...I didn't think that Hallows was Hollow! Bwah-ha-ha!!! Ha!
...see, it's a pun.
...
OK, not really.
Never mind.
Anyway...
I feel that Rowling hit the beats that she needed to hit in order to finish off the Harry Potter story, without too much tap-dancing to tie up her loose ends. I definitely enjoyed the ride, and it was kind of fun to feel the synergy of sharing the read with so many other people (I saw tons of copies of Deadly Hallows running around campus today).
It struck me -- as I was pondering the "quality" of the writing, which is a hot-topic and favorite target for the semilliterati talking heads, both large and small -- that my experience of Harry Potter has really benefited from the movies. I think that many of the shortcomings of the novels are improved by the pacing and visual experience of the movies, and, of course, the intricacies and depth of the written narrative make the movies a much better experience. I will say, though, that the movies, alone, would really suffer if evaluated as isolated creations.
