Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) Reviews

• A perfect ending to a glorious series

  
  By A1IU7S4HCK1XK0 on 2007-07-21
  Before the release of the seventh and last book of the Harry Potter series, I re-read all the preceding volumes. Throughout, I followed how the author developed her grand theme of Right vs Wrong, the strong vs the weak and the evils of the misuse of power. How was Rowling to end this series? Obviously, the Apocalypse was at hand, and the heroic struggle between Harry Potter and the evil Voldemort would be the climax of the series. While we waited for the last book, rumors abounded. Fake spoilers floated over the internet like the soul-sucking Dementors, threatening to extinguish the enjoyment people would get from this final volume. So, no spoilers from this reviewer. All I will say is that "Deathly Hallows" lived up to my expectations and in fact, ended pretty much as I imagined it would. Rowling keeps true to her theme right to the end and to her artistic vision as well. There is plenty of action right from the get-go. This is by far the most exciting of the seven books, with duels, battles, fights, daring escapes and amazing twists of fortune. There are plenty of surprises and also many reasons to weep. The action sometimes is non-stop, but from time to time, there are welcome respites in the action, times for moments of tenderness or friendship between surprising pairings of characters. The sub-theme of the redeptive power of Love is evident in these idylls. J. K. Rowling is a master writer who has created an amazing work of art with the Harry Potter series and just as any master craftsman, she has chosen the perfect finish for a fine series of books. I look forward to new series with entire new worlds or...perhaps this is really the end. Some authors do write themselves out when they've said their say. I don't know. But I do know this author is one I enjoy reading and I hope we have many more new adventures to discover from her pen. Bravo! Joanna Daneman
  
  

• A stunning and thoroughly satisfying conclusion

  
  By A33CLVW2K7SL1P on 2007-07-21
  This is arguably the most "hyped" book in history, and if J.K. Rowling had to sneak down to the kitchen for a glass of red wine to calm her nerves while writing The Goblet of Fire (as she said she did), one wonders what assuaged her while writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The collective breath of tens of millions of readers has been held for two years...and now...was it worth the wait? Did Ms. Rowling live up to the hype? (For that, amongst hundreds of questions, is really the only question that matters.)
  
  The answer, most assuredly, is YES.
  
  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is told in a strikingly different style than the previous six books - even different from The Half Blood Prince, and, I daresay, it's a better written, better edited, tighter narrative. And while the action is lively and well paced throughout, Rowling found a way to answer most of our questions while introducing new and complex ideas. What fascinated me was this: Some people were right, with regard to who is good, who is bad, who will live, who will die - but almost nobody got the "why" part correct. I truthfully expected an exciting but rather predictable ending, but instead was thrown for a loop. We've known that Rowling is fiendishly clever for years - but I didn't think she was *this* clever.
  
  Not since turning the final page of The Return of the King twenty-eight years ago have I felt such a keen sense of loss. My love affair (indeed, everyone's love affair, I imagine) with all things Harry began somewhere in the first three chapters of The Sorcerer's Stone, and has lasted, on this side of the Atlantic, three months shy of nine years. For all that time we have waited and wondered - was Dumbledore right to trust Snape? Will Ron and Hermione get together? What's to become of Ginny and Harry? What really happened on that tower, when Dumbledore was blasted backwards, that "blast" atypical of the Avada Kedavra curse as we've seen it when used throughout the series. So many more questions than those listed here, and so many devilishly well-hidden hints. The answers, as I hinted above, will shock and awe you.
  
  When first we met Harry Potter, he was "The Boy Who Lived", with an address of "The Cupboard Under the Stairs". Who could help but bleed sympathy for Harry, treated abysmally - abused, really - by the only blood relatives he had, and forced to live under said stairs by those awful Muggles, the Dursleys? It was a sensationally brilliant introduction, one that ensured that our heartstrings would be plucked and enchanted to sing. He was The Boy Who Lived.
  
  Since reading that first book, we have enjoyed Rowling's spry sense of humor - portraits that spoke, stairways that moved at any given moment, Hagrid jinxing Dudley so that a pigs tail grew from his behind, Fred and George's fantastic creations, etc, etc., etc., and more etc's. There was a sense of wonder and magic in Rowling's writing, so thoroughly captivating that the recommended age group of 9-12 in no way resembled the book's actual audience. It was common to see adults walking about with hardcover copies of the latest book, sans dust jacket (to hide the fact that they were reading a "kids" book, I suppose). It was also common to hear of eight year olds sitting down with a seven-hundred-plus page book! By themselves! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it.
  
  As for Harry, we admired him. He wasn't afraid to stand up for what he felt was right, even if he found himself in detention for it. He was brutally honest, and immensely courageous and loyal. Harry came to embody, at times, who we would like to be. He wasn't perfect, of course. He suspected Snape of being the one who was after the Sorcerer's Stone, and in The Chamber of Secrets, he thought that Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin. This didn't diminish Harry in our eyes - it made him more human, more real, and even, perhaps, more enviable.
  
  Endless fan sites have been erected. For an adult to go to any of them, and find that thirteen year olds are having an easier time parsing out the books plots, subplots, and mysteries, was (for me at least) humbling, but yet also a testament to Rowling herself, and her remarkable creation. She encouraged an entire generation of young readers to read and to think for themselves.
  
  But the time has come to say good-bye, for this is truly the end.
  
  So good-bye, Harry. Good-bye Hermione, Ron, Professor Dumbledore, *Professor* Snape, Professor McGonagall, Professor Hagrid, Ginny, Fred, George, Neville, Dobby (and all the house elves), even Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We will miss all of you, every character we encountered, from Muggle to Mudblood to hippogriff and owl, and everything about the world you all so vibrantly inhabit. And to Ms. Rowling: know that you have brought immeasurable joy to millions and millions of Muggles worldwide, and know that we cannot possibly thank you enough. What a tremendous gift you were given. Thank you for sharing it with us.
  
  
  

• Absolutely brilliant!

  
  By AYYEKLSAZ07Y1 on 2007-07-21
  I live in Eastern Europe, where there has not been a six-month advertising campaign, where bookstores were not open at midnight, and where people did not spend three days in sleeping bags outside of shop doors. I did, however, buy the book within two minutes after the relevant bookstore opened, and I read it in one go. Magnificent, that's all I can say. Certainly I do not want to give up any of the book's many secrets, but I can say this: Everyone who appeared in the first six books reappears in this one, without exception, and sometimes in cameos which say "And there, standing before him, were Cho and Mary and Peter and David and Lee and Andrew and Susie and John." There to make the appearance, never to be seen again. Sort of like Miss Jeannie and her mirror on Romper Room. Second, JK Rowling said that people would die in this book, and she was right. Won't say another word about that. Third, this is the decisive battle between good and evil, and I won't be giving away plot points to say that in the end, good wins, but with several twists. Fourth, several baddies turn out to be good. Won't say which ones, because some baddies remain very, very bad indeed. Fifth, I think JK Rowling deserves every one of the gazillions of dollars she's earned for this series, and I am terribly, terribly sorry that it's finished now, but "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" is certainly a heck of a way to go out with a big, big bang. Thank you, JK.
  
  

• Harry Potter and the Deus ex Machina

  
  By ALLJT7S5QOFFZ on 2007-07-21
  I know many people won't like this review, so I prepare myself at the outset for a barrage of unhelpful votes. I am not planning any major spoilers, but be warned: this review is mainly meant for the consumption of people who've read the book. After all, how many people out there are really planning to base their decision to read this on the opinion of a few internet reviewers?
  
  This book provides pretty much everything we've been promised from the outset: an ending, and a satisfying one at that -- but not without its price. Many die, not just the two Rowling mentioned in so many interviews. Many beloved characters die, and some of them die "off screen" as it were, so that we as readers aren't even privy to the details of their deaths, or their final moments of life. Some of these deaths will bring tears to the eyes of any loyal Potter devotee, I've no doubt of that. But as for the main death, the one so many have wondered over? Well, that's where Rowling falls back on a few too-worn literary devices, and where she loses one of her stars.
  
  I found this book to be far too full of easy short cuts and simplistic cliches to give it five stars. Far too many times, Harry and his friends were "mysteriously" saved at the last minute. And the real answers to these so-called mysteries will fall much more easily into the hands of die-hard Potter fanatics who've spent hours studying the books and pouring over the fan sites than they ever do into the hands of the characters themselves. This is too often frustrating. Perhaps it's unfair to criticize or punish Rowling for the perseverance and intelligence of her fans, but the fact is that many of her secrets have been guessed. In fact, the few that haven't seem only to surprise because Rowling conveniently has them pop up for the first time in this book. Magical objects we've seen many times before suddenly have new and useful -- and VERY convenient -- magical properties. People we've only heard of have convenient new information and relevance to the plot.
  
  She lost the other star because of omissions. Unexplained (and again, very convenient) plot twists, otherwise known as plot holes, are all over the book. A book this long that purports to be the end of an epic series should not have this many plot holes and inexplicable events. (None of which I can go into detail about without giving up major spoilers -- sorry.) And most damning of all, when some of the plot holes are explained, it's done in a manner resembling what the brilliant movie "The Incredibles" referred to as "monologuing" -- when one character (usually the bad guy) sits around explaining the whole plot and nothing bad happens to the good guys while all these lose ends are conveniently tied up. For some reason, the villain, no matter how vicious he has been throughout the story, always conveniently waits to attack until the hero's had plenty of time to get all the answers he needs to defeat the bad guy. The only change Rowling makes to this shopworn device is that she does it via magical means. (Though in her case, the magical mean in question is the Pensieve -- something shopworn in and of itself, considering the number of times it's now been used in this series to convey crucial information.) I was also sorely disappointed to realize that she left out a number of things she practically promised fans would be included in this book. For instance, many fans have asked her what Harry's parents did for a living. She always said she couldn't tell us because it would be too big a plot spoiler for the upcoming novels. Well, now the novels are all finished and we still don't know. Why didn't she include that in this final book, if it really was supposed to matter so much? And why did she leave so much crucial information out of her far too short epilogue?
  
  There is no doubt that in Harry Potter Rowling has created a brave and endurable hero, one who will linger in the hearts and minds of readers for generations to come. But in this humble reader's opinion, she has also created one for whom the struggle ended a bit too quickly and easily, of whom too many things are left unknown, and for whom answers and help came too readily and too conveniently in the end.
  
  Then again . . . maybe I just wanted it to last a little longer. Because it's over now, and nothing like Harry Potter is ever happening to this humble reader again.
  
  

• JKR has lost her mind

  
  By AHQOJ2QYA5NFO on 2007-07-21
  Unfortunately, if I could give this book zero stars I would. I don't know where the magic of books 1-5 went. But Book Seven is such a disappointment. What a horrible way to end what could have been a great series. Instead of tying up loose ends, new magical objects are introduced, things that seemingly should have been explained are left untouched and basic theories of what magic is able and not able to do are changed, switched or totally ignored. There is no continuity. As to the characters, where do I start. What happened to the strong Hermione we all knew in Book 1-5. She has turned into a crying girl that does Ron's laundry. Ginny, which according to JKR, was supposed to be so powerful is non-existant in this book. She is only there to offer herself to Harry as a birthday present and that is about it. Her character got no more "development" than it did in HBP and is certainly not worthy of the hero. Harry has turned into a hormonally charged useless dutz that only defeats Voldemort out of sheer dumb luck...in fact, he doesn't even really do anything. Ron, apparently has decided that he wants to control witches with the help of a book and shares his knowledge with Harry. Dumbledore isn't the pilar of the earth we are led to believe for this entire series. The only person to actually show some guts here is Neville. In fact, this book should have been Neville Longbottom and the Deathly Hallows. This book is rifled with inconsistencies, grammatical erros, plot holes, cheesy dialogue and rushed and convuluted plot. In fact, many of the plot points have been guessed on fan sites for years. So no suprise there. Many of the things that JKR mentioned as important were not. Things that seemed critical to find out are a total let down. And lastly, this is a children's book supposedly then how come there is alluded nudity, swearing, sexual innuendos gallore. Really, this could have been a wonderful series standing the test of time...unfortunately, this is neither Narnia nor Lord of the Rings...not even close. And the epilogue does not even merit mentioning. That is what JKR was working towards for all these years?
  
  
• Don't waste your money!!!
  By AGLGFYNDC9M2E on 2007-07-21
  JKR decided to write this book as fast as she could. Too many spelling and grammar mistakes. Not to mention all the loopholes. Hermione wipes her parents memory, but can't remember how to do it to Death Eaters less than 100 pages earlier? Ginny offers her body to Harry as a birthday gift and is left on the sidelines waiting for her man to return home from war. Hermione is turned into a crying, shaky, and emotional wreck. Ron needs a "how to guide" in order to learn how to act around girls. Harry comes off clueless and and A-Hole at times. JKR decided to kill off people, for what seems like no reason at all.
  
  As far as the plot...WAY TOO MANY HOLES. The horcruxes become a subplot to the Deathly Hallows. Voldemort dies the same way he did in Book 1, through his own rebounding curse. JKR had this build up to LOVE being the power-he-know-not, but LOVE isn't a factor in the final victory. Yes Harry gets his family in the very end, but no where along the line does he have ANYONE tell him that they love him. Too many problems to mention. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.
  
  
• Why did it have to end like this?
  By A30JVMVY6KL3EK on 2007-08-17
  I've been a huge fan of the Harry Potter series for a long time now, and I have to say, these books were all brilliant up until the seventh book. This one was overly long and drawn out, poorly written, and predictable to a fault, except of course when something ridiculous happens.
  
  Rowling breaks the rules of her world in just about every other chapter. Problems and plot twists are consistently summed up by the simple explanation of "something strange happened that nobody ever knew was possible". Examples: the sparks from Harry's wand, Kings Cross, Ron coming back.
  
  The entirety of the wand plot fits this bill perfectly. Nobody had any inkling previous to this book that disarming someone's wand made you the rightful owner of the wand...yet that fact is of the utmost importance in the final scene when Voldemort learns that Draco is the rightful owner of his wand since Draco was the one that cast the disarming spell...wait a minute, all of the characters have been busy disarming each other all throughout the course of this series! That must mean that all of the wand ownerships have been discombobulated somewhere along the lines! As it turns out, the fact that there has been established precedence over the use of the wand-ownership rule has no bearing on the fact that Rowling needed something to happen and so she broke the rules to make it so. Also note that Dumbledore beat someone whose wand was apparently "unbeatable". Way to stay consistent!
  
  Other times, the author includes obvious references to other fantasy/literature and world history events just for the heck of it (and of course, to add an almost pointless plot twist besides). Examples: Griffyndor's sword, the locket, the fact that the entire ministry of magic is Nazi Germany, etc.
  
  The book was stretched out needlessly just so that it could conform to the school year and the pacing of the original books. Harry and Hermione wander aimlessly around the world going on quests that lead nowhere and add nothing to the plot (Godric's Hallow, endless camping sequences). In addition, many characters from previous books that were unimportant to the plot of this book make their unnecessary (and page-wasting) return (Krum and Rita Skeeter in particular, but there were more).
  
  If you're like me and you enjoy reading about some of the minor characters like Luna, Ginny, MaGonnagal, Draco, etc...be prepared, because they get almost no screen time whatsoever, with the single exception being Neville. Ginny is consistently kept out of the way because she is underage, and this volume goes to show that her entire purpose in the series was just to eventually become Harry's girlfriend. A very disappointing way to develop her character.
  
  Then there are the main characters, who consistently act out of character, and prove to be rather poor role models for the children who are reading these books. Hermione and Ron suddenly both become incompetent wizards who yell at each other ceaselessly, Harry performs an unforgivable curse and apparently feels no remorse whatsoever, Lupin goes from being a strong positive influence into a weakling, and that scene between Harry and Ginny in her bedroom was a bit too suggestive for a children's book if you ask me. In addition, Ron gives Harry a book about how to seduce witches (even though he should clearly be able to tell that Harry is interested in his little sister- yuck!).
  
  As far as I can count, Hagrid should have died three times during the course of the book, yet lives on despite. The same can be said of Lucius Malfoy, who seems to get an endless number of screwups and still remains on Voldemort's good side. Of the characters who do die, there is often very little reason that they should have died, and even less explanation of who killed them and how it was done. In the cases where we do see the character's dying, it is often for unexplained reasons (just what exactly happened to wormtail's hand where it suddenly became possessed?...oh yeah, another bit of "mystery magic").
  
  Let's not even get into the epilogue. That was a complete and total waste of space, talking only about the five characters whose fate we could have guessed from as early as book 3...and where does Rowling get those awful names?
  
  As others have mentioned, the addition of the Hallows added nothing to the plot whatsoever. The horcruxes were plenty on their own, and because Dumbledore spelled them out in detail in the last book, there was no mystery there. In fact, there was no defining plot line like there were in other books. Every action scene basically uncovered one of the missing horcruxes, so there was no "oh wow, I wasn't expecting that!" moments like there were in every other book of the series. It was like watching the characters go through a checklist.
  
  And then there were the totally unbelievable sequences that catch you off guard with just how ridiculous they are. Can anyone tell how Harry managed to crash land the motor bike exactly at the spot where he was supposed to land, or how Hagrid managed to survive jumping off said flying motorbike, and live to tell the tale? Why can Voldemort suddenly fly on his own? why did voldemort choose to light the sorting hat on fire and use that to torture neville? Why is it that nobody seems to be able to tell that Harry is still breathing in the forest scene? Of course I know that this is a fiction story, and fantasy besides, but it really sucks the realism out of the world, which Rowling has worked so hard to keep up for the first six books, when these sorts of things happen.
  
  Then, in quite possibly the only worthwhile and unexpected twist in the entire book, Rowling manages to all but ruin one fan-favorite character. The rest of the story unfolds almost exactly as we all expected it to from the beginning. Snape's character development was one of the only worthwhile pieces in the book.
  
  Overall, a very poor way to end an otherwise phenomenal series.
  
  
• Something Went Awry
  By A3VXU0I0P9RKWK on 2007-07-21
  I think it's safe to say that Harry Potter has officially jumped the shark. I've never expected great things from J.K. Rowling; she was never among the ranks of brilliant writers, but she wrote fairly well, and she wrote a story enjoyable enough to follow for the past decade...
  
  with the exception of Deathly Hallows. I'm beginning to wonder what happened to the special continuity editor they hired to keep things straight or to the copy editor. There are typos (e.g. "Barry Crouch" instead of Barty Crouch) and serious plot holes. There's a curse word in the book; I'm glad I caught it before I gave a copy of the book to my young niece so I could explain the context to her, but I almost considered not giving her a copy of the book, because it's not really appropriate for a nine year old, unlike every other book in the series.
  
  The entire book seems forced and contrived like Rowling was merely writing to fulfill a contract and not because she was passionate about Harry Potter any longer. I've been wondering if she perhaps employed ghost writers to finish the novel; The Deathly Hallows is unsatisfying, not because of what happens in the story, but because of the way the story was written.
  
  
• Extremely disappointing
  By A1QVVDUK71UPUK on 2007-07-21
  For a series that started so well and grew so strong through the fifth book, Rowling apparently decided to sit on the fortune she amassed and churn out garbage for the final two books. The excellent characterization, tight symbolic structure, and fascinating plot twists began to disappear in the sixth book and have crumbled away in this tedious and shallow final installment.
  
  "The Deathly Hallows" is riddled with plot holes, continuity errors, and inexplicable characterization changes. When did Hermione, "the best in her year", get reduced to laundress and decide it was a good idea to Obliviate her parents? When did Ron, a well-meaning if rather insensitive clod, suddenly become a potential date rapist with his "gold" book on how to control witches--I thought the Imperius was illegal? And after all this time of Harry being an active protagonist, moving to counter Voldemort's actions, we find out that all Harry had to do was take another killing shot? And instead of the promised epilogue that tells us "everything" that happened to all the characters we grew so fond of, we get a trite scene that reads like a mediocre fan-fiction.
  
  And that does not even cover the seeming complete lack of editing that left this book full of grammatical errors and misspellings.
  
  I expected better of you , Ms. Rowling.
  
  
• A disappointing end to a good series...
  By A1CMC2DZXYRSSJ on 2007-08-11
  I was really looking forward to this book, but the literary journey that should have been an joy instead became a slog. The lack of decent character building and plot development just killed the book for me. Here are my major complaints about the book:
  
  * Major characters were killed off without a fitting send off.
  
  * It felt like about 400 pages were spent on showing the kids camping out all over the UK, accomplishing nothing and coming up with no new ideas.
  
  * The pacing and the writing, which I thought were good throughout the rest of the series, were choppy at best.
  
  * The Deathly Hallows concept was extraneous and the execution lacked logic; the Horcruxes would have been enough of a basis for a story.
  
  The bottom line is that I didn't think that this book matched the spirit and achievement of the other books. I didn't get the impression that the kids learned much this time, or that they earned the final victory. Only Neville ultimately seemed to shine and blossom.
  
  I closed this book wanting to read some Anne McCaffrey or Mercedes Lackey, two "light fantasy" authors who certainly know a thing or two about pacing and character development. Having read this final book, I can't remember why I liked the first ones as much as I did, and I'm thinking of getting rid of all my Harry Potter books. I just can't see myself reading them again. It is really a shame that Rowling couldn't keep up the good writing through the entire series.
  
  
• Rowling's Decision
  By A1ZHBWHOMDX69V on 2007-07-23
  Rowling had the opportunity to make the Harry Potter series a work of serious fiction with this last book. Sadly, she opted to turn the Harry Potter series into nothing more than a child's fairytale. "Deathly Hallows" is filled with plot holes and inconsistencies, which Rowling shamelessly employs Deus ex Machina to remedy multiple times. Indeed, the principles of wand ownership, rules governing elf and goblin magic, and the Deathly Hallows themselves are just some of the examples of this. These examples were never foreshadowed in any previous book and their constructions were arbitrary relative to the framework of magic already setup by Rowling. They were added for the sole purpose of fixing plot holes that could have otherwise been avoided through better writing.
  
  In addtion to this, almost every character undergoes a deconstruction and becomes marginalized to scarcely more than idiotic stereotypes. The most prominent examples are Dumbledore and Voldemort. Dumbledore's character is assassinated in this book; and never actually redeemed. In the end, you are left with the impression that Albus was a cunning manipulator and are never given any real proof that he viewed Harry as anything more than a tool to complete a task. This despite the warm fuzzy Deus ex Machina dream at the end of the book; in that scene not enough information is brought forth to convince the reader that Dumbledore isn't trying to manipulate Harry further into completing his task. Also, the act of sheer stupidity by which Dumbledore essentially kills himself betrays him being portrayed as the wisest wizard of his time. Voldemort's character also was a grave disappointment. I was hoping that Rowling would give this character some more depth in this book; but instead, she reduces him to a comic book villain who essentially dies via his own stupidity and a technicality of wand ownership. Make no mistake, in this book, Voldemort is reduced to a power-hungry idiot who only has a mastery of incompetence and cruelty. There are other examples of character degradations in this book (Hermione and Lupin); but I won't belabor this any further. Ron and Harry stay pretty much exactly the same. Indeed, Rowling degrades characters around Harry to make him seem exceptional. The one single exception is Snape. I like how his character arc finished up; he was consistent and believable. The rest of the characters either failed to evolve or just de-evolved.
  
  The key point that degrades this series to the point of being nothing more than a children's fairytale is how Rowling decided to deal with consequences in "Deathly Hallows". Consequences are on e of the main ways we, as readers, relate to the characters we read about. We all feel consequences and, through them, are able relate to characters inside a fictional work. Death is one of the most (if not the most) powerful consequence we can relate to. The emotions of loss, sadness, uncertainty and even joy evoked by the act of dying are unparalleled (and timeless) in real life and thus, is one of the strongest links we can have to a fictional character we know and love. These emotions grow out of the permanence and uncertainty associated with a person's death. The idea that Dumbledore can communicate with Harry in a dream and with Serverus through a painting marginalizes the power of death as it is no longer permanent (you can't talk with the dead) nor unknown. The fact that Harry can use a deathly Hallows to talk to his parents AGAIN, further marginalizes the power and literary value of death. Also, the fact that every single death in the HP series is directly do to a deatheater and not a result of ANY decisions made by Harry or his friends further kills off the literary value of death as a consequence of a hard decision one may have to make. Indeed, Dumbledore's death was preplanned; and Sirus' death was the result of Voldemort possessing Harry. If you don't believe me, read over the series carefully; not once is Harry (or his friends) truly held emotionally accountable for any death. I.e. the emotional weight associated with consequences applied toward the main characters in the HP universe is barely existant. The fact that Rowling doesn't have the balls to kill off any main character (even goes to the point of degrading secondary characters before killing them) further protects the reader from the already absurd idea of death in her universe. Yes, Rowling emotionally protects the reader from a sense of loss in this book; but in doing so kills the deeper link we may have had with her characters. This is why HP is a fairytale; there is no truly emotional consequences the characters experience as reward for their actions or decisions. For those who love to compare HP to Lord of the Rings, consider this: Frodo and Gandalf essentially die at the end of the book (the sail off to the unknown and will never come back). The one thing Frodo loved, the Shire, was forever changed to him, taken from him. It would never be the same to him ever again. THAT'S REAL LOSS and a consequence to him changing his world. In HP you just don't feel that depth of emotion toward the characters because Rowling doesn't allow them to experience that depth of loss. That is the main reason why this is a fairytale and not a serious piece of adult fiction.
  
  I loved the Harry Potter series up until this last installment. I liked how the earlier books had stronger character development than most pieces of modern fiction; and I was happy that it seemed to get younger audiences back into reading. Rowling could have made this series a true great piece of literature; instead she wrote this book with a movie screen in her head and an eye on future sequels. It's truly sad.
  
  
• a fitting but uneven close with a weak start and strong middle 3.5
  By AFN32PGTZ31MV on 2007-07-21
  There's good news, middling news, and bad news in the final Potter installment, a book that replicates in many ways the unevenness of the series as a whole. First the good news. The main character, which has always been the book's strength, continues in that vein through most of the book. Harry's oh-so-realistic ongoing grief at his parents' deaths, his sometimes-bends-but-never-breaks bond with Hermione and Ron, his coming-of-age process through idol-worship then respect then disillusionment then adult understanding with Dumbledore, his sense of a greater good--all of these aspects that have made Harry Potter one of the more compelling figures in modern fiction are here in full force. Along with the character of Harry himself, the triangular relationship with Ron and Hermione has also been a consistent highlight in the series, and this too continues, though here it has its rough moments that feel a bit forced, as if Rowling felt the need to show the relationship in danger of fraying so as to make us appreciate it all the more when it does not. Personally, I found the "bend" moment hard to believe and could have done without it. With or, better yet, without it, though, it's hard not to be moved by Rowling's presentation of the bond between these three.
  The middling news involves the plot itself. The Potter books have always, I thought, been uneven in this area. The first two solid if not inspired, the third the strongest, the fourth too episodic, and the fifth and sixth with strong plots at the core but diluted by overwriting.
  The good news on the plot is that there are, as there always have been, several very moving scenes. There are also a few good action scenes, though action scenes have never been Rowling's strong point and they aren't here as well with a few exceptions. The biggest problem with the plot is that it doesn't actually start to take off, doesn't become compelling, until one is already a third of the way through it. That's a lot to slog through to get to the good parts, though of course nobody is going to put the book down at this point.
  The problems with the first few hundred pages are rife. First, there is a great sense of disconnect as the reader moves between a sense of urgency and violence. On the one hand, Voldemort and his death Eaters are infiltrating the Ministry and Hogwarts, killing muggles and muggle-borns right and left, torturing others while the Order of the Phoenix is marshaling its forces, going into all-out battle, and yes, dying. On the other hand, we're treated to an oddly desultory wedding scene as days trundle by in preparation for domestic bliss. The two just don't seem to make sense side-by-side. There are also several major plot holes which I won't go into to avoid spoilers, but at which any discerning reader will find themselves saying "but what about . . . " or "but wouldn't they . . . " again and again. Coincidences also stack up too neatly to move the plot along.
  Even worse then the ongoing coincidences though, are the plot points that are necessary to the Deathly Hallows that seem to have been pulled from nowhere. We get lots of exposition and explanation, but for many of these it's just too hard not to think that we should have heard a lot of this before. For instance, in all the many, many, many pages of quidditch detail we get (way too much) in earlier books, it turns out there is something we somehow haven't learned that just happens to play an important role in this book. And it's just one such example of too many such examples. It gives the book a sense of arbitrariness that spoils the reading somewhat, though again, mostly in the first third or so of the book.
  There are a few other problem areas. Time moves on in awkward chunks in the first third. The final third, which is especially strong, has its pleasures diluted somewhat by some very clunky exposition, something that has unfortunately been a pattern of earlier books. Perhaps Rowling felt too tied to the formula she's set for herself. Some of the characters were disappointing--Hermione seems to lack some of her strength we've seen growing in her, Ginny was too absent, and some characters (no names due to spoilers) have major changes in attitude that happen far, far too quickly and easily, literally in a matter of a few lines. The book, as all of them since book three have done, suffers from being overly long. One of the reasons book three was so strong was it was the tightest of the series. Hallows could easily lose 200 or 300 pages and be all the stronger for it.
  Many have remarked on how the tone of the books has darkened as the series has continued, and this book certainly continues that trend, with more deaths in the first few chapters than perhaps all the others combined. While I thought we've been set up well for this trend, it still seemed a huge leap in intensity and frequency, as if we'd jumped the smooth curve we'd been on the last three books. And the deaths, until the end, were on the one hand jarring due to the new frequency and nonchalance, but also were too abstract, as if they were mere props so we "know" what a bad guy Voldemort is. He's always been a somewhat amorphous villain, one of the weaknesses of the series, and that continues here as well. He's given newfound powers, and a newfound freedom to kill and torture, but he still never feels alive as a character. He's there because he needs to be there, Harry needs an adversary and what's a fantasy epic without a Dark Lord, but he's more of a symbol of a dark lord than one that really makes you feel his evil.
  A few other general problems. Part of the richness of the Potterverse has been its small touches of magical background we see in Hogwarts. There was no way around this for Rowling but due to the requirements of the story we get almost none of that here. It's understandable, as mentioned, but it still feels like a loss. The magic in general also feels a bit more muddled, with lots of stunning spells and wands flying into the air and so on. The rules of magic have always been a very weak part of the story but that hasn't mattered much. Here, where the stakes have been raised so high, the reader feels that thinness much more. That same thinness also surrounded the magic world's place in the muggle world. With so much of the series staying so highly focused at Hogwarts and other "magical" places (such as the ministry for instance), that hasn't been a problem. But in the beginning, as Rowling attempts to show Voldemort's effect on both worlds so as to heighten his villainy, the muddiness of their connections becomes more pronounced. One of the reasons the latter two-thirds of the book is so much better is she pretty much drops the whole muggle world connection.
  It's hard to discuss much more of either strength or weakness without giving away too much of the plot. So how does Hallows stack up as the finale? To be honest, the first near-300 pages were incredibly disappointing. I despaired of finding anything enjoyable, being regularly bothered by awkward plotting, bad plot holes, forced characterization, arbitrary revelation of knowledge, convenient coincidences, and poor writing. But the change at around 300 was pronounced, almost becoming a completely different novel. The book became much more focused in terms of plot, time narrowed and no longer moved along at a strikingly non-urgent pace, the bond between the three main characters came more into play, and we rediscovered the Harry Potter character that has carried so much of the series. From 300 to close to the end was the book we'd all been waiting for and it carried me along in its plot and moved me thanks to its characters. It redeemed the first few hundred pages and then some. Unfortunately, it didn't maintain that level of quality all the way to the very end, as it stumbled somewhat to the close with, as mentioned, some very lengthy and awkward exposition (not once but twice, including at what should have been a climactic moment which was spoiled by too much explanatory talk) and then an epilogue that had its moments but felt too much like trying to wrap up lots of ends and that had as well some moments where things seemed like they hadn't changed enough (and if that's too vague, well, what do you expect--we're talking about the epilogue after all).
  In the end, there's a great 300-page book in the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, you have to read a few hundred pages to get to it. The book's strengths do in the end outweigh its weaknesses, or at the least, by the time you get to the latter third you've forgotten the weaknesses. The four stars are really closer to three, but in fact it should almost be given several different ratings: a low two for the first 300 pages, a high four for the next several hundred, and a three for the last 40 or so. It's a fitting end to the series, and in its unevenness, a microcosm of the series as a whole. That said, it's with a bittersweet sense of completion that one closes the book--a fitting and appropriate end, but an end all the same.
  
  
• Too bad, I was expecting a real story...
  By A3KZBQ8BVVMFIB on 2007-07-25
  All I can say is wow. This book is the absolute worst of the series. The pace of the book is either frantic or nonexistant. The hero's are either in full-on battle or sitting on their butts waiting for the next action sequence. You would be reading on part and all of a sudden, the author zooms you along to the next plot point.
  
  One of the two biggest dissapointments is how the hero's (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) solve their problems. Any roadblock that they run into is solved by the "act of God". The main heros act either out of character or "magically" get the new power needed. By this I mean that the solution required a suspension or the rules the author created the world of Harry Potter(which was foreshadowed in book 6). A hero would mysteriously gain a power or a completely random event would solve a plot ending problem. No real stuggle for the hero's other than not splitching.
  
  The other big problem, our hero's abandon their struggle to do what is right and good consistantly. I am not saying that they needed to even by 90% morally right in what they did, but come on. The use unforgivable curses without ANY hesitation or even questioning of their use. The eplilog only confirms our much loved heros abandonment of what is right and wrong, spewing the hate they once despised and laughing about doing wrong.
  This is just sad.
  
  Other things that bothered me were, the overemphsis of a Nazi-likeness of the Death Eaters. It felt overplayed and over-the-top as if the reader might be too dumb to realize the connection. The hero's spend more time bickering that it is amazing they get anything done, let alone be friends. The fact the Voldemort for all his greatness as a villian, in the end, is stupid and repeats the same mistake over and over. Also the rip off from the Lord of the Rings with the horcruxes evil power when worn, way too much like the one ring. Rant - come on you can create a whole world but have to rip off from LOTR and cannot come up with an orginal idea, better to leave the item just cursed instead of cantaminatingly evil. Okay rant over.
  
  I have liked or loved the previous books in the series and thought they were good books to grow with as young kids began to learn that the world is more than good or bad and never as black and white as we hope.
  
  The most confusing aspect was the insertion of the Hallows subplot. It did nothing to adavnce the story in any real way and if it had not been there, the main plot would not have suffered at all.
  
  There are parts of the book I did enjoy. Neville continues to develop as a character. The mystery of Snape is solved. Some the hero's adventures nicely illustrate the complexity of the problem they face.
  
  Unfortunately, as a whole the book requires such a large suspension of belief in the world of Harry Potter thus far and the complete abandonment of telling a story where the good guys end up in the end being good and learning what that means, doomed this story and ended the series with a dull thud.
  
  
• Alas...
  By A366HQGP8T8PL0 on 2007-07-29
  I was looking forward to this book. I must admit, that as a fan of more "serious" fiction (i.e. George RR Martin), I may be somewhat jaded, but I do like to turn to series like HP when I want something a little lighter.
  
  That said, this book's plot is beyond light, it's almost non-existant. I had been happy with JK's plot twists, especially in book three and four, but the plot has gone dramatically down hill. Also, I realize that the books are supposed to develope as the readers age, but some of the parts in this book would be closer to adult lit than kid lit (i.e. sexual inuindo).
  
  Others have mentioned the plot holes, inconsistencies, and character betrayal, so I'll just give two examples...and, there are spoilers ahead, so be warned.
  
  Snape and Lupin, whom I found to be two of the most intriguing characters from the start, seemed to develope fairly well over the course of the series. I had always thought that JK would continue to develope these characters, but I was sadly mistaken. Apparently, Harry's angst and the difficulties of living in a tent are more important than giving good characters space in the last book of the series.
  
  I thought that JK would have an interesting reason for Snape's motivation and that Snape would prove himself in the end... And, well, he does in a way. (...) I would have expected more from such a strong character.
  
  Lupin's character also gets the shaft... (...) I expected Lupin to "step up" as the last of the four marauders left to Harry, but he has more of a cameo role in this book than a true part.
  
  All in all, a deacent story if you don't expect an interesting plot or a believable ending. This book's plot reads as unbelievable, which should tell you something coming from a fantasy series.
  
  Alas, JK, I expected more and got less.
  
  
• My heart goes out to the long-time HP fans who hated DH
  By A168SFNUYCIZST on 2007-07-21
  Rowling is good at action/adventure and the world she created is still
  brilliant. And that is as far as it goes. Her romances sucked the air
  off the moon. The plot was completely regurgitated and predictatble.
  The continuity had holes the size of a uncovered sewer in it. The
  sexual innuendo was well over the top for a children's book. All of
  the characters, except for Neville, deserved to die. The message
  of "choosing what's right over what's easy" got partly lost somewhere.
  It read like a bad fanfic and that she really didn't give a damn about
  her growth as a writer.
  
  I could go on and on, but I will stop there. I only hope future
  literary critics will rip this series to pieces. My dream is that she
  revisits this tale and rewrite it from the very first book if that is
  the ending she wanted.
  
  
• No Spoilers :)
  By A2XXV9HF169LCF on 2007-07-21
  So, if you're here you know the premise of the boy wizard, his friends and his nemesis. You know this is the last in the series, and you probably already know if you're going to purchase it or not; what you're looking for, then, is an opinion.
  
  Since the only books I can guarantee we've both read are the previous books in this series, in order to ensure we're speaking a common language regarding which books we like and dislike I have to base my comparisons on those. So:
  
  It's not the most complex of the books, but it is definitely the most adult; and I don't mean the topics, but how they are approached. Perhaps a better word would be mature. There is a very different feel both to the writing and the plot; a sense of inevetability, an a bit of distance; the flavor of a writer pulling gently away from her characters as she has to say good-bye to them and write what's likely to be the last tale of their adventures. There is - I do not consider this a spoiler - a battle, and there is death to be found.
  
  It ties up loose ends, all the way around; it is a lovely finish, and worth the wait. I'm not sure the young end of the audience will be quite as enamoured with it as the older readers - as the characters have aged the series has wandered into concepts that they might not get for a few years yet, and this book takes quite a leap forward in character maturity.
  
  In comparison to the other books: I liked book 1, as a bright and primary-color painting in crayons; it was nice. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't patronizing towards its younger readers, while being comprehensable by them. I liked book 2, and book 3; book 4 began to loose me a little, although it was still good; book five just irritated me. Book six was ok, and this, book seven, I think is as good as the first books were, if in somewhat different ways.
  
  So there you have it. It's well written and fast-paced, although there are a couple stretches of time which I felt she maybe included only to make it come out on the same timeframe as the rest of the books, a school year... All in all good book, a good ending.
  
  Cheers, and happy reading!
  
  
• If the entire book were comparable to the last 8 chapters...
  By A5I96RFLBQ1FT on 2007-07-21
  than we would have had a book and story that would have truly done justice to the magical world and characters that J.K. Rowling had created over the years. Let me be clear, the book was not a complete let down, and the major plot lines and questions that had been hanging in the air were answered, all of which were already solved by me after reading the HBP (I mention this because for some the fact that there are no more major twists waiting for them may be a disappointment, but for others that believe in the "other" way there will be, I suppose, a major twist... I just never could see why people saw it that way as the author took the time to clearly set up the plot line over the course of the previous books...). The problem with the book, however, lies in the fact that it takes over half of the book to get the plot rolling under any momentum whatsoever, and once it gets rolling there have already been a number of ridiculously concocted narrow escapes and shallow plot developments.
  
  The first half of the book (after the chase scene, which was the only narrow escape sub-plot that really worked well in the book and seemed very well crafted) seems to drag with no real point. Though I understand some of the author's intentions in this half of the book were to tie up loose ends on sub-plots for characters, none of the sections read well and the book seemed to drag on endlessly in a non-focused manner, which was readily portrayed in the fact that Harry Potter and his usual sidekicks had no idea where they were supposed to start. After things pick up on the plot front, only slightly, more narrow escapes surface, but these just seemed slapped together with no real care in development of them, and made me feel like I was watching a predictably scripted and developed Hollywood action flick with a ridiculous escape angle that wouldn't hold water if it were a bucket; this is something that she has, previously, been able to avoid. I always recognized the narrow escape themes in the books previously, but she did so well to draw her readers into them and engross them into the books that you felt that they were, well possible and even likely - as though it could happen to you.
  
  To make matters worse even when the plot gets rolling the author still can't give up her fancy to add as many narrow escape sub-plots to the book as she possibly can which just seem far too unrealistic, even in the wizarding world. Sadly, it is because of these ridiculous narrow escape escapades the author makes the once formidable opposition to Harry Potter, that she handily crafted in the first six books, seem like a hair-brained dolts, nitwits, and completely inept characters, making you wonder why it took six books to finish them off - the way they act in this book even the eleven year-old Potter could have taken them on and defeated them, without wizard training.
  
  Another bad move by the author came when she readily used ideas in the major plot line of the book from other books as if they were her own, a few of which would be the books that make up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. While she has always cleverly referred to other, outside sources as inspiration to her works in the past, including both real world and fictional references, she never directly took from the major plot lines and incorporated them into her works - until now. As I am not trying to divulge the story or spoil anyone's enjoyment of the book I can't go into detail, but I am sure many of you will sniff out what I am talking about immediately. I was severely disappointed in this aspect of the book, and it, along with the poorly developing plot and ridiculous narrow escapes made me want to put down the book for good several times, but, like the rest of you, I had to finish what I started, and I plowed through until I reached...
  
  the gem of the book that lies within its final 8 chapters. Without trying to give too many details I will say that she holds the major twist of the books as a whole, the one I alluded to previously and had already predicted, until these chapters, as well as the scenes that truly made trudging through the rest of the book worth it. The final battle scenes held up to the expectations that they were given by the readers, and they were a joy to read. The final chapters of the book encompass the flavor and feeling that the last book should have held throughout - the sense of urgency, the feeling of finality, and the overwhelming dread and horror that faced each and every character that we came to know and love if they failed... if He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named won... prior to these wonderfully written and gut-wrenching scenes in the finale you never would have known how urgent the situation really was, and how real the fear of The Dark Lord claiming the world was within each of them.
  
  I can't say that I am completely disappointed with the book, but, unfortunately I left thinking that, overall, the series went out with a whimper and not the bang that I expected. Walking into the book I fully expected that when I reached the end I would hate it - it would mean that Harry Potter's world was finally closed to me forever - and that I would be begging her to write one more book, but, in the end, I found the opposite to be true. I was glad it was over, and I was glad I had finished reading about Harry Potter's world. Maybe this was the intention of the author in creating this final book in her series, but if so I certainly believe she could have found a much more creative and challenging way to do it then making her final book in the series the weakest book of all.
  
  
• I can't believe I waited for this
  By A19HM61K6FOP0S on 2007-07-22
  I was a reluctant, but fully converted HP fan. I started reading the series after book 6 was released, but after finishing it in half a day, I read the entire series in the following week. I re-read the series twice before book 7's release (once when the date was announced, and again this past week). I made my husband accompany me to the movie release all because JKR insisted there were clues to the ending throughout the series, but that they would not be obvious. WHAT A JOKE!!! The only plot devices that weren't obvious and heavily discussed on fan site were those she seemed to create just for this book. If you can read DH and know why the items in the title are worth having created for this grand finale, please share. As others have said, there are gaping holes in the plot, grammatical errors, and editing misstakes. There are at least two deaths that are taken for granted, but even after re-reading chapters to try to find what I may have missed, just aren't written until said persons are being mourned. JKR promised certain storylines and she failed to present them here. Answers she refused to give because they would give away too much, to put it mildly, just weren't relevant. The language in this book is much more coarse, and though we were all expecting a darker book, it just doesn't keep the "magic" we've all grown to love. Yes, there are some laugh-out-loud moments. Yes, there are some sad losses, but I was more moved and surprised by Ron's growth spurt than anything that happened in DH. The plot is so predictable (when it follows the world JKR has created in books 1-6) that I wonder if she wrote it using the predictions that were so abundant on the internet. What a disappointing in to an otherwise wonderful series. I give this two stars because it IS the last book after all, and any fan will want to know the ending and parts are amusing. Just don't read it looking for any real answers, or any real development of the characters we watched grow for the past 10 years.
  
  
• What a joke...
  By A3N3SGREDT067F on 2007-07-23
  I am relieved that I am not the only one feeling let down and even cheated. This book felt contrived, carelessly written and on the whole just hurried for the sake of finishing the series. I didn't buy Dumbledore's dark past, Snape's love for Lily, nor the silly Teddy/Harry/Sirius orphan/godfather setup. What was that for? "Teddy Lupin and the Secrets of the Veil?"
  
  So many questions unanswered!: The veil, what happens to the Dursleys, is Umbridge ever brought to Justice? Is Dumbledore's tomb repaired? Hogwarts? What happens to the surviving death-eaters? Shouldn't the Malfoys have gone to Azkaban once order was restored?
  
  The horrendously trite epilogue.
  The Deathly Hallows? - That whole arch seemed to belong to another book altogether. It brought nothing to the story we've been following for all these years.
  
  The Deaths:
  Fred: That was just cruel, they were almost like one. If JK planned to kill off either of the twins, I'd actually have preferred to have seen BOTH of them die than to leave one with a gaping hole in his heart for the other.
  
  Lupin & Tonks, treated as an afterthought, thrown in for shock value; not even meriting its own description of how they died or who killed them.
  
  Dobby's death was the only one which was written with fluidity and great sympathy.
  
  I feel that instead of the "19 years later" chapter; there should have been a description of the rebuilding after the war. Fred, Tonks and Lupin deserved a proper send off. Harry and Ginny's relationship needed time to fully develop. There is so much more I want to write, but what for? The book is written and it's a shame that this is how it ended.
  
  In the words of Johnny (Rotten) Lydon: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?"
  
  
• Lackluster Conclusion
  By A30922VZC14CT0 on 2007-07-21
  Having been a fan of the books since 1999, I was anxiously awaiting this final chapter. However, I was left disappointed. It is by no means a bad book, but simply not everything I hoped it would and could be.
  
  ***Spoilers Ahead***Spoilers Ahead***Spoilers Ahead***Spoilers Ahead***
  
  Rowling has been trying to tie up all the threads of the preceding books since a rather long and awkward passage of exposition in books 5 and 6, and it does little more than slow down the books. In this book we get loads of expository reasoning that tries to pull together disparate plot elements. It merely serves to halt the action and bore the average reader. Rowling is at her best when she is writing dynamic action scenes, producing fantastical settings or creating interesting characters. Too late in the book she introduces the concept of the Deathly Hallows and tries to join it to the plot of the Horcruxes. It seems forced and unnecessary. The Horcrux invention from the last book was quite enough of a plot to carry the reader through this final installment. The Deathly Hallows lend nothing to the story, and Rowling does little with it in the plot. There is no satisfactory explanation as to the Gaunt ring being a Hallow and a Horcrux and why Voldemort would not have known it was. And frankly, I didn't care. I was waiting for the final showdown between him and Harry anyway. Why introduce the whole robbing Dumbledore's grave for a wand plot? It went nowhere and just held things up a bit more.
  
  Another major problem in the book, as has been noted with previous books, is Harry himself. I was willing to put up with his uselessness in past books due to his age, but by this time I expected him to step up and prove himself. Instead, we get more petulance, whining and dithering. Hermione is smarter than he is, Ron, Ginny and Neville are braver, and Harry has to rely on outside help from a variety of sources (deus ex machina like Fawkes from book 2, his Invisibility Cloak in every book, and even Snape in this book) to achieve his goals. It's either this, dumb luck or coincidence that helps him locate the Horcruxes, seldom perseverance or intelligence. The final battle with Voldemort finds him again relatively passive, relying on his mother's protective charm and another coincidence to help him defeat Voldemort. Mrs. Weasley proves far more engaging in her face-off with Bellatrix. By page 450 I actively disliked Harry, which is a major problem since he's supposed to be the hero. He does redeem himself a bit in the later chapters, but it would have been far better if he had displayed more strength and intelligence earlier in the book.
  
  I also didn't like the Lord of the Rings plot rip-off with the trio of friends taking turns carrying the one Horcrux around their necks even though it affects their moods. Again, no satisfactory explanation is given as to why it can't simply be carried harmlessly in a pocket or bag. If this was Rowling's idea of homage, it missed the mark. Further, I could have easily lived without the character assassination of Dumbledore. Was it really necessary, and again, where did it lead?
  
  Having said this, there were a lot of good, well written scenes in the book, especially the Gringott's infiltration, and the final battle at Hogwarts. The book simply needed to be pared down to a reasonable length by a good editor who could keep the plot moving forward without clunky pauses to overexplain an overplotted narrative. As to the violence and dark tone of the book which some readers object to, I had no problem with it. It fit perfectly with where the story has been headed since the end of Goblet of Fire, and was to be expected. It would have been an unrealistic expectation to think that Voldemort could be defeated without losses on both sides. Overall then, a decent read, just a disappointing conclusion to a great book series. 3 1/2 stars out of 5
  
  
• Nice CD set!
  By A10G4BPT5MGBHY on 2007-07-21
  This 17-disc audio version of the final Harry Potter book is a worthy way to experience the story without reading it. It features the rich baritone of narrator Jim Dale, who tells the tale with just the right understated touch, supplying all of the characters' voices.
  
  As for Dale's accent, it's appropriately British but not at all too thick. Each word is clear and easy to understand. If you've bought any of the earlier Potter audio CDs you know what to expect: Dale narrated all of those, too.
  
  By the way, note that this is an UNABRIDGED audio book. Listening to it all takes 21 hours!
  
  The story is dark, and too violent for younger kids, but overall one of the best in the Harry Potter series. Nothing seems forced or thrown together. Author J.K. Rowling wraps up her many plot points and reveals the fates of her characters in ways that almost always surprise you, but afterward seem inevitable.
  
  And how she does it is so inventive! Many throwaway moments and whispered remarks from earlier books foreshadow what happens here, and devices that had little importance before, such as Sirius's flying motorcycle, now play key roles. While creating yet another gripping tale, the author also ties her entire epic together with the skill of a true literary master. As a writer myself, I really admire her skill. (Last time I checked, Rowling was outselling me by about, oh, a billion to one.)
  
  In addition, the book treats its title character with the complexity he deserves. It portrays the (now) young man as disillusioned, full of doubt, overwhelmed -- a tortured soul who, though a responsible leader in an all-out war, often seems to yearn to do nothing more than sweet-talk Ginny Weasley.
  
  Parents should know, however, that this one is a real creepfest, with the most explicitly violent scenes of any book in the series. It's way too brutal for grade schoolers. Also, unlike the earlier Potter tales, the far-reaching vocabulary requires about a 6th-grade education.
  
  
• JKR Reveals What Has Been Motivating Her All These Years: Money
  By A2SBFK52TKFZUB on 2007-07-21
  JKR finishes her series with a whimper. All the mythology and all the characterization which made the previous six books such a joy to read is thrown out the window in order to compensate her hackneyed story. Inconsistencies galore grace the pages of this muddled mess. Characters we love, like Hermione, Ron, Lupin, and Dumbledore are turned into complete and utter losers and shmucks. Sex, violence, nudity, and language litter the pages. Parents do NOT let your children read this garbage!
  
  If JKR was sick of Harry, she should have left the series alone instead of giving her faithful fans this poor excuse of a finale, but I guess I now know what has driven her these last ten years to finish her series: money.
  
  
  
• what a disppointment
  By A1NI7DPJYANVMB on 2007-09-17
  Well, I finished it.
  
  What a downer. Dumbledore a Machiavelli (but a Christian Machiavelli). Creep-and-lurch pacing. Another set of maguffins dragged in. Lupin trashed. Krum irrelevant. Luna thrown away. Ginny a mere temptress. Ron less dynamic/interesting/mature than he was in Book One! Hermione--Lupin's "greatest witch of your age I've ever seen," and fiercely devoted to Harry through seven books--totally destroyed as a character. She could have been Minister of Magic, but ends up laundering Ron's underpants and cooking for him (but not as well as his Mum!). Dishonest clues galore. Snape wasted. Greyback smarming around. Voldemort an idiot. Harry uses the Unforgivable Curses. Bellatrix gets nowhere near what she deserves. Bodies all over the stage, like imitation Shakespeare--or imitation Tolkien or imitation Lewis. Only Neville shines.
  
  Okay, JKR, you can take your money and go now. I feel just as Harry did toward loyal Hermione after she inadvertantly (while saving his life!) broke his wand--I just want to get away from you.
  
  
  
• Where's the 'magic'? .
  By A1LKOIZXPQ9VG0 on 2007-07-21
  A 7 book series is quite an achievement and Rowling obviously took care and thought with the story's conclusion. HOWEVER, sadly, the developments (both plot and, with only one exception, character) were disappointments for me.
  
  Harry's world is dark now, with relentless killings of young and old, characters we care about and those we only briefly knew. How will this be translated to the screen and still be suitable for children? I'm an adult, but I was attracted through the years to the inventive fantasy that she created, and the imaginative mix of characters, good and bad, always swirling around the young hero and his friends.
  
  The conflict with Voldemort was never the heart of the series to me. Unfortunately, continuing a trend that began in books 5 and 6, in book 7, the conflict with Voldemort is not only the centerpiece, but becomes increasingly suffocating--to the detriment of good story-telling, in my opinion.
  
  Too. Much. Death. Too. Many. Losses (in dying but also in character development. Several girls, in particular, seem suddenly diminished and cliched). By focussing so much on the destruction of Voldemort, Rowling also has destroyed much that was enjoyable in her series to begin with.
  
  And? Worst of all? If the ending can be believed, it appears that in a world without Voldemort, wizards simply become...muggles.
  
  
• Darn, bit of a let down
  By A37DQ0XUG7QCJB on 2007-07-22
  **Spoilers**
  Harry's final story could have been about 200 pages less. We follow Harry, Ron and Hermione across the countryside for about half the book, just waiting for plot points to fall into their path, with little knowledge of other characters. The way that Voldemort's crew takes over Hogwarts and the Ministry is nonsensically conceaved. Snape's final revelation of being good or bad is explained in one long, convenient memory instead of letting it unfold within the natural progress of the story. All the big deaths are rather anticlimactic. The ending relies too much on lecture-like explanation. And finally, the "Deathly Hollows" themselves play a very unimportant and unlasting role in the series. And the epilogue was just lame. But it's still Harry Potter, I love all of them, but I admit to being kind of bummed that Jo didn't seem to take her time on getting this last one right.
  
  
• No magic left
  By A2O2F3FA3B19K3 on 2007-07-21
  This book does a wonderful job explaining some of the mysteries of the series. However, a lot of those explanations left me feeling let down in some way. As more revelations took place, I started to wish that they would just stop because they got so ridiculous. I stopped cheering the main characters on and turned to hope that the book would just hurry up and end. The epilogue just seemed to reinforce what a mediocre, and commercial book this ended up being. The author seemed to kill off characters just for the sake of killing them and with none of the care, attention, and feeling that they deserved. Sure the book had some memorable moments, such as the revelations about Snape and saying goodbye to the Dursley's, but overall this book seemed to have lost the magic and creativity that made the series so great.
  
  
• Huge plot holes, inconsistent, sketchy, needs parental warning
  By A1W1XJLSLVJIGV on 2007-07-23
  Warning to parents: a pet is murdered senselessly very early in the book; at the end, a student has the sorting hat put on his head and it's set on fire; the word "Bitch" is screamed at someone in the Great Hall by one of two people you would never expect to talk like that or to execute a killing curse.
  
  There are so many plot holes you could fly a carriage-drawn threstral threw them.
  
  The resolution of the Snape story was extremely disappointing especially in light of the Malfoy resolution.
  
  It is never answered how a ministry employee we all hate got and is able to use the magical object associated with a fallen Order member. The last we hear is that one of the older Weasley boys is going to look for the body before the Death Eaters find and mutilate it. But it is never clear that the employee is a Death Eater.
  
  Why isn't McGonagall at the Weasley wedding? And with so many guests, how can they keep up magical protections? There were too many opportunities for infiltration by traitors and imperioused friends.
  
  Arthur survives Nagini's vicious attack in book 5, yet someone dies in a minute from a bite in the Shrieking Shack.
  
  Why is Trelawney safe at Hogwarts. Has Voldemort lost interest in obtaining the prophecy? We know that Snape saw who made it because she saw him.
  
  No reason is given for a magical object reappearing at the end of the novel when it is last seen at Gringott's.
  
  How does Kreacher know where and when to go when he is not supposed to leave the house without permission and hasn't been contacted by its owner since that person never return as expected months ago and hasn't been in communication? How does Percy know to join the battle and to whom to contact for the secret access to the castle?
  
  Why did the centaurs show up to the battle after all they said in the past?
  
  Why is the Vanishing Cabinet still in the Room of Requirement? And nobody uses it to get access to the school!
  
  Why when it's mentioned that the secret passages are patrolled by Death Eaters or protected by magic can Harry just waltz into the Shrieking Shack? Wake up Hermione! You're getting help from a supposed Death Eater.
  
  Why doesn't Voldemort know that one of death eaters is lying to him about someone's death? Apparently, they can all lie to him.
  
  Why does Voldemort let the Weasleys go to work for months when Harry is on the run instead of holding them captive till Harry comes for them?
  
  The person who goes in for the kill on Bellatrix is not the one has the best claim to killing her.
  
  We never hear anymore about Fawkes. He's gone at end of book 6.
  
  There should be a new portrait in the Headmaster's office.
  
  Several people are missing from the grouping when one of the Hallows is activated. I can think of three. No reason given. And if the Death Eaters can't see the emanations, then why don't they stay with Harry? They leave abruptly when he drops the item.
  
  We never go back to the Department of Mysteries so the veiled arch and the locked room are left hanging.
  
  Why is Hermione so stupid and oblivious to the obvious: the disciplinary action they hear taken against Ginnie, Luna, and Neville is really odd considering what they did, to whom, and by whom they were caught. She should realize that the ghoul in pajamas wouldn't fool Snape into thinking it's Ron with Spattergoit.
  
  Wormtail's life debt to James is covered, but Snape's is conveniently ignored in the Pensieve memories.
  
  Slughorn was scared of Voldemort and in hiding in book 6. Why is he still teaching under the new regime at Hogwarts?
  
  
  
  
  
• End of an Era.
  By A25FCUXBJMJLT on 2007-07-22
  ***Note: Some broad, vaguely worded spoilers.****
  
  This is my least favorite Harry Potter book and it hurts to say so. I am a big fan, and have been since my older brother snuck me a copy (beneath my evangelical father's eyes) of Sorcerer's Stone. I am now all grown up and reading Harry Potter has been, in many ways, the mile marks of childhood for me. Let it be known that I don't give criticisms to JK Rowling lightly, and that while a great deal of what I have to say is negative, it's my honest opinion, and not disgruntled fanmenship.
  
  I was at my local bookstore by 5 p.m. on Friday night and hit about the middle part of the line at the stroke of midnight. By 9 am on Saturday I was finished, finished, finished...
  
  Despite my desperately anxious reading, many parts of the story dragged and it just didn't FEEL like Harry Potter. Hogwarts took second stage next to the hectic, dangerous travels of our fine trio. When the pieces started falling (from the sky, as it were) into place there was a hurriedness, a randomness, a helter-skelter dissonance that bothered me like an itch. The ending tasted like raw sugar by the spoonfull--it left me with a stomach ache, and frankly, it read like poorly written fan-fiction.
  
  Rowling thrives on dialogue, indeed, I'd say she's one of the best writers of dialogue I've ever read. Yet she doesn't capitalize on that large talent, instead relying on a tentative weakness: the contemplative Harry. This was a grand mistake on her part.
  
  We all knew, coming into this book, that there would be huge revelations about our favorite sadistic teacher. Sadly those revelations were anti-climactic, seen through the Pensieve and in the middle of a large...er..."disturbance" in the continuing present of Harry Potter Land. To remove Harry from the emotion of the present and put him in a calcified rendition of the past was jerky and rang false. In this sense there was no closure with Snape; Harry never got his showdown; Snape never got his moment of revelation where he shivers in all his bitters. I missed that interaction very much. I was looking forward to it.
  
  That is the crux of my disappointment in the book: Harry's isolation and silence. Harry has always, always relied upon a wide bevy of friends, even in Order of the Phoenix, only marching to do battle alone at the emotional climax, wherein with a stroke of luck, he saves the day. In this book he remained continually withdrawn. I didn't laugh much, I didn't cry, and I felt trapped in a bubble throughout. I felt ostracized from this last book.
  
  Some more problems I had with Harry Potter the Final:
  
  -The individual deaths seemed to have no meaning in relation to the overall plot and character progression. In this way, they seemed gratuitous. Rowling has said in interviews that she gave one character a reprieve and as a result gave two others the slash. I have an idea which character got the reprieve, and think, while I would have been devastated at that death, it would have been a better book with that death, and without the obvious two deaths she opted for. It would have had meaning to the overall arc and swing. As was, I blinked slightly at two of my favorite characters' demise and plunged on without a tear.
  
  -Too condensed. I felt like I was in a college lecture: Harry Potter 101. Interesting to the fan like me, but a novel isn't an encyclopedia, and shouldn't be made into one.
  
  Okay. Okay. Enough of the negatives. Let's face it: This is Harry Potter! And all of us here love Harry. What were the things I loved?
  
  -Just seeing my beloved characters. I missed them, and love them as if they were real. As long as they're around, even if they're not talking and even doing alot of dying, I'm happy.
  
  -Harry Potter all grown up. I kept wondering throughout the frantic travelings if Harry Potter had a moustacne? A beard? Ron did at one point. I wonder if Harry got all prickly.
  
  -Closure. Yeah. No more guessing. We know now. And the intricacies of plot were fantabulous. Thank you, JK.
  
  In the second to the last chapter I swallowed hard. The last page! I saw Harry exit the pages before my eyes, walk through an open door. I felt like my childhood had just waved goodbye and maybe it just did.
  
  Goodbye Harry Potter. We will all miss you!
  
  
• A Worthy Mature Finale to a Multi-Layered Series
  By A3V6Z4RCDGRC44 on 2007-07-22
  NOTE: This is a spoiler-free review.
  
  The bar of expectation has been set phenomenally high for the last book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Released only a short while after Book 5's movie was released, the last 3 novels are much more dark and mature than the first book, where Harry Potter was but a young boy learning of his magical heritage. Where books 1 and 2 were fine fodder for young children, these later stories are definitely written with teenagers and up in mind.
  
  The themes being examined here are quite mature - how government can have mixed motives and can twist the truth, how newspapers can become the voice of the government and feed mis-information for political reasons, how adults that you trust and look up to may have dark pasts and not-so-pure motives. We're past the "simple" issues of revenge and love and into far more complex agendas.
  
  Many children's books have clear morals and well defined heroes and enemies - the wicked stepmother, the beautiful fairy. Harry Potter's final tome is far more grey than that. This can be very confusing (and unsettling) for younger children who still need to feel secure in a world where grown-ups can be trusted. For more mature readers, this is a beautiful example of peeling back the layers of the onion to see the underside of life. We began with a very innocent, simple view of the world, naturally coming from the young view of Harry Potter. As he aged and matured, so did our ability to see what was going on around us in the Harry Potter universe - to understand the reason for the actions of his teachers, his friends' parents, and other characters in this multi-leveled universe.
  
  With Deathly Hallows, Harry is now an adult. He has turned 17, the coming of age time for wizards. He is no longer safe with his aunt and uncle as a result. He is no longer required to go to school, and can take control of his own actions and path in life. As adult readers know, this is hardly the freedom or release that teenagers often think it will be. With that freedom to rule your own life also comes great responsibility. You are now responsible for how your actions will affect those around you that you care for. Harry's choices are going to have a huge impact on Hermoine and Ron, who valiantly want to stand by their friend.
  
  In one sense, Harry has been set on a path by Dumbledore, and you could claim that all that happens is Dumbledore's fault. On the other hand, Harry has free will, and Dumbledore's instructions have always been vague at best. Harry has quite a lot of range of choice in what he does and does not do - and some of those choices are difficult at best.
  
  There are meditations here on the meaning of death and life, on the value of sacrifice. Every character has known pain and has made decisions for selfish reasons. There are celebrations of new beginnings, and yes, there are some endings as well. Not to be overly hokey, but there's a reason the "circle of life" cliche shows up so often in fine literature. This imagery has been around since mankind began civilization and it is an integral part of how our society works.
  
  People looking for the non-stop comic action of high school hijinx and game competitions will be disappointed. This final novel is nothing like that. In fact, there are long stretches where the characters feel stymied, where it feels like no progress is being made. The book forces you to slow down, to really think about what is going on, to feel the strain and pressure of achieving an extremely difficult goal. Yes, there are action sequences and well described battles - but those are the exception, not the rule. Deathly Hallows is about internal struggles and emotional challenges.
  
  The vocabulary reflects this as well. This book is written at a high school level and was not meant to be skimmed or jumped through. The wording and the sentence structure encourage you to go slowly, to contemplate, to think about what is being said. While Harry spends weeks contemplating issues and trying to figure out how he feels about an issue, you, the reader, are encouraged to do the same. It's an avenue of self exploration.
  
  At the risk of offending the Harry Potter fanatics, I do want to mention just a few things. I'll do this without spoilers on Amazon and be more clear on my website - on a separate page - for those who have read the book. First, a few sequences in this book felt very much deus ex machina. Yes, explanations are provided later in the book, but the same things could have been arranged in a much more probable manner. The way certain sequences run, it's almost as if she had Chapter X and Chapter Y and then had to figure out some way to connect them. Next, certain key character's personalities change in leaps without that development being shown. We have developed such a connection with those characters over the years that it would have been wonderful to see that maturation, but instead it just seems to "happen".
  
  Still, as I mentioned at the beginning, the bar was set exceedingly high for this book. It was expected to be exactly perfect, a stunning work of literature appropriate for every age group. It was expected to satisfy both those who wanted a Hollywood Ending as well as those who feel realism requires death, destruction and bleak despair. While it is not going to achieve all of those goals - really, can any single book do that? - it is an extremely good read which has exposed millions of people to questions and issues they might not have otherwise encountered. It encourages those people to think - critically - about the world they live in. And really, you cannot ask any book to do much more than that.
  
  Highly recommended.
  
  
• I expected more.
  By A27XFXRR26NJ0S on 2007-07-21
  Like everyone else, I was excited for the release of this book. I pre-ordered it and went to my local Barnes and Noble for their Midnight party. Truly, this is the end of an era.
  
  Overall, this book was the darkest in series, which makes sense because it's time for the final showdown. I feel like she rushed through some spots where more explanation could have been given. We learn in this book more than the others that what we choose makes us who we are. JKR did a wonderful job writing the action sequences which kind of made up for some of the plot holes.
  
  So, why the three star review?
  
  Several reasons:
  1. I don't like how she writes "romance". It's forced and she dumbs down once brilliant characters to "fit" with others.
  2. The appearance of uber-Ginny in the last book was completely forgotten in this book (which, for me, was good because she's too much of a Mary-Sue character for me anyhow). She acted like a little tramp in this book.
  3. The character assassination of Hermione continues with this book. She is a shadow of what she once was.
  4. It just didn't tear at my heartstrings like it did when Dumbledore and Sirius died. I guess I expected more out of her.
  5. The epilogue. Completely rushed and read like a piece of really bad fanfiction. This was the most disappointing part of the book.
  6. The OOCness of the trio. You'll see it when you read it.