*sigh* I just finished (*mutters* other things in life interfering...hmp). And...well, what can I say? I loved it!
I almost cried at Dobby's death. I think that his was the one that affected me the most. Hedwig...her death seemed like kind of a non-event, though sad. Remus and Tonks, Fred, Colin Creevy and Snape...all very sad. Snape especially.
I like that he was good after all. I wanted him to be (this seems to be partially because of what was revealed about his character and partially because Alan Rickman plays him in the movies...
).
I agree with those who have said that Harry was incredibly more emotionally mature in this book. I loved the scene with Dumbledore (in Harry's mind...?) and the scene afterwards with Harry pretending to be dead and then shooting off curses from behind his invisibility cloak. Nice. I also liked the twist with Harry explaining calmly to Voldemort that the elder wand had belonged to Draco and that since he had disarmed him, it now belonged to him. That's one thing I wouldn't have guessed. I was a little confused after Harry woke up from talking to Dumbledore - I still thought that he was perhaps going to die, but wasn't quite sure.
*sigh* I even liked the epilogue - looks like I'm one of the only ones who did. It just made me feel all warm and fuzzy, and I liked that. A little shipping romance never hurt anybody, though I agree that it could have been written better, as the rest of the book was. JK should have gone back and edited a little... As others have said, writing styles do change a lot as the years go by.
I don't know about anybody else, but I quite liked that Draco and his parents were all alive and redeemed somewhat - love for your family is obviously more important than serving your Dark Lord. From the epilogue, Draco still doesn't think much of Harry nineteen years later, but he at least acknowledges him and not rudely either. I wonder what exactly happened to him and his family after the party at Hogwarts to celebrate Voldemort's death broke up? Were there people who wanted to kill them lining up to try and do so before someone stopped them? Hmm... Perhaps fanfic will emerge about it.
Anyway, great book.
Loved it. Even the epilogue.
~Anna.
