Harry Potter 7

[iiradned]

Okay's who here has finished the seventh Harry Potter book? It took me just under 5 hours in a single sitting.

[Sailor Sedai (Ellf)]

I finished it. Liked it. Took me under five hours with interuptions for lunch and dinner and a haircut.

[EdenB]

Finished it. Liked it more than I thought I would. I was surprised at Dumbledore's backstory though not at his manipulations.

[Winchester]

I admit it - I'm a pirate. I had the book on my hard drive roughly 24 hours before the official release, but I wasn't sure it was the real thing so I didn't read it at first... Once I'd verified it wasn't fake though, noonish yesterday, it pretty much swallowed my whole afternoon. (And yes, I will be buying the hardcover, virtually the moment I can spare the money.)

Let's put it this way - I read the first four books with wide-eyed wonder, not knowing there were alternative takes on them available. After that, I discovered fanfiction - and the fifth book blew most of that away with sheer awesomeness.

By contrast, the sixth book didn't compare all that favorably to fanfic - pretty much every author I've read has at least one story where Harry stays angry with Dumbledore, and most of us find it pretty justifiable. Besides, the romance has been described as hamfisted, which pissed a lot of people off royally.

But JKR redeemed herself. Oh boy, did she redeem herself. I've read a *ton* of seventh-year fics. Boatloads of them. HPDH blows all of them out of the water completely, to the point where the smoking debris tends to end up on seven continents and three oceans. Most, if not all, the plot threads were resolved to my great satisfaction, with a few "Oh, fuck, please no!" moments thrown in (character deaths, mostly). The villains were suitably evil, the heroes were suitably heroic, the plotters were suitably intelligent, and the magic was excellently magical.

It's been one hell of a ride, folks. Long, somewhat bumpy, but in the end, tremendously satisfying.

Now... How to go about switching the final matchups to my preferred configuration? (HP/HG, RW/LL, NL/GW...)

SP

[Metroidvania]

waltzed into walmart, picked it up, done in 3 1/2 hours, I read quite swiftly.

I liked it, I rate it up with the 1st, third, and 4th books.

Dumbledore's backstory helps to tie everything up in a way I didn't know rowling was able to perform up to expectations.

[Lightning]

picked it up but i haven't read it yet as some stupid B***H told me what happens and spoilt it for me while i was working

[Musouka]

Quick, spoil me! What's the final match ups? Haven't bought a copy yet but I will.

[iiradned]

Quick, spoil me! What's the final match ups? Haven't bought a copy yet but I will.

(Spoiler - highlight to read.)The only confirmed matchups are Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny - though there is mention of Draco with his wife who was never named.(/spoiler)

All other couples were confirmed at the end of book 6.

The following are spoilers for those who wish to know some of the dead who made appearances in previous books.
(Spoiler - highlight to read.) Mad-Eye Moody, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora 'Tonks' Lupin, Fred Weasley, Dobby, Severus Snape, Peter Pettigrew, Vincent Crabbe, Bellatrix Lestrange, Colin Creevey and of course Tom Marvolo Riddle. (/spoiler)

[Tenebrae]

waltzed into walmart, picked it up, done in 3 1/2 hours, I read quite swiftly.

You read crazy fast, same as me.
I did the same thing, except swap 'walked into walmart' to 'woke up to book on downstairs table'. I sleep late, so my parents had time to go buy it and have it home before I got up.

Book 7 was all right, I liked it well enough, but I'd started moving away from more conventional HP stories towards Indepandent!Harry stories a while back, so this doesn't quite mesh with that.

Still a good story though.

Oh, and

Norbert being female?

Cracked me up.

[iiradned]

For those who felt that the epilogue was somewhat lacking.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19959323/

[runnerz]

I wonder how many fics based on after the war have cropped by now and how many of them are actually good.