ugh.
I just finished this book, like thirty minutes ago, and the whole time I was finishing it up, all I could think of was how much it sucked. I felt robbed of my roommate's hard-earned $18, and also a little betrayed.
Honestly, here's how I would summarize:
-too much emphasis on relationships. Who the hell cares about Lavender anyway? Oh, and the Lupin/Tonks thing. Lame & just thrown in to lighten the mood. OH OH OH, my FAVORITE, when it's suggested that Tonks was in love with Sirius... uh, hi, he's her COUSIN, morons.
-Hermione has lost her ethics, in lieu of her period, apparently. Hey, yeah, let's rig the Quidditch try-outs so this guy I wanna make out with gets in! "YEAH RON! Oh, wait, I'm stuck in the 'we're just friends' boat... shoot. I'M ANGRY! I'm going to date other boys to MAKE YOU JEALOUS! So there!" Also... she's all "oh, this Prince is a bad fellow...or LADY!" and she's not at all concerned about Malfoy disappearing from the map at odd times. Idiot.
-Where is all that trademark Harry aggression? He's gotten soft, that one has. Snape says to him "don't call me a coward!" and Harry says it like twice more, but then Snape says it in CAPITAL LETTERS (which obviously makes it more important) and Harry buckles. "Oh... well I guess he must mean it then. Hmm. Ok!"
-Percy's still a douche. Big suprise.
-Even BIGGER suprise! The people little Potter's been whining about being bad... OH, shoot darn... it turns out they WERE! GOTCHA! God, that was ridiculously predictable. I did, however, like when Malfoy was all "oh... maybe this is a bad idea..." (not SIC, of course) because it shows that he's as big a wuss as I pegged him to be.
-NO MENTION OF SUPPORTING CHARACTERS. What, Neville got like... maybe a whole paragraph TOTAL of anything to do with him? The whole book seemed to just be Harry & Dumbledore, with the occasional spattering of Ron & girls, just for effect.
-Slug Club. Why? What a useless addition to the plot...
Conclusion: I'm disappointed beyond words. This had SO MUCH potential to be so much more. I understand it has to be a set up for the last installment, or whatever... but puh-leeeeez. It didn't have to be so lame.