Harry Potter 7-for those who have finished reading

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.