Week 30 ~ Harry Potter 7 (NO SPOILERS)

Week 30 ~ July 23-29, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
by J.K. Rowling
(fantasy, YA)

(NO SPOILERS.)

Right... so this is the last of the Harry Potter books. The epilogue, which I think was unneeded for the story and which doesn't really fit the tone of this particular book, does tie up Harry's story nicely with a sense of finality. There will be (Rowling has said) no further Harry Potter books, and the epilogue proves it.

Was it worth the wait? Yes. She tells a good story (I've said before and I'll say again that I'm not going into her writing style and technique) and manages to create engaging characters. She is good about having a new plot for each book, rather than continuing one plot through several books. (Book 6 was the weakest, plot-wise, but it did still have its own plot.)

Did I cry? No. Not even close. Not because there wasn't anything tear-worthy, but because the way it was written didn't move me to tears. (Reading while ill may have helped this, too.) The movie, I suspect, will make me cry. But that's another story.

I thought this was a nice ending to the series, and answered all the questions I could have hoped for. There is still room to move in the wizarding world, and we may get more stories about secondary characters in the future, but this is a nice end to this series. It's hard to know what else to say without giving anything away (which I refuse to do). But I can say that this is quite likely my second favorite of the books now. Book 3 has always been (and will always be) my favorite of the Potter books, but this one is nicely done as well.