Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Great End to a Glorious Series October 15, 2007
Mike London (Oxford, UK)
108 out of 127 found this review helpful
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Probably the best of the series. Rowling finally unfurls all of her resolutions (well, most of them anyway) to her intricate plotlines she has so successfully nurtured throughout the seven books.
The book is very fast paced, there are a lot of actions sequences, and you can tell everyone is playing for keeps this time. And yes, there deaths and tortures. Lots of them!
The ending, especially the scene involving Hagrid and Harry, is one of the most wrenching scenes in the entire series. The last few chapters will have you speed-reading to find out what happened next. Snape, obviously, has an important role, and we finally get the answers to his loyalties. While some complain that we don't get a lot of Snape until the very end of the novel, she has built his character so successfully we don't need to see a lot of him in this novel.
While the Epilogue has gotten a lot of people mad, it does give us a little (very little) snapshot of what happened after. Still, I think there's almost a novel's worth of material you could write about in the reconstruction after Voldemort's fall. Rowling has given further information in interviews, webchats, etc, about what happened to the characters after the end of book seven.
Now that we finally have the entire series at last, I can only applaud Rowling's unflagging invention. This is indeed a series for the ages
unbeatable August 14, 2007
loza (england)
37 out of 45 found this review helpful
Amazing how some book can be so good that when you've finished them you get filled up with a sadness and nostalgia that you cant describe. this is one of them.
absoloutly gripping from the first sentence to the last, harry potter and the deathly hallows completes harry's journey in the wonderful, sometimes sad, incredibly dangerous world of magic.
unlike the other books, this novel is full of destruction, death and loss. It doesnt even have the spirit-lifting moments of humor for us to depend on. however, i think this book is enough fast moving that you dont think about it too much and you just become engrossed with the charecters lives. to tell you the truth i find it impossible to fault this book. a 100% must read, and best harry potter ever.
Celebrate a Great Story of Our Time August 5, 2007
D. Newton (Swindon, Wilts)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
How could the climax to the `Harry Potter' adventure seriously be given anything less that 5 stars? In `The Deathly Hallows' JK Rowling produces a thrilling and satisfying finale to one of the great stories of our time.
In chapters such as `Malfoy Manor' and `Gringotts' she shows a superb ability to rescue her characters from seemingly impossible situations whilst `The Battle of Hogwarts' is a marvelous set-piece of wizarding battles.
All of the teasing questions from previous books are resolved, most notably the true allegiance of Snape whose fate is finalised very satisfactorily. Snape will surely go down as one of the great characters in children's literature. Despite dying at the end of `The Half Blood Prince' Dumbeldore has a significant role in this book. His character is given extra dimension by the revelations regarding his past, his flaws and his weaknesses.
Rowling nods to `The Lord of the Rings' nicely in the chapters where Harry, Ron and Hermione take turns to carry the cursed Horcrux which affects their personality in the same way as the Ring did to Frodo.
The Deathly Hallows themselves, although seemingly introduced late to the series, are far from an afterthought. Dumbledore's weakness in succumbing to the temptation of the Resurrection Stone, cursing his hand, provides the key plot element for the events at the end of `The Half Blood Prince'. Harry also has to make the choice between pursuing the perceived power of the Hallows and the destruction of the Horcruxes, a pivotal moment in the plot. The Hallows also help to explain the power of Harry's invisibility cloak.
Astonishingly, some reviewers seem to regard Rowling's lack of literary finesse as one of the key points to mention in their postings on these pages. Whilst it is clear that she is not going to win the Nobel Prize for literature (there are a few grammatical errors and perhaps an over-reliance on someone appearing just in time to save the day) the sheer brilliance and fecundity of her imagination and ability to drive an exciting narrative appear to have been overlooked. If you want fine writing, read Ian McEwen (who I also admire), but I bet his books won't keep you up at night in desperation to find out what happens next.
Finally finishing Harry Potter inevitably brings a sense of loss and Rowling anticipated this by the final chapter `Nineteen Years Later' which to me seemed to be more a demonstration of life coming full circle than a hint to a whole new series. Like me, you will probably want to read all seven books again in one go to spot the seemingly innocuous clues buried in the earlier instalments, because you now know how well-planned the whole series was.
As well as inspiring a whole generation of children to love reading Rowling has also captivated a massive audience of people who are old enough to know better (like me!). Not a bad achievement for someone who apparently can't write! I am just not sure what my wife and I are going to talk about now though...
The Perfect Ending July 21, 2007
Paddy MacArthur (London)
33 out of 41 found this review helpful
The final Harry Potter book finishes the story perfectly. It charts Harry's attempts to destroy the remaining horcruxes in his attempts to finally defeat Voldemort, along with Ron and Hermione. I'll avoid spoilers. With this book, Rowling has produced a masterpiece. The narrative is tightly woven, providing intense storytelling while weaving together all the unfinished story threads from previous books, as it hurtles towards the climactic battle within Hogwarts itself. The ending itself is brilliant, and once you have read it, you will find it hard to imagine it finishing differently. The storytelling is simply excellent.
It's certainly a dark book; this can't be denied. The world Harry now lives in is almost indistinguishable from the Hogwarts of the first book. Rowling devotes little time to the amusing details, like moving portraits or wizarding sweets, which filled earlier books, and instead we are presented with a bleak world, ruled over by a tyrannical Ministry of Magic. Harry must fight even to survive on a daily basis. But the darkness isn't, as some reviewers suggest, a criticism. With this book, the series, like Harry, comes of age. Gone (thankfully) is the constantly moody Harry of books V and VI. The Harry of this book, while not without flaws, has matured to face the challenge ahead.
The notion that anyone is purely good or pure evil is challenged here more than ever before. Voldemort's supporters show moments of compassion, while Harry's supporters, and none more so than Dumbledore, show elements of evil. The bond between Harry and Voldemort is closer than ever. But even so, Harry is able to prove himself more heroic than ever before. It has been suggested that each book deals with an important life lesson. The lesson here, which Harry, Voldemort, and all the other characters must here deal with, is coming to terms with death. Rowling's ideas here border on the Christian, though there is no religion involved. Redemption, too, is important here.
Overall, until now, the Harry Potter novels have been good stories, but have never quite reached greatness. The Deathly Hallows changes that. Anyone who dismisses the series as just a children's story doesn't have a leg to stand on now. It's not just a story, it's deep, intelligent, incredibly moving, and bound to be one of the books which defines the twenty-first century. Rowling should be congratulated; this book fully deserves to become a classsic.
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