I already ranted about this on another forum, so I'll just be conceited and quote meself, shall I?

Quote Originally Posted by Phoenixsong
Read the whole thing on Saturday, took me maybe a total of twelve hours. Yay. Started in the morning after we got back from Borders, couldn't sleep so I read from about 1 to 6:30 AM, and then intermittently the rest of the day. Hooray for sleep deprivation.

I liked it, yeah, but... eh, I think the sixth was the best, personally. The first books just had something... fresher and more original about them; this one was the same "OMG let's send a couple of kids traipsing through the woods on a quest for the magical sword and the magical items that will kill the Giant Scary Evil Dark Man" that's in EVERY OTHER FANTASY BOOK OUT THERE. Awfully cliché, a lot of it was. Now, the individual moments of the story were entertaining... except the action scenes (like when the seven Harrys (nice touch, btw, that was) get ambushed by the Death Eaters and Moody and Hedwig died and everything was all BANG FLASH POW EVERYTHING'S MOVING SO FAST I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT'S GOING ON OMG HEDWIG DIED WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN DIDN'T THEY JUST TAKE OFF?)... I hate action that moves so fast it's confusing. That kind of thing is brain-murder to a speed-reader like me. I reread that chapter about three times before I could figure anything out. Yeah.

I'm really upset that Moody, Tonks, Lupin and Fred had to die... I mean, she could have at least killed George and left the not-disfigured one alive. But Lupin just got so cute towards the end... that was evil, killing him RIGHT after that scene where he got all hyper about the baby picture. I mean, c'mon... it was so cute and so hilarious when they're all about to march off to the war of the century and he randomly says "Here--I've got a picture!" and shows all these people about to go out and probably get killed his color-changing baby. That made him WAY too cute to kill ;_; I am now compelled to draw a picture of this fuzzy-looking wolf with a cute baby picture in his mouth. Because that was ADORABLE and it needs (slightly illogical but who cares) FANART It's sad that Hedwig died, too, but I can see why she did it; what use would Hedwig have been in this story? It was far too dangerous for Harry, Ron and Hermione to communicate by owl; the only other alternatives would have been to keep her locked up, which would have been cruel, or for Harry to let her go. Okay, she could have done that, but oh, well, she didn't. At any rate, Hedwig couldn't stay around.

The epilogue... was smarmy and amateur fanfic-ish beyond all reasoning. I did like it, though, because Harry and Ginny have some cute kids. Their names are kind of retarded--Albus Severus because who names their kid that, and Lily and James because that's really cliché and James's name isn't Fred like it was supposed to be--but they're still adorable.

Didn't care for the ending, either. Again, too cliché. Even the part before the final confrontation was all full of quick descriptions of OMG let's all suddenly be able to overpower the Death Eaters in an amusing manner that, again, is in EVERY fantasy book that involves a ragtag, good-guy army. I was seriously all like, "Matthias's battle with Cluny all over again, wtf?" (Redwall reference, ignore it) And maybe I'm the only one who thinks this, but I was REALLY annoyed by the fact that everything went almost perfectly according to Dumbledore's plans. It was like Dumbledore sat down and wrote the script on day one, and it pretty much all panned out exactly that way. That's waaaay too controlled... it was almost like Harry had nothing to do with it. I mean, granted, he had to find the courage and love and blah within himself to do all of that stuff, but Dumbledore knew he would. Harry, who was supposed to be the big hero, had absolutely no control over it; he was Dumbledore's pawn. And... ugh. I really didn't appreciate that, personally.

The final confrontation did have one redeeming point, however, and that point also happens to be the BEST line in the entire series, even better than "Here--I've got a picture!" out of nowhere. This line will remain with me for the rest of my life. I am pleased to announce that Molly Weasley is now officially my favorite Harry Potter character. She is a sweet, loving mother, concerned about children who aren't even her own, a staunch supporter of all that is good, and she screams, "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" out loud in front of a whole bunch of people. Yes. I died when I read that. Best. Line. Ever. Seriously. And then she subsequently beats the living bejeezus out of Bellatrix Lestrange, which is pretty much just as pwnful. Makes me want a hand-knitted sweater, that does.

My two cents, there you go.
And yes, I agree with everyone who said the middle dragged like hell. Throwing in one confusing action scene in the middle of "tramp, tramp, boring, tramp" does not break up the monotony. It only serves to make my brain hurt, especially when you go straight back to the boring. I know that it really shows Harry, Ron and Hermione as "real teenagers" or whatever, and that's true and all, but I don't like angsty people and the constant bitch-bitch-bitch got on my nerves. Then again, if they'd all been completely together and happy the entire time, it would have been even worse. The lesser of two evils, I suppose.

By the way, I think that Molly Weasley's beauteous pwnage of Bellatrix is the favorite moment of absolutely every Potter reader on the internet. Which it should be. WIN.