Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)

Yay, good fun, the seventh and final Harry Potter book. After a not-so-great fifth and sixth book, I didn't have my hopes up too too high, although there was a lingering suspicion that Rowling had a master plan of using those earlier books as vehicles to set up a really awesome ending.

The general consensus has been that the series ends quite magnificently, so I knew that there was hope. It didn't start off very well, with a lot of bloody attacks and hopelessness, and our three heroes setting out on an aimless quest in the wilderness. One of the worst things about Harry Potter is that, despite the fact that we're all rooting for him and sympathize with his terrible plight, we still have to settle for the fact that he's really not the brightest bulb. This is displayed amply in the first part of the book where he just sort of stumbles along, and has to get rescued, repeatedly, by others. Poor kid. Another irritating thing is how so many things in the overall history begin to remind of other stories. There's the aged mentor struck down by an enemy, there's the point where the sidekicks fight and split up only for the disillusioned sidekick to come back in the nick of time to save the day, as well as the whole thing about the evil magical relic that they must destroy so that it doesn't flood the world with evil.

But it is nice to finally be reading a Harry Potter book that doesn'tfollow the pattern of other books - finish-a-Dursley-summer-then-go-to-Hogwarts-and-meet-the-professors-and-then-encounter-a-mystery-and-play-a-quiddich-tournament-and-have-an-adventure-involving-Hagrid-and-magical-creatures. There's also no more of this tiring "nobody believes me when I tell them that Voldemort's come back, oh what terrible danger we're all in" stuff because he's revealed himself at last.

The book picks up remarkably about two thirds of the way through when the mysteries that Rowling has set up throughout the first half of the book - and throughout the series, for that matter - start being explained. The ending is more or less satisfactory, although in the end Voldemort is somehow made to seem like the one who's not a very bright bulb, which is also somewhat disingenious. I also found the last chapter with the fortysomething Harry a bit corny in a Lion Witch Wardrobe way. But in the end it doesn't really matter, because IT'S OVER!! IT'S OVER!! IT'S OVER!! IT'S OVER!!.

Now I just have to start reading the series from the beginning with my seven-year-old when he's ready to start reading these books...

never received the item. they sent the wrong one and then never sent the correct one. They refunded the money.

I bought this book as a gift. However, I will read it too. The book came in excellent condition and was worth the money, alot cheaper than any of the dept stores or books stores in my area. Thank YOU.

This is a great book. I am not an avid reader, most of what I read is for my career, but Harry Potter now holds a special place in my heart. If you haven't read and seen all the books & movies, you are doing yourself a serious disservice. My only regret is that Harry has moved on with out us. Hopefully JK will begin a new story soon!

I decided to read the series to see what the hullabaloo was about. I mean, Harry P is a cultural juggernaut and I wanted to find out wazzup. So after perusing some reviews and the customer reviews here, as I thought I may have missed something in my reading, I posting my review.

I have complaints with all the books and do not think JKR's works deserve the attention and and devotion they have received. Sure, if you qualify praise by saying these books are meant for the uncritical mind of a 12 year old, then you can slam 5 star ratings on the books without hesitation. But much (most?) of the devotion comes from adults, so I put a higher standard of expectation on the works. I was consistently shaking my head at the clumsy, unimaginative, and often contradictory plotting of the books; the painfully one dimensional characters; the leaden dialogue; and the (as others have said) Deus ex Machina-ing and monologuing. Monologuing is where evil villain guy takes time out from destroying the hero to explain the plot and fill in any holes while giving said hero the necessary time and information to defeat evil villain guy. I could list a few dozen truck sized plot holes, but there really is no point. Those that love these books will do so reguardless.

JKR's particular gift seems to be in taking stock 1 dimensional characters, very simple plot lines, and standard literary devices and creating something people like to read, which is fine. But this series is not a great piece of fiction & the lack of recognition from critical bodies bears this out. I must say that, like with Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, the devotion and love that this series has inspired leaves me mystified. I guess I was hoping for a scaled down version of what made Shakespeare great. You know, the ability to entertain the common folk while still creating a work of depth and intelligence. These books have the depth of a frozen pond. I would still recommend them to a 10-16 year old kid; but seriously if this is the pinnacle of one's adult literary life, well that's just sad.

NOTE: this is all IMHO!!! and YMMV!!! So please save your abuse and/or grammatical nitpicking for someone else.