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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
By J. K. Rowling
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Product Description
Starred Review. Potter fans, relaxthis review packs no spoilers. Instead, we're taking advantage of our public platform to praise Rowling for the excellence of her plotting. We can't think of anyone else who has sustained such an intricate, endlessly inventive plot over seven thick volumes and so constantly surprised us with twists, well-laid traps and Purloined Letter-style tricks. Hallows continues the tradition, both with sly feats of legerdemain and with several altogether new, unexpected elements. Perhaps some of the surprises in Hallows don't have quite the punch as those of earlier books, but that may be because of the thoroughness and consistency with which Rowling has created her magical universe, and because we've so raptly absorbed its rules. We're also seizing the occasion to wish out loud that her editors had done their jobs more actively. It's hard to escape the notion that the first three volumes were more carefully edited than the last four. Hallows doesn't contain the extraneous scenes found in, say, Goblet of Fire, but the momentum is uneven. Rowling is much better at comedy than at fight scenes, and no reader of the sixth book will be startled to hear that Hallows has little humor or that its characters engage in more than a few fights. Surely her editors could have helped her find other methods of building suspense besides the use of ellipses and dashes? And craft fight dialogue that sounds a bit less like it belongs in a comic book? Okay, we're quibbling. We know these minor nuisances won't dent readers' enjoyment, at least not this generation of readers; we couldn't put Hallows down ourselves. But we believe Rowling, and future readers, deserved even better. Ages 9-12. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #53 in Books
Published on: 2007-07-21
Released on: 2007-07-21
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
784 pages
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Dazzling! Highly anticipated saga reveals a breathtaking conclusion.


Harry Potter...this name has been echoed all across the globe, and J.K. Rowling's phenomenon has been wrapped up with exciting and satisfying finale. Fans hungrily awaited the highly anticipated midnight release date, eying the fresh copies with a look of pure greed in there eye. Among these people, I finally received my copy, and it was cradled warmly in my arms. Getting home in a frenzy, the novel was finished before morning, and I, and the majority of the fan community, had not been disappointed.

Prior to this exciting night, we have all wondered and fantasized; Whose side is Snape really on? Who would triumph; Voldemort or Harry? What exactly is the "Deathly Hallows"? Will Ron and Hermione finally get together? What had Dumbledore seen in the Mirror of Erised? Who would die? Who could be trusted? The suspense cackled to the awaiting community, till I thought I was going mad with anticipation.

The novel begins a little slowly yet satisfyingly, but soon morphs into a thrilling broomstick chase. It pleases me that action happens early in this book, making me urgent to read on. Things seem peaceful in the burrow, and the wedding was going smoothly when it's interrupted by the vicious Death Eaters, and things suddenly transform from a light, carefree occasion to the suspenseful aura of life and death. From there, this volume progresses, tension rising till it tilts at a breath-taking climax. However, the final outcome was slightly predictable with the death of Lord Voldemort.

The intricate plot goes all the way back to book one, weaving the sentences and storylines to form a complex rug of color. The twists and turns made this a page-turner, and my eyes were glued to the paper, even long after it was finished; I'd started to read it again. And again. And not so long after that, again. So far, I've read it a total of fifteen times.

I missed Hogwarts. This is not a negative thing, just something that I wished didn't happened, though I knew it was crucial to be so. I missed the Quidditch, interesting classes, and loads of homework assignments, dangerous spells, N.E.W.T. exams, and school secrets. It felt like I myself had missed my final year of Hogwarts along with Harry, and that was a year I had been looking forward to the most. Instead, he's out in a dark and dangerous world. This is not a bad plotline, just...a different one.

The characters mature and develop in amazing ways, and they're flawed to a lovable perfection that almost everybody can relate to. The dialogue is one of her greatest talents, I can easily imagine these characters speaking to each other in my head. I imagine them too often in fact, sometimes, they won't shut up. However, at the end, I felt like asking some characters... were have they been? What happened to Luna's parent's? Neville's grandmother? The remaining Death Eaters? Important information has been left out.

This book wasn't perfect, no, not at all. The death and loss in this book are shallow, and no real emotion was experienced when the characters died, especially Lupin, Tonks, and Fred near the book's end. The value of the loss isn't explored, making the reader forget more about what is missing, and making the whole tragedy almost cheesy. This is not realistic, and unless Harry is insensitive, then we're really missing something here.

Also, the epilogue was amateurish and thoroughly unsatisfying, and again, didn't include a ton of crucial information that J.K. Rowling only discussed in chat transcripts. The book would have been a lot better without it, and I felt like skipping over the almost insulting sentences and winced when I'd done that section.

Even though this book has it's flaws, nothing is perfect. In a way, I'm glad it has it's imperfections; I learn to be a better writer when reading them. If it was a beautifully written, flawless novel, I may have been too intimidated to write on my own. I just look past this book's bad parts, and focus on the good sections. When I read this book over, and over, and over, and over, the structure of the sentences jump out at me, and each time I read it, I look at this book in a different way every time. It's a highly entertaining adventure, and I look forward to reading it - again, in the future.

No matter how good this book was, nobody can deny what J.K. Rowling has created - an incredible, complex world of wizards and witches, one that seems too real to not be true. She inspired thousands - if not millions - of people, and encouraged a lot of young readers to learn, write, read, and think for themselves.

As I turned the final page of Harry Potter, sadness wells in my heart that there shall be no more, yet I'm deeply grateful to Ms. Rowling for the gift she has given us. The fascinating realm she created. The gift of real magic.




OMG!
I could barely believe it when I got it two weeks before than expected!

Great book. It still leaves some loose ends, but certainly closes the circle.