Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - initial thoughts

[mamadeb]

My, that was a bloodbath, wasn't it? It's not who died, it's who *didn't* die.

Hedwig (which was the biggest shock), Moody, Wormtail, Dobby, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Snape, Bellatrix (go Molly!), Harry (even if he got better), Vodemort, plus at least fifty more people at Hogwarts, many Muggles and a fair amount of Death-Eaters and a goblin or two. I'm sure I've missed a few more, too.

On the other hand - Neville! And Snape was vindicated - I knew he was working for Dumbledore, and I knew Dumbledore had required him to kill him, and okay, I think that doing it for love of Lily is...well - it's not a bad motivator, actually. And he didn't like that Dumbledore was grooming Harry to die, either. Good for Snape! I'm glad Harry remembered hm.

And Percy wised up (even if he wasn't the spy I wanted him to be) and Draco may have reformed (I hope so). And there were so many things I saw in fan fiction. And Harry *was* a Horcrux, as I've been saying all along.

That I was wrong and Ron lived? I can so live with that.

And then there's Dumbledore. She made him human - not perfect at all. Although - I'd think being Headmaster to the only wizardry school in Great Britain would be more powerful than being Minister, so I can't see that he actually shyed away from it. But I like that he was human and made mistakes.

And I really liked that Aberforth said what he said - yeah, this job is too big for Harry. Except that Harry grows with the job. And he did with this one.

As for the epilogue - well, things are sort of tied up, and right now I can't think of what can be done with that. However, there's what went on at Hogwarts without the Trio, and there's the time afterwards, because all we know is that people got married and had kids. We don't know anything else, other than Neville is teaching there. And Harry, who should be, isn't.

We can also play with those two months of Dumbledore and Grindalwald, or Doge and Dumbledore, if we so choose. She didn't kill fanfic.

And there are always AUs. :)

I'm not as reluctant to reread this one as I was HBP, I'll say that.

I did think that the Nazi imagery (Magic is Might! Rounding up Muggleborns! Questioning heritage! And that awful statue) was very heavy handed, but Rowling does that, and one does have to remember her audience.

Comments

[tod-hollykim.livejournal.com]

Hokay, first I haven't gotten my copy yet, but I'm reading the spoilers anyway.

Yes! I am so glad I was right about Snape!

OH, gods, am I going to pounce on that UPS man when he gets here Wednesday!