FINISHED
SOMEWHERE IN LONDON, JO ROWLING IS YELLING 'PSYCHE!'
I cried intermittently throughout, but when Harry DIED, the pain was almost too much to bear. I starting HOWLING. HOWLING, yes. I also howled when Harry saw Remus and Tonks laid out beside Fred. I am tearing up again at the thought of it. So many deaths, so many, which I liked, because it is war, but. Why Remus and Tonks? I will never understand why she killed these two, not even a year married, with a little multicoloured cub. Poor George. Poor Weasleys.
I shall have to drink ten gallons of water to make up for all the tears I have shed this night. I even cried at Hedwig what the merry eff.
I am very glad she didn't drag out the Regulus thing too much, because it would've been incredibly dull to read. I liked reformed!Kretcher, though I did not like how rapidly said reformation occured. There were a number of things that smacked of convienence (the Grey Lady suddenly opening up to Harry comes to mind).
I loved the whole Deathly Hallows angle. Oh em gee, let there be fic! I liked the Grindlewald/Dumbledore/Ariana stuff in principle, though ultimately it seemed to serve little purpose and the passages did tend to get a bit long *cough*zzz. On the whole, though, I don't think I care. I think squee has broken much of my ability to be critical!
LILY. LILY LETTERS. MASSIVE EPIC LILY FLASHBACKS OF SNAPENESS. About time Harry made note of his mother. SQUEAL. *brandishes fic!* Lily and Petunia knowing Snape as kids has been speculated to death, but I didn't take it seriously until it was right there in front of me! "That awful boy." For the win, fandom! *APPLAUDS*
NEVILLE. OH MY GOD. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I CANNOT EXPRESS. WORDS FAIL. <3333333333 HE IS ONE OF THE HORCRUX DESTROYERS YAY
RON. Running away and coming back again. Oh, RON.
AND LUNA. Dean/Luna, man, so canon.
I liked Grawp too :O
I liked Hermione!!!! I liked her spontaneous Ron-kiss! All he needed to do, all along, was show support of SPEW. WHODA THUNK.
The battle of Hogwarts owned me. McGonagall with the desks yelling, "CHARGE!" will probably stay with me forever XD
The Carrows torturing kids. Holy moley.
Snape. Well. Okay. I am very gullible. I admit it. A few chapters in, I got sucked into reassessing my previous theories, and begun to think Snape had been evil all along :O But then it all played out the way we knew it would, complete with Lily/Sev. Yes, "SEV" is now canon. I think DH!Snape =/= Anyprevious!Snape we have seen in the books, however. There were moments in which I wondered if he were fake!Snape (crying over Lily's letter? Getting all flustered in the Shack at the end? And some of the dialogue, just... wasn't Snapeish?). I need to think on this, but I suspect I shall rationalise it as previous!Snape being witnessed by Harry, whereas much of DH!Snape was seen as flashbacks or scenes in which Harry was not present and thus Snape acted differently. That old chestnut, yes. I have no idea yet whether I love the way she presented Lily/Sev, but I think I'm leaning that way. Must re-read.
Harry saying Crucio scared the crap outta me. No Unforgivables from you, Potter! >:| I was most pleased he did not (technically) kill Voldemort, however.
Molly wiping the floor with Bella? A resounding HELL YES.
Wormtail being strangled by his own hand? Not so much. o.O
Ginny = even more meh than in HBP. She did... nothing. But you know what? I will not begrudge Harry his happy ever after with her.
Albus Severus? Rocks like granite. Did not like most of the epilogue, however, because I've never been a OBHWF lover and it was the most cliche prose I think I've ever read (Lily? James? REALLY HARRY.). I can very much live without it. But utterly adored Draco's little cameo at the end! AHAHAH, all is forgiven Draco! They even nodded at each other. Win.
On the other hand, I thought there was a heck of a lot introduced in this book to which there was no reference in previous books. At one point I felt like I was reading a different series. There was a lot of lengthy exposition too, and it seemed to disrupt the flow of the narrative somewhat. Harry and Dumbledore's big long conversation in the afterlife, for example, messed with the pacing for me.
By and large though:
MADE OF AWESOME.
More thoughts, perhaps even some contradictory to this, will surely come. I am too full of caffeine and hyper-squee to think properly. But I liked it, I did. Mostly.
... so, what now?