Definitely darker, and it could have been edited down some more, but damn, J.K. Rowling knows how to move a story along. Now I just have to wait another couple of years for the next book, and then another couple for the one after that...

Dammit. Write faster, Rowling!

(It's 1:39 a.m., for the record, and yes, I've been reading straight through since about 7 p.m. I probably skimmed a bit in my quest to find out what happens next. I'm tempted to read the whole series to date straight through, to see if I can pick up on things I missed. A few surprises, a few obvious things happened, one "no she's not really going to go through with this" big old honkin' surprise, and a pretty murky ending. Want... next... book....)