Chat about the new book here -WITH SPOILERS APLENTY!-

Selphie

Wow... so amazing! Went to the midnight launch, stayed up till 5 devouring it. I knew Snape would come good in the end, and Harry's giving his child the second name Severus was so touching, though I thought Albus was a stupid name to give the child, even if it was after Dumbledore. I don't know, it just didn't seem right. Since the other two were called James and Lily, I thought he'd have been called Fred, or something. I didn't much like the epilogue, it just seemed so different to the rest of the book, and the rest of the series even.
The chapter on Snape's memories was fantastic, it was so sad and beautifully written.
Hedwig's death - that was terrible. She'd been there from the start, and was one of his best companions, that was terrible. Dobby's death too, and Harry's burying him was so touching too. And Fred... And Tonks...And Lupin. I was really sad that they both died, with their little baby left to grow up an orphan, just like Harry. And like somebody else said; poor George. Fred and George like..always together... I couldn't imagine one without the other. That was so unexpected! A lot of the deaths were unexpected. Tonks and Lupin were guessable (that a word?) but Hedwig? And Fred? The bit with all the Weasleys over him, so moving!
There as just so much feeling in the book, and I loved the final scenes at Hogwarts, with McGonagall rounding up the school and preparing to fight, Mrs Weasley killing Bellatrix, having just lost one of her children, and with the others in danger. That was fantastic, "Not my daughter, you bitch!" Wow! It really brought the whole theme together, how love can do fantastic things... Lily's love stopped Harry from dying, Lucius and Narcissa not fighting towards the end, just running around screaming for Draco, Narcissa not announcing that Harry was alive, but asking about Draco, Molly's love for her children enabled her to kill Bellatrix Black. Those scenes were incredible.
Fantastic way to end the series, absolutely fantastic. I'm so glad Ron and Hermione didn't die, Harry was never going to. He was always going to end up with Ginny, and Ron and Hermione were always going to end up together too. Well worth the hours queueing, well worth the wait.

10/10 in every respect. There were so many clever things in it - for example, Voldemort's name being bewitched to reveal their location, though I do wish the epilogue either hadn't been written or had been written better.

dan_y

JC 2K3 wrote:

2 things that annoyed me:

-How was Harry so sure the ressurection stone was in the snitch?
-Ravenclaw's Diadem was Harry's first guess at what the Horcrux in Hogwarts was. Far too convenient.

well harry knew dumbledore had the ring, and that the only two things dumbledore left him were the snitch and the sword. and since he reasoned that the sword was supposed to be his horcux destroyer, I suppose it made sense that dumbledore would've left him a horcrux. also, if you remember - at the time, he was very swept up in the idea of the hallows, since it fit so nicely into his mission. it reminded me of the holy grail, and stories like the da vinci code or the number 23 - where all clues seem to fit, simply because you put them in the same context. but I think it was genuine that harry would be certain of what was in the snitch. if nothing else, because it was the right size.

in half blood prince, dumbledore explained voldemort's thinking behind his choice of horcruxes. he chose objects and locations that mirror his own sense of grandeur, inward and outward. so he chose locations and objects that were personal to him but also reflected his fervent sense of pure blood ancestry and the majesty of those who can wield magic - the four founders being pretty good examples. so since the diadem was not just a symbol of rowena ravenclaw's "royal" bloodline, but also of her devotion to that particular part of magic - the expansion of wisdom - how could he resist?

d4gurl

loved the book. had no expectations and stayed away from spoilers which defintly helped! something I have been wondering:

when harry reads the tombstone it says his parents died in 1981 so that would mean harry was born in 1980. basically we don't know when this book is set really like what year, so why would Rowling produce this info? Would this not mean the book set in 1997 then??
I dont know why but dates always intrigue me!
other than I have no faults with the book..yes the ending was cheesy but its what I think a lot of people wanted a sense of closure which imo was achieved very well!

Sleepy

I wasn't at all surprised at Molly Weasley killing Bellatrix. Since the Chamber of Secrets it's frequently mentioned that Ginny is an extremely powerful witch and presumably this comes down the matriarchal line. It should also be remembered that she was part of the original Order of the Phoenix and survived the first war so it stands to reason that she's a pretty handy dualist.

nervous_twitch

Hmm, I dunno, I found it all a bit anticlimactic - but that could just be down to the fact that its all come to an end

I was really shocked by the deaths of Tonks and Lupin; I couldnt believe both of them had died, especially after just having a child. And while I sort of foresaw Dobbys death, it was still really sad.

Epilogue was a waste of space imo, I actually felt embarrassed reading the names of those kids. On a side note, did anyone feel (throughout the series) the relationship between Ron and Hermione just didnt seem credible? I always thought it was awkward and not really very realistic. A bitter divorce on the cards I imagine

Some things bugged me a bit; Rons imitation Parseltongue - that was a cheap shot by Rowling! Also, Dumbledores Dalai-Lamaesque stature could be a bit irritating at times, I mean, predicting Harrys future mental processes was a bit ott. Also, can someone shoot the rules of apparition by me again? there were times (like on the dragons back) when I was wondering why they didnt use it.

I'm such a moaner, but all in all I think I liked it!

nervous_twitch

Oh, and I thought the Harry/Dudley interaction at the beginning was a nice touch!

The Bollox

d4gurl wrote:

when harry reads the tombstone it says his parents died in 1981 so that would mean harry was born in 1980. basically we don't know when this book is set really like what year, so why would Rowling produce this info? Would this not mean the book set in 1997 then??
I dont know why but dates always intrigue me!
other than I have no faults with the book..yes the ending was cheesy but its what I think a lot of people wanted a sense of closure which imo was achieved very well!

the timeline is first revealed in book 2, at Nearly Headless Nick's 500th deathday party, where the plaque reads "Sir Nichols De Mimsy Porpigon (I think) died October 31, 1492)"

Kevok

nervous_twitch wrote:

Oh, and I thought the Harry/Dudley interaction at the beginning was a nice touch!

That was so out of character for Dudley I was convinced that he was under the imperius curse. I'm glad I turned out to be wrong.

Really enjoyed the book, standout chapters would be the wedding, the pensieve and harry walking into the forbidden forest. Just fantastic.

Robbiethe3rd

Was Colin Creevy meant to be dead or what?

toiletduck

Didn't like the epilouge. It should have said that Harry was 19 years into a life sentence in Azkaban for use of Unforgivable curses. That would have been a nice ending.

thedrowner

JC 2K3 wrote:

Yeah, but that's part of my gripe, we're supposed to accept that Dumbledore's guesses just happen to be 100% right all of the time.

but the entire last few chapters has been set up by dumbledore for harry and for everyone else, so i guess you could say that he is right 100% of the time because otherwise, everything wouldn't have worked out as smoothly as it did

d4gurl: the book is supposed to be set about 10 years ago, i know hermiones birthday on wikipedia is a day before my bf's, and he's almost 27 now! so if she's supposed to be 17, that means they must have started in hogwarts in '90 or something (im too lazy to do the math)

i think maybe JK rowling purposely wrote a lull into the book, as this lull explains harry's (and the others)frustration for not being more proactive, which in turn leads him to question the truth about dumbledore, and believe rita skeeter, something he should never have done ordinarily, after all the things she said about him in book 4

also, in the epilogue chapter, by james proclaiming teddy and victoire cousins, does that not mean teddy was raised by harry?

I think the deaths in the book were a bit tame (although dobby and hedwig's were very sad) but if i'm honest, im glad none of the more important characters were killed-i still think the biggest shock was in book 6, although i do prefer book 7-and i keep wishing dumbleore would have come back which is ridiculous

and by the way, for everyone who's commenting on how crap the epilogue was (which i do agree with) jk rowling says that she had written the last chapter years ago, we've been discussing it on the literature forum. maybe this is why its so disjointed with the book

am also intrigued by the black veil in the department of mysteries-thought that would come back in some explanatory way.

thedrowner

Robbiethe3rd wrote:

Was Colin Creevy meant to be dead or what?

yeah definitely. he'd snuck back in (being underage). he's definitely dead, although i cant remember where it mentions him, think it mentions him a few times-when he gets hit, when the dead & injured are being laid out in the great hall and also when harry thinks about all the people who gave up their lives for the cause

The Bollox

Harry sees Neville and Charlie carrying him into the Great Hall as he walks out to meet Voldemort in the forest

Crumble Froo

thedrowner wrote:

also, in the epilogue chapter, by james proclaiming teddy and victoire cousins, does that not mean teddy was raised by harry?

nope, teddy isnt related to harry as far as i can remember, just that he is godfather. victoire is harry's niece, through marriage with ginny, as she is bill's daughter.

teddy was raised, presumably by tonk's mother, who he was left with, but joins harry's family for dinner for times a week, so he 'might as well be part of the family'.

friend and foe

no it doesn't mean that he was raised by harry.

james proclais that he "seen teddy, our teddy snogging victoire, our cousin"

presumably this means that teddy is considered to be a part of the family as he's harry's godson, and has dinner with them about four times a week... whereas victoire is their cousin through ginny/harry and bill/fleur...

Zapp Brannigan

finished it a few hours ago. Out of all the deaths the one that got to me most was Dobbys. It was tragic

fret_wimp

robinph wrote:

The Voldemort bit rather than the Harry bit I suspect. Harry is still complete as the wand would not destroy it real owner, so it was just the Voldemort part of Harry that got killed in the forrest.

its not part of harry at all. its the part of voldemorts soul that was supposed to go into making a horcrux from killing Harry as a baby. The soul fragment had nowhere to go so jumped into Harry. This is what also gave Harry the insight into Voldemorts thoughts. So Harry soul is still whole and undamaged. if it was a piece of harry, then his soul would be damaged and we have learned that there is nothing worse than a damaged soul in the wizarding world.

dan_y

friend and foe wrote:

no it doesn't mean that he was raised by harry.

james proclais that he "seen teddy, our teddy snogging victoire, our cousin"

presumably this means that teddy is considered to be a part of the family as he's harry's godson, and has dinner with them about four times a week... whereas victoire is their cousin through ginny/harry and bill/fleur...

harry is the childs godfather though. that is kinda what the tradition of godfather is - look after the kid if his parents can't. but it doesn't seem from the epilogue that harry did take him in

:|

fret_wimp wrote:

its not part of harry at all. its the part of voldemorts soul that was supposed to go into making a horcrux from killing Harry as a baby. The soul fragment had nowhere to go so jumped into Harry. This is what also gave Harry the insight into Voldemorts thoughts. So Harry soul is still whole and undamaged. if it was a piece of harry, then his soul would be damaged and we have learned that there is nothing worse than a damaged soul in the wizarding world.

Oooh I get it now. I must re-read it, there were more bits I didn't get. But on the whole it was amazing, agree that the epliogue was slightly embarrassing.

robinph

dan_y wrote:

harry is the childs godfather though. that is kinda what the tradition of godfather is - look after the kid if his parents can't. but it doesn't seem from the epilogue that harry did take him in

The kids grandmother survived the books though so she probably looked after him.

Stompbox

I'm just delighted that Ron finally hit that!

Lorr

Thought the book was slow to get going but overall I enjoyed it. Still in shock about Lupin and Tonks!!! The part were Lupin's spirit said he died so Teddy would grow up in a better world had me in tears. Snape's death and memories were by far the best part of the book if you didn't cry you have a heart of stone.

Bit annoyed JK has never explained what the veil Sirius fell behind was. If I was Harry that would be the first thing I would of questioned Lupin or Dumbledore about. She also said a nonmagical character would use magic later in life but I don't remember anyone doing it.

The epilogue was rubbish. I would of liked to know what jobs they had and what happened to the other characters like Luna! I would of liked to know what happened to the teachers too.

keevita

Could it have been a nod to Petunia? She wanted to come to Hogwarts. Gasping at straws there tho, yet it seems unlikely JK would forget something she had hinted at, especially as she never really released many hints.

NotWormBoy

Anyways, best book ever being a little bit too far, it was pretty good. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Killed off enough people, but not enough important people. Pleased about Snape, I'd have been royally pissed off had he turned out to be a complete bad guy. Goo- great to see Dobby finally snuff it, he was way too Jar-Jar for my liking. Some of the Weasleys had to die, and no one really cared enough about the other lot bar Ron.

Battle at the end (the whole thing) was good. Not too confused, but had everyone involved, even the "animals".

The book itself felt a little disjointed to me, though it didn't really take away from my enjoyment of it. Loads of good scenes. I'm not going to try and overanalyse things in it, it'll just take away from it. Who gives a f*ck where Ron's kids names came from? Or who's riding who afterwards?

Except for one thing...

Paraphrased:

Voldemort: "You, go check if the little runt is actually dead, I don't trust him a bit."
Harry: She knows I'm still alive, ****.
Narcissa: "Is my son alive?"
Harry: "Yeah. Why the hell are you talking to me?"
...
Narcissa: "He's still alive, kill him again! Then I can go find my son!".
Voldemort: "You, random giant, rip his arms off so he can't handle a wand anytime in the next while!"

Thats how it should have gone. Once she knows the son is alive, she shouldn't give a flying ****. Of course, then the book wouldn't really be as good, so fair enough.

Also the Gringotts scene was homo.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Was really impressed with the book. It was better than I had expected it to be and I feel Rowling ended it well and really wrote it for those who were kids when the series began rather than the kids of this generation. I was 10 or 11 when the series began and now at 20 am glad I stuck with it and feel like I have grown up along with the characters.
My favourite moments (because they were either tearjerkers or just plain kick a55) were;

-Dudley's Goodbye
-Moody's Death
-Luna's painting of her friends
-Dobby's Death
-Ron's Return
-Neville's First Appearance (Was waiting 400 pages for him to show up)
-Ron and Hermione finally getting together
-Harry Saving Malfoy and Goyle
-Crabbe's Death
-Fred's Death
-Snape's Death
-Lupin and Tonks' Deaths
-Snape's Memories
-Neville pulling the sword from the hat
-Molly Weasley's Duel with Bellatrix
-Voldemort's Demise
-Ninteen Years Later (Liked to see that Ginny and Harry, and Ron and Hermione stayed together. Also liked that Neville was mentioned)

Flaws:
-What the hell happens to everyone else? I thought all the characters would've been covered in one way or another in the 19 years later bit. What happens to George? Luna? Cho? The Others?

golden gal

i loved the book but i have to say i was a bit dissapointed that after 7 books build up Ron and Hermione kiss once...and then they are married!! I just would have liked a bit more on this!
I wonder was book a little influenced by the fact that there are films like as someone pointed out the end battle with Voldemort. There were a few places where i felt it was film directed.
all in all though it was a great way to end it!

Mushy

Finally back here after finishing it. Thought it was a good read overall.

It started off amazingly quick paced(maybe apart from Chp. 1), all the way through until the wedding scene. Then when the three of them were wandering the country, it just seemed so slow. Fair enough, in that time, we got to understand more and more of the background of what was going on. Then the last few chapters were brilliant. From just before he went to Hogwarts, when he knew Voldemort was coming after him, and knew what may happen. Good ending, although when Neville killed the snake, how come Voldemort didnt die then? Was it because he still had a body and mind, just no soul?


Best quote: Its on the first page here, "In the name of Merlins saggy left -":D

Harry should have been more active with Ginny throughout the book. The times of just standing there and nothing. Poor showing. Ron's changed attitude to Hermione, the whole always-being-there-for-her thing going on.

As for the epilogue....booo-urns. I want those 5 minutes of my life back. Who in their riht mind would call a kid Albus Severus? And where did Hugo come from too? That little epilogue left more unanswered questions than the whole of the 7 books put together did.

Sleepy

Mushy wrote:

Good ending, although when Neville killed the snake, how come Voldemort didnt die then? Was it because he still had a body and mind, just no soul?

The eight part of his soul was in his body.

Mushy

Sleepy wrote:

The eight part of his soul was in his body.

Ah cool, just thought Voldemort had completely gotten rid of his soul from his body.

razorblunt

thought the book was ok, very good ending but the whole middle of camping and moving just dragged on for ages and even though "months" went it never really felt like it.

as well as that I felt that even though the books were aimed at teenagers alot of copouts were made regarding deaths, I mean someone of the main group should have been killed i.e. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna.

the whole battle to the death was a bit silly as well, body bind curses vs killing curses 50 deaths, but how many death eaters? A battle like this surely called for better curses.