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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ace32" data-source="post: 3655712" data-attributes="member: 391">*** This whole post is a <s>potential </s> spoiler ***Well, I just finished off my copy of the book. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. Once again, Rowling proves that she is quite capable of coming up with an extremely detailed world and complex characters - but she is utterly unable to make them likable. It seemed every single character had some sort of pressing flaw that made them whiny, emotional, and angst-ridden. I understand that the horcrux, the rising death toll, and other factors could explain these feelings - but were they even needed in the first place? After the distasteful moaning Harry and gang had in book 5, I would've been fine with a number of them getting the axe. Instead, we are given another round of Harry-Ron fighting, more pining about not knowing things, and entirely wasted chapters about camping and discussions about where horcruxes were that led nowhere. To add insult to injury, she then adds other characters to the list of shady and less than heroic types... including Dumbledore. As for the plot itself, one could tell that she was rushing to wrap up 6 books worth of storylines. I imagine some of these revelations could've been put into other books simply to save space for this one. Percy's return is noble, but rather short. Dobby appears for almost as many pages as it takes for Harry to dig his grave and hold his funeral. Snape's ultimate sacrifice is forced, short, and ultimately pointless - he serves as Dumbledore's post-it note. Remus and Tonks make a few brief appearances and then get offed to serve as some sort of parallel to Harry's parents - ironic, considering Harry attempted to spare little Teddy that fate earlier in the book. In fact, the constant reappearance of formerly important characters in throwaway roles did little to make the book feel alive. If anything, it emphasized just how many strange coincidences were necessary for the whole plot to occur.Then of course, there is the issue of Harry's survival as the 7th horcrux. Ok, I get that Harry needed to die for it to be destroyed... I suppose. But if it was so easy to just zap him, kill the Voldemort bit, and then let him wake up back - why did it need to be Voldy who did it? Either the two souls were one (meaning both should die) or they were not (meaning it could be seperated and destroyed somehow). To have Harry 'die', chill with Dumbledore a bit (in a dream, which was real, and apparently means Harry is strong with the force), and then return to heroicly 'disarm' Voldemort and ONCE AGAIN have him get attacked by his own magic seemed... rather pained. While I can understand that a bit of deus ex machina was necessary considering how powerful Rowling had made her villain (how could Voldy fly? did they ever address that?), this just seemed a bit much. At least give us the satisfaction of having Harry duel with Voldemort a bit before he was killed by accident for the upteenth time. Finally, the epilogue. Wow. That was the most pointless chapter I'd read in the whole book. For starters, it took a bit to realize who the hell all the children were - as all the names are tossed at you without any really description of their appearance or age. Then as other posters have mentioned, we are given a few brief teasers about the fate of a few characters, but the majority of the chapter is spent characterizing entirely new people who we will (theoretically, considering JKL's stance on future books) never meet again. No mention of what anybody is up to, who actually survived the final battle, and what happened to the government, the death eaters, or anybody else involved in the war. If she were leading into a new series of books, this would be a fitting conclusion. Considering she isn't, she just blew a load of worthless pages that could've been spent on actually concluding the characters' storyline.All in all, I did actually like the book. I just felt like it suffered a bit under its own weight. To be honest, I've prefered the movie portrayals of the characters and the simplified plotlines a bit more, if only because they actually make the story feel somewhat heroic.Edit: Struck the 'potential'</blockquote>

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