So it’s done; I’ve finished the last book of the Harry Potter series. Surprisingly better than I expected. So, yeah, beware of spoilers.

For the first time I actually felt like there was a war going on with serious consequences for everyone. The final battle at Hogwarts was just epic; I’m a sucker for those battles where everyone comes to together to overcome evil. Very emotional to me. Harry’s semi-death and rebirth was a nice touch, skirting the whole “will he die” question while still showing the whole point of the series: That people shouldn’t fear death at all. Sadly, the final duel between Harry and Voldemort was disappointing, the victory coming down to a silly technicality of wand ownership. Now, Neville chopping off the snake’s head, that was badass. That’s what I wanted the final fight to be like, though I imagined Harry charging Voldemort with a wand in one hand and sword in the other. Guess that’s expecting too much.

The number of deaths wasn’t really surprising, though the people that went down were. I felt Moody deserved a better death, but he died nobly still. Dobby’s was the only one that made me feel sad, partially just the brutality of it. Lupin’s and Tonk’s deaths were bad just because they had a child, but at least they went together. Snape’s death was rather disappointing, having his head bitten off by a snake. Didn’t even get to do anything heroic. After finding everything out about his life, he really was the most pitiable character of them all. I was sure Ron was going to die, but instead Fred did. I’m kind of disappointed one of the main three didn’t die. It’s like all these secondary characters are gone, but none of the rest are hurt.

The Deathly Hallows plotline felt tacked on; something else to have Voldemort hunt for instead of going after Harry. It was an interesting concept, but could of been handled better. None of the objects really felt that powerful aside from the stone. I did like how Gindlewald was drawn into the plot and that bit of history. The parallels between him and Hitler really were explicit in several places. The early part of the plot got annoying fast, with the constant hiding and bickering among the three. A few things also seemed a little too coincidental, a little too neat. Though, I have to hand it to Rowling to have the foresight for all the foreshadowing to actually mean something.

And finally there’s the epilogue. I absolutely hated it. A piece of sentimental crap that told us nothing like an epilogue should. Harry and Ginny got married and had kids. How exciting. Maybe a future for every character is too much, but I would of like something better than that. Like what Harry is doing, how did the wizarding world change, how did hogwarts recover, what the hell happened to Luna (best female character btw)? Overall, the series was a fun ride marred by reoccuring bouts of bad pacing, bad characterization, and sappy romance. A traditional coming-of-age story, though an exciting one. It was fun.