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st_aurafinaAnd clearly seven hours of reading has broken me brain pan, because I'm talking like a pirate. Ye scurvy dogs.
Neville is my hero. Neville, Neville, Neville! Every time we meet him, he shines.
I liked the trio roaming all over the country looking for Horcruxes. It was desperate, and there was a great claustrophobic tension between the three of them.
I loved that we got to see so many new places - the Ravenclaw common room (loved the eagle doorknocker!), Godric's Hollow (the pop-up sign with the graffiti made me cry), Shell Cottage, the Lovegoods, upstairs in the Hogshead.
The Dumbledore family drama! So good to know more about Albus and Aberforth. The confrontation at the end, the nasty, cloying friendship between Albus and Grindlewald, the way that the facts were twisted round and round with different interpretations - all awesome.
So much magic! JKR's magic system is so well designed. New wands, spells, Patronuses (goat!) - so brilliant.
The non-human story was great - Dobby's funeral broke me, and I cried. Love Kreacher's redemption, love the negotiations with Griphook, the Centaurs and House Elves joining the battle at the end.
Severus and Lily as childhood friends - makes sense! I never imagined Lily and Petunia growing up in a mill town - I had an image of those two little girls who photographed fairies in Cottingley? Petunia writing an impassioned letter to Dumbledore asking to go to Hogwarts was so sad. I'm really glad the Dursleys made it, and that Dudley grew up a little.
Here's the thing I didn't get: why Tonks and Remus had to die. I get that war is all about pointless death, and a swathe had to be cut through all the people we love. I really do get that. The way that Oliver and Neville were carrying Colin's body, then Neville stoically going back for more bodies of his friends - that was horrible, it was an off-screen death, it was pointless, and it made me cry. But for Tonks and Remus - I feel weirdly blank. I feel like those two names were written in later.
But I loved the idea of the Hallows, I love the way that stories get handed down and distorted, and I love detective stories that have to sift through history and find out what's going on. And overall, I love how many loose ends she tied up, how solid her magical world is, and how much fan discussion this book is going to generate.
Just can't get over the whole "BTW, Remus and Tonks are dead, cos war sucks, 'k?"
Neville is my hero. Neville, Neville, Neville! Every time we meet him, he shines.
I liked the trio roaming all over the country looking for Horcruxes. It was desperate, and there was a great claustrophobic tension between the three of them.
I loved that we got to see so many new places - the Ravenclaw common room (loved the eagle doorknocker!), Godric's Hollow (the pop-up sign with the graffiti made me cry), Shell Cottage, the Lovegoods, upstairs in the Hogshead.
The Dumbledore family drama! So good to know more about Albus and Aberforth. The confrontation at the end, the nasty, cloying friendship between Albus and Grindlewald, the way that the facts were twisted round and round with different interpretations - all awesome.
So much magic! JKR's magic system is so well designed. New wands, spells, Patronuses (goat!) - so brilliant.
The non-human story was great - Dobby's funeral broke me, and I cried. Love Kreacher's redemption, love the negotiations with Griphook, the Centaurs and House Elves joining the battle at the end.
Severus and Lily as childhood friends - makes sense! I never imagined Lily and Petunia growing up in a mill town - I had an image of those two little girls who photographed fairies in Cottingley? Petunia writing an impassioned letter to Dumbledore asking to go to Hogwarts was so sad. I'm really glad the Dursleys made it, and that Dudley grew up a little.
Here's the thing I didn't get: why Tonks and Remus had to die. I get that war is all about pointless death, and a swathe had to be cut through all the people we love. I really do get that. The way that Oliver and Neville were carrying Colin's body, then Neville stoically going back for more bodies of his friends - that was horrible, it was an off-screen death, it was pointless, and it made me cry. But for Tonks and Remus - I feel weirdly blank. I feel like those two names were written in later.
But I loved the idea of the Hallows, I love the way that stories get handed down and distorted, and I love detective stories that have to sift through history and find out what's going on. And overall, I love how many loose ends she tied up, how solid her magical world is, and how much fan discussion this book is going to generate.
Just can't get over the whole "BTW, Remus and Tonks are dead, cos war sucks, 'k?"