As promised, I'd like to share my thoughts on the final book in the Harry Potter series. Just to warn those of you who have not read/finished the book yet, there will be spoilers ahead, so (if you care) you should probably stop reading now. Again, there will be Harry Potter spoilers ahead, for those of you who have not read the book. Some of you reading this will be thinking, "Uhm, you already said that." But those of you who are true fans will understand how important it is to stay uncorrupted by the spoilers I am about to give.
Now for some general comments.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. This really came as no surprise. I picked it up around 1:30am on Saturday (after waiting in a surprisingly long line for my area) and read through the night, stopping only for a couple hours sleep. Some books could not keep me awake as long as this one did, so I think that should show how engrossing the book was. I found the ending to be very sweet and actually much happier than even I suspected (and I didn't expect Harry to die). Fred's death was sad, but I think he died how he would have wanted to. I felt bad that Tonks and Lupin died, especially leaving their new baby.
I appreciated the epilogue and felt that just enough information was given to keep me satisfied, and enough left out to keep me wondering. What does Harry end up doing with his life? He doesn't work at Hogwarts, or he would have either been on the train, or already there. Does he work at the ministry? I'm sure he could easily have been Ministry of Magic? At first I thought this was improbable, given his dislike of the Ministry. But then I realized that he could change things and make a good difference. Plus, Dumbledore implied that while he felt he could never have dealt with that kind of power, Harry was man enough for the job.
I also found the name "Albus Severus" very poignant. What a sweet uniting of Gryffindor and Slytherin names, as well as two very great men.
OK, on to my predictions. I could kick myself for not including my "Snape was in love with Lily" prediction. I really did think that, but for some reason forgot to include it.
As to my prediction from "HP Part I", I honestly think the book would have been better if that's how it had ended. Obviously, Pettigrew's debt came into play a little bit, but not to the extent I thought it would. I found the "deathly hallows" to be superfluous and, as my friend pointed out, the end came down to "Harry being rubber and He Who Must Not be Named (screw it, Voldemort...that's right, they'll never get me) being glue so that the spell Voldemort cast merely bounced off of Harry and stuck to himself." Basically, it came down to luck. What if Harry hadn't defeated Malfoy to get his wand?
So that's it. The book would have been better if my prediction had been right, and the deathly hallows had not even been a part of it, but overall an excellent book.