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Boy, you people read fast! It took me nearly 14 hours, almost non-stop, to finish! I didn’t finish it until 3 am Sunday. I saw on the countdown thread that a couple of you were posting at 1:30 Saturday am that you had finished it! How in the heck did you do that?? I barely had the book in hand by then (B&N was a mess here, too)! I LOVED this book. LOVED IT! I think I cried through the last 200 pages. Sacrifice and redemption triumph over bigotry and cruelty. Love and loyalty win over self interest and apathy. From the obvious characters right down to the Grey Lady. One of you said JKR joins The Inklings with this book and I totally agree. Epic, yet very personal. It’s not flawless, but it’s brilliant. I even love the sappy epilogue (does anybody think there is significance in 19 years? Strange number). I wish she’d taken more time with Snape’s death. I wish we’d seen Lupin and Tonks deaths (it was awful to just see them lying there side by side with the dead), wish Tonks had survived, wish Fred had survived. Loved the part where all the parents, townspeople and creatures came pouring over the wall to join the fight. Loved setting the dragon loose (can’t wait to see that in the movie!)Loved Neville pulling the sword out of the Sorting Hat. Loved the Marauders walking Harry to meet his death. Loved DD and Harry in Kings Cross (very Gandalf/Frodo). Really loved Ron coming back, the whole sequence at the lake with the sword; Harry digging the grave and figuring it all out; seeing Snape’s love for Lily (the doe was genius), then Harry vindicating Snape in front of everyone (the wand thing was brilliant, brains over brawn); Molly taking out Bellatrix (Neville couldn’t have done it. Ginny is stronger than any of the girls and even with three on one they couldn’t take her down). And I love that she didn’t answer every question in the epilogue. Leaves room for more, and I really want more! I hope she’s already starting on the next series, timed to come out right after the last movie!