Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Book Review

*Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers* *Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers**Spoilers*
If you have not read the book, do not read this review!

You've been warned.

OMG the owl.

That just needed to be said before anything else.

Anyway, sorry for the delay in this review, but finally, after several traveling debacles, course planning stress, and crippling laziness, you finally have my review for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Before I tear into it, though, I just want it to be known that I liked the book. It wasn't as good as The Prisoner of Azkaban which remains my unchallenged favorite, but it wasn't as disappointing or frustrating to read as The Order of the Phoenix. And despite all my griping, I have enjoyed the series as a whole. I am not the type of person to take things in parts. I am a firm believer in accepting the reality of things as a whole and not to pick and choose, even if the truth is ugly. Even if the truth is fictional. That is why, if something does not go the way I want, you will not see me writing alternate universe fan fiction to soothe my wounded soul. If these books have taught us anything, it's that life hurts, even fantasy, fictional lives. We can lose those we love in a heartbeat. It doesn't have to make sense or be "necessary." It has also taught us that we don't always get what we expect from people. Be careful who you admire. Be careful who you hate.

Do I think Deathly Hallows is the perfect ending? No. The perfect ending does not exist. But the series definitely had to end. It would have been far worse if Rowling had broken down and written it forever. With that in mind, I am satisfied, and I will valiantly defend the entire series against anyone suddenly hating it because Dobby and the Giant Squid don't get together in the end.

Okay, now I'll tear into this book like a five year old with a birthday present.

The Title:

Before I even opened the book, I knew I was not going to like the title unless it was really well-explained.

It was not.

I know the Hallows were explained, quite well; I liked the wizard fairy-tale. It was written to sound very authentic as a piece of folklore. But even it cannot justify the awkward sound of the title. Perhaps it's just me, but "deathly" does not seem like the right word. "Deathly" most commonly denotes that something is like death. But the Hallows are not like death. They were created by Death, which, in my mind, is a distinct difference. If Death created a fluffy bunny (reasons unknown) would that make it the Deathly Bunny?

I know I'm probably being really nit-picky, but a title is very important to a book. It sets the tone. For me this title sets the tone of things that don't quite make sense. Perhaps this was foreshadowing for the whole elder wand thing which takes several re-readings to make sense, but still, a title should make sense even if nothing else does. This one does not and it all hinges on one word. I am used to seeing the word "deathly" in sentences like "She turned deathly pale." What this title should really be, in my opinion, is Harry Potter and Death's Hallows. The Hallows belong to Death because he created them. Ignoring the whole goblin maker-versus-possessor argument in the book, this title makes the most sense. But, Cherie, you say, that's forgetting about the ever important indispensable "the" in all the Harry Potter titles. Yes, and that's another thing that bothers me. Despite the fact that I know J.K. Rowling chose this title, and she has not mentioned having a problem with it, I still see the following scenario in my head: J.K says "I'm going to call it Harry Potter and Death's Hallows."
The publisher makes a face. "But where's the "the?"
"The what?"
"The 'the.' All the other Harry Potter books have 'the' in them."
"I'm J.K. Rowling! I can call it whatever I want! I don't need a 'the'"
"Security! She's gone too far, get the dementors!"
"AAAhhhhh! Nnnnnoooooo!"

So yeah. I know "deathly" can also be an adjective, but I also still primarily see it as an adverb, so the title seems to be stretching the poor word to the farthest extents of its meaning. I think the problem is the "Harry Potter and the..." formula cannot wrap itself around an abstract concept. All the other titles have been something you can touch. The sorcerer's stone, the chamber of secrets (if you ran your hands over the walls), the prisoner of Azkaban, the goblet of fire (be careful, it's a portkey!), the order of the pheonix (give them all a poke, poke Dumbledore in the tummy and see if he makes the Pillsbury doughboy sound), the half-blood Prince (you can poke Snape, not a good idea, but you could.)

Sure, you can touch the Hallows, but not the fact that they're associated with death. If you went the Chamber of Secrets route, it would be the Hallows of Death which sounds like a lame B-Horror film. I get that she wanted to have the word "Death" in the title, but I just don't think this is the best way it could have been done.

Deaths:

There are a plethora of complaints in the fandom that many of the deaths were "unnecessary." But this is the state of death in the real world. Is it necessary that people die everyday? On a grand scale, sure. We'd overpopulate if our numbers didn't get shaved off on a regular basis. But no one thinks that those numbers should include the people they love. I am more concerned, in the end, with how people live or lived. Still, in this book, it's impossible not to address the many deaths. Rather than debate their necessity, though, I will analyze what literary merit (or lack thereof) their death had. That is the closest I get to necessity. Anyone is fair game, but there's something called style...

HHHHHHEEEEEEEEDDDWWIIIIIIIIIIGG!!!!!

*Sobs*

Out of all the deaths, I was most broken up about Hedwig. It's the worst, not only because she's an innocent animal who depends on Harry to defend her, but she was also caged at the time. She didn't even have a chance to escape. Then, to top it all off, she exploded. J.K couldn't just AK Hedwig. No. She had to incinerate her. Thanks Jo, you're the reason I'm dead inside.



Mad-Eye Moody

He died fighting. I know he was always careful, but that was because he knew the dangers of his job. It's hard to grieve for someone who went into the fight with both eyes open (and one probably looking behind him). I think the toast to Moody in the book is fitting and he wouldn't have wanted a lot of extra soggy weeping. It interrupts the constant vigilance.



Snape

The big one. I kind of saw it coming. I WOULD like to gloat to any fool who thought Snape was evil. I stuck by him the whole time, and I have the "Trust Snape" stickers to prove it. I just finished listening to a podcast entirely devoted to Snape, and inevitably there were fans upset, not only by the fact he died but the manner in which he died and the reasons for it. To their credit, they haven't kidnapped J.K. Rowling and tried to coerce her into retraction, and it's everyone's right to feel how they like. But I have to say I was mostly satisfied with Snape's story. It felt a little like I was walking into fan-fiction when I found out Snape had loved Lily, but it is a reasonably obvious answer, and J.K. Rowling's romances are pretty transparent. Many Snape fans were disappointed with just how obvious it was, but aside from the fact that I think the original set-up was a bit creepy (he's like a stalker and he's only like ten years old), I think they had enough of a legitimate friendship that it justifies his later feelings. Plus it's clear he didn't have much love from home, so it makes sense that he would have seen Lily, seen that she was magic, roughly his same age, and instantly related to her. He either went to a muggle school up to that point or was home-schooled, and either way, he probably did not have any friends his own age and may have never seen another child like him. Still, I think it might have been nice if some of what I've conjectured went into the set up of why he was watching Lily, because otherwise it looks a lot like stalking.

Still the scene where Snape waits for Lily outside the portrait hole to apologize was one of the most poignant, heartbreaking scenes in the whole book. I don't normally like tragic death, but let's face it, Snape never could have lived happily ever after. One Snape fan suggested that we could have seen him getting on the train with Lily when Harry was in the dream version of King's Cross. But in the afterlife Lily would be with James. Snape lost his one chance to make things right, and even if he could find a time turner and go back to find a way for Lily to forgive him, then Harry Potter would never have existed, and that's not going to happen. So Snape had to die.



Fred

In spite of what I said about all deaths being unnecessary, it does bother me that Fred got caught in a literary cog. It's tragic if you kill one in a set of twins. So let's do it! Rowling says it was Fred because he seems like the stronger one, but I think it was Fred because George already lost an ear, and it's crummier for him to live out his life one-eared and without his brother than it is for him to be the one who dies. If he dies then losing the ear was the least of his problems. Anyway, I really wanted Percy to be the one to end up taking Fred's place and giving up the ministry to work in the joke shop with George, but Rowling has said that he hasn't and that he's taken up a job under Kingsley. She even took away my ability to ignore her by putting him in platform 9 3/4 for...what reason? Is he married? Does he have kids? Inquiring minds want to know...

And I know this is supposed to be about Fred. Sorry Fred. Peeves will put a toilet seat on your grave in homage.



Dobby

The "Here lies Dobby, a free elf" choked me up more than any of the human deaths. It was well written, but why couldn't Jo have spent a little more time on the actual people?

Oh, Dobby, we will knit socks in your honor.







Lupin and Tonks

Whereas Snape's death had a sort of tragic poetry, the deaths of Lupin and Tonks had clear almost formulaic literary motives. Rowling even admitted it. She said she wanted to kill parents. And most keen readers could see Lupin signed his death warrant when he made Harry the godfather of his son. Because of that, their deaths seemed contrived to me. Plus, I know it's a big book, but they at least deserved death scenes. I think, if Lupin was going to die, then he should have had an epic battle with Greyback, but Rowling just said in an interview that Dolohov finished him off. What did happen to Greyback anyway? Did he join a circus, marry the bearded lady, and start eating acrobats?


It also might have been nice if Tonks had a few sentences. Jo says Bellatrix killed her. Might have been good to give Bella some more lines toward the end too other than "My Lord."

Anyway, since Jo didn't actually write it, I'm going to imagine Lupin's epic battle with Greyback because it's not exactly glossing over canon. It's glossing over an interview which I likely would not have read if it weren't Harry Potter. Sometimes the beauty of a book is not knowing everything the author thinks.



Triumph and Smiles:

It's a grim book, but there were some things that made me smile or even throw up my hands in triumph and say YEAH!! This chapter picture made me do a double-take, but I liked how it ended with the Dursleys. I had hoped for a little more from Petunia, but I guess Rowling doesn't have a lot of hope for people like that. Maybe she's right. Maybe after all these years, after the death of her sister, after Harry saved the life of her son, she still can't even muster a decent mature forgiveness.

Still, the Dudley goodbye was priceless.



Neville. Sigh... Can I have my detention now, Professor Longbottom? I have loved Neville for a long time. Probably ever since Order of the Phoenix which was a bad book for Harry but an awesome book for Neville. The scene where he puts his mother's gum wrapper in his pocket broke my heart and endeared him to me forever. Since then I knew just how awesome he was, but I had hardly hoped that Rowling felt the same. Luckily, it would appear she did. Well, maybe not about the detention thing. But in this instance, Rowling exceeded my expectations. I had thought he might help Harry, but I had not expected it to be in as significant a way as it was. When Harry ditched all the people at Hogwarts, who stepped to the front line without blinking? When that darn snake needs beheading, who pulls the sword from the hat? Who totally spat in Voldemort's eye (metaphorically at least)!? That's right, it's Neville! There was an online chat with J.K. Rowling where we were allowed to ask questions in advance. I asked if Neville was married. She didn't answer. But that's okay. In my heart, he's married to me....



If you read my Order of the Phoenix film review, you know I feel about Percy about the same as I do about Neville but I probably have less canon reasons. Most of what I imagine him to really be like is in my head and part of that is due to this fan picture which I saw years ago. This picture somehow encapsulates everything I find attractive about Percy, the red hair, the glasses, the books, the scroll in his pocket. Ggrrowl. So I thought it fitting to put the picture here as my love for Percy has come full circle in being vindicated. That, and I couldn't find any good pictures of Chris Rankin as Percy.

I also predicted he would redeem himself. OH YEAH! I love being right. But even more, I was happy how it went down. Like I said, I would have been happier if he had joined George in the joke shop, but part of loving someone is loving them for who they are and not expecting them to change--just to realize when they're wrong. And that's what Percy did.

It's okay Percy. You can dicuss broomstick regulations with me...



Oh Kreacher. If Dobby had to die, you're the one I'd chose to succeed him. I cheered when Kreacher came to the battle of Hogwarts and led the House Elves. I actually was really hoping that he was the one on Harry's back on the British cover, but it was just a boring goblin. I wish there had been more Kreacher. But it was great when he hit Mundungus with the saucepan.



You go, Molly Weasley. Nuff said.














All in all the battle for Hogwarts was epic. I loved seeing the teachers kick serious butt and having the castle itself fight.

As for Harry, he'll never be my favorite character, but I respect him now, more than I have since Phoenix, and I like how his character turned out. I mean, dude, he Expelliarmused Voldemort and won. That's friggin awesome.

The End

"All was well"? I dunno. I can't like that last line. I feel like I'm being hit over the head with a big fluffy bunny. I think a slight tweaking of the line before it would have been better than adding "All was well." Maybe I'm just cynical, but I can't believe a world where all is well forever. Besides, in an interview, Rowling said Ron and Harry were aurors. What's the point of aurors if "all is well?" What are they doing? Issuing apparation violation tickets? They can hardly judge Percy if that's the case.

Plus, why didn't Rowling talk about their professions in the epilogue? It's not like it would have weighed it down. The whole epilogue's already extraneous.

And Albus Severus Potter? Someone's going to get beat up at school.

Overall and Final Impression

I'm sorry to those who like numbers, but I can't give this book a ranking out of ten. It would feel fake because I'd only give the same rating to something that didn't deserve it or did but for entirely different reasons. In the end, the number means nothing. But if it helps, here are my favorite books in order of most to least favorite now that they're all out. Of course, this is also subject to change over time but this is them at the moment:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

As I said, I take things as a whole, and on a whole, I've loved this series. The last book wasn't enough of a disappointment to change that. That sounds like a really negative way to put it. I can't gush over it as much as some of the other fans, but it is worthy of finishing the series. And that, just between you and me, is saying a lot.

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Well, that's all folks. At least, I could say more, but I don't want the review to be as long as the book. I'd love to hear what all of you think, though! Tell me in the comments or in an email. If you don't feel like going into detail, maybe you could at least list the books in order of your preference like I did. Thanks for reading!

R.I.P Hedwig