"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling

            The following is a review of the NOVEL “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling. It is NOT a review of the FILMS of the same title. I advise you not to read this review unless you have already read or watched the first six stories in the series as this review contains details from the first six stories that you might consider “spoilers.”

            Harry Potter is a seventeen-year-old wizard. As a baby, he was targeted for death by the evil wizard Voldemort, who wished to kill Harry due to a prophecy predicting that Harry is the only one who will be able to destroy Voldemort. Due to the power of love from his mother, a power Voldemort never understood because he was an orphan, Harry was protected from Voldemort’s killing curse, which rebounded and hit Voldemort, robbing Voldemort of his powers, but not killing the dark wizard. Voldemort fled and was believed finished off for good. Harry was left with his magic-hating Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley Dursley, who wished to keep Harry from knowing that there were witches and wizards.

            Growing up, Harry’s Aunt, Uncle and cousin treated Harry like garbage, hoping for him to never know he was a wizard. However, when Harry was eleven, he received a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry inviting him to attend and learn magic. Harry was unaware that he was famous in the wizarding world, and was expected to do great things. He became best friends with Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. He made enemies with Draco Malfoy, a fellow student. He was antagonized by Professor Severus Snape, who had bad history with Harry’s father, James. Harry, Ron and Hermione skirted around the rules in their six prior years at Hogwarts, going on many fantastic and dangerous adventures. They were closely watched by Hogwarts’ Headmaster, Professor Albus Dumbledore.

            In Harry’s fourth year at Hogwarts, Harry witnessed Voldemort’s return to power, but was believed to be a crazy liar by many who fervently wished for this not to be true, particularly by the Ministry of Magic.

            In Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts, the wizarding world discovered that Voldemort had, indeed, regained his former power and began and was now attacking both the magic and non-magic communities.

            In Harry’s sixth year, Harry had now become believed to be “The Chosen One” who would be able to defeat Voldemort for all time. Dumbledore revealed Voldemort’s past as Tom Riddle to Harry before Dumbledore was murdered by Professor Snape.

            Wizards and witches are considered to be of age at seventeen years old. The Dursley house had been protected by magic as long as Harry was underage, and now the Dursleys had to leave their home for safety and would never see Harry again. The Order of the Phoenix, a group of witches and wizards dedicated to battle Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters, were to bring Harry to safety, but Snape relayed these plans to Voldemort, resulting in the Death of Mad-Eye Moody, a former Auror (Dark Wizard catchers), and injury to George Weasley, one of Ron’s twin older brothers. Harry and Ron’s younger sister Ginny had fallen in love.

            Harry had now been given the mission by Dumbledore to defeat Voldemort by destroying Voldemort’s seven Horcruxes, items that held pieces of Voldemort’s soul that prevent Voldemort’s death. Voldemort was somewhat of a sentimental collector, and most of the Horcruxes are items to do with the founders of the Hogwarts Houses or his family. To find the Horcruxes, Harry, Ron and Hermione had decided not to return to Hogwarts for their seventh year and were now to complete the mission left by Dumbledore after his death. The new Headmaster of Hogwarts was not Professor Snape, and several of Voldemort’s Death Eaters had been instated as members of Hogwarts staff. Dumbledore’s will contained several odd items left behind for Harry, Ron and Hermione.

            The three set off after the wedding of Ron’s older brother Bill to complete their mission. Voldemort’s Death Eater Pius Thicknesse was now Minister of Magic. Harry was now Undesirable Number One, and the Muggle born were now considered thefts of pureblood wizards are locked up and denied the use of magic. Harry, Ron and Hermione infiltrated the Ministry of Magic to obtain a Horcrux.

            After a conflict between Harry and Ron, Ron left Harry and Hermione behind. Harry and Hermione decided to travel to the birthplace of Harry, Godric’s Hollow, barely escaping with their lives. They also peruse a tell-all book by journalist Rita Skeeter, “The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore,” revealing to Harry some of the darker and unflattering points of Dumbledore’s life that damaged Harry’s perception of the man he considered his hero.

            Harry and Hermione reunited with Ron to visit Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler, a magazine that strongly supported Harry, who tells the three “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” a wizarding fairy tale about the Deathly Hallows, three items that when all collected could make it’s holders the Master of Death. They learn of the Hallow the unbeatable Elder Wand, an item which Voldemort deeply wants. They also learn that Harry’s Invisibility Cloak may be a Hallow itself. The third Hallow is the Resurrection Stone, an item that returns the dead to life. The three again escaped the Death Eaters twice more, and resumed their mission to destroy the Horcruxes.

            When Voldemort discovered the trio’s mission to destroy his Horcruxes, he returns to Hogwarts, the resting place of a Horcrux and Harry and Voldemort battle at Hogwarts with the fate of the entire wizarding world hanging in the balance.

 

            As far as “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” goes, it was the most different of all the books. The primary reason behind that was the fact that Harry, Ron and Hermione didn’t go to Hogwarts as students. But if you were to read the book having read the other six, you might see my reasoning as to why I think that is important. I honestly don’t think it would have worked otherwise. In my opinion, Harry, Ron and Hermione attending Hogwarts with Professor Snape as Headmaster and Death Eaters on staff just wouldn’t have worked. I just can’t imagine that. Unfortunately, this was my least favorite book in the series. It has nothing to do with the conclusion, rather than just the fact that I felt like there were just too many deaths that made this rather depressing. That is also not to say that I disliked the book. I rather enjoyed it. But if I just had to say that I had a least favorite “Harry Potter” novel, this was it. I did not feel like there was a lot of time wasted on trivialities. The pace felt right to me. There were almost no parts that bored me or I felt dragged on too long, but there were also moments I just wanted a little more details. I appreciated the humor, and Mrs. Weasley had my absolute favorite “Harry Potter” quote. I enjoyed how Rowling ended the series, but there were a few things more at the ending I’d like to know, the fates of several characters. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.

            As for if I actually recommend this book to others, that is a definite yes. If you enjoy fantasy novels and magic, I recommend you to read the series. And don’t say that “Harry Potter” is just a kids’ book. There was some rather heavy profanity at points that I wouldn’t let my kids read until they’d be about eleven, Harry’s age at the start of the series (and I don’t have kids at the moment). And my grandmother started reading “Harry Potter” when she was in her eighties and rather preferred romance novels about things we are not going to talk about on a G-rated blog, so this was a different genre than what she usually enjoyed. I personally grew up with Harry and in my school if you didn’t read “Harry Potter” you weren’t cool, and a writer writing an 800 page book that can get middle-schoolers to read anxiously isn’t common anymore these days. But to say that “Harry Potter” are kids’ books I’d say would be an insult to Rowling.

            Okay, I’ve been going on for quite a while, so let’s get to business: my numeric score. I score on a scale of one-to-ten. One is horrible, don’t read; ten is read this book right now. I’m usually very hard to please as my prior readers will know, so a good score from me is a very good recommendation. That said, this book falls a little short. So unfortunately, for me, I rank it at seven. I enjoyed the book, but giving it any higher just doesn’t feel right to me. But I will state, this review is all my opinion. You can take or leave my view, you’re more than welcome to disagree with me, and if you want to, feel free to respond to this post to tell me how you feel about “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” or just anything “Harry Potter,” I’d love to hear from you.

            So, as we bring this to a close, I’ll just say I’ve done dozens of book reviews (mostly Marvel comics), and I write short fiction and nonfiction, free-verse poetry, essays, editorials, and plenty of other content, feel free to check anything I post. I post on a common enough basis, so you can keep checking back for more content from me, and ‘til next time, Tim Cubbin… out!