WARNING: Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows Spoilers

I just finished Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. I enjoyed most of it, a lot. A few things bothered me though. Below are some random thoughts about what happened in the book. If you don't want to know about plot points and character developments read no further. I'll catch ya on the flip side!

What I liked:

I'll start with my favorite part of the book. I LOVED the big fight at the end of the book. Everyone pulling together, even the frickin' HOUSE ELVES, to take down Moldy Voldy. That! Was! AWESOME! The pace, the verbiage, the description of the tension and the action were all great. The coming together and melding of Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Phoenix was, I think, extremely well written. It kept me glued to the book.

The next portion of the book that I loved was a bit of character development. I LOVED Neville and his sudden development of... well... balls. We got hints of the person he would become in earlier books. The best example is when he stood up to Harry and friends when they were sneaking out of Hogwarts. I BELIEVE it was in book 2. He manned up in book 7 and it was great! It got a huge smile out of me! (His Granny rocks in this finally installment as well.)

I really enjoyed was the redemption of Snape. I loved how, by giving Harry his memories, he was able to tell us HIS story and show us that while he often did the wrong thing he DID have a heart and DID know how to love. His love for Lilly was twisted and in the end it twisted HIM around and around. It made for an interesting reveal that Mr. Bad Ass Death Eater was really just an emotionally stunted man who pined for his lost love and spent most of his life trying to protect the only part of her that was left... Harry.

I liked a lot more but I'm too tired to go much further.

Next are the things I WASN'T terribly fond of.

First, while I understand WHY Dobby had to die, I don't like it. Yes, Harry drew strength from his friend dying for him. However, it could have been served just as well by many of the other deaths occurring throughout the book. (ESPECIALLY Tonks or Lupin. Having just had a child their dying could have had a LOT of reverberations for him as it mirrored his own parents deaths and given him even MORE resolve than The Lil' House Elf That Could.)

The pace of the first third of the book bothered me as well. Maybe even the first half. It seemed a little slow and plodding for me. I'll have to give it another read in a couple of days. It may have been I was just anticipating the big plot points and character reveals so much that the exposition in the first half made me got bat shit.

Finally, I HATED RON WALKING OUT ON HARRY AND HERMY! That annoyed the hell out of me. It was well done. It WAS in character but I reserve the right to object to it based on the fact that I ADORE Ron and his goofy dorky self and hated to see him do that. I actually CHEERED out loud when it showed back up.

Now, the Epilogue. I know a LOT of people aren't going to like it. They'll say it was pandering to the fans. They'll say it was a let down or a disappointment. I disagree. I LOVED it. Truly. It tied up the story of all my favorite characters nicely. (Who raised Teddy? Anyone else think it was Harry and Ginny?) It ALSO left her an out to continue the story of Hogwarts with the offspring of Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermy... Niiiiice. Smart. I hope she does it!