So I finished it. At around 7pm last night. No I didn’t put it off that long, I started reading almost straight away after the last entry but M. rang me when I was nearly done. So we discussed where she was up to and favourite bits, possible theories about the end, though since I was nearly there that part of the ‘discussion’ consisted of M. asking me questions I wasn’t allowed to answer. After we’d talked I finished the book.
First thing to say is that the ‘slashdot guy’ was lying.
I made the mistake of going online and checking out the Leaky Cauldron forum. Lots of the fans were really negative about the book. They hadn’t liked that all the ends weren’t tied up. Particularly things that had been mentioned previously in interviews etc. They felt that it didn’t match up to the quality of earlier books. They thought the writing was poor. There were too many plot inconsistencies. A think a few suffered from having read the photos version and thinking it was fake, mentally, and no doubt on the forum, ripped it apart. When they found it was real they felt cheated.
Maybe it’s because I was never an obsessive fan, but I’ve just read all 7 books back to back and I see no dip in quality. I see a step up in book 6, mostly because that’s where the relationship stuff and the humour meet my preferences, and book 7 carries on in that vein raising the bar slightly again.
For me it was fun. Now I’ve got a whole backlog of movies to watch.