i loved it. if you havent read it yet, dont read anymore of this post.
my heart was beating so fast throughout most of the book. there were moments when i had to stop and catch my breath before moving on. then there were the parts i looked up from the book, emitted a squashed high pitched sound or simply smiled in delight and anticipation or murmured 'oh my goodness' and shook my head in disbelief. goosebump-inducing.
i was torn between wanting to finish it and not wanting it to end. after all, there's only one first time. it must be savoured. but like stephen king pointed out, we're built such that we need closure. and what a closure this was!
there were parts i didnt like, and some expectations that went unfulfilled. but once i got towards the ending - whoa. jk rowling completely stole my heart away. starting from snape's death onwards..she had me. hook, line and sinker.
those were the parts i felt were worth rereading. the rest, for now, pales in comparison. i didnt cry when snape died, although now i wish i had. it was just so awful, so gut-wrenching and terrible upon second reading, after you KNOW for sure what's really going on.
i loved the final fight between harry and voldemort - the dialogue, the way harry didnt fear voldemort, how he called him tom riddle ala dumbledore. "expelliarmus" was slightly anti-climatic but i guess it had to be done.
other things i liked: the subtle way that harry was becoming more like dumbledore. harry's walk into the forest. i open at the close. ron and harry's friendship. the revelation of snape's patronus. the shock of the end of Chapter 8. how the blue eye in the mirror turned out to be aberforth. neville the gryffindor. the fact that scrimgeour didnt give harry away. the part when harry realised something was wrong at luna's house.
things i'm still on the fence about: dumbledore's history. the sheer number of miraculous escapes contained in one book. umbridge having the locket. harry using unforgiveable curses.
some (and i stress, SOME) favourite quotes:
1. "Give me Harry Potter," said Voldemort's voice, "and none shall be harmed...You have until midnight."
The silence swallowed them all again...Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table and he recognised Pansy Parkinson as she raised a shaking arm and screamed, "But he's here! Potter's there! Someone grab him!"
Before Harry could speak, there was a massive movement. The Gryffindors in front of him had risen and stood facing, not Harry, but the Slytherins. Then the Hufflepuffs stood, and, almost at the same moment, the Ravenclaws, all of them with their backs to Harry, all of them looking towards Pansy instead, and Harry, awestruck and overwhelmed, saw wands emerging everywhere, pulled from beneath cloaks and from under sleeves.
2. He pressed the golden metal to his lips and whispered, "I am about to die."
3. Snape raised his eyebrows and his tone was sardonic as he asked, "Are you intending to let him kill you?"
"Certainly not. You must kill me."
There was a long silence, broken only by an odd clicking noise. Fawkes the phoenix was gnawing at a bit of cuttlebone.
"Would you like me to do it now?" asked Snape, his voice heavy with irony. "Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?"
4. And my soul, Dumbledore? Mine?
5. Snape turned at the door.
"Don't worry, Dumbledore," he said coolly. "I have a plan..."
And Snape left the room. Harry rose up out of the Pensieve, and moments later he lay on the carpeted floor in exactly the same room: Snape might have just closed the door.
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