, I feel it detracted from the work overall. The undramatic death I can excuse because I think expelliarmus was the first defensive spell Harry learned (could be wrong) and it tied in with Lupin chiding it earlier.

John

Breezer wrote:

I agree that it was a bit unbelievable that they all married their childhood sweethearts

Not singling you out Breezer but I can't help laughing at lots of people finding the relationships unbelievable bearing in mind that it is a series of books about witches and wizards!

Tar.Aldarion

Just because his scare had not hurt in 19 years does not mean there was not another bad guy or voldemort did not come back. Harry probably learned occlumency

supernic

John wrote:

Not singling you out Breezer but I can't help laughing at lots of people finding the relationships unbelievable bearing in mind that it is a series of books about witches and wizards!

Um, one of the most important aspects in writing Fantasy or Science Fiction is making the characters and their relationships 'real' and believeable so as people can relate to them even if they can't relate to their circumstances. In fact, i believe that's probably rule # 1 (see Terry Pratchet; Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy; LOTR; Star Wars etc....).

I actually saw a brief interview with alot of different kids all over the UK asking them what they thought of the book, and every single one of them said they loved it but they hated the epilogue. interesting...

ajbrowne

Some more info directly from J. K. Rowling about the epilogue.

In an interview,[6] author J. K. Rowling gave additional information about the characters that she chose to exclude from the book.

The epilogue does not directly state that Ron and Hermione are married, but Rowling confirmed that indeed they are.

Harry and Ron are both Aurors; Harry is the department head, and Hermione is "very high up" in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Luna Lovegood has become a naturalist of sorts, searching the world for odd and unique creatures.

At Hogwarts there is now a permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher; Voldemort's jinx on this position was broken with his death.

There is also an unknown Headmaster, as Professor McGonagall was too old to assume the position permanently. Rowling did not identify either the Headmaster or the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Great book and whole series. What am i going to do now!

Tar.Aldarion

Read different series.

John

supernic wrote:

Um, one of the most important aspects in writing Fantasy or Science Fiction is making the characters and their relationships 'real' and believeable so as people can relate to them even if they can't relate to their circumstances. In fact, i believe that's probably rule # 1 (see Terry Pratchet; Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy; LOTR; Star Wars etc....).

I actually saw a brief interview with alot of different kids all over the UK asking them what they thought of the book, and every single one of them said they loved it but they hated the epilogue. interesting...

It was a joke, hence my smiley at the end. Of course EVERY book needs good characters to work (and I believe Rowling has consistantly provided believable and good characters), not just sci fi and fantasy.