Hey gang, I posted this in my LJ but Wendy let me know y'all are talking over here so I'm going to cross post this here:
My first thought: It's excellent. I really loved this book. I enjoyed it so much more than The Half Blood Prince. I laughed, I cried, and despite how it ends I think it all fit nicely. I do think the ending needed a bit more and it wasn't because I am disappointed with the couples. I'll explain more on that later.
To me Half Blood Prince felt more like a fanfiction with too many teenage hormones on the loose. It seemed rushed and I didn't get a lot of satisfaction out of it. I blamed it on the fact that I read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction and, yes, I am a Harry/Hermione shipper. (I still am!)
However, I do have to admit that it seemed to have fit in this book. The relationship between Ron and Hermione was gradual and Harry had time to reflect on why he loved Ginny. It probably helped immensely that Harry, Ron, and Hermione spent the major portion of the book on their own ... no other students, teachers, or parents with them.
Anyway, there's so much in this book I'm not even sure I can do a decent review that would do it justice.
There are a few key deaths but there were only two I cried over and that was Hedwig and Dobby. Hedwig was the first to go and I could just feel the anguish that Harry must have felt over her. She was the first being to give Harry unconditional love that he was able to appreciate (my opinion). Dobby's death was just not expected. Elves are supposed to have magic that other magical beings could only dream of and yet Doby lost his life to a simple knife. And it was the second time that Bellatrix took away someone Harry cared deeply for.
The only other point in the book that I cried was when Harry realized that he would have to die. I had to put the book down for a few minutes before I could return to it.
My favorite chapter was 33 - the Prince's Tale. This is the chapter that explains *everything* about Snape and why Dumbledoor had so much trust in him. Chapter 35 - King's Cross also has a lot of explanations but this time from Dumbledoor himself.
When I read through each of these chapters I thought that JKR was actually paying attention to what the fans were speculating about after book 6. (Though she did miss the key point about how much we thought Hermione would be a much better fit for Harry than Ginny but I'm not going to dwell on that ... much.)
The whole thing surrounding Draco was interesting; however, we are left to guess what happens to him and his family. After how evil Lucius Malfoy was in the last six books it came down to him actually loving his son more than serving the Dark Lord.
Ignoring the epilogue, I don't think we could have asked for a better ending than what we were given.
My thoughts on the epilogue are that we are left to guess how the wizarding world rebuilt itself after the down fall of Tom Riddle. I would have like to have read about how things had changed for the better after the war, even if it was just done in a few pages. We know that Ginny, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are happy but what became of them other than raising a family. Did they finish school? What kind of careers did they choose? I think a few more sentences here and there could have us given a clue.
At least it wasn't a black screen ending.
And in response to an earlier poster .. Us Pumpkin Shippers (H/HR) knew this was coming. After all it was us that JKR called delusional after book 6 if we thought she'd ever pair Harry and Hermione. <G>
