Aug 2, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Chapter 36
Chapter 36: The Flaw In The Plan
Woo! Exciting! What a finale!
Things that were awesome: Neville saving the day and pulling the sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat. McGonagall, Slughorn, and Kingsley taking on Voldemort. Molly Weasley bitch-slapping Bellatrix Lestrange. The charge of the Kreacher and the house elves. Harry's sacrifice protecting the good guys.
Things that were head-scratching: Where the hell had Charlie Weasley been all this time? Also, Harry kind of won on a technicality, didn't he? It's a little unsatisfying that so much depended on who was the "rightful" owner of the Elder Wand, although it's undeniably cool that it turned out to have been Harry. The fact the Voldemort died from his own curse, rather than forcing Harry to cast an Avada Kedavra was definitely a nice touch.
Voldemort made, like, every possible Evil Overlord mistake in this chapter, but I can't really nitpick. The day is saved.
No spoilers for, like, the epilogue, I guess?
I loved that part with Molly!
I had mixed feelings about this chapter, largely because I felt that chapters 29-24 (the trios’ entering Hogwarts via the picture frame through Harry’s sacrifice) were so exciting and strong. The final two, while they had their moments (yaaaaaaay Neville! – I liked something I read somewhere describing Neville as the anti-Wormtail), were not as good. Chapter 35 (King’s Cross) did weird things with the pacing.
Also, I really didn’t like Molly Weasley kicking off her fight with Bellatrix Lestrange by calling her a bitch — it gave the whole thing an overtone of a catfight when it should been just plain old straight badassery.