I'm quite surprised this thread isn't already here...is everyone else talking about it on actual Harry Potter forums? Or am I just the only person to have finished reading it yet?

Please note, although I read it one long session (interrupted for dinner/watching Waking the Dead with family) I wouldn't actually have chosen to do it quite like that normally (I certainly didn't do that with First Among Sequels); I chose to read it like that in order to avoid spoilers without exiling myself from the world for a week (having had the end of the last one given away to me, I decided I didn't want it to happen again).

I think in my comments on this, it's important to mention I am not a huge fan of the series - the last two books, especially, I've only read once each and that was back when they came out, so I don't remember them too well. I certainly think that helped me to not really care about a number of the characters who died - while I think I might have been hit a bit if any of the main trio, or possibly Hagrid or even McGonagall had died (randomly, unnecessarily and permanently - Harry's 'death' was a bit different) my reaction to pretty much all the other deaths was "eh, well".

I thought the book was fairly engaging, although the whole camping out and wondering about Horcruxes part seemed far too long - albeit that could be part of the point, as they also find it dragging far too much. The ending part, from when they return to Hogwarts, was extremely readable, and the best part of the book, but still not brilliant. I did feel Harry's discovery of his need to die and his approaching that was very good, and fairly powerful, but it lost something in the following extremely expositional chapter and subsequent return of Harry. Then again, I have something for tragic heroes, so it was inevitable I'd have prefered him to die properly.

Other feelings about the book - I thought it was interesting having Dumbledore turn out to not be the perfect character made out in the previous books, and Ron deserting Harry was also something...althoguh I was convinced (especially during his temptation, during his destroying the Horcrux) he would actually be turned over to Voldemort's side, at least temporarily. The Hallows thing struck me as something of a red herring/McGuffin - it's there to give something to tempt Dumbledore and Harry, but otherwise completely pointless. Bits seemed to be stolen from all sorts of famous things: Lord of the Rings (the Horcrux around the neck), Douglas Adams ("It strikes me the people who seek the ability to rule are the worst to do it") and The Eyre Affair ("He can hear you if you say his name!" - although I think maybe that's supposed to be another character in the first place, as I remember reading Jasper say "I'm surprised Thursday hasn't worked out who Acheron is yet...") to name just a few - expect millions more accusations of people plagarising JK Rowling to follow. And as for the epilogue...eurgh. That's about all I can say about that...

Anyway, please feel free to share your thoughts! I don't want this thread to just be my scattered review.

I'm not actually a fan, so I can't contribute much to this conversation, but my sister is jumping up and down squealing waiting for her copy. Maybe I can use you're carbon copy quotes to get her onto DNA... (hatches evil plan)

I got the book at midnight, stayed up until 5:30 reading it, went to sleep, woke up at noon, and finished at 4.

I thought it was quite well done, though I have to admit I was fairly certain none of the three would die permanently (and nor would Ginny). Harry's apparent death and the final showdown were excellent, but the one part that really got to me was Dumbledore's appearance after Harry's "death", when he says, "Harry, you wonderful boy, you brave, brave man." Did make me cry a bit.

And maybe I've just been reading too much Discworld (not that that's possible), but when they were told the story of the Deathly Hallows I kept waiting for Death to say something like "There's no justice. There's just me."

So..............I know there is a new book out because mrs. SkidMarks had to be in work early.

This is a serious question. Is it any good? Is it worth me trying to read it, bearing in mind that I thought that number 1 was o.k for a childrens book, but a bit linear and gave up on 2 because I had read it in number 1. I know authors can change over time, so should I try it or not?

Well, I've read the series, ('though I didn't get mine at midnight, I waited for the postman to deliver it), and I think, over all, it's actually rather good. There's a lot of alchemical symbolism throughout, a bit of the Aeneid, some LOTR, as noted above, but it's a well-imagined world that Rowling's created, down to the fine details, and a pleasant escape. The plot is relatively linear, compared to JFf, (but, then again, what isn't?) but there are still a fair number of twists and turns...the last three are better written, I think, than the first 4, but they are the "darker" part of the story. I will say that one of the (many) deaths got to me, maybe because it was one I wasn't expecting...Hedwig...

If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent would
ever get done.

— Ludwig Wittgenstein

Book 1 is basically a school story with a treasure hunt at the end. I tend to get bored by this formula, but fortunately book 2 was a bit more in-depth, and then she really gets going by book 3. After that it all gets darker. It's worth reading, in my opinion.

I'd read them all just so you get the true scope and magnitude of what's going on in this one. She pulls so many things from all the previous books that while you'd enjoy the basic story, you'd miss all the other underlying aspects. With number 3, she really gets going and the books get a lot better.

*grin* A modern Enid Blyton?

To SkidMarks - I definitely wouldn't suggest reading this one without having read the previous ones. It will make little to no sense unless you've read all the previous synopsises to clue you in to what's happening, and your emotional attachment to the characters will be pretty much zero.

With that in mind, it's then whether the series is worth reading as a whole. It certainly gets darker as it goes on, and the plots get more interesting. Having not read any but this final one for quite a while, I can't comment on the writing style or how the characters change, because I simply don't remember. If you don't want to read all of them, possibly read synopsises of the first four then read books 5 to 7, since they're almost a sub-trilogy within it. That said, you'll still miss out on some of the stuff, and book 5 might not actually be the best place to start with - I seem to remember a lot of people (me included) didn't like it. Harry's far too adolescent and shouty. Book 4 (Goblet of Fire) would possibly be better if you want to properly like the heroes, although by that point you've just excluded the three short ones and included the four huge ones...

Well I started it at 10pm on Saturday and finished at 4am on Sunday. couldn't find a good point to stop reading so just kept going.

I was a bit disappointed by Half Blood Prince as I felt it had a whole "Place holder" book feel to it so I was kind of apprehensive about this one.

I thought it was a huge improvement. There was never any question that she was going to kill of Harry permanently, but you did start to wonder when he was going to his death how they were going to get around it - it was that well written.

Also, don't underestimate the amount of deaths of peripheral characters - for the good guys, I can name 7 straight away - at least one of them a child. I've read serial killer books that racked up lower body counts!!!!

Overall I was very impressed. Skid, it's hard to say if it's worth reading the series or not. If you're a hard core fantasy fan, you'll probably find it very derivative - but that can apply to just about anything these days. I would say read 2 and 3 - if you haven't got into it by then, you're not going to.

Morning everyone. Finished the book yesterday evening, in between cleaning, cooking and general weekend stuff. Dobbie's demise made me a bit tearful but I really thought she tied up all the loose ends extremely well. I even liked the epilogue.
Skids, I would say that you should read all of them, in order to see how her writing style and all the characters develop. Stick with them, they get better as they get darker!

Came down with a cold on Friday night and have never been happier as it meant that I was largely confined to bed / sofa all day Saturday. The postman arrived at 9.30 and I just read and read...thoroughly enjoyable way to spend the day (aside from the sneezing, etc.). A very worthwhile and satisfying finish, which put all the previous books into context -- even linking the Deluminator from the very first book to a higher purpose.

I thought I'd figured out the book of fairy tales Dumbledore left Hermione -- when she read out the titles I figured the objects being mentioned were probably the Hallows (although Babbity Rabbity had me lost). I really liked the curse on the Lestrange treasure.

Agree with MuseSusan -- the bit that made me tear up was Dumbledore's praise of Harry as a man, no longer a boy. Even liked the epilogue, but couldn't quite work out Percy's future -- does he do announcements over the King's Cross loudspeaker or was he a staff member directing students onto the train? Did Lavender Brown make it or did she die at the hands of Fenrir?

Having seen how much I enjoyed the series, my husband has finally admitted that he will get around to reading them. Now we just have to finish unpacking the boxes of books and see if we can find the first one.

Bought it at 11-30ish saturday and started reading it at 12, finished it at 8-30ish sunday, around going out saturday night, and cooking, cleaning, moving cats 'gifts' removing spider from sugar, pouring someone into bed.

Not to bad, better than some some of the others, thought Hagrid should of died in the crash and chase.

Liked the bit with Snapes' thoughts showed why Dumbledore trusted him so much.

I think the bit at the end is all about showing that Harry had forgiven Snape and even named his son after him.

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Blood! Death! War! Rumpy pumpy! Triumph!

It was very readable - I finished it in one six hour sitting with a short break for dinner. But while it was good to see it all being tied up, some things got to me.

Well, basically one big thing. The epilogue... sure it's good that the hero, after having so much crap in his life, gets a happy ending, but what about everyone else? The end just felt rushed... after the final battle, everything just seems to stop and then it's the epilogue. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of how the wizarding world returned to normality - the new Ministry of Magic, the new Hogwarts, how the Weasleys coped and how life was for them, where Teddy Tonks lived and basically what happened to more people than just Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Neville.

I don't know if it was just all of the hype surrounding it but it seemed to be a bit of a feeble ending to the entire series. Just another couple of chapters before and during the epilogue would have fixed it.

And was anyone else confused as to who Victoire was in the epilogue or did I just miss something? It was only when I read somewhere that she was Bill and Fleur's daughter that it made sense.

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Beware of the flying giraffes.

Yeah, now I've had time to think - how did George get on without Fred, did he still run the business or what? I've just read that bookmakers have cut the odds on another book from 16-1 to 9-1, perhaps thats why she with held the info. Second among Sequels, perhaps!

I thought she had stated pretty firmly that there would be no new book.

Read the book yesterday. I am a fan of HP's world, but not to any crazy extreme. There is so much more well-written fantasy out there. However, it is as Ffran said above a well-imagined world. Plus my son digs it. Part of the enjoyment has been watching my own growing son's reactions to the books as they have changed in tone.

That said, my impresssions...

I didn't buy Ron deserting Harry. Apparently hunger, boredom, lingering feelings of inadequacy (after winning the Quiddich Cup last time? C'mon!) and the occasional Horcrux around your neck are sufficient to break up a threesome that's been together since year one? Maybe I'll have to go back and read that bit again but it just seemed way too contrived a way to get Ron to use his inherited doohicky...and I agree with LQ they set up the tent and put up their protective spells WAY too many times.

That being my major criticism I also have to agree the epilogue was both too much and too little. If you are going to tell me what happened to Neville and to Lupin's kid, then you've got to give me a line or two about a heck of a lot more characters as well.

But all in all I enjoyed it very much. Liked the Snape bits, glad Dumbledore had some clay around his feet (although he pretty much kicked it all off at the end anyway), and I too was proud of Harry for going to meet his death so bravely.

Yeah Skids, you should read them.

It sounds as if I need to read all of them. Realistically, that is not going to happen. I was too bored with #2 to finish it and am not willing to read 3-7 unless they are dramatically different. If I can jump in at 5 I could probably do it. (As I have written before this is no criticism of JKR or the books: it is just that 1 & 2 or obviously aimed at a young teen (pre=teen?) market and I no longer have the patience to keep telling myself that when reading for enjoyment.)

I also abandoned Mortal Engines as a wonderful idea, well written for its market, but too obvious for my present tastes.

i am enjoying FAS and co-reading the Da-Dah- oh you know - The latest Robert Rankin, James May's latest collection and A Joe Lansdale dustbowl/Depression story, so while I would like to give HP another try, perhaps I am being too greedy?

Peace be on all your houses.

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

Well, I know I'm a die-hard harry Potter fan, I've been reading them since I was 12... right before the 4th book came out, so I'm a bit biased. I just finished it last night, and while I find that I wonder about things like whether George is now running a one-man shop, or whether Luna ever hooked up with Neville, or what the Malfoys did when they had to stop being evil, I find that to add all of that into the epilogue would have been a bit like the ending of those "based on a true story" movies, where the screen goes black and it says things like "John Wilkins went on to marry his high school sweetheart and earn the pulitzer prize. He still has a cat named Tufty." I think JKR has left all of those fanfictioneers something to work with. Perhaps not for that specific purpose, but the reader can work out their own endings.

All in all, after waiting for about 10 years for the end of this story to come, I was not disappointed. I was very rarely brought to tears, but that's merely because I'm not the type of person who cries in a movie or while reading a book. The parts of the book that didn't impress me were merely because I had predicted those things would happen. (I swear, I told my roommate "I have a bad feeling that she will kill off only one of the Weasley twins")

Skids, I would suggest that you read them. If you truly dislike the "school story" that is the majority of the first book, then that one would be the safest one to skip. While it doesn't have the depth of the rest of the series, it is a fun book, and short, so you could probably finish it over a weekend. Most people I know don't like the second one much, but I think it's pretty fun, if still on the lighter side of fiction. Books 3 and 4 are my favorites, and while Harry is shouty and moody and hormonal in book 5, reading the crap that he's put through in the previous book helps you to understand his frustration. Or perhaps reading it when you're 16 helps that. I can't be too sure. If 6 seemed a bit incomplete, it is probably because JKR said herself that 6 and 7 are pretty much one book, split into two volumes. I would at least read the summaries of books 3-5, and then read 6 before tackling 7. (Even though you may get more out of it to start from the very beginning)

And as far as the camping/tent propping/protective spell casting section of the book is concerned: Perhaps it went on a bit long, but I thought it made it clear that Harry was operating on his own without guidance from older, better wizards, and the friction between friends was a direct result. It also made the parts with action in them that were sprinkled throughout that time even more exciting, at least to me.

It is well written, though, to my mind. I loved every minute of it. While I'm not a complete fantasy nut, this book was a wonderful escape. I might have had to put the book down and go to a rehearsal, but I couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen next.

Okay, long post, sorry about that, but I haven't had much of a chance to talk to anyone about this book.

Tari you hit the nail on the head with the "...went on to marry" analogy. That's why I still can't figure out if I liked the epilogue or not.

Good point too about Harry operating on his own and the tension that would cause, but I am just having the hardest time believing Ron would leave him.

Oh yeah one other moment that really got to me - Luna's ceiling. Sniff!