Original Post:
Oh, wow.

I’m not going to spill the book’s secrets. But, oh, wow.

Let me do say that Rowling has gotten much, much tighter with her writing; that the book is not as grumpy as the fifth (thank heavens) though it it pretty dark; and that this along with Prisoner of Azkaban, is my favorite.

I am dying to talk to people about it, but I don’t want to write spoilers. Not yet, anyway. I guess that’s what I get for reading the book the day it comes out.

July 28th Update (with spoilers!):
Since more people have read it by now…. My thoughts.

First off, I LOVED the book. A bit of history: Prisoner of Azkaban has long been my favorite. I thought it had the most interesting story, and the writing was just enjoyable to read. I enjoyed the fourth — thought the ending was great — even though it was long, but I thought the fifth dragged. Even when I re-read it right before the sixth came out. It’s so depressing and angst-ridden. A decent story, though way too much exposition. But because of that, Rowling was able to get right to the point on this one and propelled the plot quicker. I’ve also read in interviews (on Mugglenet and in Time) that she really enjoyed the writing experience of this book, and it shows.

I loved that Harry finally figured out that Ginny was a great girl, and that Ron and Hermione (mostly) got their acts together. Well, Ron mostly. (Though the Lavender bits were funny, too. “Won-won” cracked me up. Didn’t we all know girls like that?) My husband and brother are down on the way the Harry-Ginny relationship ended in the book, but I didn’t mind. Mabye it’s a male-female thing.

I’m agnostic about Snape. When I first finished reading, I was pretty sure he’d declared his intentions and Dumbledore was wrong to trust him. But after very long discussions with Russell and other bloggers and reading the interviews, I’m not so sure. I find Snape to be one of the more fascinating characters in the book and I can’t wait to see what Rowling does with his character. Hopefully, it’ll live up to all our expectations.

The challenge now is waiting the two years until the next one comes out. This book has one of her best endings… what a cliff-hanger!