The Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Thread

[Ther]

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows only several hours away here in the States, it's time to open up some discussion on it. Feel free to post your thoughts on the book in this thread, but do remember:

If you're going to talk about something that may spoil parts of the book, make sure you indicate that you're doing so well ahead of time. There is a spoiler tag for those of you who want to use it...it looks something like this:

texthere

So I suppose the first question is who's getting it and when. Are you going to be heading over to the bookstore at midnight?

[Karuka]

My bookstore is hosting a ball thing. I'm going for the opportunity to dress up.

[Empyrean]

Yep. Going all out like every year and heading over with a few friends to pick up our copies at the midnight party. It's hard to believe this is the last one - we all have looked forward to it every time a new book comes out. It's actually very fun - there's always tons of kids running around in full wizard getups, and games and free stuff, and everyone counts down to midnight like it's New Year's. It's awesome. :D

Starting now I'm going into an internet lockdown until tomorrow at 8 or 9 a.m. so I don't accidentally find one of the many spoilers that's said to be floating around the net.

[Elijah_Morendale]

I just want to know how it ends. I won't be getting it, but I know for sure that my mother will. I'm sure she'll tell me.

[Ther]

Oh, and just for all of you wondering, there is a way to post spoilers using a BBCode tag. It's pretty straightforward - the tag is spoiler. So, for example:

This is where the spoiler text would be

[Dissinger]

{spoiler}Insert text here{/spoiler}

Replace every instance of { with [ and } with ] to complete the code.

Right Santh?

[thorn aldsmith]

yeah i think this is right

don't forget to put[ / spoiler ] at the end too, removing the spaces

so thats [ spoiler ] text [ / spoiler ]

[Skie and Avery]

Well, I got my copy at 12:20, and it's currently 4am. I'm a slow and easily distracted reader, and between that, fixing my laptop and wacommy, and the driving time from the store to home, I'm only on page 163. I think I keep stopping just because I'm not wanting it to be over. *sniff sniff* Anywho, the bookstore gave me a cute rubber bracelet to commemorate the whole shindig, red with "GRYFFINDOR Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows July, 21, 2007" on it. I'd have preferred Slytherin green, but oh well. I tried to play the movie theme song on my harmonica while we were standing in line, but my sister didn't let me get very far. =( I got beat up. Yay for spoiler codes and comments that I will actually read tomorrow or the next day when I finish this thingur.

[Empyrean]

Just finished the book. Holy shit I need sleep. God that book was amazing.

All I'm going to say for now is.......all my theories were right.

Ow eyes pain ow.

[Amaril Torrun]

Wow, you finished already? That's some pretty dedicated reading. I got mine at midnight with my gf. I read the first two chapters, went to sleep, and her and myself will be reading it today.

I don't really have a spoiler. Didn't I just say that I haven't finished it? :D ;p

[Elijah_Morendale]

Someone already posted a plot synopsis on Wikipedia. Needless to say, I already read that lol

At least my predictions were half right.

[Ther]

{spoiler}Insert text here{/spoiler}

Replace every instance of { with [ and } with ] to complete the code.

Right Santh?

Yeah, exactly. I have yet to get a copy yet...sometime this week, though.

[Artifex Felicis]

Finished it about 9 hours ago.

Weeee.

Good book I'd say, though a little wishy wash at some points, a nice ending.

[Rigor Mortis]

Excellent book. I really really liked it. Easily the best of the series.

I'll wait a few days before going into details, still with spoilers of course, but we'll give you guys time to read.

[Dissinger]

Same, just finished.

Holy...shit.

Thats all I got to say.

[Twinight]

I've only read the last line of the book. Pissed me off. Probably won't read it.

I wanted harry to DIE!!!

[Amaril Torrun]

Just finished. A lot that I thought would happen, happened. I don't think I should give my opinion about the ending since, put simply, I don't want Rowling's story to end. Thus, I doubt I could be happy with any conceivable ending. It was a very good book.

[Nadia]

The Epilogue needs to be torn out and BURNED. We all know things get back to normal, and who hooks up wit whom. I hated that all the names were recycled, it was stupid and looked like a shoddily done fanfic. Otherwise, a grand skullf**k of a book! Definitely one of those things ya gotta re-read or somethin.. Like Card's Lost Boys

[Falcon Darkflight]

....I'm disappointed in Ron. You all know why.

[Empyrean]

Yeah, I agree about the epilogue. Admittedly, yeah, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy and all inside because for sure, everything ends up perfectly. But it really did feel like part of a fanfic. I might have been a little happier with it if she'd even described how the four of them looked after nineteen years. Maybe it's a trivial detail, but I was still picturing them as teenagers, and she was talking about their kids.

And what was up with the kids' names? I hate how they used ALL recycled names. And Albus Severus? That kid is going to get made fun of something terrible. While the gesture of it was probably nice, did Harry stop and remember how much of an ass Snape was to him? Yeah, he was the bravest man he ever knew, yeah, but I kind of doubt Snape would be happy to learn Harry had named his son after him. :) I dunno, I just can't see him being all that excited about it.

Other than that, it was an AMAZING book. Definitely my favorite, besides the fifth one. It made me happy that my guess about Harry being a Horcrux was right. And J.K. Rowling really has a knack for describing a scene. In the graveyard part, I could really visualize it. It felt very real. I dunno if I was the only one here, but when he sees his parents' graves, I almost felt like crying.

And on a last note: Um....Falcon, why exactly were you disappointed in Ron?

[Falcon Darkflight]

Because I always thought he would die to save Harry, and not have kids with Hermoine

[Rimril]

I finished the book yesterday, and I thought it was one the beter she has written. The plot was great; full of suprises and thrilling until the end. Though I think it was better if she had left the last chapter: "Nineteen years later" out.

[Christoph]

All right, I have to say that I really didn't care for the book on the whole. It started off strong, but really faded after that. It was almost a chore to keep reading through the middle chunk. The ending really disappointed me. I found that the final battle was very lack-luster and unfulfilling, and the epilogue was sloppy and cheesy. Voldemort was also made even more cliché than he already was.

Now, don't get me wrong, it had its moments, such as when they broke into Gringotts. There just weren't enough of them. Of course, I've never been hugely impressed with the author... >.> I'm sure many won't agree with me, of course.

[Elrundir]

Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Almost wanted to read it again right after I finished. (And trust me, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever want to read a book more than once in anywhere near that short a time span.) Just like the rest of her books, I had trouble putting it down, but forced myself to so that I didn't burn through it in two days (which I also hate doing :P).

What can I say? Good all around. Loved the fights. The Battle For Hogwarts was particularly cool. I can just picture McGonagall charging down the hall with a herd of school desks at her command. :D And Mrs. Weasley killing Bellatrix Lestrange? That bitch had it coming.

I'm also glad that I was right about Snape all along. I always knew he wasn't really a bad guy. ^^ Oh, how those Pensieve memories made my heart swell.

[Renjiro]

For everyone who hated the epilogue because it was so vague, she did reveal more about them in an interview. She said she had originally planned to write a huge epilogue, but it was really shotty workmanship, so she shortened it. Anyways, Harry becomes the head of the auror department. Ron is an auror. Hermione is the head of the magical law enforcement department. Minerva becomes the headmistress. Luna ends up traveling the world discovering a lot of new creatures that people never knew of, and she realizes that not everything her father says is real is.

Oh, and someone said they wanted Harry to die. Did you not read the book? He did.

[Empyrean]

Renjiro - thanks for that, I was wondering what the trio were doing, besides being grownups who make fun of their kids and name them after people from like thirty years ago.
I'm still weirded out that Harry and Ginny picked NO ORIGINAL NAMES for their children. Poor Al. That child will be picked on something terrible.

And can I just say, Molly Weasley. That woman was wonderful. I had to read that line about five times to really believe it was there. Don't mess with Mollywobbles or her offspring, she will fuck your shit up. :D

Also, I love the Malfoys, they make me laugh. And the ending battle scene was genius. I love the idea of everyone from past books coming together and launching everythign they have in offense. That will be a brilliant scene once the seventh movie comes out.

I certainly have complaints about the book, but I can't not love it, really.

[Renjiro]

The only complaint I have with the book is that only Dobby died a cool death. Everyone else just ends up dead. I was looking for them to go out in a blaze of fire.

[Beauty]

SHE KILLED HEDWIG!!! the poor bird! why on earth, knowing that his departure was going to be dangerous could Harry have simply told Hedwig to meet them at the Burrow and let her out like the day before or something? She couldn't even try to dodge anything like everyone else could! it just wasn't fair! I have 4 birds of my own...and it broke my heart when I read that...and yes, i will admit it, I cried over Hedwig...

i also couldn't believe that she killed Fred and Dobby. And that she killed Lupin and Tonks right after they had a baby to me is just terrible... *very sentimental person* poor harry..having to take on a baby at 17 years old...

other than that though...it was great. and honestly, i didn't mind the recycling of names, though Albus Severus just doesn't seem to fit right for some reason. Was glad to read that Snape hadn't turned on Dumbledore and the Order afterall.

One last thing...Rita Skeeter should have her Quick Quotes Quill burned before her eyes, then tossed to a band of witch-hating maniacs that will burn her at the stake (with disguised help of course to keep Rita from escaping) that woman is downright evil.

[Elrundir]

I should point out that, in said interview (or in one of them), she mentioned that Hogwarts has a new, unnamed headmaster. McGonagall did become headmistress after Snape, but by the time the epilogue occurs, she has retired from that position. According to Wikipedia, she would have been 92 at that point in time. Dumbledore was an old codger, sure, but we can't all have Nicholas Flamel as our good friends. ;)

Also, a cute little thing that she revealed in the interview (and that I had been wondering about myself): Hogwarts was indeed able to find a new, permanent Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher after Voldemort's death. ^^

[Dissinger]

Renjiro - thanks for that, I was wondering what the trio were doing, besides being grownups who make fun of their kids and name them after people from like thirty years ago.
I'm still weirded out that Harry and Ginny picked NO ORIGINAL NAMES for their children. Poor Al. That child will be picked on something terrible.

And can I just say, Molly Weasley. That woman was wonderful. I had to read that line about five times to really believe it was there. Don't mess with Mollywobbles or her offspring, she will fuck your shit up. :D

Also, I love the Malfoys, they make me laugh. And the ending battle scene was genius. I love the idea of everyone from past books coming together and launching everythign they have in offense. That will be a brilliant scene once the seventh movie comes out.

I certainly have complaints about the book, but I can't not love it, really.

Don't forget she WAS in the original Order of the Phoenix. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a precursor to the Aurors you see nowadays, and quit to become a housewife soon after...

[googlyeyesultra]

Loved it, except for one small detail: I hate capslocks! Curse you, Rowling, for making the characters SHOUT LIKE THIS!

[Saxon]

Just finished it today, and I'd have to agree. I thought the whole caps thing was a little trashy, but overall it was very well written. I'm just sort've confused why I haven't been getting an ear full of this by everybody else in the few months I didn't have the book. NOBODY I know is talking about it, and it seems like its because anybody who is reading it is giving everybody else enough time to finish it before they go raving on about it or something. :rolleyes:

[Nekoprincess]

I disappeared from the site for awhile. So I never got to say anything about this book. I read it the first night I got it. Stayed up the whole nigth to finish it. Damn is all I gotta say. It was a really good book! She ended the series nicely and there was a lot of twists in it I wasn't expecting!

[Rogue Virus]

... I'm just going to go right out there and say that I have an obsession, and the obsession is called Harry Potter.

Though not Harry himself. I hate him.

Slytherin > Gryffindor + Ravenclaw + Hufflepuff

Josh Herdman = ♥





Oh, and, um... book was great. Loved it :)