Finished Deathly Hallows
In less than 24 hours, a record for me! And loved it, in the sense that the story kept me turning pages at an amazing rate. The only other book to match it in intensity was GoF. Flaws are certain to be exposed on further reading, although DH now has his hands on it, having elected not to wait for the Bloomsbury version to arrive after all. I intended a reread to pull my thoughts together, but I'll make do without --



The body count was suprisingly high, especially since it included several experienced Order members and only one student, who was underage and shouldn't have been there. Harry's DA training must have been extraordinary.

Speaking of students at Hogwarts, I thought the Creeveys were muggleborn, so what were they doing at Hogwarts?

Having spent a bit of bandwith defending Harrycrux, I can't complain about how it was used, or why the information was withheld.

Not surprisingly, I liked Dumbledore better for his flaws. I found his backstory very much in character.)

Cheers for some of my favorite characters -- Neville, Ron, Percy, SNAPE! (But Lupin, another old favorite, didn't work so well for me.)

After having vigilantly guarded myself against spoilers all week, I hit a particularly bleak moment in the tent-camping adventure that compelled me to read the epilogue. Oddly, I found that reading the epilogue enhanced my enjoyment of the book. It's all in the journey, not the result.

Was there ever an explanation of the spell Harry's wand executed by itself during the flight from Privet Drive? I had assumed from the outset that it was Snape's doing, but don't remember any resolution of this.

I had problems with the wedding chapter; Harry was acting like Harry and not a Weasley cousin, but somehow Elphias Doge and Auntie Muriel completely failed to be surprised by the conversation.

Who were Rose and Hugo?

I'll have more comments on my second read.