It seems odd that, with the primacy this series places upon death and its impact on the living, death in this last novel is treated almost flippantly. The only time someone's end really appears to impact Harry is in the case of Dobby, and even that seems a bit forced. Everyone else who bites it, save the villains, is firmly ensconced in the periphery of the narrative. I mean, Moody dies, people mope for a bit, mention is made of failing to find the body and then...nothing, except for an off-hand use of his eye as a plot device. Lupin and Tonks die, and then what? Harry almost seems to gloss over it, and no mention is made of the weighty responsibility such events place upon him -- his first thought after the battle, after all, concerns a sandwich and a warm bed.
Veering back on point. I'm willing to accept Harry's escape from death and the boatload of metaphysical sentiment that ensues since that generally fits with the mood of the series, but come on. Where is the meaning in all this sacrifice if the main half dozen or so children remain annoyingly invulnerable thanks in a large part to miracles of chance that strain the capacity of even the most fervent admirers to suspend disbelief?
In short, I feel that the inability of Rowling to kill off one of the plucky band of teenage heroes cheapens to some degree any moral that may have been reached regarding the nature of death, not to mention the meaning of sacrifice in the novels.
Fun read regardless, but...meh. It was the same problem I had with Lost for awhile -- everyone who bites it is

ing irrelevant in the long run.