This was just a s incoherent as the TV show.

A wonderful collection of stories that give a lot more depth to the Endless...

7 Mar 2015: It's been five years since I last read this?! WOW. I have forgotten a lot of the details. After I have now re-read the entire book series, I am still amazed by how different the last book is from the first. The final two books are in my opinion definitely the most powerful, fleshed-out books. Though, of course, the deus ex machinae are riduculously over-present. Everything just *happens* to happen at the most opportune moment?! Must be magic.


27 Nov 2010: Read for the third time to freshen up my memory - there seem to be a lot of deus ex machinae, but Rowling has a way of making them seem like the most logical thing in the world. Good conclusion to the series, which explains pretty much everything.

This is truly the point at which the story matures—in many senses. While the previous books retained their youthful innocence, this book solemnly lifts the Wizarding World to a whole new level. It is a world apart from the rather half-baked, borderline first books, which relied too much on clichees.

Book six is the maturity of the story: for the epic mystery that is finally lifted; for the gloomy prospects ahead. But also for Harry himself, as he finally gets drowned in teen drama. And lastly, it's the maturity of Rowling's writing. Her earlier books were nowhere near these later masterpieces. She has definitely learned a lot in the process of writing five books and here, in the sixth book, it finally shows.

tl;dr: Why is Dumbledore being so stupid?!

I have read this book, in its entirety, for something between the fifth and tenth time now. It is a brilliant book like all of the others, but it is definitely the most tedious and probably least enjoyable one. The obvious reason for that is the frustrating experience of reading through anything related to Umbridge. (Also, sometimes Snape).

Another wonderful collection of short stories out of Neil Gaiman's feather - especially exciting are the new stories about Shadow from American Gods, Doctor Who (alas, my least favorite Doctor, but still) and even Sherlock Holmes. But I don't want to indicate that those are the only good stories. Some of the original ones are also quite mind-boggling/charming/wonderful/fantastic. Just what you'd expect from Neil Gaiman.

However, ironically my attention span doesn't agree with short stories so much. Some of the stories just didn't catch my attention, so I ended up just skipping ahead to the next story. I much prefer Neil Gaiman's full-length novels, and I hope there are many to come in the future.

Still a bit heavy on the Deux Ex Machina, but other than that increasingly brilliant!