It's almost here!!!

For me anyways. I have about an hour and fifteen minutes left before midnight. But I did get to hear the first chapter read by J.K. Rowling herself! Or at least part of the first chapter, cause it seemed way too short to be the first chapter. Anyways, someone at the library where I'm currently waiting anxiously at went to Yahoo where they had an audio clip of JKR reading the first chapter and they've been playing it over and over again. Here's the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/page/harry_potter_reading/

Enjoy everyone! If anyone wants to talk about this part or anything HP related in general, I'll be here until 11:50 which is when they're gonna start lining everyone up to get the book. So...yeah! Ooh, an hour and 10 minutes left now!

Hehe, I preordered it on Amazon and they said it should arrive tomorrow (but you never know)

I have to work all this weekend anyways, but my roomie usually goes to Habersham on mondays so I'll ask her to swing by my parents' house to get it for me ^.^

PS - Ew, Snape  *sticks out tongue* lol

I'm hoping to finish it by Sunday's midnight, or even before then. It's a bit longer then HBP and that only took me a day to read, so who knows.

Lol, I proudly say that I love and trust Snape. He's just so...I don't know how to describe it. I just love him, and I'm pulling for him in Deathly Hallows. If he turns out to be evil, I'll forever hate JKR.

He always just rubbed me the wrong way. I love my Hermione and Luna *hugs poor Luna that everyone rags on*

I adore Luna!! She kinda reminds me of me sometimes with her craziness. And Evanna Lynch's peformance in OotP was perfect; that's exactly how I imagined her voice to be. I love Hermione too, with her nerdiness and love for school *starts to think of a certain redheaded witch*

People are pretending like they aren't forming a line earlier then planned, so I'm gonna go before I have to wait in the back and read over people's shoulders while I wait. I'll be back once I finish reading, which will hopefully be tomorrow night. Adios!

Pfft Snape *IS* evil :P Hate Draco too... *grumbles* lol and yes, Luna was good in the movie. Her actress is so sweet ^.^

And damn damn damn, I have to work monday so my roomie can't go pick up my book at home.... (we share a car) They better not kill Harry or Hermione or Ron... or yeah, Luna *waves a hand* They can kill Cho... never liked the girl... Ginny is so much better for Harry -- me and roomie loved the glaring from Ginny in the movie, lol

*bounces around carrying the book, looks up with a wide and slightly evil grin* not only do I have it but I have finished it. And it was great. *bounces away grinning evilly*

Uhm, Jace, could you, I mean, I love spoilers, so pleeeeease! Not here of course, but my email addy can be found on my profile, and I'd really like to know if I need to buy the book or not. (Mostly I want to know what happens to Snape and Draco.) So, spoil me please....

Also, everyone, do us all a favor and be careful about the "I hate character X" stuff. Unlike with BtVS we don't know that we have a common ground (like thinking B/S and Spike are fab), and it'd be a pity if this turned into a fight because someone felt their favorite character(s) got bashed.

 fight? don't think you'll have to worry about that. All Harry fans hate Snape and Cho and Draco. Jace, don't make me jealous. I won't get to read anytime soon because I have buy Science books worth RS.20000 this month so I can prepare for some exams. I'll be broke for a few months :(  If Dia gets spoilers I should get them too. 

*raises hand* I don't hate Snape or Draco. They're two of my favorite characters. And I don't hate Cho either, she's actually pretty cool and I wish she had a bigger part besides being Harry's first girlfriend. Not all HP fans hate those characters, especially Snape and Draco who have a very large fanbase that's almost equal to Harry's. Just don't make generalizations like that because, like Diabola said, you don't know who likes/dislikes a character and I'd feel horrible for starting this thread if a fight broke out.

And you don't need to ask friends for spoilers. Wikipedia already has the plot of DH posted. In fact, the whole plot was posted way before I even got the book. Stupid people in Europe that are nine hours ahead.

But I finally finished it and, even though it's completely pointless, I've taken a vow of silence and refuse to give anything away. All I'm gonna say is that I love the ending and that my friends and I were right about some of the characters' fates. Though thank goodness I don't really know anyone here so none of you will know what that means.

*puts her hand up too*  I don't hate Snape or Draco either.  I think both of them have alot more facets to them, just like Spike.   In fact, I find them both much more fascinating characters than Harry and Ron.  My opinion, now, so don't go blasting me.  Personally, I'm pretty indifferent about Cho.

Thanks Jace, now I can wait until the paperback is out; I already exhausted my annual hardcover quota anyway by preordering The Mad God's Wrath, so yeah... ;-)

And I'm with Mary concerning the characters. So see, the opinions differ, best not turn this into a discussion of which characters are better than others. In no time the debate would get so heated, an outsider will think we've been invaded by Bangels. *snickers*

*laughs with Dia*  your welcome.  If you want to know anything else just tell me and I would be happy to ramble because I'm a fast reader and my friends aren't so I'm dying to talk about the book with someone.

Oh, feel free to ramble at me. I have absolutely no problems with knowing everything that happens before I read a book. In fact, if I'm not sure whether I'll like something I intend to read, I'll read the ending first. ;-) The fate of the two characters I asked about was simply what I was most anxious to know. Since I'm going to wait for the paperback to buy the book, I'd be more than happy to have more information. (And I know what you mean with wanting to talk about it. I often have the same problem, finishing a book earlier than others, and having to be careful not to spoil anyone. C is always careful to remind me, but even so I've managed to tell her more than she wanted to know on several occassions. *lol* )

lol

Well I don't think anyone thought I was trying to start a Snape war and if they did then bad on them :P

And yup, already found some spoiler-y reviews of the book on a fansite or two. Which was totally not what the guy at work told me happened - but he was just relaying what another friend said; he didn't read it yet either. So either the friend was BSing him or just relaying something from the bad spoilers that were rampant before the actual release - I didn't even look at those. I am also guilty of wanting to know the ending... I have no patience and then I can get the jokes and foreshadowing and irony, of course.

I didn't mean it that way. More like, we hate them when Harry hates them. As characters I love them. HP wouldn't be the same without them. Infact fans like Draco so much that JKR actually requests fans somewhere on her site not to. Says something like Draco shouldn't be your ideal guy no matter how cute Tom Felton is. But it's hard to resist Blond Brits, no?

I am so often wrong when it comes to predicting events in fictional works, that I am quite blown away to have discovered that the only two predictions I had regarding the book were both spot on. :-o 

My husband is 400 miles away, slumbering peacefully, which is why I have chosen you wonderful people to share this wonderful piece of news with. :-P

Eight hours of reading - you'd think I'd be tired; instead I am all wound up. I have been hiding from spoilers and such for the past couple of days, and now I feel free! 

ETA: Nobody's Girl, is that Kareena Kapoor in your avi?

Okay, so was no one else disappointed?  I seriously think JK sold out.  I mean half the book reads like she's writing for the big screen - you know, all done for effect, with little substance.  I don't think this is the book we were promised, but rather the book she thought all the kiddies wanted to read.

- Cas

I thought the  final battle was a bit anti climatic...

I do agree that the final battle was a bit anti climatic.

me too, like there was this big battle and then  Harry and Voldemort go at it and mep it's over.

**WARNING: Spoilers ahead; you have been warned**

So my vow of no-DH-spoilers silence is officially over since it's been over a week and most fans have either finished the book or have read the plot of Wikipedia or gotten spoilers somewhere else.

I wasn't planning to say much here since I've been talking almost nonstop about it on HP forums with fans that finished the book and it kinda wore me out. But when I logged on here and saw the picture of the cornucopia with the ghost, I couldn't help it.

So the cornucopia pic instantly reminded me of Dumbledore's like, "Alas! A cornucopia of love!" in the Potter Puppet Pals cartoon "Trouble at Hogwarts." And then thinking of that reminded me of Snape and I cried for like the 100th time this week.

What I really can't stand is how completely pointless his death was. If Snape had to die, I always imagined it to be something like Voldemort doing the Killing Curse against a wandless Harry and Snape jumps in front of him or pushes him out of the way and dies protecting him.

I didn't crry when he died though; I think it was because it was so quick and I didn't really register that Snape had died. But when Harry and Voldemort are walking around each other all overly dramatic and Harry tells Voldemort how Snape was never his and that his love for Lily was what made him become a spy for Dumbledore, that was when I started to tear up. But I was bawling when Harry is saying to Albus how Severus was one of the bravest people he knew. I couldn't take it after that.

That's really the only problem I haad with the book. Ooh! I thought Peter's payback to Harry was really lame and anticlimatic. I paused while reading and said, "That's it? That's the big life debt Wormtail owes Harry? Laaame!" And the final battle between Voldemort and Harry was kinda overdramatic. But it's really funny if you imagine it as a Mexican standoff with tumbleweeds and everything. 'Tis very amusing

Other then that, I love the book and the ending. *applauds JKR*

Yes, it is. I just love her. Didn't know anyone here knew her.

 "Yes, it is. I just love her. Didn't know anyone here knew her."

Well at least one another person here does. :nod:

I've tried my best to make this not reveal any spoiler, just to register an opinion about the book. If it is in violation, please tell me so and I'll immediately apologize and remove it, or fully support its removal (or remove it myself, if I can figure the buttons out)

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I didn't expect to love the book as much as I ended up doing, to be honest. My only quibble was the thing that Hermione does in the final battle, you know, the act that most other characters get to do with lots of fanfare in the book? It was a pivotal character moment for everyone else when it happened, and I really wanted to see Hermione in action.

Other than that, and the mawkish epilogue, I loved it!

(that was sufficiently muddled for people who want to be unspoiled, right?)

Power of the Book

although it has been slated, i loved the epilogue. although i wanted more information, i thought jks idea of watching the family from afar, obscured from the steam of the train worked really well. and if you want to know any more details JK wanted to add but didnt, or just some ideas she came up with that were never needed in the book, theres a copy of the transcript from a live webchat from a few days ago on mugglenet. It explains things from what the third scent hermione smells in the love potion (rons hair btw), to where u can get ur broomstick repaired. i found it really  interesting after reading the epilogue, wanting more lol.

obv i dont neecd to tell you how much i loved the book (i think its partially because loads and loads of my theories turned out to be right, so yay) or because of the huge twists i never expected! lol. anyway, it was great.

Just finished it and it was great!  My theories about Snap and Harry were right so I was very happy about that.  I thought the epilogue was a little corny (felt like I was reading fanfic) but it was in a good way.  Loved the book, just sad to see the journey of Harry Potter over.

-beanie