In all, a very good book. I agree with the sentiments that the epilogue was a little cheesy - a nice setting for it, but too much of it seemed a bit forced. One thing I have found over the last 2-3 books is the first half tends to be a bit tedious, but when the action and story pick up in the latter half of the books, that's where Rowling shines. Too many of the relationships feel a bit forced because the writing feels a bit clunky in those spots. The mechanisms Rowling uses to fill in holes in the story, especially via the Pensieve or dreams/visions tend to be a bit slow and forced as well. But by doing this she manages to tie up all the loose ends, which in the case of this series is nice because there are so many subplots going on.   posted Jul 25, 2007 at 11:56AM