Would that I could write a well-planned and cohesive review like Zoot's -- but, alas, I cannot.

I was in the midst of chapter 19 when I had a conversation with my mom in which she told me I should not read chapter 28 while out in public. She said I'd want to be home when I read it.

Well, being how I am, I had to look ahead. I get very emotionally involved in my books and I can't concentrate on the story if I know something awful is looming on the horizon. I'd known someone was going to die but I had managed to keep myself from searching for the answer as to whom. When I heard the exact chapter, though, it was all over. If I hadn't looked ahead I'd have ended up skimming, not really reading and understanding, till I got to 28, anyway.

So I looked, and I saw who it was, and (some of) what happened. And I have not been able to read it again since. I am frozen at chapter 19, knowing what happens at the end but not anything between those two points. And, to tell the truth, I am not really sure when I will feel like picking it up again. I just don't have the heart to go on right now.

I had every hope that book 7 would solve all the wizarding world's problems and tie everything up with a nice little bow, with the characters tripping happily off into the sunset. Now I'm not so sure. Now I'm not sure I even want to read it. If this can happen then I can see the series ending on a sadder note, with things left unresolved. And I don't know that I will be able to deal with that.