I wasn’t going to buy Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows. I could have scraped together the money, but at the moment if I have a spare $35 sitting around it should go to the lock-out fund. But I remembered that I had a $20 Whitcoulls voucher, and wanted nothing more than to read the book in one sitting, and it was an enjoyable and engrossing five hours or so.
A lot of what bothered me in the last few books really worked in this one. There’s much better pacing and much less artificial tension, and plots that only exist because the characters aren’t talking to each other. From the seven Harrys on I was totally there for the ride. When I ended the book, I felt satisfied (the epilogue was another matter), and I was certainly cheering at times.
As I’ve said before, I love serial story-telling. The only thing I like better than enjoying serial story-telling is picking apart serial story-telling. I like the sense of collective ownership that fans feel over these stories.
So I’m going to spend rather a lot of words analysing the meaningover the meaning of these stories, what I liked about them, and what didn’t work for me. If you don’t enjoy this then go somewhere else. I’m using headings because I’m too tired for transitions.
Fight back
My favourite line was when Harry Potter can’t find a good memory for a Patronus and Neville (or Luna or someone) says “We’re still fighting, what’s a happier memory than that?” I’m a sucker for messages about the joy and strength that comes from fighting together.
There’s been a real tension in between the single hero who must go it alone, and the idea that people are stronger together than they are alone. I’ve not time for individualistic super-hero crap, so I’ve been glad that the tension has generally been resolved on the side of fighting together.
But I felt this book took the idea a little bit further than any of the previous books had, as Dumbledore’s secrecy and authority were undermined. I think she could have gone further than this, and with Dumbledore’s ambiguity (although I liked what we got).
We also got people challenging Harry for acting alone, not just Ron and Hermione, but most of Hogwarts by the end, and Harry agreed they were right, and couldn’t have won without them.
Of course that doesn’t make Harry Potter an ode to collective action, Harry does act alone, and wouldn’t have succeeded out there. But I don’t think it buys into the individualistic super-hero crap which drives me nuts in many fantasy books.
Occupation
J K Rowling is a genre children’s writer – most of what she’s writing makes more sense when you know the genres she’s writing in (I don’t love the fact that she chooses the genre over sense, politics and at times characters). In the later books she’s been pulling in world war two genres, and I think it works really well. I thought the creeping fascism of the ministry was very well done, and creepy. The scene’s in the ministry of magic were particularly powerful.
I’ve preferred the books where our heroes were the resistance (5 and 7) than the others where they were more clearly part of the establishment. In this context the basic obstacles of the beginning, staying hidden, finding food and fighting boredom, worked really well. I also loved Lee’s radio show (and could have used more of it actually, it’d be nice if it had been the consistent way our members had found out about the outside world – although would it have killed her to have a single female character on the show?). While the dangers of fascism isn’t the most challenging message (although she has deliberately drawn parallels with post-September 11 Britain and US policy), I much prefer Harry, Ron and Hermione fighting the government, than being part of it.
The only way the occupation parallel didn’t work for me, was the amount of collaboration at Hogwarts, which creeped me right out. Hogwarts was incredibly violent and abusive, bad enough that it would have done real damage to the students. Teachers like McGonagall just tried to mitigate that damage rather than fighting back. I think that decision was a serious one and should have been given more weight.
Death
I think she should have killed off more people, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Colin Creevy Crabbe (or was it Goyle) and Snape (although that was clearly inevitable)? And fifty people we’ve no idea who they are? The ratio of named deaths to unnamed deaths seemed far too high to me, particularly since the people we knew were shown as being in the centre of the battle. If she wasn’t prepared to even kill off Hagrid, Luna or Neville, she should have killed some more Weasleys, teachers, or other characters who we’d known for seven books.
I also felt she fumbled a bit with Fred’s death – the tragedy of Fred’s death is George continuing on without them, much more than Molly Weasley’s rage (although I’m not complaining about Molly Weasley taking action). I found Dobby’s death easily the most moving and important in the book.
Relationships
I said that the relationships would annoy me, and the idea of them certainly did. Why is it in fantasy everyone has to have met and got together with their soul-mate and life-partner by the age of 17? They’re cookie dough; they’re not done baking.
Having said that, I actually quite enjoyed Ron and Hermione. Their difficulties and uncertainties about each other, their unwillingness to declared. The way they treated each other didn’t set off any dysfunction alarm bells for me (this is quite a major achievement really) Even Ron’s attempt at suave moves in the beginning didn’t annoy me; they were about him being nice, rather than about him being a dick. Which meant that I could appreciate that the reason he was turning to books for his moves was because he was really insecure about his position (I thought his fears that came out when he were trying to destroy the Horcrux were quite well done). When they finally get together, it’s because Ron was listening to Hermione. She finally snogs him when he thinks about the house elves in the final battles. This seemed as good a basis for a relationship as any to me.**
But Harry & Ginny – ‘I’m going to leave you because I’m putting you in danger’ is my least favourite relationship device ever.**** Mostly because it usually just rings so false, it’s a false attempt to create tension, where there’s no real reason for it. If Harry and Ginny had just kept their relationship secret and made out at every opportunity the book would have been just the same. He wouldn’t actually have put her in danger by kissing her (and she was doing a pretty good job of putting herself in danger).
What I find so frustrating about this, is that limiting women’s choices for them is portrayed as a romantic act. Ginny’s a smart girl, she can understand danger, he could have told her what his worries were and they could have made decisions together. Loving someone shouldn’t mean limiting their agency.
But what’s really odd is that the ‘I’m a danger to you, I cannot be with you’ plot was also part of Lupin and Tonks story. I guess I just don’t understand where this plot comes from. Do people in times of danger break up supposedly to protect their partner? It seems completely unlikely to me. There aren’t many circumstances where the enemy can use a relationship against you in real life. When authors use this device is there a real emotion that they’re trying to map onto? Or are they just using it for cheap tension?
What I did like that the book ultimately valued friendship. Luna Lovegood’s picture of Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny was awesome (if we had to have an epilogue couldn’t we have found what she was doing).* The entire book is structured around Ron, Hermione and Harry, and the fact that Ron and Hermione start making out doesn’t change the dynamic of that friendship. In the end it’s Ron and Hermione that Harry turns to, even though he’s decided that he’s not a danger to Ginny anymore (I’m still rolling my eyes).
Love
Ultimately the Harry Potter stories were about the power of love. But not the abstract hippy sort of ‘all you need is love’, but the very real love we have for people we care about. That loving one person can be transformative and the love of one person can be translated outwards to help you fight for everyone.
This idea was shown in all the characters on our side, over and over again, in the friendships they made and kept and the way they fought together. It was shown with Snape and Lily, even though that was infinitely predictable. But I thought it was the Malfoys that showed this idea most powerfully, when their love for each other, eventually led them to take a stand against Voldemort.
I’m not entirely convinced by this idea. I think in the real world our enemies are as capable as loving as we are. But I do think there is hope in love. I think most of us who fight for a better world get our strength to fight not from the abstract idea of people, but the concrete reality of the people we love.
There are worse messages for a generation of children to grow up with.
Epilogue
The epilogue was the most disappointing part of the book, partly because it was so trite and predictable. But also because it showed that they had just saved the world, not changed it.* While I was reading it I hoped that the book would go further than it did. During the book the wizards attitudes towards Muggles, Goblins and House-elfs were all shown to be limited. The Ministry of Magic consistently acted in their own interests, not in the interests of the people. Defeating Voldemort was not enough. I didn’t need them to succeed in this, or even necessarily to try, but I’d liked it if she’d left open up the possibility of trying to create a bigger change than beating one evil guy. The epilogue shut that down.
*I think left-wing activist women would probably appreciate the fact that he was the one to change his views. I’ve seen many relationships with sexually transmitted politics over the years, and usually they go the other way.
** Well technically non-consensual sexual contact, which is somehow welcomed by the woman is my least favourite relationship plot device, but I’m almost always successful in trying to avoid stories which use that plot device (yes that was a pointed remark about Buffy, yes this review contains too many Buffy references)
*** I strongly identified with both Luna and Hermione. I was nerdy and completely out of it as a teenager. Obviously these characters are created for women to over-identify with, so that’s not a surprise.
Wow… I totally agree about the epilogue. For some reason this book reminds me of Star Wars (perhaps the epic feel that’s a little different from the first six) and I think it could have used a scene like the one at the end of whichever movie it was where they all get presented with medals. Presumably they would have given Harry some kind of award… and we never found out if he became an Auror (though presumably he’s quite qualified now!). And yeah, I didn’t really like the whole Ginny-Harry thing either, but I’m so glad that Dumbledore was right about Snape. The whole ending was kinda predictable (except the Deathly Hallows bit) but I’m sort of glad JK Rowling didn’t go the totally unpredictable route because that would probably be annoying and disappointing. Fred’s death was a little annoying because it seemed like she just killed him off because she had a spare twin, and I agree that Harry, Ron, Hermione etc. should not have gotten off totally unscathed. But overall I really liked the book (especially after not liking the last two) and I think Harry grew a lot in the last part and I really liked Snape, which I have for a few books and it annoyed me that Harry never doubted that Snape was evil and I’m glad I was right. And it’s nice to know that someone else has read the book already… I’m not sure whether that was smart (no one to spoil it) or stupid (no one to discuss it with). :)
Thank you so much for posting this! I’m only halfway through and I can see most of what’s coming ahead of me, but it’s nice to have it laid out so I’m not totally blindsided by it. I’m sad that Snape dies though :( The one thing I promised myself was that if he dies, I’d stop reading … I get a feeling I’m going to be breaking that promise though.
You wrote: “The ratio of named deaths to unnamed deaths seemed far too high to me …she should have killed some more Weasleys, teachers, or other characters who we’d known for seven books.” The way you wrote the ratio (number of named characters divided by number of unnamed characters) more deaths of named characters would make the ratio go up, not down.
Oh, and I enjoyed the rest. Great review :) I think you are spot on with the part on love. A better epilogue would be nice, too.
I know Snap dies and Dumbledore dies
Who is R.A.B? I have not the book yet.
i have just come out of the haze i have been in all day reading this book and i must admit to feeling a bit disappointed…i think i wanted him to die. i dont know why though. maybe she felt that as these books are primarily for children the idea of karma must be present and harry potter has been through so much and suffered so much and remained a decent person so he deserves happiness and family. i do agree that not enough regular characters died though but i think that was for the same reason…she got a load of good twists in there and i think her place in history is well and truly sealed…and even though i really hated him after the last book, im glad snape was really a goody…..so actually maybe im not so disappointed after all! its over and im a bit sad but also a bit relieved and finally have those nagging questions answered except one…how the blinkin eck can i ever write anything as magnetic as this series
I really enjoyed most of the book, and at least 80% of the time I was unconsciously grinning with the pleasure of seeing how the whole thing wove together. (I’m a total sucker for well-done continuity.) I also really liked pretty much all the Malfoy stuff – I was afraid that she was going to have Draco do a complete 180, and it just would have been so implausable.
However, I agree with a lot of the your criticisms as well – esp the horrible horrible epilogue and the fact that the Dobby’s death was the most affecting moment in the book. I’m not a weepy reader by any stretch of the imagination, but that was the only point at which I was afraid I’d start leaking. Well, a close second might have been when Harry was coming to terms with his role as willing sacrifice. But the actual human deaths? So minor and quickly dealt with that I felt that it cheapened the whole thing.
And, even aside from the whole “I can’t be w/ you because I love you” thing, Ginny didn’t even really need to be in the story whatsoever – it would have been fine with just Ron & Hermione to anchor him, I think. What whas her purpose other than to show that Harry can get a cute girlfriend? Seriously? All that love & friendship stuff was already covered. The only purpose Ginny served that I can think of was to create an aesthetic symmetry between James-Lily & Harry-Ginny. Whatever.
Snape’s memories? Well, I was hoping against all hope that he really would be evil, so I’m not sure if that is coloring my reaction, but did anyone else think that the Pensieve section was too long, overly detailed, hackneyed, and just generally kind of ick?
“I’m staying away from you because I want you to be safe” is extremely common, and very much the right thing to do. I had a first seat row for the
transformation of Bulgaria from a place where you could chat with a girl on a
bench in the park for the whole night, to a place where it was risky to be on the
central square 15mn after dark. It took less than three years.
There was a time where having a business meant that you were involved, one
way or another, with organized crime. People sent their families abroad. Those
who couldn’t do this, had them live with relatives in remote villages. The
thugs themselves kept their past secret, and tried to operate away from their
birthplace. Law enforcement families self-segregated in buildings where the
security was something to see. The really honest/crazy and dedicated/obsessed
cops sometimes got a divorce and cut off ties with their families… although,
mostly that just deprived their widows of a pension. Not that it was much.
“There aren’t many circumstances where the enemy can use a relationship against you in real life.” You are very lucky to be able to think so.
Great post! I thought “the prince’s tale” was my favourite chapter. I have always had an interest in Snape’s mind and in particular, his heart and that chapter really took it home. Favourite bit of the novel was when I found out about Albus Severus, his son!!! Such a touching way to show Harry’s immense grattitude, by naming his son after his longtime saviour: Snape. I realllly want to know if Albus did choose Slytherin……
Yea I loved the Potterwatch!!! I felt Dobby’s death and Snape’s death were the saddest bits of the book.I do wish that JK Rowling left us a bit of an indication over Snape’s true heart and intentions in the previous books, like his treatment of Hermione and Harry could have been less hatefully convincing or he could have slipped a bit in his harsh hatred toward mudbloods. The “the prince’s tale” reallllllllllly was emotional for me because I had no idea whatsoever of Snape’s inner heart and it just got annoying thinking about his loyalties as the book rollercoasted and spiralled around Snapes loyalty back and forth from dumbledore to voldemort.
I like it how Jk Rowling kind of tarnished Dumbledore’s god-like image. I realised that Dumbledore wasn’t invincible(in the previous book) and that he also wasn’t a perfect human either. I felt it was also therapeutical as it helped me get over the dumbledore dependancy I developed over the last 6books and also get over his traumatising death.
Overall, I felt the storyline was true to it’s original intention but I felt the angle in which this was approached and the mood and feel of the books have severelly changed… i would no longer read the harry potter books just for fun or just for comfort reading as It’s become too emotionally stressful. But I guess that is what we signed up for when we got sucked in, in book 1. Is it just me or don’t you feel the book has changed from it’s children’s book rating to more of a teen read?
The writing itself is not complex, but the violence, stress, heart wrenching storyline, heart breaking deaths, torture and the ugliness of the human physche are all too well revealled in the last few books. Even I, an invincible 17 year old (lol) had sweaty hands and a thumping heart as a storm raged outside, reading this book.
I was 11 when Harry first boarded the train, when he too was 11. I remember waiting for a letter from Hogwarts feeling immensly sad that I wasn’t invited. I am now 17 when Harry is saving the world from Voldemort, him also being 17. This book marks the end of my childhood with Harry Potter.
The book ended how it was suppose to end, JK Rowling knew that to those who had been reading the series for seven whole years it would be unfair to kill of harry or hermione or ron. i believe that if diappointment is shown, its only because people want it to carry on. jk rowling perservered with harry because the book shows voldemorts weakness of fear of death and that it was easy to know he was going to be defeated throughout the book as continued to flutter around objects to make him immortal all his life.
the only aspect of the book i didnt undertstand was just the dream of dumbledore. who was the creature making noise….where was harry, surely not the kings cross station as dumbledore was dead. that part was weird because he must have been in some sort of lingo between alive and dead because he had a choice to stay back or go and fight voldemort.
the book was immaculate in bringing together the whole series of the story in every single detail…it was packed and confusing at times with so much action, and the book seemed to jump from one situation straight to the next, but thats just how JK Rowling told of harrys life being like.
I completely agree with you. If I was still 9 years old, maybe I would have enjoyed the ending, but it was completely anti-climactic. The only twist is that Malfoy had the Elder Wand. Sometimes, I watch Disney movies when I don’t feel like being emotional, and this book made me feel exactly the same way. I was prepared to cry when Harry, Ron, or Hermione died… but they never did. And the epilogue nearly killed me, I wish I had just stopped after the corny last chapter.
I think im the only person who like the epilogue… i know it was predictable but i now feel that its complete… as the last words say “all was well” i thought it summed it up
thanks for that. i really liked it.
I think that it had to end the way it did, though. Harry had to kill Voldemort and get with Ginny.
Hermione was pactically destined to get with Ron, but jeez,it took them long enough.
But I must say, I was surprised by the Malfoys. Good on them.
JK Rowling is one of the best authors I have ever come across. And the suspense of waiting for this book was almot as good as the book itself.
I just finished the book about 20 minutes ago and I wanted to see other peoples take on the book. I agree with you to a certain extent on many of your opinions. I don’t think that Snape’s death was inevitable or obvious for a simple reason. He did not need to die. If he was going to die I thought that it would be someone else who killed him. There were a few things I DID see coming though. Harry being a horcrux, Ron and Hermione finally coming to their senses, Harry finally coming to his senses about Ginny, and I also had a sneaking suspision that Dumbledore had asked Snape to kill him if Draco didnt do it. There are also some things that I agree with you on. The epilogue was totally fake. I dont know of any couple who fell in love at 17, married, have children, and are still together.
Totally off subject and a little random, but I thought that naming all of his and Ginny’s children after the people in his life as sweet. James, Lilly, and Albus Severus Potter. I also think that Harry saying that Albus was named after the two best Headmasters that Hogwarts has ever seen was touching. I know it sounds weird but now that we know where Snape’s loyalties really lie, I feel bad about all the times I thought that he was the bad guy. He was only trying to protect him for gosh sakes!!! Ok well enough ranting for me. That is my take on what I think is and always will be the best book that I will ever read!
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I’m not a HP fan but I was looking for reviews that discussed the ending. Nice writing Maia, particularly, ‘sexually transmitted politics’. Hopefully more to come from you.
I just finished the book as well. I was happy to find this site because I often feel incomplete when I finish a book and this gave me an opportunity to reflect on what I had just read.
I will admit that I always felt Snape was good and when I read in Book 6 that he killed D. – if you read what D says to him about doing what you have to do – I always thought that D had made Snape kill him, I just never knew why. In the end, I was glad to know my instincts were correct and he was true to Dumbledore. The pensieve chapter was long, but it made more sense about why Snape struggle with the Occulamancy lessons and had to take so many memories out in book 5.
To answer someone’s question above – the chapter in King’s Crossing was a limbo place and I thought the baby-thing was Voldemort. They were both knocked unconscious. Harry could have chosen to die there and take V with him, but he decided to live and try to elminate V in the real world. I might be wrong, but that is how I understood it.
The action is this book was much more unpredictable than before – and much more of it. Quick question – how does the sorting hat summon the sword? Was the sword lost in the vault or even in the goblin’s possession? I guess we are just supposed to be ok with that?
I was disappointed with Fred’s death. As said before, it was brushed over. Actually, when I heard rumors earlier that a Weasley would die – I thought it would be Percy. I always knew J.K. could never kill those closest to Harry. I guess the twins had the most done to them in the end.
I was surprised that both Lupin and Tonks died, because Ted was left an orphan – but I did think about Harry raising Ted…making sure Ted didn’t have a life similar to Harry’s. I was disappointed in the epilogue that it wasn’t Harry sending Ted off to school…maybe as his only or with his own son or something. It mentions having Ted come live with them – but wouldn’t Ted have been 19? Wasn’t the epilogue nineteen years later?
Overall, I was satisfied with the book – I just hope the movie doesn’t cover only 100 pages of it. The last movie should be longer to give the story lines some justice.
god i’m tired…and weirdly exhilerated at the same time…i’ve been reading pretty much non stop for 8 hours and just finished the book, and the only part that really annoyed me was the large dumbledore exposition part in the deathly hallows…although i have to say i loved the creepy little voldemort soul bleating and moaning under the seat…but otherwise it kind of felt clunky…and even though i get that it was “happening but not happening” dumbledore didn’t read like dumbledore. the epitaph didn’t bother me as much as i expected…there were parts of it that kind of went “CLANG!” but otherwise it was sweet and a nice wrap up. i wanted to find out more about harry’s relationship with teddy though, just because of the symmetry to the sirius/harry relationship. dinner three times a week just didn’t cut it for me. lame complaint, but still, i had hopes.
i want to raise a toast to rowling though for creating and sticking with a truly marvelously conflicted character in severus snape. from the very first book his loyalty to lily and antipathy to james played out in his dealings with harry. his task in the order was clearly the most dangerous, and his dedication to it was unswerving but his attitude towards the child of his first love and first enemy was so superbly rendered from the get go, and his complex feelings about his charge so well played out, that rowling managed to keep us guessing for 10 years. even though she isn’t the most “literary” i guess of writers, snape is truly a grand literary creation that i think any author would be proud to have created. and as a fan, i was really relieved that he was a good guy after all. it would have sucked otherwise.
as for the rest of the book, dobby’s death about broke me in half, and harry’s digging the grave was beautiful. fred’s death choked me up, but fred and george have been favorites from the get go for me. it was pretty cursory, and i expected something, some kind of words about it after the fact, particularly in regards to george, who i…i can’t even continue on that because its too upsetting. okay, i know it was corny, but i cheered when molly weasley went all ellen ripley on bellatrix. i know, i know, but still…i freakin’ loved it.
beyond that, i guess i can’t believe its over. thanks jk for 10 awesome years!
I REALLY enjoyed the book, it was probably to me the best in the series. I cried after I read it, I don’t know why, perhaps because the series has really ended.
The only thing I didn’t like, this seems stupid but I wanted to know what Harry’s parents occuptations were and same with Harrys.
And about the epilogue, I liked it I think I would have been, along with a lot of other readers, devastated if Harry, Ron, or Hermione died.
I Just finished reading it. I loved it. I agree with some of u.. There werent time to greive for the ones who died. It seemed happen too fast. For a second there I though Mrs.Weasley was going to die.
For some reason I seem to be a little disappointed ..I donno whether its due to the fact that this is an end to the harry potter series or that it kinda ended like all others books- HAPPY. Dont get me wrong. I didnt want harry, hermoine or Ron die but it seemed like it was soo easy. I guess its still a book!
Overall, LOVED IT>>> and ill make sure when i have kids..ill make em read it ! :)
I will say this now….SPOILERS DO NOT READ IF YOU DON’T WANT THE BOOK SPOILED FOR YOURSELF. I remain blunt for now so it can’t be seen on mini feed: This book was awesome. It exceeded my expectations by quite a lot. I hated the 6th book so I was pleansantly surprised by the pacing, context, and maturity of this last installment. Gone are the angsty love fests from book 6. We are finally dealing with reality and it was downright refreshing to seen it portrayed that way. Let me begin my indepth review by making this remark: The death counts are high and the action takes place right from the get go. You won’t be waiting until the end of the book for death and secrets to be revealed (though the ending does have its share of that). Let us begin with the plot: I find myself laughing at some of the similarities between this book and others I have read. Lord of the Rings comes to mind when I think of the locket dangling from Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s neck making them more angsty and irritable until the burden is lifted or destroyed. Even Ron’s hesitation towards destroying it made me laugh. Just too glaringly similar in my opinion though others will argue. (And yes, this a minor detail as this took place only through a 1/4th of the book). But come on Isengard: Nurmengard? anyone…ANYONE? Oh well hahaha. Aside from that, the plot’s pacing has far surpassed all the other books in style. True, I feel it lost a little bit of its magic and innocent pull, but I found it a welcome change rather than a clear departure from the series as the 6th book felt. The twists were somewhat predictable though I admit….I did not see Dobby’s death coming and found it the most emotional of anything in the book…and I hated Dobby! Funny how valiant acts glorify characters in their finest hours. The transition from place to place though frequent (apparation to the max! I totally forgot they were actually able to do that…I thought they had only just learned…but that may be my own fault for not reviewing) was seemless and cinematic. There wasn’t a single chapter in this book that didn’t catch me at some point…though there was tedium in perhaps 30 pages of the entire book….29 of them being Hermione and Harry apparating half way across the countryside discussing nothing but foolish plans. I somehow can’t help but feel a little let down at some of the questions still left unanswered. Did Luna’s father ever get saved? It was dismissed with a single sentence that perhaps all those prisoners in Azkaban were released. I also wanted to know more about Peter Pettrigrew…I never thought him such a one-dimensional character. He did save Harry as I expected, but his feeble suicide was ridiculous. The death count was also astounding. I loved this fact as I love reality in war and death, but I want to know who JK Rowling saved in turn for the two characters she killed instead. I mean Lupin and Tonks simply being tacked on to the death count with Fred at the end of the first battle, well, seemed tactless. Also what was the whole deal about Harry yelling at Lupin for leaving his child? That was a bit of a stretch for me. Too melodramatic and out of place. Lupin’s character died a shallow husk of what his character was in the 3rd book. Disappointing considering he use to be my favorite character. Of all the books, I find this the best and yet I don’t think I’ll ever want to reread it. It’s one of those novels that loses all its grip after you realize how everything comes together. I don’t have a desire to work anything out, but perhaps I’ll reread the earlier books to feel sad for Dobby or Snape. Poor Snape hahaha who couldn’t guess that he was really asked by Dumbledore to kill him? But still…I wish we could have at least gotten some dying words from him or a respectable stand off between him and Voldemort before he died instead of some hollow (not to mention tired) pensieve act. Still, I hold high praises for the plot. The Ghostly Hallows legend mixed in with the wand lore was creative and a joy to read about. The whole Elder Wand bit got a little contrived towards the end when Harry was staring down Voldemort and giving his big reveal…I mean…Draco Malfoy’s wand??? What the hell? I understand it, but lame…. hahaha But in either case…yes Draco got a small reprieval of character and I was happy to see it was done in a tasteful way. The ending glance he gives the trio + Ginny in the epilogue was just right. Although, the rest of the epilogue left quite a lot to be desired. What happened to George? Did he continue the store without Fred? Teddy Lupin was living with who now? So many children and so little about the lives we’ve come to know and love. Did Harry even have a job? What the hell did he make of himself after he killed Voldemort? Did he live on pure royalties? Simple ideas that would have been very nice to know simply weren’t mentioned. And yeah this is rambling, but what about his green eyes were important? Snape loved Lily, but how did Lily and James fall in love when she claimed she despised him? The whole, Harry is suppose to die (because he was a horcrux…take that non-believers!), but doesn’t because of the blood swap….yeah, that wasn’t really explained in the best way. It seemed muddy and reptitive still…it got the point across. Tone: Tone is much darker but handled in a much more mature and refined nature than the angst-ridden 5th book. Side note…I do appreciate the 5th book much more now having seen the movie. It was a welcome change…The humor was a bit out of place even when it was meant to lighten the mood. Harry, Ron, and Hermione laughed until they hiccupped….over the fact that Ron made a joke about escaping Gringotts on a dragon? That’s not too funny. The jokes from Fred and Geore on the otherhand, were, I feel, meant to be corny and sarcastic and for that, I will disregard them. I also liked the added reminiscent tone of the book as JK added little tidbits of memories from past novels. Including Krum for the brief moment at the wedding was unexpected but welcome and adorable. The first year memories, I loved especially. The picture of Harry riding a broom at age 1 was quite endearing too. Cute. Characters: Ultimately, much truer to their original forms/morals than in the past two installments. Ron returns with avengence and he’s much bolder. We see his true colors. His fear, his love, and his courage. We see Hermione’s paranoia, skeptism, logic, and compassion showcased well throughout- and the kiss between her and Ron was bold and perfectly timed. I oringinally thought that she would do it as Ron returned soping wet after saving Harry and retrieving the sword, but I find that JK’s placing was much better timed. On the subject of love…quick girly moment: Harry and Ginny’s stolen kiss was soooo hot hahaha. He held the back of her neck and I just wanted him and Ginny to be together even though I had usually been apathetic toward student love and especially dismissing towards Ginny in general. The Order and Hogwarts Students: They played the perfect background characters. They knew exactly when to show up and when to cheer and when to embellish pride and emotion in a reader. As for Harry: He was perfect…He really won me over this book. He didn’t act like a complete prat…and finally I believe he has become my favorite. Willing to die, openly loving Ginny in more than a lustful manner…for once I actually didn’t believe his age. As I said, I don’t think I’ll ever want to read this behemoth again, but it was a great and fitting end to the series. I wish the ending included more, but I feel like I can happily depart from Harry and his wonders without sorrow.
Also…what happened to the Dursleys? They were taken away by Dedalus…and his house was destroyed….so what then?
Thanks for posting your comments everyone! I had a ridiculous search to try and find reviews/comments on this book by people who had already read it.
I agree the epilogue was a bit cheesy, but it needed to be done for closure. Overall, it was another fantastic book by Rowling. I was a bit thrown off by the Hallows. They just seemed to come out of nowhere. We had never heard about them previously, even with Harry having had one of them!
I loved that Snape’s final words were for Harry to look at him. Harry’s eyes were his mother’s, and Snape wanted to look into them when he died.
Someone asked how the sword got into the sorting hat. I believe Dumbledore said a true Griffyndor would pull that out when he/she was in need. How it leaves the possession of the Goblins and ends up in the hat though…I don’t know.
I’m sure the crying baby was Voldemort, although I also don’t understand the significance of him appearing as a baby while in limbo. Maybe I just need to think deeper. :)
Ginny was disappointing in that her part was so small, especially at the end. And I also think we should have been able to see more of George after Fred’s death. The devastation of that loss would have been very powerful.
I’m listing a lot of complaints but I actually thought this was a wonderful book. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. It had a great twist (Draco being the wand owner), more info on the beloved and revered Dumbledore which showed him to be human, as well as a touching finale to Snape’s own story. I closed the book with a grin on my face. All is well.
ADB – it was my opinion that the baby-like thing was what was left of Voldemort’s soul. When Harry came to the place where he met Dumbledore, he was in a sort of limbo where only souls could go. That’s why he didn’t have a scar, didn’t need glasses, etc. – he was just a soul. Since he had never ripped his soul like Voldemort – Harry’s soul is whole and good, like Dumbledore’s – both he and Dumbledore appear in this limbo as regular-looking people. But all that is left of Voldemort’s soul is a tiny, wriggling, deformed little creature. That is HIS soul, in contrast to Harry’s whole and normal one, and like Dumbledore said, Voldemort’s soul is beyond help at this point.
Ooo, ADB, thanks for the point about looking Snape in the eyes. Ooo, chills all over again. Didn’t catch that.
The death of Snape was one of the most emotional parts for me, but I’ve always had a soft spot for him and was hoping fervently that he would be redeemed in this book (and redeemed he was, though in a very ambiguous sort of way that I vastly preferred to some “he was all good all the time and we just didn’t know it” revelation). That he was redeemed /after his death/ was what really hit me hard. That, to me, is tragedy in the most beautiful sense of the word. When I found out about his patronus … that got me again. It was worth getting through the clunky format of that chapter just for that information.
I thought the way that both Snape and Dumbledore were shown to be a mixture of good and evil in this book was fantastic. The thing I always disliked about the series was how easily it seemed to classify people into good or bad (Slytherin = bad, e.g.). So the part in the epilogue about Albus Severus … that had me again. Actually, to be entirely honest (blushing here), reading that name had me put the book down and cry a bit in appreciation. Redeemed the entire epilogue for me, especially the part where Harry accepts that perhaps a child of his could be a Slytherin without being evil.
The development of the Malfoys was also very nicely done.
Dobby’s death didn’t really do it for me for some reason, but the House Elf thing always just makes me wince. Kreatur’s change of heart was far more interesting to me (can you tell I’ve a thing for redemption?), but it too had a sort of a “treat the help nice and they will be loyal to you” type of stay-on-the-plantation-with-the-nice-white-folks vibe that irked me. Perhaps I read it differently as an American than the British audience that does not live with quite the same direct legacy of slavery? I wonder, though — why did giving him the locket not free him? Is jewelry not clothing?
I agree with the criticisms about the world going back seemingly to normal (though the possibility is left open, it would have been nice to learn that the House Elves had finally been liberated and the Ministry significantly reformed). My radical heart wanted to see some real changes made. I also agree with the bleh feelings about the pairing up of characters in the epilogue. I do very much wish I did not have the notion at 17 that I was fated to be with my then-boyfriend for the rest of my life – would have saved me a divorce, that’s for sure.
However, I thought the general tone of the epilogue was just fine. Harry wasn’t fighting so much for social justice, after all, as he was for preserving the familiar and the things that he loved (especially the people, the families, the relationships). So the fact that the focus was on continuity and what was preserved in the end seemed perfect to me, and I thought there were some subtle hints at change in the way Harry seemed to have rethought his own opinion about classifying people into good and bad roles.
That love of the normal can be a conservative thing if you spin it the wrong way, but it is also just a love for the ordinary embedded in a book about the extraordinary that I always found to be the most endearing quality of the series. It seemed right to end on that note.
The “it’s not safe for you to be with me” thing didn’t bother me except inasmuch as it was mostly men making said sacrifice on behalf of women. But then, look at Hermione’s sacrifice with her parents. That was much more profound than Harry deciding not to kiss Ginny, and far more coercive too. There was also Hermione’s choice to stay with Harry instead of running off to join Ron.
Oh, and a minor quibble with the review here, but I believe you left out Hedwig from the list of the dead! (which death seemed a bit like a cheap way of letting us know early on how high the stakes were going to be, but then, I never do like to read about animal death).
Oh, and the best chapter title ever was “The Battle of Hogwarts.” Hell yeah!
I guess I’m in the minority. I liked Book 6 a lot, and all the others except Chamber. This one was disappointing. I think it’s difficult to actually have a big stirring finale, which is probably why most series don’t.
There are also some things that I agree with you on. The epilogue was totally fake. I dont know of any couple who fell in love at 17, married, have children, and are still together.
This appears to be a common criticism. How did JKR put it? “there are some things you cannot do together without becoming very good friends, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.”. You would buy them breaking up after all they went through together, you would buy them leaving their children?
if you need reassurance that relationships can still be short-term or meaningless, take comfort in the many relationships in the books that fail. There any many. If you like, there’s still hope that Lupin and Dora might have broken up had they lived.
“But what’s really odd is that the ‘I’m a danger to you, I cannot be with you’ plot was also part of Lupin and Tonks story. ”
The difference between Harry and Ginny and Lupin and Tonks was that Ginny was underage and Tonks was, even pregnant, was an experienced Auror – which is why Harry shouted at Lupin to go back to her.
If Ginny had been, say, Ron’s twin, and so an adult and able to perform magic away from school, I bet she would have gone with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Plus, I don’t think that Harry ever meant to leave Ginny permanantly; I think that deep down, he always hoped that maybe later things would be different. (Isn’t there an implication of that at the end of OotP?)
I completely agree that Fred’s death was passed over too quickly, and that too many of the deaths were unnamed. But for me, that seemed deliberate on Rowling’s part – that’s how battles *are*. It’s part of the tragedy of war that death is not given its due. That hastiness seems both more real and more sad to me.
I didn’t mind the epilogue and found myself smiling at what Harry had named his children. Sure it’s that hand holding happy ending, but these books were written in the genre of children’s fiction… and hand holding happy endings do their little souls good. They deserve to still believe in happily ever after, even if by 13 or 14 almost all of them will already know it doesn’t exist. I just wish Harry would have become Hogwarts Headmaster, especially after his very special mentorship type relationship with Dumbledore. It just seemed like such a predestined outcome to me… I was really surprised when it didn’t happen.
Sure it’s that hand holding happy ending, but these books were written in the genre of children’s fiction… and hand holding happy endings do their little souls good.
I think it does, ours too, but I don’t think Happily Ever After is where she took us. Rowling has never painted a rose colored world: many of us assumed the Potter’s lives before Voldemort had been idyllic and I think you’re making the same assumption about their lives after, confusing the fact that they can be happy in the moment with “Happily Ever After”.
I haven’t read the entire book yet, just some of the really good parts (like the last chapter), but here are my thoughts so far:
-I love ambiguous Dumbledore. I loved him before, and I love him even more now that he’s real, not just an inhumanly perfect savior for Harry. His character shows that we can choose the type of person we want to be. This theme first appeared in TSS, when Harry chooses to be in Gryffindor over Slytherin, and it comes full circle in the epilogue, when Harry tells Albus that he, too, can choose not to be in Slytherin. (Although now Harry has realized that things aren’t so black and white and that Slytherin does not equal evil.)
(sorry if this double-posts. I may have pressed submit twice)
I haven’t read the entire book yet, just some of the really good parts (like the last chapter), but here are my thoughts so far:
-I love ambiguous Dumbledore. I loved him before, and I love him even more now that he’s real, not just an inhumanly perfect savior for Harry. His character shows that we can choose the type of person we want to be. This theme first appeared in TSS, when Harry chooses to be in Gryffindor over Slytherin, and it comes full circle in the epilogue, when Harry tells Albus that he, too, can choose not to be in Slytherin. (Although now Harry has realized that things aren’t so black and white and that Slytherin does not equal evil.)
-I hated that Rowling didn’t show us the deaths of Tonks or Lupin. Lupin especially, because he has played such a major role in past books. He’s also one of my favorite characters.
-I really didn’t get the argument between Harry and Lupin either. I just can’t see Lupin leaving Tonks when she’s pregnant to go and help Harry. I get his angst over making his wife and son outcasts, and I think that’s evidence of one of the flaws in Lupin’s character: he’s so used to the world despising him that he thinks that people who like him must take on a terrible burden in befriending him (I hope that makes sense; I can’t think of a better way to word it). I think J.K. Rowling has mentioned that Remus didn’t become prefect when he was at Hogwarts because he was too lax on his friends. I think this is because he was so grateful to have friends at all. These feelings of unworthiness are still there when he marries Tonks. He can’t imagine that her love for him would overcome any hardship she would face whether it be the disappointment of her family or being shunned from society. Combined with the guilt of passing on his condition to his son and this being an extremely stressful time, and he was overwhelmed. He thought his family would be better without him. Ok, I guess I can understand his actions. I still didn’t like the scene, though. I would hope that, had they lived Tonks and Lupin would have stayed together. He did seem elated when his son was born. Maybe he would finally get over his guilt and angst and realize that he is a worthwhile human being. I guess we’ll never know now, will we? (Damn you, Rowling!)
-Molly Weasley’s killing Bellatrix kicked ass.
-I cried when Harry told the memory/ghost of his mother to stay close by him.
-Only one thought on the epilogue: did anyone think Victoire was a boy before they used the feminine pronoun? Now, Teddy Lupin snogging the Weasley’s male cousin would have been interesting. Although I shouldn’t have expected Rowling to insert a gay character in the epilogue when she hadn’t done so before. In fact, the whole series is lacking in major minority characters.
I started reading the books when I was 11 going on 12. Now I’m 18. I grew up with the books, and I think this was an excellent end to a fabulous series.
I thought the way that Harry finally killed Voldemort was kind of … well anticlimactic. Lupin had mentioned to Harry near the beginning of the book how the “Expelliarmus” spell was his signature move and it gave him away. There was a bunch of lead up to the actually duel, where Harry is explaining the unbeatable wand and owner to Voldemort and it sounds like it’s going to be an awesome, possibly long duel. Then all of sudden, they both cast the same spells that had connected their wands in book 4 and Voldemort’s killing curse somehow is reflected back on himself, killing him. Anyone else find that amazingly bland compared to all the other fight scenes throughout the book? I will however give it to Rowling that she kept the originality of the spells and linking back to both Harry and Voldemort’s signature spells that had connected them once before.
Anyways, that was just a thought…
This is a bit like the transgender thing – I’m not into Harry, I think the world has enough white male role-models. And then the Christian right would agree with me!
I think for many fans the appeal of the books actually has very little to do with Harry himself.
They didn’t show sweeping changes in wizard society, but what they did show interests me. Voldemort set out to make himself identical with the history of Hogwarts and the wizard world. He succeeded better than he knew. The ring that he thought represented only his ancient wizard heritage — probably tied to his soul through the death of his Muggle father — was also a piece of wizard folklore that fascinated Albus Dumbledore. Obviously Voldemort infected relics of three out of four Hogwarts founders. For a while it looked like Gryffindor House escaped untainted, but we now know otherwise. So the evil they defeated had made itself almost inescapable in their society’s history.
I buy that Snape loved Lily, but that they were friends all that time? I’d buy that too, except then wouldn’t Remus or Sirius mention that to Harry in 5 as a reason why Severus and James didn’t get along? I mean if they were still best friends when James started to be interested in her, that must have had a lot to do with their antagonism – it certainly did for Snape.
Also, it wasn’t his love for Lily that convinced me Snape had changed – loving Lily didn’t keep him from being a death eater. She was just his personal exception to the rule, like every racist who has one black friend. I wasn’t sure he was any better than Amon Goeth (the camp commendant in Schindler’s List who’s in love with his Jewish housekeeper) til he yelled at Nigellus for calling Hermione a Mudblood.
i dont know if u guys have addressed this already or not but i cant exactly figure out the sybolism or meaning of the baby at king’s cross…for an instance, i figured it would be voldemort represented with his whole soul but i dont know….any ideas?
btw, nice work by the girl who wrote the first summary
Just a quick note. I forget where I read it – some interview JKR did with a load of fans after the release of the book. But that limbo/kingscross bit. The small curled up moaning figure was the horcrux that was in harry. So basically voldemort. So when Harry.. ‘collapsed’ (I still don’t entirely know what happened there), that horcrux/voldy died.
And yes to the above posters on the final battle. I was immensely dissapointed by that – in fact, I almost MISSED voldemort’s death. It was one small short sentence, which I can barely remember. It was something like ‘and then voldemort was dead’. I swear I almost missed it. I was thoroughly upset by the lack of exciting drama and the ‘final showdown’ between harry and voldemort.
Also, I was very upset by the epilogue – like some shippy fanfic writer had written it.
Truth be told, I’d expected (wanted) harry to die – not because I hate him, but because the ending would’ve been fantastic. To me it seemed cushy. JK Rowling had spent so long showing how growing up was hard, and challenging and NOT happy. And then she kinda spoilt that with her ending. It was like, after ALL that, she went back with ‘and then they all lived happily ever after.’
On a sidenote, I *loved* the hogwarts battle – when all our old favorites came back. Cudgeon, etc. And when the hufflepuffs and ravenclaws defended the griffindors. I’m a sucker for that kinda stuff. I actually burst out laughing when Kreacher came out with all the other house elves.
oh alright thanks emily
Please, save Harry Potter. :)
http://avenidacentral.blogspot.com/2007/07/save-harry-potter.html
I liked your point about the power of just one person’s love for another. I’ve seen people criticize the fact that Lily Evans plays too much of a role, but remember- when JKR started writing these books, her mother had just died. I like the fact that the love that saves the world isn’t romantic love- it’s familial and friendship love. Too often importance is placed on romantic love, but if it weren’t for the other two, life would be unbearable.
I do wish that we’d got to see what happens at Hogwarts. I’d been expecting to see Ginny helping Harry on his journey, and was disappointed not to do so. However, I think that JKR was trying to show the importance of friendship, which is why the whole “I’m a danger, I can’t be with you” tangent didn’t upset me. It would kind of undermine that message if Ginny were to come along. It does sound like what she and Neville and Luna were doing were just as vital to helping Harry, though he didn’t realize it. They were actively rebelling against the establishment, and keeping students in a fighting spirit necessary for them to be able to fight at the Battle of Hogwarts. I think that would make a fascinating story, and I wish she hadn’t put the kibosh on writing any more stories set in Harry Potter, because this would be a great companion piece.
JKR also mentioned that she’d always wanted Hagrid to be the one to carry Harry out of the forest. So that’s the reason why he didn’t die up until that point. Afterwards though, well… I guess she just wanted him to live.
I think the reason epilogue was written the way it was is because JKR wanted to show that life does go on. You can have significant people in your life die, you can make enormous sacrifices, you can have violence… but life can and will go on, if you chose to let it.