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

    HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS by J.K. Rowling
    Category:  Fantasy
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  7/21/07
    Publisher:  Arthur A. Levine
    Reviewed by:  Natalie Tsang
    Rating:  5 Stars


    I finished it and it was good.  

    That sentence pretty much sums up all I have to say about the final installment of the Harry Potter series. But I
    suppose that seven words, even though it's a lucky number, would not make much of a review.

    I feel a bit out of place writing this.  There are reviews written by people who have so much literary merit that they
    have carpal tunnel in their toes. Who am I to even comment on one of the most successful living writers? You
    don't see me writing brilliant novels.  Yet at the same time, I might as well add my two Knuts (cents, for Muggles)
    to the heap.

    I remember discovering the HARRY POTTER series when I was ten years old, the exact same age as Harry in
    the first book.  It took me a few tries and a lot of peer pressure to get past the first chapter, but then I was
    hooked.  Like with millions of other children and adults, Harry Potter struck a chord.  I cannot say what exactly it
    was and I think that if I could measure out the appeal of a book I wouldn't have much of a heart.  Perhaps now I
    can tick Rowling's strong points off my fingers (plot, imagination, characters, dialogue, etc), but as a ten year old
    any sort of analysis was beyond me.  I remember that HARRY POTTER simply filled me with a wonderful and
    deep feeling of satisfaction and thrill.  And dare I say it? Magic.

    But gradually as I grew older, Harry Potter lost its appeal. He was harder to identify with and oh so whiny.  The
    commercial success also became something to scoff at. Its massive popularity meant that it appealed to the lowest
    common denominator and I, of course, could not be of one of those people. It's just not cool. I didn't know at the
    time that coolness is commonly mistaken for being an idiot. I bought HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY
    HALLOWS more for a sense of closure than for enjoyment.  And as I read, I realized that Harry Potter was
    popular because it was good.

    The Last Harry Potter Book was like talking to an old friend that you've fallen out of sorts with.  You can't really
    recall what the tiff was about, but there's a strong conviction that it was the other party's fault.  After a few
    awkward moments, you remember the good ol' times, your favorite bits in the old books.  I remembered my sixth
    grade teacher's gravelly voice and the time she gave us a mini-lecture on profanity before reading us one of Mr.
    Dursley's angry outbursts.  I remembered my entire family sitting spellbound in our parked car waiting for the
    Harry Potter audio tape to finish before we would get out. And I remembered the enormous amount of fan fiction
    I would read and…um, write. I normally regard reading as a solitary undertaking, but there is no other book that
    I have yet read that has so much sentimental weight.

    There are other reviews, both laudatory and incendiary, that will pick apart HARRY POTTER AND THE
    DEATHLY HALLOWS, but I think you'll all manage to cut your cauldron cake however you like it without my
    help.  What I do feel like saying is that J.K. Rowling has won me back.

    I finished it and it was good.