Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

The book has been out for more than 24 hours, and I just finished it, so I figured I'd open a thread to discuss it? Thoughts? Opinions?

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I don't read them, but aren't there 700+ pages in that book? How exactly did you finish it in under a day?

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Call me a geek/nerd what you will but: 1

) I'm usually up until 4/5am anyway (result of being a college student/working at a movie theatre). I stopped off at my 24 hour CVS on my way home from work last night at midnight (no line there since no one thought to go there) and instead of watching tv last night, I sat down and read the book until I fell asleep, and then I finished it off today on my break at work. So 5 hours before sleep+2 hours before work+half hour break+2 hours after work at a pace of 70ish pages an hour and I got it done.

2) Once I get into a good book I really start humming along and don't really don't notice how long I'm reading until my back starts to hurt.


I'm sure I'm not the only one registered to the forums that have it done already.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

The ending was pretty bad. Everything before the epilogue was good though. I had a feeling Harry himself was a horcrux.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I thought it was a decent end to the series, it nicely wraps things up. However I found that sometimes the text/plot seemed to move along in a confusing manner. Mind you, the plot of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish would probably seem to advance strangely if you're reading it after 3:00AM. A piece of advice for anyone about to read it: don't read it in one night.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

And if you feel the need to, make sure you take a break. Reading for 15 hours in a row isn't good. So do something else for a couple hours inbetween....the book won't go anywhere.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I think it was a good end to a great series. At least it gave me something to do over a span of one day =/. Now to figure out what to do for the rest of my summer.....:] Overall, it was a sigh of relief after reading the crap in the 5th and the 6th. But they were both great examples of amazing storytelling also.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Well I haven't passed judgment yet, and I have to say....the first 50 or so pages were insane for me. I thought they had killed off half of the main characters in the first 4 chapters, but obviously that didn't happen.

The first half was rather slow, but the second half really picked up A LOT. All in all probably my favorite in the series. The final battle was intense and personally I can't wait for it to be brought to life on screen (hopefully they won't ruin it too badly)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Harry Potter is pretty easy reading. It flows very well and before you know it, you're flying right through. I've read all of them in under a day (individually) , and from The Prisoner of Azkaban on I read them in their entirety the day I got my hands on them. I finished this one in a little under 6 hours, but in hindsight, I probably should've been rereading some sections.


[SPOILERS AHEAD]
(I tried to vague so if you just glance at it, nothing will be revealed)









I'm glad I read it, but it was a big departure from the rest of the series. Without Hogwarts to hold the plot together, it didn't seem to flow as nicely as the earlier books did. I also wish their had been more hinting at the Deathly Hallows earlier in the series, as halfway though the final book of a seven book series seems pretty late to introduce such a big part of the plot. I'm not sure if the back story on Dumbledore needed to be so depressing either. Also, I didn't like the identity of the final Horcrux. It seems a little bit absurd to me, as making a Horcrux is mentioned to be very difficult that it could happen accidentally. However, with the circumstances it happened with are pretty unique, so I guess I'm okay with it.

EDIT:

I'm in agreement with George in that the final battle was written to be an excellent movie sequence.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I agree with you on that one. While I'm not pleased with the identity of the final Horcrux, in hindsight it does make sense as a way to bring the story to its conclusion (which I'm ok with, I'm even ok with the epilogue)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

[SPOILER]

It was definitely my favorite of the series, even though I was scared to finish it until my friend called me a coward (I really didn't want to see him die). With the quotes in the front and all of the people getting hurt in just the beginning... it was intense and VERY well written. Even though the epilogue was a bit dry, I loved the way she ended it: didn't kill Harry but left no loose ends for others to continue his story. I'm still really sad the series had to end. Harry's taken me through the end of elementary school, middle school and most of high school, what do I read next year?!?!

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

... The FIRST book? :)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I thought it was a great book.

My only problem was that there was no HUGE secret revealed in it. The biggest secrets were the deathly hallows, Snape, and Dumbledore's past. While these were good secrets and surprised me (especially Snape), they just didn't have the humongousness that the horcuxes and the prophecy had in books 5 and 6. Also, I don't know why Rowling decided to kill off Hedwig. It didn't matter much to the story. Other than those complaints, however, I thought it had a great feel to it with many exciting fights.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I think she killed off Hedwig, because like it said in the book (and I'm paraphrasing) Hedwig was the only thing that really bridged the two worlds for Harry, so killing Hedwig off she was killing off a part of Harry....or that's what I think.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Overall, I liked the book. I agree that it was weird to read a Harry Potter book without him at Hogwarts; I am glad that the final battle was at the school as to bring back all the Hogwarts characters from the last 6 books. As corny as the epilogue may have been, I thought it was an appropriate way to wrap everything up for good, both in the story and in our world. Honestly, I was also very surprised with who Rowling killed off in this book, I was anticipating a much different outcome.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Can any of you confirm that this is true or false?

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Definitely false. But does anyone know where the entire book was supposedly leaked? I'd like to see if the leak was actually the real story...

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I liked most of the book, but having stayed up to 3 AM to read it, I had to reread some of it for it to make sense. I've known for years that if Harry didn't die, it would end the way it did in the epilouge. However, I would have liked it if more was told in the epilouge-what happens to some characters (Luna, the Weasleys, and the Dursleys come to mind), who the new Minister of Magic and the Hogwarts Headmaster are.

I also didn't like how Krum just came and left without any aparent purpose.

I think that her not ending the book with the word 'scar' is proof that she is planning to write more Harry Potter books.

Side note: Anyone else notice that the events in this book (other than the epilouge) take place in 1997 when, I believe, is when the first book was published.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

The inside of the jacket says something to the effect of "Here is the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series" ;)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Rowling is done with these characters. She first thought of them and began crafting the Harry Potter universe around sixteen years ago. I'd be ready for a little R&R if you ask me.

But I don't think this will be the last Harry Potter book to come out. J.K. has said herself that she has books and books full of back story and history created for the purpose of accuracy in her books. These will no doubt be released at some point in a gigantic book of some kind, and will be quite interesting. Maybe there will be an alternate ending of some kind :)


And now, my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

I thought the book started off extremely well, jumping right into the action of Harry saying goodbye to the Dursley's once and for all. The loss of Mad-eye and Hedwig within the first hundred pages told me that this book was going to bring the loss of many of the characters we've all come to know so well. For a while, it seemed to turn into Harry Potter and Fun with Camping! That was probably the one lesser interesting parts of the book, but then we go right back into the action with their capture and interrogation at the Malfoy's. Poor Dobby :( The Hallows vs. Horcruxes idea came out of nowhere, but I liked it. Supreme power vs. a sure-fire way to defeat Voldemort once and for all, which in the end were ultimately tied together.

Dumbledore was shown in a very different light, but I liked this as well. Dumbledore's portrayal changed from a righteous invincible wizard to someone with just as many flaws as everyone else. I'm glad Harry had that one last conversation with him, even if it was all in his head.

Harry being a Horcrux did not surprise me at all. I was betting that Harry was going to have to die / remove the horcrux from inside of him somehow, and sure enough, I was right. Still great how it happened though.

The loss of all of the others - Lupin, Tonks, and FRED :( Why Fred? That was sad...

I really feel that the book could have used one more chapter in between the final one and the epilogue; one set a few months, or even a year, after the Battle of Hogwarts that showed how the remaining characters were doing.

All in all, a great end to a great series. This is like my generation's Star Wars... except in book form. I grew up with Harry and now it's time to move on :]

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I couldn't believe the ending. I never saw thought that Butter Beer was people.

Actually, I did enjoy the book. I've enjoyed the entire Harry Potter series over the last 10 years. I even dressed up as him before the books came out in the US. I thought it ended quite nicely though to such a long adventure.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I have pretty much a final thought on the Harry Potter posts on my part -
When I was standing in line with Cynette on Friday night, a mom and her young son were behind us. We started talking about the HP phenomenon for this generation. I'm thinking the students who started with the first book around age 8 and are now finishing the final book of the series.

The mom says that it is over now. Never again will it be the same. Each book came out with its story and then there was the wait for the next book while it was being written. It was a childhood growing into young adults of one book at a time, waiting as the adventure has unfolded.

From now on, a young person can have all 7 books at his or her disposal. The patience, the wait, the anticipation that traveled through almost an entire childhood is ended.

Those of us who were adults, journeyed through the adventure as well. I was lucky enough to have read alouds with my children. I would read, they would read all through the first 5 books. Then life got busy with the 6th and nuts with the 7th. But the read alouds were a total blast. And the discussions. It's been a magical time.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I'm going to have to reiterate what Jane said. With each new book that came out, we would read it and reread it, and discuss it with friends about what it all meant. Then we would wait 3 years or so for the next one to come out and lavish in the anticipation.

After I finished reading the 7th book I was torn. Part of me was happy with the way it turned out, the other part of me realized that this was it. There would be no more guessing, or anticipation, and the characters I had grown up with over the last decade have finished their story. It's kind of a weird feeling actually.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I stayed up all night to get it and read it in 4/5 hours. Didn't skip a single page.

SPOILER
I'm sad that one of the twins died, they were my favorite... Just imagine what the other one is going to do now? They were always together, it must have been like losing his other half...

Also, sucks to have been Tonks/Remus's kid. Neville all over again.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

SPOILER

I was very happy with the book, sure I would have like to have another 759 pages but who didn't?. The book started off fast and I really enjoyed that. I knew before I started the book that many people were going to die in the book as a way of making the war seem more real. I wish there was more back story on the Hallows. I knew that Snape wasn't going to be evil in the end I can't explain why but it was a feeling. I also wish that there was more on the post battle life, the rebuilding and funerals of the fallen, how Harry was treated.

I do have a question though, when Harry was walking into the Forrest to die and he used the stone, his parents and everyone showed up as ghosts except Mad-eye, dose that mean that he didn't die?

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Yes, the entire book was leaked. Due to legality of this I will not post my sources but I have seen it and it does exist.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Actually only his parents, Lupin, and Sirius came back. There were several others who didn't show up (Fred, Tonks, and Dobby for example). My guess is that only those who were closest to him showed up.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

3 things.


1. Why did Fred have to die? I loved the twins' wit and humor. then again there won't really be a next book so it's not that big of a loss. But still, unnecessary; i didn't want a twin to be killed off. lol

2. I loved Snape's story. It answered a lot of questions and made things more interesting.

3. I was going to post that there wasn't much backstory on the hallows and that it should've been hinted at least a little bit in the earlier books, but then again, isn't that the way all of the books are? Every book is introducing (and not to mention titled) a new major aspect of the entire series, so I'm not incredibly surprised that the Hallows weren't mentioned in the previous books.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I noticed that too, raymaniac. I had to do a double-check on Harry's parents' graves, which say 1981.

I really liked the book, to be honest. I agree with most of you, I feel somewhat empty now. I started reading these books when I was about 10 years old. I'm 18 now, and I've waited so long for these books. Now that I'm through the last one, it feels very strange. I've always had fun talking with my friends about the books, anticipating the next one and wondering what would happen. Now all I have to anticipate is the movies. I just hope they don't murder these last two.

SPOILER:

I did not, however, like the Epilogue at all. I was disappointed at how brief it was. It didn't explain much about anyone else. It did make me excited to know how Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, Neville and Draco turned out, but other characters I wondered about too. I really had hoped that JK Rowling would put out an After Hogwarts book, explaining where exactly everyone ended up.

That's just my opinion. :)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Complete Spoilers)
 

Warning - complete spoiler

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

If what Gary said is accurate (and I see no reason It wouldn't be) then J.K. definitely should've put that in the epilogue. I don't know if it's just me but the epilogue seemed so devoid of detail compared to the rest of the book. Kind of like it was an afterthought that she just threw in there. Granted, I did like how things turned out, but some more explanations would've been nice.

Also I would've liked an extra chapter between the final one and the epilogue. Set 6 months or so in the future, showing how people reacted and whatnot, but that's just me.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

This is the article that talks about what Gary has referred to. Rowling did an interview that was broken into a series of articles that readers can access.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/

My thinking is that Ms. Rowling never disappoints. She is clearly aware of the characters' loyal following as well as her own. To have written this series of books over time and to make the decision to conclude this series with a 7th book during the story's development is admirable. She worked with a plan and with time management. She met her deadlines. She achieved her goals as a writer, allowing the story to unfold and the characters to develop - sometimes guiding her in making a decision concerning a character's fate.

Many of the readers of this series have become very attached to the story and to the characters. We would like more information. My opinion again, is that Rowling never disappoints. It is always good to leave the reader/audience wanting more. She has done that. I look forward to an Encyclopedia and to her future writings, whether they include the wizarding world or not.

This is a writer who has given a lot of thought to war, orphans, hardship, loyalty, wisdom, and the awesomeness of young people/teenagers. Very cool.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

If you look back in book 6, when Snape killed Dumbledore, Dumbledore was pleading with Snape, but never "don't kill me". (thought i'd point that out)

Also, I wanted to know if a Dementor could destroy a Horcrux. What would happen if a Dementor kissed a Horcrux...

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

That's actually a really good question....if a dementor gave Harry a big ol smooch, which soul would he suck out?

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

i dont know how many of you guys caught this on digg, but:

http://digg.com/movies/JK_Rowling_an...tter_questions

it's a real pain to read because it's so much text, but it's Rowling answering MANY questions from "What child did harry give the marauders map to if any"
to "Is auntie muriels tiara important". Some questions aren't as interesting, but some actually make you go, "heh i think i should look for that in the book"

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Nica - thanks for the link. :)


Koen Van Der Voort: Why is the scar on harrys forehead lightning shaped
J.K. Rowling: To be honest, because it's a cool shape. I couldn't have my hero sport a doughnut-shaped scar.

- now that's just funny

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I just finished the book last night... outstanding. I had to wait before 2 people in my family finished it, and they didn't tell me anything. Now, I'll give them the scoop on this Digg article. Thanks!

AB

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I want to read this article so badly but I haven’t finished the book yet. I've already been cheating and listening to the book on CD because my drive to work is rather long and I don’t want to make it worse by ruining the ending. I’m only about 1/3 of the way done and I’m really excited to see what happens!!

court

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Finished the book a few days ago - have had time to think about it.

I enjoyed the book but was apprehensive throughout it, as I wasn't looking forward to reading about any of my favorites dying off. I glad to say they weren't.

I loved the way JK showed that Dumbledore wasn't faultless and Snape wasn't totally evil - they had issues but learned how to deal with them - great lesson there.

I almost wish she hadn't included the epilogue. Not knowing whom ends up with whom, leads to fun speculation about it if we hadn't been told.

JK was interesting to listen to on the TV inteview with Merideth Viera and a small group of wide eyed kids, shown last weekend.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

With the first thought regarding Dumbledore pleading, I suspected that he was very ill, critically ill - and wondered about that special time of communication with Snape. It was fun to see the small bumper stickers at B&N that showed the 2 sides of Snape, trust or don't - I chose a trust but ended up giving it away, haha.

On the second thought, I definitely agree with George - what a great question.
So I've been thinking about it.

The dementors suck souls, that is their sole purpose - besides adding the creep effect.
Voldemort purposefully divided his soul, splitting it into pieces and embedding the pieces, creating horcruxes -

Dementors = evil, bent on destroying immortality - the immortal soul.
Voldemort = evil, seeking physical immortality, splitting the soul, disregarding the immortal aspect of the soul in some way, i.e., using his soul as he used everything else - to gain power.

If the dementors succeeded in sucking the piece of the soul, what would be the consequence of that? One less horcrux but what of the power of the dementors?

Or - would it be like the wands and repel? In this instance, evil to evil?
Or - is that the loyalty of evil - dementor to Voldemort.

And, as usual, I'm thinking too much. :)

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

Dementors wouldn't just going around kissing horcrux just to kiss them -especially people that didn't even know they were one (like Harry) - so, if they were able to kiss Harry, the dementors would have been in for a big surprise too!!

Until Harry learned he was a horcrux, he or others fought off the dementors by calling on his patronise. I expect he or others would have continued to ward off the dementors that way unless they weren't able to.

Still - its an interesting question if they were somehow able to occur without either the dementors or Harry knowing he was one.


I doubt old "he whom shall not be named" would have taken too kindly to any dementors that attacked him - even if it was unknowingly.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

i read it in one day too and i loved it. its one of my favorite series. i was also upset there were no huge secrets at all. i had a feeling that harry was a horux but then i wondered why voldermort wanted to kill him wouldnt that be like killing a part of him self.

Re: Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Possible Spoilers)
 

I'm thinking that Voldemort didn't realize that he had created a horcrux with Harry. It was accidental. I always thought about Harry being able to see through the eyes of the snake and to feel Voldemort so closely - even though it caused so much pain and anguish (who would want to endure that?) - was something that was similar to the transfer of a part of Lily to Voldemort through the blood. I think you are right, if he had succeeded in 'destroying' Harry, then he would have destroyed that horcrux, that piece of himself. It is a lot to think about. :)