re: the deathly hallows

Done. At last. Four thousand and one hundred pages later. I'm forgoing my usual long list of minor complaints out of respect for a series that was immensely exciting, thought-provoking, and heartfelt.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the quickest 750 page book you'll ever read - I ran threw the last third of it in one night. It's absolutely packed with action and brilliantly paced, except for the final few chapters, where the build up to the final showdown is a little drawn out and the immediate aftermath is too brief. That said, the manner of Harry's victory is some of the best plot unraveling this side of the Shawshank Redemption.

I do have one huge beef - the fate of Lupin and Tonks, who were my two favorite characters in the whole series. What happened to them is exactly what Samuel L. Jackson feared when he told Lucas he didn't want Mace Windu to die "like some punk." You see, Lupin and Tonks did just that - they suffered an off-page death, and for little to no purpose. I wouldn't have minded a spectacular or heroic death, where their sacrifice is essential to the final victory. I may have even loved that. But we didn't get that. We got the exact opposite - the book would have played out almost identically had they lived, and those characters deserved better than to have their status as living or dead be inconsequential. After finishing the book, I read that they did survive in the original draft, but since JK couldn't bring herself to kill Arthur Weasley, she instead killed Lupin and Tonks to satisfy her bloodlust to "kill parents."

Bottom-line, America: Lupin and Tonks were two awesome characters and, at the very least, deserved an on-page death like Fred.

Speaking of deaths, I want to take an opportunity here to list the body count in this series of "children's books." Not even counting bad guys and those who died before the series began: Cedric Diggory, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Rufus Scrimgeour, Ted Tonks, Dobby, Fred Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Colin Creevy, and probably a dozen small characters I can't recall. JK Rowling is without a doubt the most macabre author I've ever read.

I had also been hoping to see a certain fight that would have been pulse-poundingly brilliant: either Hagrid or Lupin going toe-to-toe with Voldemort. Perhaps keeping him in check until Harry finished the job. You see, there had been hints Lupin and Hagrid were both much more powerful wizards then they let on. Lupin conjured fire without a wand in PoA and got through the Department of Mysteries fight without a scratch on him. In TOOTP, Hagrid took on multiple Ministry officials at once and won. I wanted to see just how far their power really went by having them duel with the ultimate villain. Instead, we get McGonagall, Kingsley, and Slughorn dueling with a Voldemort whose power had already been toned down by Harry's (intended) martyrdom. That's ok, but I think a duel with Hagrid or Lupin would have been way cooler.

Upon finishing the series and achieving totally immunity to spoilers, I finally indulged myself in character entries on places like Harry Potter Wiki. Does anyone else enjoy reading those type of articles? I do. Anyway, reading them informed me that JK has added on a lot of "oh by the way stuff" to the series through various speeches, book signings, interviews, webchats, etc. She's revealed things like Dumbledore's sexual orientation, what supporting characters married each other and the names of their kids, and what jobs the characters held after Hogwarts. This seems generally accepted as canonical, and I have a problem with that.

I think the only things that can be canon to the books are the books themselves. Each individual reader is then allowed to insert information between the lines and make their own, slightly personalized Potterverse. For example, if I were to think that, in the "Nineteen Years Later" segment, that Flitwick was the current headmaster, would I really be "wrong" if JK came out tomorrow and said Sprout was the headmistress? I say no.

Fred and George's "Wow, we're identical!" line upon polyjuicing into two Harrys was hands down the best joke of the series.

I hate to say it, but Snape's revelation as a good guy from the start doesn't make complete sense. Why did he have to reveal to Voldemort the time of Harry's departure from the Durselys? Would he really be expected to have access to this super-sensitive knowledge after killing Dumbledore? I doubt it.

Finally, I am left a bit sad, knowing I'll never read another adventure of these crazy kids. I'll miss Hermione the most. Her and her brains. Big. Huge. Brains.