What did you think of Book 7?

[rainbowsparkle]

I'm not saying anything yet - gonna let someone else start lol, but I have lots of strong opinions which I shall give vent to as soon as there are enough people around here to hold a discussion with!!!!

[sazzra]

Still a bit early to discuss specifics methinks, but I was a bit disappointed - I thought it was quite predicatable and a bit of a cop out

[Poppy]

I really really loved it. I think it is as close to perfection as we could have hoped.

 

I do however have a few problems with it (how certain characters died for one, and who died for another and a few bits!) (We can say in here who died right????)

 

I loved all the Snape stuff thought it was brillant and of course loved all the Ron/Hermione stuff although I wished there had been more, we have waited 7 books for it! I wasn't too keen on the Dumbeldore stuff, I can understand why we needed it, but felt that book space could have been used up on characters that were still well alive. I missed McGonagall.

 

And I was very surprised by who killed Bellatrix, but think it should have been different circumstances!

 

And what did poor hedwig do to anyone?!!!

[Queen_Sindel]

I agree, it was a very strong book. I liked it much better than "Half Blood Prince" and as I said in the other thread, I think it's a fitting end. I didn't like the Epilogue, but I know I'll be in the minority there.

 

Lots of the Dumbledore stuff was what I personally missed in book 6.

 

One thing though: in the final fight scene - am I understanding something wrong or is there a mistake? In the final battle Slughorn is once fighting one of the Hogwarts defenders, and on the next page he's fighting against Voldemort's people?

Edited July 21, 2007 by Queen_Sindel

[Buffy_Angel]

Did Fenir kill LB or not I was slightly confused?

[Poppy]

I personally liked the epilogue, but I think it should have been longer. I would have preferred to known something about their lives except that they have children - their jobs, wheres Luna, who is headmaster at Hogwarts?? And Albus Severus, not Albus Sirius - very interesting!! I am hoping its James sirius! I personally would have liked an extra chapter, like 2 months after it had all happened and then 19 years. Rather than just skipping 19 years ahead.

 

Also would you say Victoire was Bill's daughter?

 

I think the Dumbledore stuff would have fitted well into HBP, but during DH I was like - can we see how Ginny is? Hows Neville? where is Luna? Please can we see what is happening elsewhere, why Harry is worrying about Dumbledore and moving his tent around!

 

I also have one criticism to make that Harry did not seem that bothered at all that is best friend was being tortured! during or after the event

 

Also one glaring error that REALLY bugged me was this Trace business. It was clearly stated in Chamber and all books since that the way they detect Harry doing underage magic is because he is the only wizard in the area. Hence why he got blamed for something Dobby did. They also say that its the parents responsibility to check on their young and make sure they are not doing magic. Where on earth did this Trace business come in? If thats the case then Ginny would certainly have got done for bewitching brooms when she was little etc etc etc.

Edited July 21, 2007 by Poppy

[sazzra]

I thought there were a few inconsistent bits - the Trace was indeed a 'huh?' moment, as was Neville having the sword at the end which was last seen in the hands of a Gringotts Goblin. I thought the end of the book wa a bit abrupt - you'd have thought with the people dying who did there would have been some sort of closure on that period before the 'Ninteen Years Later' (which I also didn't like ). I think it's a shame that people like Mr and Mrs Weasley just sort of vanished out of the story. I guess a second read might help

 

If thats the case then Ginny would certainly have got done for bewitching brooms when she was little etc etc etc.

Just remembered - in Snape's memory he tells Lily that witches and wizards who aren't trained (ie under 11 and not being schooled) don't get punished

[Queen_Sindel]

Did Fenir kill LB or not I was slightly confused?

 

It wasn't specifically said he killed her, and seeing her name wasn't mentioned among the dead, I think not. Colin Creevey was mentioned, so I'm rather sure Lavender would have been mentioned as well.

 

Also would you say Victoire was Bill's daughter?

 

Seein she's young James' cousin she must be the daughter of one of the other Weasley boys. Going from the name (sounds like something Fleur would come up with) I agree with you, she's probably Bill's daughter.

[Buffy_Angel]

I enjoyed the book alot.

 

Was very sad to see Hedwig, Dobby, Tonks and Lupin die!

 

I think we needed a more main character to die i.e Ron, Hermoine or Hagrid.

 

Loving McGonagal in this book!

 

I'm still not sure about the epilogue though...

Edited July 22, 2007 by Buffy_Angel

[freakie_frenchi]

i thought the book was amazing and total kicks ass!!! and now you guys can feel the big BUT coming on and i can to so here it goes.

 

BUT

 

i got so confused, it was a bit predictable when harry died and came back alive (scroll ove to see the words). i thought that when he was at the station (hope you guys no what i mean) why couldnt he see all of his family and friends (who had passed over), there was only the great dumbledore!!!

 

now some more nice things.....

 

i did a essay on really snape was evil or not i chose not and it looks like i was right. i thought so hard about all of what he had done and well he was awesome i even love the bit about him and lily!!! i was so tatally shocked!!! (snape is like my 3rd fav charactor)

 

and neville my boy neville.... wow he has come along way from being the scared little first year.... the proffesser, may i say wow. but theres one thing still bothering me.. what does harry, ron, hermione and ginny do in the future??? does george still carry on the joke shop??? is harry the godfather of ted, or did that wish die along with his parents??? so many questions and not so many anwers!!!

[Buffy_Angel]

I like that there were a few unanswered questions like that!

[RainbowDisney]

i thought the book was amazing and total kicks ass!!! and now you guys can feel the big BUT coming on and i can to so here it goes.

 

BUT

 

i got so confused, it was a bit predictable when harry died and came back alive (scroll ove to see the words). i thought that when he was at the station (hope you guys no what i mean) why couldnt he see all of his family and friends (who had passed over), there was only the great dumbledore!!!

 

now some more nice things.....

 

i did a essay on really snape was evil or not i chose not and it looks like i was right. i thought so hard about all of what he had done and well he was awesome i even love the bit about him and lily!!! i was so tatally shocked!!! (snape is like my 3rd fav charactor)

 

and neville my boy neville.... wow he has come along way from being the scared little first year.... the proffesser, may i say wow. but theres one thing still bothering me.. what does harry, ron, hermione and ginny do in the future??? does george still carry on the joke shop??? is harry the godfather of ted, or did that wish die along with his parents??? so many questions and not so many anwers!!!

 

yes Harry was Ted's godfather. He said so during the Epilogue when James saw him "snogging" the girl on platform 9 and 3 quarters. It was then mentioned that hopefully Ted would be on his way to literally being part of the family.

[pippinweasley]

I didn't think is was obvious when Harry died and came back at all. I thought it might just be some sort of thing before death, and then he'd go on as it were.

 

I was a little indifferent about the ending at first. I think it's because I'd prepared myself so readily for Harry's death that when he "died" I thought that was it and was ready to find out about everyone else. But now, thinking back, I'm pleased, I liked it. Harry deserves some happiness. I'm glad he got with Ginny and they had a family. The trio are still great friends. I like that it was unanswered what they do. I'd like to think Harrys a famous Quidditch player

 

I LOVE that Neville came through on his own. I love that he's a professor now. I'm thrilled he didn't die.

 

Dobby was the most emotional thing that happened. I think because of how hard it hit Harry, it hit me too, the way he dug the grave himself, everything, it was so powerful. I love Dobby, he did so much for them.

 

It was strange reading it. Because all previous 6 books have had the dursley-hogwarts-dursley routine and that wasn't here. I knew I was reading about Harry, Ron, Hermione etc but it felt so different, worlds apart from the other books.

 

But I loved it. I really did. I've already started reading it again. It's so hard to think we'll never get another tale of Mr Potter!

[rainbowsparkle]

Wow! It's great to see what everyone else thought of the book. After reading it twice I think I can say I like it better second time around. First time around, I thought there were bits and events that were, quite literally, overkill and it really cheesed me off! One particular death had me swearing never to touch another JKR book ever again, I was so angry!

 

I liked the ending (before the epilogue) though - it was what I wanted, although I didn't really want to spend two hours crying my eyes out lol. Not sure about the epilogue itself, not enough info for me. I wanted to know about jobs and other characters too. Maybe JK will do an interview and someone will ask her what they ended up doing as careers.

 

I also thought JK did a pretty good job with the exposition stuff cos there was loads of it and because she used different methods like newspaper articles and book extracts and the pensieve, it was prevented from becoming really boring.

 

I'd also love to know which death it was that JK had written that caused her to "howl" as she told Jonathan Ross. I hope it's the one that I think deserved that reaction most, that's all I can say!!!

[C.Parkers-Girl]

The dobby bit upset me most was so sad!

 

What happened to the Malfoy's? we know draco got married but thats it.

What about all the death eaters?

Did Mad Eye's body ever get found? We know his eye turned up but...

 

I think a little book should be released for comic relief "between the end and 19 years later" just to clear a few more little things up. I got confused alot and had to go back and re-read bits. It did seem to end really suddenly too, there was no 'after war' bit as such.

 

Twas fantastic but a bit of an anti-climax i think.,..and the deaths bugged me! we should have had more info on Tonks n lupin...that could have been a really sad parragrah had it been included. I was expecting a more 'major' character to die...oh well

 

will have to read it again x

[rainbowsparkle]

Personally, I think she should re-write the ending to make it so one particular character didn't die!! It's now Monday and I'm still so p*ssed off I burst into tears every time I think about it. It's just so WRONG!!! Right now I feel as if it's ruined the whole series for me, let alone the book

 

See, I was being restrained in my previous post but I can't keep it in any more! And yes, I know I'm a wuss....

 

I like the idea of finding out what happened in the intervening years though.

[ptenbob]

On the whole, I really enjoyed it, but with a few exceptions...

 

I think that Mad Eye went out too weakly - but I can completely understand how the death of an extremely strong member of the order was necessary to set the right tone.

 

I'm glad that Dumbledore was in it, the King's Cross chapter was one of my favourites, and the few pages afterwards where Harry realised what fate had in store for him, and walked towards it... I'd definately got a lump in my throat... There were too many pages left however, so I knew it couldn't be all bad!

 

For me, the absolute hero of the battle was Neville - to rise up again when all seemed lost was a truly heroic action.

 

I think that a few of the parts were a little too.... Deus Ex Machina? Particularly with the diadem being in the Room of Requirement all along - that was too conveniant for my liking!

 

McGonagall was terrific, and I loved that she never questioned Harry again when he said he was working on Dumbledore's orders.

 

I think we may very well see the battle from other perspectives at some point, there was so much left untold about it that I can very well see another student taking up the helm, maybe a book about someone who just happened to be there at that time (ala Star Wars: Tales from the Cantina)

 

I thought that the epilogue, though nicely written, was *definately* weak, with way too much left untold - but one thing that did stand out was the "curt nod" that Draco gave Harry... My guess is that he'll never get over having to rely on him

 

 

Overall, I liked it.

[Cazzie15]

I agree that the epilogue was a bit of a downer for me as well, and i think its that which is making me dislike the boo kat the moment, but once i read it again it will be fine. Its the fact that i expected so much from that epilogue, so much nmore detail about the weasleys and hogwarts, and the ministry. we were told nothing about the death eaters beign rounded up - their punishments etc. is azkaban still being run by the dementors, because personally after one mistake are they likely to make it again?

 

i think it might be that the epilogue was written so many years ago, and perhaps JK didnt change it much that it is a little bit of an abnticlimax - her writing has changed so much since then and that chapter just really didnt do it for me as completely as i would have liked. however i do love the bits abiout the children. i love the fact that we see that harry can now be happy and that he has completely forgiven snape, now understanding what he was going through. and like someone said above i hope his son is james sirius.

 

neville - i love him so much - his bravery and never losing hope in harry despite the awful things happening at hogwarts. the fact that he could run the rule of requirement and make it do his bidding shows how much understanding of magic neville really does have. however if neville is the herbology teacher what happened to sprout? i presume shes retired rather than being killed.

 

and the malfioys? i like the fact that we see draco (scorpios though? seriously? oh and who is his wife? did pansy make it?) with his family and that he shows some respect to harry etc. but shouldnt he have had some punishment as a death eater? or maybe it was just his fmaily, or did nothing happen to them at all?

 

its that big gap at the end that really has ruined it for me,. i loved the rest though and once i reread it i think it will be ok.

 

oh and hedwig dying? so incredibly harsh, and then dobby bless him saving them all and nearly making it.

 

i was shocked by the langauge in this book, mrs weasleys last words being one of them. i thought that would be nevilles fight though, aklthough it shows mrs weasley is not just worried about her family, she is prepared to throw herself into the war and fight for them.

 

 

i would also like to know what they did with voldemorts body, because i think that would be incredibly interesting. whether they gave him a proper burial, burnt him or whatever - it would show how much harry had grown above him to treat him well in death despite what hed done - not stooping to his level as it were.

 

i hope JK will answer all this questions at some point, ill be more satisfied if she does

[Arkham]

Still reading, hence why I moved to the end of this string so not to be spoiled...So far, so good..

[Dum dumdum Dum]

Will have to read it again but my first comment is that it was a bit of a let down. Really don't like the epilogue and when I re read it I will probably not read that bit again.

 

After all the hints about people dying in fact nothing major was made of any of the deaths!

 

I don't so much want more information about what happens long term but I would like to know what happens right after...... just sorta feel like everything stopped and I've come away without anything.

 

Strange.

[Cazzie15]

if youre still reading why are you on the net lol?! i did nothing all day when i read, literally was eat and read all day. couldnt bear to have it spoilt for me.

 

anyway ive thoguht of some new thigns i want to add.

 

firstly im glad we found out how the bloody baron become so bloody, i have always wondered sicne he was first mentioned and im glad it had some point to the story. also the tiara being ravenclaws, didnt see that one coming until ti was first mentioned and then had to rush off to hbp to reread that bit to check if thats what it was - rereading that bit it seems obvious that its JK making a fuss of something that wasnt incredibly relevant at the time and yet seemed important so he could find the book again. its one of those JK hidden bits of information that she puits in so well.

 

also speaking of voldemorts body, i presume snape was given a good funeral, perhaps next to dumbledore.

 

i also just want to comment on hermione weasley and ginny potter. for some reason the change of surnames amuses me because when i think of the weasleys i certainly dont think of anyone like hermione.

 

i wonder if hemrione ever took the spell off of her parents

 

i also want to aks perople if we can presume the peverells married itno the slytherin line fo descendents? because JK said voldemort was the last of that line and yet if the peverells were of slytherin descent so would harry.

 

i also want to know why harrys children dont know why hes famous - why everyone stares at him. surely james would know even if he hadnt been told by his parents, havign been at school for a year already. id have thought that the children could not escape knowign about harry and voldemorts defeat - you would think harry would continually be recognised and mentioned throughtout the wizarding world.

 

the kings cross part - does anyone think that it is perhaps the part before detah, the opart where you can choose to continue on or go back as a ghost, and just takes the form of whatever suits the person dying?

 

thats what i thoguth it was but because harry is different he can go back not as a ghost but as himself through the connection with voldemort. a sort of purgatory i suppose i mean. nick spoke of being able to choose, perhaps this is where you choose.

 

i did love what happened with kreacher in the book, that is one of my favourite thigns, the fact that finally harry understands why kreacher is as he is, and that he really does just desire what he did when he was young, a little love and attention. i think after the elves join the battle it is safe to sday that elves may gain new rights in the future, perhaps something hermione fights for in the future.

 

speaking of harrys youth the dursleys are hardly mentioned, i wish there had been more about them. JK said we would find out what Dudley saw with the dementors and i can only assume it is soemthign to do with harry, perhaos his guilt for treating him badly and that is why he tries to take care of him by keeping an eye on him.

 

in fact we werent told a lot fo thigns JK said we would be, like James and Lily's occupations, who would develop magic late in life and i think at one point she said the teachers do have spouses and we will find out mroe about them/ why they a re relevant, ive forgotten the exact wording.

 

it may just be that when the time came for these they got cut out but id really like to know the details anyway, as well as the 2 other titles she considered for the book.

 

 

 

Will have to read it again but my first comment is that it was a bit of a let down. Really don't like the epilogue and when I re read it I will probably not read that bit again.

 

After all the hints about people dying in fact nothing major was made of any of the deaths!

 

I don't so much want more information about what happens long term but I would like to know what happens right after...... just sorta feel like everything stopped and I've come away without anything.

 

Strange.

 

i agree although deaths happened they didnt really hit me hard, dobby and hedwig, lupin and tonks were the ones that got me most.

 

in fact the thing that really amde me cry was when harry had the resurrection stone and saw his mom dad sirius and lupin, that was the part that really got me. when ahrry asked does it hurt, it really just shows how young he is, how hes about to give up so much and is askign his aprents for reassurance.

 

its that big gaop isnt it, thats the part that has really thrown me. i thnik perhaps JK may not realise tis such a problem because she will have already decided what becomes of them all, but we dont, so it may not seem relevant to her but it is to us.

[sazzra]

I just htought of two more things that made me go 'Hmmmm...'

 

In the King's Cross scene (I think ) Harry is thinking about Dudley Dursley's blonde hair.

 

Neville has the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, yet it's last seen disappearing out of Gringotts in the hands of a Goblin.

 

And in the run up to this book, didn't JK say that the reason everyone said Harry's eyes were like his mother's would become clear? Only thing that was different was that Snape fancied her!

[Cazzie15]

I just htought of two more things that made me go 'Hmmmm...'

 

In the King's Cross scene (I think ) Harry is thinking about Dudley Dursley's blonde hair.

 

Neville has the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, yet it's last seen disappearing out of Gringotts in the hands of a Goblin.

 

And in the run up to this book, didn't JK say that the reason everyone said Harry's eyes were like his mother's would become clear? Only thing that was different was that Snape fancied her!

 

i think the eyes were significant because they were always there to remind snape why he was doing what he was - everytime he saw harry he saw lily looking back at him, and reminded him of his love for her. id like to know if lily jknew he loved her though.

 

also i think the sorting hat was made by godric gryffindor, and the sword was his so they were perhaps magically connected. i think the sword came to those more in need. ppoor griphook is probabyl just missing his sword and hating wizards more than ever. perhaps harry got the sword back to him if he felt griphook deserved it - doubtful but possible.

 

when was harry thinking about blonde hair? i dont remember that bit

[sazzra]

I just htought of two more things that made me go 'Hmmmm...'

 

In the King's Cross scene (I think ) Harry is thinking about Dudley Dursley's blonde hair.

 

Neville has the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, yet it's last seen disappearing out of Gringotts in the hands of a Goblin.

 

And in the run up to this book, didn't JK say that the reason everyone said Harry's eyes were like his mother's would become clear? Only thing that was different was that Snape fancied her!

 

i think the eyes were significant because they were always there to remind snape why he was doing what he was - everytime he saw harry he saw lily looking back at him, and reminded him of his love for her. id like to know if lily jknew he loved her though.

 

also i think the sorting hat was made by godric gryffindor, and the sword was his so they were perhaps magically connected. i think the sword came to those more in need. ppoor griphook is probabyl just missing his sword and hating wizards more than ever. perhaps harry got the sword back to him if he felt griphook deserved it - doubtful but possible.

 

when was harry thinking about blonde hair? i dont remember that bit

 

Of course, now I look I can't find the blonde reference!

 

I get the eyes and Snape, but why would Lupin, Sirius and all the others go on about them? I thought there was going to be something far more complex! And that's a huge plot hole with the sword - if it could get to the hat/a Gryffindor in time of need, why not just nick the hat and say you needed it? Save all the hassle in Gringotts

 

Bahh...I have to start rereading it tonight to plug some gaps!

[ptenbob]

I may be talking out of my... hat here, but didn't the sword come out of the sorting hat in the first place?

 

What's to say that it didn't do that again?