SO.

I finished the book yesterday evening, after forcing myself very hard to sit through classes and labs on Saturday and Sunday and not just run out going SORRY, GOTTA GO FINISH THIS CHAPTER, BACK LATER. And, like half of my flist, it's time for my thoughts!

But first, here's how the midnight party went! :D


I headed over to the ranch in the afternoon, where a massive party was held before we even left to go pick up our copies. There were potion-mixing games, cream soda butterbeer, tons of snacks, watching the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD, playing Quidditch on the Gamecube, and costumes aplenty. Also, I got a birthday cake and some presents, squee! :D I got a titanium spork from ghettopeach (PERFECT FOR PENIS HYDRAS), and an adorable card and a My Little Pony from hystericblue42. XD I've never had a MLP before, and I have a sudden desire to mod it! Anyone have any good ideas what character I should make my pony into? It's a pegasus pony, so it's got wings, too.
Aaalso, xanmuse bought me my copy of Deathly Hallows! :D Thank yooooou, Alix! ♥

Around 9:00 we headed over to B&N to get copies! Naturally, it was super-crowded, but at least we found a place to park. The crowd we were with was actually quite good-natured: everyone was just there and excited to be getting the book at last! As I had no costume, I didn't participate in the costume contest (though I heard estelofimladris's Sirius got third place). I did, however, do some sketching while waiting in line:



Sirius is confused at the weird-ass Death Eater mask, Luna is excited, and Slughorn is enjoying some carmelized pineapple. XD Also, caedhe requested Nagini attacking Wormtail, and then started on Buckbeak because Buckbeak is awesome.

My little bro also joined us for awhile, and when around drawing Dark Marks on himself and any friends who requested it. XD xanmuse and I were in the will-call line since we hadn't preordered, until caedhe informed us that Ralph's was selling a special limited number of copies for 30% off. So someone zipped over there and got us all copies, before even some of the preordered dudes did! XD SWANKYTASTIC. But it was still fun having the experience of going and waiting in line for the book's release!



I seem to be in the minority, I don't know. But personally, I thought this book was my absolute favorite. I am STILL PISSED that JKR killed off certain characters stop taking pages from Joss Whedon's book, dammit! But I love lots of action, I'm a huge sucker for happy endings, and I think the best stories out there are the ones that take everything from the main character and then reward them for it at the end. And this book did all of that. I was screaming and laughing and crying and fist-pumping all the way; the story just hit the ground running and didn't stop. Therefore, MUCH LOVE.
And because that's about as coherent as I'll probably get at the moment, thoughts in no particular order:

- Dudley actually showing his appreciation for Harry was a great little moment, and while it doesn't make up for the horrible things the Dursleys did to Harry, it provided a great bit of closure, at least for the younger generation.
- HEDWIIIIIG. :((( Geebus, they really weren't beating around the bush when they launched into a battle sequence BY BLOODY CHAPTER THREE. Nevertheless, it was aaaawesome to imagine I wanna storyboard it now. And then Mad-Eye! He never was that big of a character with me (I guess I didn't really "get" him, or he didn't stand out to me?) but how fast they started killing off characters made me go WTFFFF.
- Kreacher gets character development, yaay! That was such a great message about reaching out to the nasty and unloved; I'm glad it was put in there.
- Kingsley Shacklebolt's patronus is a lynx, yay. ♥
- I'm not sure how I felt about the tarnishing-Dumbledore's-image thing. I thought it was great that he got a lot of character development beyond The Hero's Wise Old Mentor, and I figured his past actions would eventually be absolved, but it annoyed me that Rita Skeeter didn't get what was coming to her!
- On the other hand, Umbridge did get what was coming, and that made me cheer. UMBRIDGE = MCCARTHY ALL ALONG. Her using Mad-Eye's eye like that was UUUGHASLDKJKAKLS.
- Speaking of, I thought the whole ministry infiltration thing was beyond awesome, and I'm so afraid they'll cut it out of the movie. I feel bad for the scriptwriters for this; it's going to be a NIGHTMARE. A little confused because I thought Polyjuice Potion didn't last that long, but maybe stronger doses last longer? Whatever; Chris Carter had bigger plotholes than that.
- The long stretch of time with them on the run and apparating from place to place gave this great, raw feeling to the story where you really feel the characters are moving into full-fledged adulthood: it's just them, having to fend for themselves, with little to no help, and you really feel it.
- I kinda got whiplash at all the parts where Harry was suddenly all I AM IN VOLDEMORT'S BRAIN NOW WUH OH scenes, but I guess it was necessary to actually show what Voldemort was doing, considering the whole book is from Harry's POV.
- Nagini just sliterhing out of Balfinda's skin was 100% horror movie moment NOT OKAY. I totally didn't see it coming, and was all WAIT WHAT AAAAAGH IT'S A SNAAAAKE
- Ron destroying the locket horcrux after saving Harry's ass? Terrific scene. LOL, Voldemort ships Harmony.
- Am I the only one who was a little surprised that Hermione seemed to be doing so well after being tortured by Bellatrix?! I SO FELT FOR RON IN THAT SCENE.
- DOBBY. ;______;
- Something about the multiplying, burning treasure in the Lestrange's vault was really original and freaky all at once. Something about Harry using some of the unforgivable curses right there on the spot also threw me for a HUGE loop. That whole dragon scene was kickass, though.
- I kept picturing Doc Brown when reading about Xenophilius Lovegood.
- Battle of Hogwarts = FRECKING AMAZING CLIMAX. There were explosions and big shiny lights and people fleeing in terror and awesomeness all around and EVERYTHING. I love just everyone showing up and being all HELLS YEAH IT'S TIME TO KICK ASS.
- Crabbe = stupidity kills.
- FRED. OH GOD, WHY FRED. I was so terrified that JKR would kill off one of the twins but not the other, but then I convinced myself she wouldn't, and then SHE DID ANYWAY WHYYYYYYY THE TWINS *sobs*
- ALSO, REMUS AND TONKS DID NOT DESERVE THAT. We didn't even see how it happened, it was just OH BTW THEY'RE DEAD TOO. Which I guess really drives home the whole point of war; that sometimes you don't even know it's happened, you just suddenly hear "by the way some of your friends are dead, sorry!" which helped drive home the whole point of the climax.
- I was expecting Snape's death to be a whole lot more...important and dramatic? I mean, I knew the dude was going to kick it, but the way it happened just SUCKED hardcore for him. Man, I can't wait to see how the Snapefen react. Although it did really drive home the point that Voldemort really has no love for anything or anyone but his own goals; even his most "loyal" lieutenants are completely disposable. Chilling!
- I just really liked Lily coming to Petunia's defense in the flashbacks. And maaaan, it sucks to be Snape even more! I can't help but wonder if he had come out a completely different person if he'd been sorted into, say, Ravenclaw.
- The whole sequence with Harry accepting his own death and then walking into it was ABSOLUTELY HEARTBREAKING. Just when he summons all the ghosts of his family and friends and asks if it will hurt and OH GOD *WEEEEEEEP* Also, HARRY IS JESUS. For serious, there were so many religious allegories in that entire sequence that I will smack the next Evangelist that goes off on how HP promotes Satanism with a copy of the Book of Matthew. Because HAVING TWO SCRIPTURE QUOTES USED AS KEY PLOT POINTS IN THE BOOK DEFINITELY PROMOTES SATAN, YUP. 8Db
- Wow, now fans won't have to go see Equus to see Harry nekkid!
- There was a lot of exposition in the King's Cross Is Limbo scene, but really, it was needed, for both the characters and the audience. Dumbledore weeping like that was very poignant.
- DON'T CRY, HAGRID, IT'LL BE OKAY.
- HELLS YES to the last battle scene! Kreacher running out with an army of house elves to stab everyone in the knees pwned everything.
- "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" <---- BEST LINE IN THE BOOK. I've always liked Molly, but now she gets about +9999 Cool Points for taking down Bellatrix. BADASS.
- I know people say Voldemort's death was anticlimatic, but really, what more could you expect? For him to catch on fire and explode while jumping off Niagra Falls wearing nothing but a thong? Considering the whole point of this story was about offing the different pieces of Voldemort's soul, I'd say his "death" was pretty much the entire damn book. And I loved the whole bit with Harry trying to get him to feel remorse, because he knows Voldy's gonna end up a creepy flayed child-thing under a table in Heaven!Starbucks. SUCKS TO BE VOLDY.
- THE EPILOGUE: Haha, my ships won. ♥ And Sirius, Remus and Tonks are TOTALLY having a threesome orgy in Heaven!Starbucks after giving Voldy-baby a good kick. Seriously, I thought the epilogue was sweet. Cheesy, sure, but it's a children's book. God forbid we get a AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER ending in those! Heck, 's the same reason I loved the KH2 ending: take everything from the main character, then reward them. Harry finally got the family he's always wanted and needed!
- Why's everyone freaking out about "Albus Severus Potter"? It's not like this entire series wasn't CHOCK FULL of weird-ass names. Scorpius, however, made me raise an eyebrow or two.


The non-TL;DR version:
A+, WOULD READ AGAIN.

AND NOW...I look forward to seeing which wanks will be the greatest and most WTF-inducing. They've already started, but I imagine that, like with HBP, there will be a bit of time before some truly LOLworthy stuff surfaces. F_W and the Cornfield need to organize their links already. HARMONIANS, NEVER STOP BEING BATSHIT. ♥♥

Now, I am going to go try and focus on the MOUNDS OF SCHOOLWORK I have coming, and likely fail miserably. :Db

Drawing: Yes, I can almost guarantee there will be fanart for this in the future.

Writing: Probably not fanfic, though. It's harder for me to write for something than draw for it.