Just finished about an hour ago....A few thoughts:
- "Not my daughter you @$!@" is the best line in any book I've ever read.
- Ron and Hermione (duh

) finally getting together was so much better than the anti-climax it could have been.
- I couldn't put the book down. MUCH faster paced than anything else she's written. From the escape from Privet Drive on, I knew I'd be finishing the book today.
- Severus Snape will go down as one of the great literary characters of all time. Just ridiculously well done on Rowling's part!
- There were some unanswered questions (Dudley & the dementors, the person that "comes to magic late in life", their professions after they're grown), but there were bound to be with a story this complex. For me, I'm relatively satisfied with how she tied things up.
- A lot of people talking about the number of deaths...keep in mind, Jo has always used parallels with the real world, and in the real world, people die - often pointlessly - in war. That she portrays that through the deaths of Lupin, Tonks, and Colin Creavy only makes the story that much more real.
- I gasped several times while reading, but the loudest was during that final scene, when Harry was telling Riddle about the wand. Just a
great twist there. And how appropriate that it was Riddle's own desire to kill that lead to his own death? Harry didn't try to kill him...only to disarm. Dumbledore would have been proud!
I'll probably give it a day to digest, then re-read the book at a slower pace. But upon first reading, I'd have to say this is my favorite book of the series.