Kelly, I'm ready and willing, LOL! I'm working on a post, spoil-protected but definitely with spoilers. I so wanted to like the book more. Had a couple of major problems with it, though certainly it was a ripping good yarn (as is always the case) and there were some things I loved about it.

It was a great yarn. My problems with the epilogue were that I could care less about Ron/Hermione and Ginny/Harry's children. Everyone knew these pairs would result. What I wanted to know was what would Hermione be as an adult? Would she be Headmaster of Hogwarts? I felt the epilogue gave JKR room to continue the series if she felt like it, instead of adressing what readers wanted to know.

Hmm, I won't be surprised if the publisher brings out more books (a few years down the road) not by JKR, who may well be heartily sick of all things Potter, but by other writers. It'll be interesting to see.

My largest problems had to do with Dumbledore, but I hesitate to elaborate here for fear of spoiling.

Hmmm...when will the fear of spoiling be over? I'm curious to hear what you have to say about Dumbledore!!

Hi Kelly.

I loved the book through and through... up to the epilogue. I agree that Rowling set up future books with that ending, but like you, I wasn't impressed. Though I did find what H had to say about Snape was interesting.

I'm rereading the last 150 pages now, because I was confused about some of it and want to see if a reread helps.

Hi Kelly,

Loved every minute of it, including the epilogue. Just like in Lord of the Rings, in the appendix, when you find out what happens to Sam, Merry, Pippin, etc. and all of their offspring...

Hi Leo:

Thanks for commenting! Yes, I agree..it was great to hear about the future, but I wanted to know about the near future!! And, Hermione, honestly. I wanted to know if she makes it to the top as she surely deserves to.

That being said, I read it twice in 2 days and loved every minute of it.

I just saw an interview with Rowling and it sounds like she has the "alternate" epilogue that she might release. In that, there are a lot more details about what happens to Hermione, etc.

I liked the book. And I liked the epilogue -- although for my own (possibly perverse) reasons.

First the book: Wonderful. And very well-done. And all the clues were there, but not all of them tied in until near the end.

About the epilogue: I liked it because if (like, um, me) you read it first, then you knew some of who lived, but not necessarily who died. And you had no idea how it had happened, but you knew it had somehow turned out right in the end. Also, it closes out any conspiracy theories about Voldemort successors, and also signals that it is really, truly over. She's simply not covering "what's next." However, a warning page should have come before it, telling readers to take some time before proceeding onward, because it's too rough of a transition if you go straight through.

Kelly! I can't believe you read the epilogue first :) That's too funny.

You know everyone is complaining about Ron, Hermione and Harry wandering around the Forests, but I rather liked those parts.

I'm still complaining about the epilogue only because that's what we knew would happen if Harry lived. It makes sense that he'd have a big family and with Ginny. I guess that's why I'm disappointed.

I liked the forest parts too--the unschooler in me was tickled by the fact that Harry & friends spent what would have been their final year of school *unschooling*--and in many ways, so did Neville, Luna, Ginny, & co, since their year was largely spent waging guerrilla warfare against the evil forces in command of their school. I especially loved seeing Neville come into his own & making Grandma proud. :)

Kelly, my disappointment in Dumbledore was because of what he said to Snape in the memory we saw in the Pensieve. At the end of book six, I was certain that Snape had promised DD that if Draco Malfoy was put in a position to have to kill DD, Snape would kill DD instead, to save Draco from a descent into the full grip of evil.

While book 7 did give a nod to that motivation, much more emphasis was put on a different motivation, one which seems totally out of character for Dumbledore. He made Snape promise to kill him to spare him from being killed/tortured by the Death Eaters. When Snape asks how he could live with himself if he killed DD, DD replies, "You alone know whether it will harm your soul to help an old man avoid pain and humiliation."

It felt like he used emotional manipulation to bind Snape to a promise of administering a mercy killing. I just don't see that gibing w/ DD's character, and it felt like a sloppy choice on JKR's part. I wish she had kept the emphasis on the very noble sacrifice Snape makes on Malfoy's behalf--and I wish, too, that we had seen some concrete effects of growth in Malfoy's character as a result of Snape's sacrifice.

Snape, though--he has become one of my favorite fictional characters ever. I love what JKR did with him.

I see what you're saying, Melissa. It's true that there were 2 motivations from DD and, you're right--one was more in character than the other.

And, yes, I also walked away with less admiration for DD than I had before. Maybe she was trying to humanize him in this volume? Because, really, he was saint-like to before.

I agree. Snape is a truly awesome character. I expected his end, but his love for Lily did surprise me.

I think Snape's feelings for Lily were hinted at before (those memories of his treatment by James & crew, and her being nice to him), but I was pleased he got such a crucial role in this book. It was one of the few things I enjoyed about it, to be honest.

While the derivativeness of Rowling's work has bothered me before, in this book it just absolutely drove me nuts. And the length of the book was just unnecessary. Where are good editors when you need them?

As for the epilogue, well, uck. It just seemed that that it was too neat an ending, and definitely setting up Hogwarts:TNG.

I read an interview where she says that Harry and Ron are both aurors (Harry is head of the Auror department at MoM - and also serves as occasional DADA guest lecturer at Hogwarts), and Hermione is working at Magical Law Enforcement.

She also talked about maybe doing a sort of Potter encyclopedia - she had a lot of background detail worked out that she didn't actually use in the books.

I thought the epilogue was cute, and touching, and unnecessary. Did like Harry's comment about "the bravest man [he:] ever knew," though. The brief appearance by Malfoy and family was also a nice touch.

Hm. Where to start? I did love this book, though not through and through. I think the first one-third of the book was awfully slow. The chapter that took place at the Lovegoods seemed like filler to me, and something that could have been accomplished in much less space. Unlike Melissa, I didn't care so much for the forest scenes (and I'm another home/unschooler). Most of those chapters felt very long to meand I had a hard time believing much of the dialogue (or lack of it) would have happened. I would have much preferred to have more of the story take place inside Hogwarts. I love Hogwarts, and I was disappointed not to read more about it.

As for the epilogue, I didn't care for it so much. Like you, Kelly, I wanted to know what happened in the weeks following the final battle - not the far future. How did Harry handle learning about DD faults? What did Draco think of the fact that Harry triumphed? I guess we did get this information vaguely in the epilogue, but I wanted to see it happening.

I do think that the ending set up a potential spin-off, but I'm doubtful if JKR will write it herself. I don't think Scholastic is going to let their bottom line decline by accepting that it's really over!

I read somewhere that the movie rights include rights to the characters that might be interpreted as going beyond the bounds of the books. The epilogue, therefore, prevents them from writing their own "next chapter" in which Voldemort returns, or Harry marries Hermione, or whatever.

The eventual encyclopedia is supposed to provide details on the post-Voldemort era. I kind of understand her not wanting to follow up on the immediate future -- it would have involved a lot of funerals, after all, and that would have been a huge bummer.

Okay, am I the only person who would have been okay with Harry actually dying in the forest and Neville killing Nagini and Voldemort? Or perhaps someone else in the Order finishing him after Neville destroyed the last horcrux? I never believed she would kill Harry, but I must admit I was hoping for a twist. I thought the ending was good, but hated the epilogue.

(And would it be bad to compare the dying bit with Aslan in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?)

Tricia, that was my first thought: how very C.S. Lewis of her. But the whole "final battle" thing could also be seen as a nod to either Narnia or Middle Earth - why she couldn't have come up with a completely new idea is beyond me.

Lazygal and Tricia: I have to admit that I really, really tried to ignore the Narnia connections (I dislike most of the Narnia series).

I have to admit I would have been said if Harry had died. He deserved some happiness and a chance to live his life.

Kelly F: Thank god, the books can't continue in another's hand. That would be awful.

Kris: I LOVE Hogwarts too, so I understand your missing it.

James: Your description of the epilogue is spot on! Cute, sweet and unnecessary pretty much sums it up. Kelly F's comment convinces me that she did it for a reason other than literary.

Seems that we (and others I've spoken with) agree that there's serious Narnian content so... does anyone know how Philip Pullman is taking this? He hates that series.

I'm glad to finally read comments by others who thought the book was lacking. (Esp. message 15)

I had to go back and check the epilogue to see if Hermione even got a word in edgewise. Barely.

Buy I thought the point of the epilogue was to prevent spin-offs, sequels etc, set in the near future.

So, it was not my least favorite part of the book, by far. That was the Harry wins by a technicality, now let's devote a chapter to explaining the technicality, whoops Big V was hit by his own curse! (That was the same lame ending in that Spiderman movie, snore....)

I'm so glad to find I'm not alone in thinking the epilogue was lacking. Of course it's a relief to know that people marry who they are "supposed" to marry. But I really would have liked to find out what else they did with their lives, and what happened to all the other characters. I wanted one of those old fashioned Victorian epilogues where they list everyone you might be interested in and tell what happened to them and whether they were happy!

I am enjoying reading this discussion. I am still thinking about the books. What I am wondering now is how the mother's of all the main characters compare. Just because mothering is always on my mind, LOL.

Since the main characters all have distinctive mothers and issues related to that, I wonder how the mothers would compare and what Rowling was saying in that? I have a post up on my blog getting into it here: http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2007/08...

What would you all say?

Hey, all!

My main concern about the Epilogue is that it was too "romance" ending rather than a fitting HP ending. I'm not a huge fan of the "you meet your soul mate in High School" type of thing, and, especially with Ginny out of the picture for most of the book, found it a bit annoying. That said, I understand why these 2 couples are together and stay together. I just found it a bit "and if you don't meet your soul mate at 11 you're screwed." (Keep in mind I was probably oversensitive about this because I just came from a wedding with a toast how the most important thing a parent can do for a child is pick their college, because that is where they will meet their spouse.)

While I adore some of the job stuff JKR has since said, I would have liked some of that in the Epilogue, because the jobs and overall world buidling is one of the things I like about JKR.

Liz: I agree with what you have to say (and, yuck re: wedding toast!) and that did bother me. Hermione certainly didn't seem the type to settle down at age 17. BookofLife has it right: an old fashioned Victorian epilogue is exactly what I wanted as HP is an old-fashioned Victorian yarn in many respects.

Clouds: I felt that we were hit over the head with the mother issue in the end. I really didn't like the fact that it all came down to what kind of mother you had. Doesn't say much for the agency of the child, does it?

I read the book in about a day right when it came out, and now I'm listening to it on CD. I enjoy it so much more the second time around!

It's still flawed, and I'm sure I'll still cringe at the epilogue, but I have no issues with the length (need for editing) or the plot elements. It completely captivates me.

Hi Nancy:

I agree with you re: pacing and plot elements too. I think it's only the epilogue I hated. I'm waiting for the itunes version to come out!!

So, the ending chapter that she wrote all those years ago and stuck in a safe? The epilogue. Which had the last sentence shifted around so it no longer ended with scar. Incidentally, in the original, he was going to lose his scar during the final confrontation, which would've been really really weird.

I think it explains a lot -- I'm sure she hung onto a lot of the content for sentimental reasons, and looking at the epilogue, it reads far more like something from book 1 or 2 than any of the later novels (which makes sense, since she wrote it back then and tucked it away). Also, she knew the complete story on all the names in there, but didn't really get all the info across to the readers (lots of kids were confused about Victoire's identity, for instance, even though I naturally -- and correctly-- assumed that with a French name like that, she was Bill & Fleur's kid. But some kids don't know from French.)