Review of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

After six books, I wish I could say that this book made the journey worth it. But I don't think it does. Granted, it's still better than Goblet, but only marginally.

When JK Rowling began this series, we all knew it had to end with a confrontation between Harry and Voldemort, but she promised us more, too. Even if she didn't realize it. Every writer makes a contract with their readers. In this case, the first book was supposed to be the setup for the entire series. And in particular, the Sorting Hat's songs, which we heard several times throughout the story, promised us a joining of the houses, and perhaps even a new way of seeing things, after about 1000 years of the school's existence.

Oh, sure, she harped on the negative traits of Slytherins throughout the series. But if being sneaky and sly make you evil, then why bother having the house at all? Why not just send everyone who gets sorted into the house straight to Azkaban, if that's all they're good for?

And yet, the hat continually talked about all four of the houses coming together and working together. Not three, but all.

So where was this great coming together? In a double-spy that had a thing for someone who never loved him, and a weak coward who never amounted to anything. My two favorite characters, who I could have written far better than this, were sold short because the author felt that all Slytherins are irredeemable.

And then, to top it all off, she gave us a saccharine-sweet epilogue twenty years later where everyone (read: the three main characters) was happily paired off and had kids named after their heroes. Never mind that it had obviously been written long before most of the series and only hastily rewritten to polish it, because it included almost no secondary or tertiary characters that had been introduced in the later books.

There are good points in this book, but the overall flow and the fact that Rowling falls so short of her goal makes it almost unbearable to read at points. Far more unbearable than the year or so wait between this book and the previous one. If you're not a fan? You can probably skip to the confrontation at the end, and just save yourself a ton of aggravation.

7/10