I just finished this morning.
Three words: I LOVE DUMBLEDORE.
The death: I had read online that somebody was going to die and that it was going to be a hard scene for J.K. Rowling to write. So naturally, any time that anyone was in danger, I started freaking out: "Oh no! Mrs. Weasley is going to die! Mr. Weasley is going to die! Neville is going to die! Dumbledore is going to die! McGonagall is going to die!" When Sirius was the one that ended up dying, I was pretty unaffected. I've never really liked Sirius all that much, and he was especially obnoxious in this book, so I was a little disappointed . . . I wanted a death that I could start bawling at.
I really like how Ginny has turned into a little vixen with all her boyfriends
although I have to admit, I would like to see her and Harry together at the end of the series. I think this book was a push for us to see Ginny as more grown-up and not just as "Ron's little sister" anymore.
Ditto on the thestrals -- why couldn't Harry see them before? I suppose you have to really witness death and internalize it, not just see it . . . but it would have been nice if Rowling had covered that. Also ditto on Neville . . . I liked how the prophecy could mean either him or Harry, and I agree that he'll probably feature heavily in the final battle.
Kreacher freaked me out!
Two things I didn't see coming AT ALL: Ron being a prefect instead of Harry, and the fact that Harry's dad was a little bit of a jerk (at least at age 15).
I liked the Dumbledore vs. Voldemort scene at the end, but I thought the battle scenes as a whole dragged on too long and the end was somewhat anticlimactic -- especially after the battle scenes in Goblet of Fire, which freaked me out to no end after I read them the first time.
As a whole I was a little disappointed by the book.
I thought the set-up was great -- with the dementors attacked Harry and Dudley, the Dursleys having to come to grips with the magical world, and the whole Order of the Phoenix thing . . . but the rest of it left something to be desired. I think Rowling is starting to suffer from "Anne Rice syndome," where as her books have gotten overwhelmingly popular, her editors are afraid to edit her anymore because they figure she knows what she's doing. I don't think that this book was as "tight" as the first three. I do love how each book has gotten progressively darker, though, and am looking forward to the next book to really start getting into the whole "Voldemort is back" thing.
I'm sure there's a bunch of stuff I forgot to mention, so I'm sure I'll be back to this thread multiple times.
