It's... over...

JC 2K3

It's only really hitting me now, it's all over....

I was like 9 or 10 when I first read The Philosopher's Stone, I'm 18 now....

It's been a constant feature of my childhood and teenage years, there's always been a new Harry Potter book to look forward to, and now that's all gone....

Part of me is wishing I didn't read it so quickly. I wish I was still reading it now...

I'm utterly deflated and feel so empty right now.... While I'm sure I'll read many more works of great literature in my lifetime, I can't see any capturing my imagination the way this has.

Sigh....

Minto

Yea, I started when I was about 11 and i'm 18 now also. Now I've finished, it really is like I've left an old friend behind now and moved on!

rannerap

i didnt want to read it after i got it because its the end:(

Piste

Yeah I grew up with it too (I think I first read The Philosopher's Stone when I was 8/9 and I'm 16 now) I like the way the books have grown up with the readers, at Eason's last night the vast majority of people there buying the books would have been over 14, it's been an important part of so many people's childhoods.

Faith

Hard to believe that that's it. Now when I'm discussing the books, there'll no longer be any mystery or intrigue or questions like "Who is RAB?!". Nor will I have to stalk JK Rowling in Edinburgh anymore, trying to steal the book from her.

Crumble Froo

aye, tis a shame, but im glad that she finished it with no chance for more (unless in 25 years time, a new dark wizard emerges, but lets face it, that's just plain desperate).

though a friend did tell me about a supposedly very good series, "john dies in the end"... basically, one of hte two main characters is john, and he'll eventually die in the end of the series, but til then, you have a series of books to build on before he dies... i thought it sounded interesting... a new one out every halloween, thought id look into getting into it.

Malteaser!

I can't belive it's over...I suppose there's still the films to look forward to but it's not the same!!

It just kinda dawned on me in work that that was it...that there was gonna be no more...i knew the ending!! Its sad really!!

phasers

they could always release "Harry Potter and the difficult tax return" ?

Selphie

Can't believe it either. I remember getting the first two together, and becoming hooked on them, and then all the excitement when a new one was due to come out... Now there's actually going to be no more. I started them around 9 or 10 too, and now I'm 18. It's weird that something which you had throughout childhood and most of adolescence is...over. Weird....

JC2K3 wrote:

Part of me is wishing I didn't read it so quickly. I wish I was still reading it now...
I'm utterly deflated and feel so empty right now.... While I'm sure I'll read many more works of great literature in my lifetime, I can't see any capturing my imagination the way this has.

Ditto

The Bollox

I started when I was 13 and am now 21. I agree that it is shite it's all over. what a series, lets just hope some moron doesn't try and make a sequel (not refering to JK)

Awayindahils

I remember the day that Harry Potter was first published and News Round made this massive feicin' deal about it, so I decided not to read them. i caved about 4 years later after the Prisoner of Azkahban came out.

Was soo looking forward to reading Deathly Hallows, however when i got home at half 12 from tesco I promptly fell asleep.:rolleyes:

Ah well all done now.

cson

Same as the op, I started at 10 and those books have been with me all through my school life, its kinda like a void is there now, that this is it. But still I guess we all have to grow up sometime.

Lola123

Well i started when I was 20 and I'm 25 now, so I didn't grow up with harry potter, but my god, I'm devastated that it's all over!
Halfway through the deathly hallows part of me thought "I bet it's gonna end with still one horcrux to destroy or something and that will be the next book", and then i realised that there is no next book!!! It's very upsetting!

The Bollox

while they were going through the Locket stage, moving around to different woods, I thought the book was going to end after they destroyed the Locket, and you assume they took the knowledge of how to destroy it and go on to destroy the rest, but you don't need to see it. a la the new War Of The Worlds

highlydebased

phasers wrote:

they could always release "Harry Potter and the difficult tax return" ?

LOL

Read somewhere else that she is planning to write an encyclopedia of magic. If she does....will be interesting


I got my first Harry Potter book as a present from America when I was 7 (The Prisoner of Azkaban). I did not take much interest.....but when I realized what a big craze they really were I got the Philosophers Stone and Chamber of Secrets.....loved them all!

Nehpets

Wasn't my first captivating book (can't remember what was) and won't be my last and also wasn't the best!

Overheal

I get the strangest feelink tht JKR will get back to the word of Hogwarts one day.

In the mean time Im glad I read it through before anyone had a chance tyo ruin the end for me.

And besides the paperwork s already under way on a Harry Potter amusement park in Orlando Florida. When its cmpleted though is anyones guess.

Lorr

I'm so sad its over... I don't think any other books will ever have me as obsessed as the Potter ones (Yes, I'm obsessed with the books I admit it!) I've been reading them for so long I cried at the end mainly because there was no more

Maple

i'm absolutely gutted.

i read my first Harry Potter during my second year in college and have been an avid fan ever since.

i can't believe there is no more Harry Potter.

LoneGunM@n

Now what have I got to look forward too???

I'm 30 and started reading them about 7 years ago ... fantastic series of books

irish_boy90

fan since #2
am 17 now.


heard a series called "the wheel of time"
mate says its better than H.P.

Riverfarset

'wheel of time' by robert Jordan. Was really hooked on this series for the first 6 or so books as it was superb but but then it really started to drag with nothing ever seeming to happen. Overall i think fans of harry potter would enjoy it although it is obviously a very different type of fantasy. If you really want to read the best fantasy series bar none then have a look at the 'malazan books of the fallen' by steven erickson. p.s.Jordan is on to the last book now but is supposed to be very ill and might die before he finishes its.

Average-Ro

Yeah, same thing with me in regards to "The Wheel of Time". Read up to book six or seven but just couldn't find the motivation to keep going. It gets EXTREMELY boring after awhile and the main character (his name is Rand) gets so broody and unlikeable after five or so books. That said, the second book is brilliant.

To throw in another recomondation; The "Sword of Truth" series. BRILLIANT storytelling, well paced, and very likeable characters. The last book will be coming out soon.

PS- If Robert Jordan doesn't finish the book before he dies, his wife is supposed to do it.

OctavarIan

I think I was 10 or 11 when I read the first Harry Potter book, I was sad for a while after I finished DH but I got over that fast. There were a few books I was looking forward to more than the last Harry Potter book anyway. It's not the only series I'm reading, but I guess that must be the case for some people. I'm in the same boat as Nehpets (although I remember my first captivating book(s), Famous Five ftw!):

Nehpets wrote:

Wasn't my first captivating book and won't be my last and also wasn't the best!

gubbie

Wow I didn't expect so few to be there since the start. I started when I was 10 (I remember always thinking that Harry was younger then me and it was wierd when I became older) with the first one which I have to say I was really hesitant then. I've been to all the midnight showings that there ever was and I'm now 20... thats half my life, what am I gonna do with the next 10 years of my life?? I grew out of Enid Blyton and now Harry Potters grown out of me

*bawls*

Ah we have 2 movies left

Maybe Harry's given birth to the next Satan/Hitler/Darth Vader/Sauron

Does anyone have a first edition of the first book that they got back then? I know I've a very very early edition (as they've a brown haired, young Dumbledore on the back-well I think its him, its the exact same as the older one only with brown hair and a really short beard)

The Bollox

gubbie wrote:

Does anyone have a first edition of the first book that they got back then? I know I've a very very early edition (as they've a brown haired, young Dumbledore on the back-well I think its him, its the exact same as the older one only with brown hair and a really short beard)

I have that copy. who the f*ck is that?

it can't Quirrell because he doesn't have a turban on his head
it can't be Flitwick becuase he's too tall
it can't be an older Harry because he doesn't have a scar on his head

it's possible that it is a young Dumbledore, but why so young? and why irrecognisable?

actually I just googled it and looked at the two photo's, both men are wearing the same style pants, so it is most likely a young Dumbledore.

another thought would be: is it Flamel? I say that because there's a bulge in his pocket: the stone?

Slutmonkey57b

JC 2K3 wrote:

...sure I'll read many more works of great literature in my lifetime, I can't see any capturing my imagination the way this has.

Sigh....

More? Popular though Potter is, I can't ever see it being admitted into the "great works of literature" category. Though a lot of people seem to think LOTR is, so it's maybe not that unlikely.

If you haven't read Northern Lights yet, I'd recommend that. incredible series of books.

gubbie

The Bollox wrote:

I have that copy. who the f*ck is that?

Its the last Harry Potter mystery.
I always assumed that it was Dumbledore because as you said that it has the same pose. I just googled it too and it says that its an early Dumbledore... but does a young Dumbledore ever appear in it? All I can think of is when Harry's young and he helps out there but that was only 10 years previous and the man at the back is about max 40, but considering he was teaching in Hogwarts back in Voldemorts time... maybe we can retire off it?

JC 2K3

Slutmonkey57b wrote:

More? Popular though Potter is, I can't ever see it being admitted into the "great works of literature" category. Though a lot of people seem to think LOTR is, so it's maybe not that unlikely.

Firstly, I didn't mean to imply that Harry Potter was a great work of literature and I don't think my use of the word "more" should imply that. Consider the sentence:
"I'm sure I'll eat many more oranges in my life, but I don't think any of them will taste as good as this banana"

Secondly, how is LOTR not a great work of literature?

Sleepy

Because LOTR is one of the worst written books of all time?

Crumble Froo

northern lights ftw!

edit: actually, it's the "his dark materials" trilogy, is it not?

OctavarIan

Sleepy wrote:

Because LOTR is one of the worst written books of all time?

Care to expand on that?

Corruptedmorals

LOTR drags at times and trails off into boring detail at times, but it's still great.

Yes, it is His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass.

Sleepy

OctavarIan wrote:

Care to expand on that?

Tolkien was *badly* in need of a decent editor to reign in his three page descriptions of things completely unnecessary to the plot. I got about a hundred pages into the book before giving up on it. A junior cert student would exercise more self-discipline in curtailing their waffling. It's a personal opinion that I'm well aware most others don't agree with but for me, LOTR was a good story poorly told.

The Bollox

gubbie wrote:

Its the last Harry Potter mystery.
I always assumed that it was Dumbledore because as you said that it has the same pose. I just googled it too and it says that its an early Dumbledore... but does a young Dumbledore ever appear in it? All I can think of is when Harry's young and he helps out there but that was only 10 years previous and the man at the back is about max 40, but considering he was teaching in Hogwarts back in Voldemorts time... maybe we can retire off it?

it makes no sense to put a young, unrecognisable Dumbledore on the back cover. I still say there's a good chance it's Flamel, althought you are never told what he looks like

JC 2K3

It's just a random wizard.

Steve01

I can now be added to the list of those who've crossed to the other side and finished the Deathly Hallows (its an extensive list!). And I must say I'm hugely impressed. Fair play to Rowling for doing an incredible job! Anyone with that much imagination and the ability to harness it into 7 fantastic books deserves all the credit they can get.

leninbenjamin

The Bollox wrote:

it makes no sense to put a young, unrecognisable Dumbledore on the back cover. I still say there's a good chance it's Flamel, althought you are never told what he looks like

hink i have tha one too somewhere. It's definitly Dumbledore, who else could it be really? i always thought it was a f*ck up by the publishers, tha what ever artist they hired didn't pay attention to the details of he characters he was supposed to be painting, and publishers weren't arsed to change it til it started getting a hardcore following.

gubbie

Sleepy wrote:

Tolkien was *badly* in need of a decent editor to reign in his three page descriptions of things completely unnecessary to the plot. I got about a hundred pages into the book before giving up on it. A junior cert student would exercise more self-discipline in curtailing their waffling. It's a personal opinion that I'm well aware most others don't agree with but for me, LOTR was a good story poorly told.

Although this ain't the forum to discuss it, I agree with you. JRRT had great ideas but at the end of the day, the first book was just description after description. I quit on numerous occasions and it took me a year and a half to just read the first book. The Hobbit is a much better book. It moves along nicely with an airy grace

It's just a random wizard.

What would be the sense in that? The illustrations on the books always had something to do with the book, they were never just random

I've heard too that the illustrator on the second-seventh books were a different one to the one who did the first

JC 2K3

gubbie wrote:

What would be the sense in that? The illustrations on the books always had something to do with the book, they were never just random

It was the first one though, there were no defined rules of what could be on the cover. Why not just a random wizard to give the book a "magical" look?

gubbie

JC 2K3 wrote:

It was the first one though, there were no defined rules of what could be on the cover. Why not just a random wizard to give the book a "magical" look?

But it was on the back cover. Surely if they wanted something eye catching they would have put it on the front instead of just a random dude with a scar and a sign saying 9 3/4's. I think it was just a giant glitch