Done with my first reading.

Wow. Just wow . Thanks Jo, for an amazing adventure.

Got a few of the predictions right and a few others very wrong.

Please feel free to join me here for a discussion of the book (please post spoiler warnings!) when you're ready.

Glad to have someone to talk to about it.

Wow, is right!

Felt like an Indiana Jones movie, the action moved so fast. I think they were in Mortal danger at least once in every other chapter.

I am dying to talk about Dumbledore and Snape, dyou think it is too soon?

I'm sure it is too soon, but ....

I was completely satisfied with the resolution of Snape's story arc. The trip through the Pensieve (aha, "that boy" was most definitely not James!) explained so much!

Dumbledore, shades of grey indeed! So glad he turned out to be more than a kindly wise old mentor who gives the young hero his help.

enjoyed it. quite a body count, though i suppose that was expected. and we learned not to fuck with mrs. weasley.

the ending seemed both a bit too tidy, but very apt. i enjoyed it though.

perse got the prediction of harry as a horcrux right, though she doesn't know it yet.

shame about hedwig. poor thing.

only complaint would be a gap in the usual fine job of continuity. if harry's cloak was the deathly hallow, mad-eye shouldn't have been able to see through it, as he did in GOF.

Bring Polly along too!

Well, after that whole "inappropriate charms on a goat" clue, what else could it be?

Loved Chapter 29 - the rousing of Hogwarts, McGonagall leading the charge of desks, the suits of armor, the portraits, Peeves - went back and read that chapter a couple of times.

theDiabolicalDrGnu:

enjoyed it. quite a body count, though i suppose that was expected. and we learned not to fuck with mrs. weasley.

the ending seemed both a bit too tidy, but very apt. i enjoyed it though.

only complaint would be a gap in the usual fine job of continuity. if harry's cloak was the deathly hallow, mad-eye shouldn't have been able to see through it, as he did in GOF.

Yeah, I'm with you on that. And they all lived happily ever after?

It was about time Mrs Weasley got to do something other than laundry. Nice contrast of Bellatrix - I would gladly give all of my sons to the Dark Lord with Molly - you're not killing any more of our children.

And with the continuity thing, I always remember the sage advice given by Lucy Lawless : Ah, yeah, well, whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.

Harry suddenly using unforgiveable curses all over the place

Isn't it interesting that Snape turned out to be much more of a good guy than Dumbledore?

Dumbledore was the perfect politician. Never publicly tarnished for his greed.

Snape never publicly rewarded for his noble acts, yet he forges on.

eh, harry tried using the cruciatus curse in OOP. so that's not so surprising. hell, i think mcgonangall wound up using the imperius curse towards the end.

dumbledore and snape, well...dumbldore punished himself for the rest of his life for the mistakes of his youth. and snape redeemed himself in the eyes of harry (at the end), which was the most important place to do so. i think private punishment and reward can be far more important than public.

heh. i suppose that doesn't work as well when they are all wizards. [grin]

yes, a nice contrast. plus, she called her a bitch. [grin] i think she should have offed percy instead of fred though. poor guy.

...a dark wizard, then? [grin back]

No, Percy gets a chance to show remorse...he gets to live. Like Narcissa.

There's a line in 4 or 5 where Ron says (about Draco) "Shame his mother likes him..." Well, Won-Won, turns out it's highly useful that his mother likes him.

Dumbledore and power. Going back to the Book Club article, I think the better LOTR comparison is Galadriel and Dumbledore. Especially regarding the objects of power. They both recognize what they would do with too much power and forsake it (eventually).

Snape isn't all that good, even thought he's not all evil. The Carrows torture children under his watch. I am glad, though, that he turned out not to be a murderer.

Anyone care to share any of their incorrect predictions? I certainly had my share that I'd considered in the time since the release of Half-Blood Prince:

• While I was right about Snape's allegiences, I had envisioned a radically different role for him in the final battle.
• I was sure that Harry's gambit to protect Ginny would be undermined by Malfoy (or another Slytherin who had heard of their pairing through the Hogwarts grapevine) and that she would become bait to lure Harry into a final battle, a decision that would come back to bite Voldemort as Harry's love for her would prove key to the dark lord's defeat.
• I waffled about Harry's status as a Horcrux in the weeks leading up to the release, and ultimately came out on the wrong side (I still would have been wrong, however, as I was previously convinced that this was evidence that Harry had to die)

I'm sure that there are many more wrong guesses I've made over the years, but these are the ones that leap to the front of my mind...

In the beginning of the book when he watches his fellow proffessor get killed.

I think he helped all those he could help without giving himself up. I think it was Dumbledore who asked him about all the people he watched die. And he said something like: "Only those I couldn't stop."

No, Snape wasn't that good, but who is? Certainly not Dumbledore.