And another thing...

[penfold_x]

This book was dark. I knew it had to be (particularly since I was convinced since day one that Dumbledore would die, most probably in this book), but I was still somewhat surprised. Yet, it had to be that way: the children reading the paper every morning to see if a friend or family had died, the death of other minor characters, the fear, the siding of the giants and the werewolves with Voldemort. Until now, Voldemort hasn't been very effective. We know, intellectually, that he terrorized wizarding Britian in the 70s, but that's not the same as reading that Amelia Bones and Emmeline Vance are dead, that Parvati and Padma were withdrawn from school, that Bill is horribly mauled. JKR did a very good job of bringing that sense of fear and gloom to the book. We need to feel that Voldemort is really evil in order to fully appriciate Harry's eventual triumph.

But, yes, it was dark. Reading the scene where Dumbledore and Harry cross the lake in the cave, I pictured how this would eventually be filmed. It's going to be a very scary movie; perhaps even R rated.