fred says:

Well, now that we've all read the end (I'm probably the last to finish), what do you think? Yes, a pleasant ending overall, but I did feel this last book went a little long(?) And, too, the expectations were so high, there's probably no perfect way to end it. I still recommend it to all.

#1 Posted 1 years ago

Mimzy says:

Overall I felt that the book was a disappointment. Almost from page one I lost all interest in what the main characters were doing and found myself skimming page after page, only paying attention when events that happened elsewhere were mentioned. For example, I can't even remember what scene Harry found out about Neville's mini revolution at Hogwarts (probably one of the seemingly endless bouts of nothing at the house or in the tent), but I found myself wishing that JK would have moved away from Harry to experience the rebellion first hand. Also, I long to hear about Luna's wild adventures in Azkaban. That wonderful loony girl attempting to educate the crazy and dangerous prisoners about creatures that even wizards don't think exist? That would have been brilliant.

My biggest disappointment though was the ending. The only thing that would have been more anti-climatic then the ending JK gave us would be if Voldy had decided to give up evil and become a hairdresser instead. Harry, by sacrificing himself, became Jesus and gave his people the power of being immune to future attacks while still being able to lay the smack down on Voldy's guys, Neville kicked ass, and Harry got the master wand by following logic that can only be explained by the phrase; "Plot Device!"

Seriously now, how on earth was Harry able to get the master wand? Dumbledore got it from that other dark wizard (who's name escapes me because every time I read it I thought 'Grendel' from Beowulf) by defeating him, that much I understood. But despite the fact that the wand is passed on through duel defeats or killing the previous owner, Snape couldn't get it because Dumbledore essentially asked the poor baddy to kill him. That I also understood. However, the logic jump from Dumbledore to Draco escapes me. I believe I read Harry's monologue about how he was the owner of the wand three or four times and I still didn't get it. Finally I decided that Harry got the wand because he was the title character and moved on.

As for the budding romances, I only felt boredom whenever they emerged. Ron and Hermionie have pretty much been a couple since Ron's jealous rage over Krum so the fact that they got together was a no-brainer. Harry and Ginny was a little bit more interesting, but really only because of Ginny's keeping Harry away from Cho. Honestly I don't see what those two see about each other besides Ginny's lifelong crush on Harry and Harry thinking Ginny is pretty. If those two ever really interacted at all in the books, it's news to me.

And the ending? The only good part was the potential for fanfiction. I haven't read any yet, but the very idea that 'All was well' made me snort. Cults like the Death Eaters don't die overnight. You can draw so many parallels between the Death Eaters and the Nazi's that the issues for disbanding the Nazi's should apply to Voldy's gang as well. A lot of them probably fled and some (like Draco) are probably still around. Considering that this is technically supposed to be a children's book I suppose it was the only ending JK could give it though. Happy endings are a requirement in today's day and age.

Character wise the only people I ended up caring about was Neville, Luna, Snape, George, and Draco. Neville and Draco because from the book one to the ending they were the ones that had the most character development. Neville from a bumbling boy to the savior of the day and Draco actually showing that insecure good side that he had hidden so deep. Snape and Luna were interesting because I always loved Snape (although I would have been happier if Snape's retribution had less to do with Lily and more to do with his own inherent goodness) and Luna is hilarious. George I found myself really caring about not only because I always loved the twins, but mostly because of Fred's death and the life shattering effects it must have had on the surviving twin. Honestly, I wish the epilogue had included something about George and whether he was able to recover from such a devastating death.

If you've read all the Harry Potter books, you have to read the last one as well and if you're interested, give them a whirl. But don't get your hopes up... And I've written way too much....

#2 Posted 1 years ago