Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)

[nebroadwe]

Acquired book: 7:15 pm (on my way to an unskippable meeting, argh!)
Began reading: 10:30 pm (in bed with glass of iced tea and the air conditioning running)
Finished reading: 2:00 am (oog, but it was worth it. And yes, I do read that quickly. :-)

Rapidly Jotted First Thoughts:

I liked the beleaguered atmosphere, particularly at the beginning: the sense that Harry and friends have nowhere to go and could be discovered at any moment (and frequently are). I liked the retcon of Dumbledore's history and the idea (left implicit, IIRC) that he gives second chances because he needed one himself. I liked Snape's last words (and the idea left implicit there, too). I liked the Griphook subplot, which allowed him to retain his own agenda to the last. I enjoyed the battle at Hogwarts and the good pacing throughout the story of character deaths -- they punctuated the action nicely. I was pleasantly surprised that the collect-the-coupons plotting held my interest, despite the addition of three more plot coupons in the form of the Deathly Hallows, and that the machination plotting (e.g. the raid on the Ministry) had sufficient surface tension to allow me to skate over some of its unlikelihoods (e.g. all that Polyjuice Potion everyone seems to be able to make so quickly). And I enjoyed watching Ron and Hermione interact (and Ron's birthday gift to Harry was priceless, even if our hero didn't get to use it much).

I disliked the use of what a friend calls deus ex auctore methods to move the story along: the plot forcing the characters into position (e.g. Ron's return) and the return of long, talky confession scenes in place of plot/character interactions (e.g. Snape's memories). I disliked Kreacher's rather abrupt metamorphosis into a helpful character -- that development needed more space. I was disappointed that Ginny Weasley wasn't on-stage more, having hoped that her response to Harry's "noble and stupid" gesture at the end of Half-Blood Prince -- not arguing, but not explicitly accepting it either -- meant that she'd be joining him more directly in the fight. I was bemused by the Lupin/Tonks subplot; as in Half-Blood Prince, important parts of it seem to have been left on the cutting room floor. And I loathed the way in which Peter Pettigrew was so unceremoniously shuffled off; that was a total waste of a good archetype, dagnabit!

And now I can go and read everyone else's reviews and catch up on the discussions. Whee!