Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (2007)

So, here it is at last: The final confrontation between Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One, the “symbol of hope” for both the Wizard and Muggle worlds, and Lord Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named, the nefarious leader of the Death Eaters and would-be ruler of all. Good versus Evil. Love versus Hate. The Seeker versus the Dark Lord.
J. K. Rowling’s monumental, spellbinding epic, 10 years in the making, is deeply rooted in traditional literature and Hollywood sagas — from the Greek myths to Dickens and Tolkien to “Star Wars.” And true to its roots, it ends not with modernist, “Soprano”-esque equivocation, but with good old-fashioned closure: a big-screen, heart-racing, bone-chilling confrontation and an epilogue that clearly lays out people’s fates. Getting to the finish line is not seamless — the last part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and final book in the series, has some lumpy passages of exposition and a couple of clunky detours — but the overall conclusion and its determination of the main characters’ story lines possess a convincing inevitability that make some of the prepublication speculation seem curiously blinkered in retrospect.
Harry’s journey will propel him forward to a final showdown with his arch enemy, and also send him backward into the past, to the house in Godric’s Hollow where his parents died, to learn about his family history and the equally mysterious history of Dumbledore’s family. At the same time, he will be forced to ponder the equation between fraternity and independence, free will and fate, and to come to terms with his own frailties and those of others. Indeed, ambiguities proliferate throughout “The Deathly Hallows”: we are made to see that kindly Dumbledore, sinister Severus Snape and perhaps even the awful Muggle cousin Dudley Dursley may be more complicated than they initially seem, that all of them, like Harry, have hidden aspects to their personalities, and that choice — more than talent or predisposition — matters most of all.

It is Ms. Rowling’s achievement in this series that she manages to make Harry both a familiar adolescent — coping with the banal frustrations of school and dating — and an epic hero, kin to everyone from the young King Arthur to Spider-Man and Luke Skywalker. This same magpie talent has enabled her to create a narrative that effortlessly mixes up allusions to Homer, Milton, Shakespeare and Kafka, with silly kid jokes about vomit-flavored candies, a narrative that fuses a plethora of genres (from the boarding-school novel to the detective story to the epic quest) into a story that could be Exhibit A in a Joseph Campbell survey of mythic archetypes.

In doing so, J. K. Rowling has created a world as fully detailed as L. Frank Baum’s Oz or J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth, a world so minutely imagined in terms of its history and rituals and rules that it qualifies as an alternate universe, which may be one reason the “Potter” books have spawned such a passionate following and such fervent exegesis. With this volume, the reader realizes that small incidents and asides in earlier installments (hidden among a huge number of red herrings) create a breadcrumb trail of clues to the plot, that Ms. Rowling has fitted together the jigsaw-puzzle pieces of this long undertaking with Dickensian ingenuity and ardor.

I started reading the Harry Potter series when I was 13. It was perfect. I related to harry perfectly (even the whole wizard thing). Anyway, I kind of grew up with the characters, so you can imagine what a bitter-sweet feeling the last book brought me. Before the book came out, I naturally re-read the previos 6 books to this enveloping saga. I have to say, that although I was afraid of losing my adolescent friends, there could not have been a better way to end it. I highly recommend this book!

I don't think I ever waited on Christmas like I did for this book and Rowling did not disappoint me.

Deathly Hollows picks up right where The Half Blood Prince left off and Rowling doesn't miss a beat.

Our three favorite heroes know what they have to do but only have a few obscure clues to work from. They must find their own solutions on how to accomplish their misson. While this is a theme common in the other 6 books, this time there is no safety net provided by the adults. The fate of the world rests on their shoulders alone.

As they go from one adventure to the next, gaining (at first) seemingly useless information and narrowly avoiding death, they slowly piece together how everything must fit together. Even then Rowling is not yet done: the solution itself is a test, and the hardest challenge Harry ever had to take.

The book is dark and bloody, more so than The Order of the Pheonix. In case the reader had any doubt about that, Voldermort sets it straight in the very first chapter. The body count continues to go up and Rowling gives no indication of playing favorites. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is safe until the last spell is cast, somewhere in the last 10 pages or so.

While it was sad seeing so many characters I had grown attached to die, I did not have the same sense of dispair that I did with Pheonix. I never doubted for one page that good would win in the end and I could take comfort in that their sacrafices would not be in vain.

While I sincerly hope that Ms. Rowling will continue to write, I believe it is time for a new series. Harry Potter was as close to perfection as I'm likely to see in this world. I don't want that delicate balance upset.

John Holland-Author of The Necklace of Terrersylvanous

From the first page to the last there is never a dull moment. The story moves quickly and keeps the action coming in every chapter as Harry and his cohorts gone on the quest to destroy Voldemort. It's great how Rowling, keeps the reader engaged. It was hard to put the book down!