DH thoughts

[terrie]

Things I didn't like:

* On this final book, more than any of them, we really see the restricted nature of JKR's chosen POV. Because we were stuck with Harry's view point, I found the middle chunk of the book to drag. There was all this really cool stuff going on, and we got... a tent in the middle of nowhere.

* BIG questions where raised, but we're never going to get the answers. Between the Snape/Lily stuff and Albus's sister, we got some serious barriers to Muggle/Wizard relationships. But nothing on how they might be addressed. The same with interspecies issues. Huge, fascinating topic, that went nowhere. Of course, some of that is the whole "adult reading a young adult's book." (I think it's safe to say that the series has left the realm of children's books).

* The Remus/Tonks story line. Felt very shoehorned in, and always a little... off in its characterization. And I felt like she killed Remus just so he could be part of the spirit crowd as Harry went into the Forest.

*The whole "I'm the master of the Elder wand" info dump. Okay, first, waaaay too much talking for the climactic moment. Second, um, huh? It made very little sense to me. I would have said, well, Albus was killed by his own arrogance, so no one controls the wand, making it just like any other. Of course, than Harry couldn't have used it to fix his own wand.

* See, see, James's Patronus was a stag, and Lily's was a DOE. It's all significant and meant to be.

Things I liked:

* All those little touches about the side characters. Dean's dad leaving. Neville's Gran. Slughorn fighting in his pajamas. Filch freaking out about students being out of bed. Neville fighting with plants. Trelawny chucking crystal balls at people. Lee's radio show. Snape asking Dumbledore if he wanted time to compose an epitaph. Molly's aunt. I could go on and on. There were tons of those little touches that were just amazing.

* How Harry used the Resurrection Stone. Asking if dying hurt. Very touching moment.

* Neville. Neville = love. How can you not like him? I want to read this story from his POV.

* The backstory on Dumbledore.

The Epilogue:

* This fell short of what it could have been. It answered some questions on "What happened next?" but not the questions I wanted answered. What did they do for a living? How was the Wizard world changed by what happened? What was JKR thinking when she chose those names?

* Everyone settles down and has kids. *sigh* JKR has a very... conventional view of happiness. Men do, women support, and the traditional family is the corner stone of society. This ties into answering the wrong questions. I also noticed we don't hear about Neville getting married/having kids. Apparently, professors have no life outside of school. Not a single one.

* Again, it was the little touches that I loved. Malfoy's going bald. James proclaiming that he couldn't give his professor love. Ron getting a driver's license.

What happened only in my head, but which I still believe did happen:

* I think Draco could have been one of several children, but his mother miscarried all the other times. This is why he's spoiled, and why his parents dote on him. Their fecundity is just on more reason Lucius Malfoy dislikes the Weasleys.

* Azkaban stays, but they get rid of the Dementors. Too dangerous. Lucius is sent there for the rest of his life, but his wife and son visit once a month.

* Draco's wife was underage at the final battle, but would have left even if allowed to stay. She wanted to find her family, because she was worried about them. Draco likes that she puts family first.

* Hermione does going into Magical Law. She eventually becomes Minister of Magic, in her 60s or so.

* After the kids are born, Ron becomes a stay at home dad.

* They couldn't put Umbridge in Azkaban, because then they'd have to put tons of people in there. So instead they demote her, and she spends the rest of her days as a mail room clerk.