Our family has read these many times over. Our youngest wanted to read Deathly Hallows again but our copy went missing so we bought another. So glad we did!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Unnecessarily long and drawn out. About halfway through one of the movies Ron expresses his frustration that they were supposed to be looking for horcruxes but they were now looking for the Deathly Hallows instead. "So there's some other bloody thing we're supposed to be finding, too?" or something like that. I was right there with him. That said, there are parts in the book that would have been nice in the movie. Like Harry, Ron, and Hermione discovering that Luna's bedroom walls are covered with pictures of them and the word "friends," presumably making them think twice about how they've seen and treated her in the past - a touching moment in a story that could use more humanity and less running around.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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.Read full review
For those who are fans of Harry this book accomplishes in many respects the desired result of completing the series. Rowling did the best job she could in concluding the life and times of Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort and the rest of the Magical World. The book is well in keeping with the rest of the series. It will definitely delight readers and make people want to turn the page. I found throughout the series it was on some level perfectly believable that these people actually existed. That magic could be a part of the world and yet be kept from us Muggles. J.K. Rowling in her series did a great job invigorating not only the youth imagination but also in giving youth and adults a commonality that they could talk about. I argue that it is part in due to Rowling’s work that the Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings was reinvigorated on such a global scale since both are some 70+ years old. I remember reading The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe when I was a youngster some 25 years ago. As for the specifics of Deathly Hallows, this book was a little more predictable in many ways than the previous in the series. But it does more to explain the history of Lord V, Tom Riddle, Dumbledore, Harry's parents, and Snape. There is a lot of development around Harry, Hermione and Ron as a good deal of the time it is one, two or all three of them in some fashion or another. As with the previous books be prepared with a box of Kleenex nearby, as this is the book where the main battle commences. Somewhat of a SPOILER: In general I found that like many of the well written or scripted novels/movies, so much time is given up to character development, toils and action, leaving to what I can describe as only as a somewhat hasty conclusion. The conclusion of this basically equated to a "and they all lived happily ever after" except. This to me distracted from what I would argue was an incredibly well written series. It left me feeling a little cheated. It worked in that I'm not waiting on the edge of my seat for the next in the series, but at the same time it made me loose a little interest in anything Harry, which does not bode well for the movies. All in all I think that people will feel cheated if they do not finish the series and as such the Deathly Hallows is required reading and does an good job (just not excellent). I am glad I read it, but probably will not as I did with the previous novels read the story again.Read full review
The final book completing the Harry Potter series is full of suspense, fear, and hope. Remember what happened to Salman Rushdie? Well, if I divulge too much, other Harry Potter fans will come and get me. So here's what I can tell you without being fearful for my life. It's Harry vs. Voldemort, the final showdown. The wizard world is in turmoil and engaged in a very important battle for the future of wizard-dom and its reprocussions in the Muggle world. I won't tell you who wins, but it involves prophecies and serious detective work to find all the Horcruxes. It's the darkest and bloodiest book in the whole series. You WILL cry at the end, for what you'll have to find out for yourself. Now the book was amazing. The Afterword was not. It was trite and so annoying, something only my fourth-grade self would have written. That's why I gave The Deathly Hallows a "good" and not an "excellent." It leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. So here's my advice. Read the book. Then when you get to the Afterword part, put the book away! Enjoy it for about a day or two. Then read the Afterword part. This way, you'll enjoy the book apart from the sappy afterword. Two separate experiences and memories. This book is not meant for children. You can tell them the end, and spare them all the bloody details until they are more mature to read it. Do not read this in a public place! I read Half Blood-Prince at work and some idiot co-worker told me the ending, even though he clearly saw me reading it. If you choose to read it in public, like on the bus, hide the cover or put a fake cover over it. Just wanted to warn everybody about the afterword. In my opinion, that's the lowest point in J.K. Rowling's career.Read full review
Well, I for one wondered how it would all come out, and now we know. Some very sad moments, some scary moments, and some 'WHAT?' moments. The entire book is written differently than the others, in my opinion. I can't really tell you just HOW it is different, but it is. Not as involved, not as intricately twisted as the rest. Subtly different from the others. By the same token, it was much more adult than the rest in a lot of respects, and a lot more simplistic in others. The writing style seemed to be from someone else, and yet a conglomerate of styles. Perhaps Ms. Rowling took a bunch of ideas that were presented to her and incorporated them into the final chapter? I'm not saying the book isn't good!! Far from it! The writing STYLE of this final book just doesn't seem to be Ms Rowlings best effort, that's all. There is a looseness, a disjointedness to the story line that she could have tightened up, I think. Or pulled together a bit better. As though the characters themselves are becoming a bit tiresome to her, maybe? I enjoyed the book, and will re-read it, along with the other Potter books. It just isn't my favorite of the bunch.Read full review
Don't get me wrong, I like the Harry Potter series. As far as writing goes, this is probably the best written of any of the books. However, in the past, J.K. Rowling has written some very tedious and drawn out scenes in her books, and this one is no different. The final missal, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, moves very slowly and is probably 200 pages too long. The reader is nearly half-way through the book before they find out what the Deathly Hallows represents. I am personally irked that she thought it necessary to kill off almost all the good beings in Harry's life. His heroic childhood quest leaves him bereaved, over and over again. How much misery can he (and the reader) take? After reading the novel, it feels like the authors foretelling of upcoming deaths in this book was a marketing ploy designed to pull in even more readers. Would Hagrid die? Hermione? Ron? No, these characters don't die, but lots of other do! Would a true hero put so many in so much danger? Borrowing liberally from heroic archetypes, Rowling places Harry and Co. in mortal danger again, and again. In literature the hero has a quest in place, and must have witnesses to his quest. The hero travels in the wilderness. The hero loses the things he values. Then the hero must face his greatest fear/foe in order to move on with his life... blah, blah, blah. T.H. White did it better, and so did J.R.R. Tolkien. When the final showdown with Voldemort commences, it is a huge anticlimax. Thank goodness the series is over. Let's pray Rowling is done writing for a long, long time.Read full review
I have to admit to being a Christian who use to preach the evils of Harry Potter, not having read a word of the books. Every rumor I had heard was proven false as I read and smiled my way through Sorcerers Stone, I didn't see a single legitimate spell designed to drag innocent children into witchcraft in Chamber of Secrets, but I did begin to get hooked in by Ginny's sweet infatuation with Harry Potter. The only wicked desires I found in Prisoner of Azkaban was to be a Weasley, making the Twins, Triplets so I could join the escapades of my new heroes Fred and George (Through whom I was now reliving my long long LONG gone youth) I also got hooked in even deeper with the depth of Harry's pain and I have to say that Daniel Radcliffe did an AMAZING job in the movie showing it. The Goblet of Fire is my least favorite of the seven, I did gain a new respect for Ginny when she didn't dump Neville to go to the Yule Ball with Harry and the ending was a killer, I'd heard that Order of the Phoenix was much darker, so I looked carefully for satanic chants but found only a young man fighting with his own inner demons and a bully in cotton candy pink and a position of power ( I would have LOVED to have gotten creative with places for her to stick that damn black quill.)! But nothing broke my heart more than when Harry finally found complete happiness with Ginny, only to lose it at the end of The Half Blood Prince when he broke things off with Ginny at Dumbledores funeral. I read the aforementioned books in a weekend and ended up at Wal-mart at 3 am buying DH, I couldn't stand until morning to find out what happened next! There were some obvious contrivances in the plot, and plot holes as big as the state of Texas, but largely, Rowling hit the nail on the head with the finale. There are some character deaths that are obviously coming, and some that tore my heart out (FRED?! NO!) One of the things that I really loved is how she used the Marauders Map as a device to show the reader that Ginny was still nearly constantly on Harry's mind. Having him watching her on the Map is probably the sweetest bit of fiction I have read in years and as this series has so often, it takes me back to my own teenage years, when I would do silly little things for the sake of love. Unfortunately, this lovely addition to the story makes what is missing from the ending even more glaringly obvious...Harry and Ginny's reunion. Those who followed the future Mr and Mrs Potter from the time Ginny blushed and ran away in Chamber of Secrets and swooned over every hopeful glance will feel cheated by the fact that after the ruined birthday kiss, and all those pages of watching the map...theres nada...zip...zitch. Not even an embrace. In fact, Harry in effect, blows her off, figuring they have plenty of time so she can wait. The rest is a thrill a minute rollercoaster ride with a few stops to camp out and argue, swim in a freezing pond, get captured, be betrayed by a desperate man and visit the newlyweds. So much happens in fact that by the time Harry and Voldemort finally come down to the final flourishes of their wands and the cries of their curses are the only sounds in the red light of the coming dawn....it is oddly anti-climatic, and while Harry is the obvious hero, Rowling makes it just as obvious that he is NOT the only one, that it truly was something he couldn't have done without Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny and particularly Neville, at his side.Read full review
As a fan of the series I have to say I loved it. J.K. Rowling could do no wrong as far as I'm concerned, though I didn't always think that way. As Potter mania first began to grip the youths of America I was in the grips of another British author with initials for a first name. J.R.R. Tolkien had me spellbound to his stories and at the time I saw Potter as stupid childish kids book with no higher merits. I made fun of the series and the people that read it up until the fifth book came out. I had heard from too many people praising it and its darkening tone and decided to see what all the hype was about. The first book surprised me a little with its style and use of language though it still had a children's book feel to it. I didn't like the way it ended mostly. The whole "I defeated the greatest dark wizard with... Love" made me think that J.K. just didn't know how to end her book with a low-level boy facing off against a high-level wizard. The journey to get there however, was great and as a result I moved on to the second book. The second book was even better than the first. A back-story about a murder within the school and a series of attacks gets the heart pumping. Even the more gritty finish made me think twice about J.K.'s ability to write. She still relied a bit heavily on the Dais Ex machina. The fact that Harry just happens to get the magic sorting hat brought to him by Fawkes and pulled out a sword was bit much at the time. But J.K. made use of all those unlikely events later. The third book was dark and even a little scary compared to your average kids book yet had a refreshing uplifting ending. It also setup the Great War giving rise to Voldemort and his death eaters. The mystery involved in this book was step up from the last keeping you guessing even at the people that were right in front of you. J.K. knows how to setup misdirection. The forth book was a thrilling adventure with a surprise ending that actually brought a tear to my eye. At this point the series is not for children anymore. Harry is now heading toward adulthood and so is the series. The level of action makes this book fun to read and the bit of mystery keeps you guessing at whom the betrayer is. The murder in this book is what sets it apart. The fifth book is the actual beginning of the war. It sets up the landscapes in which future battles are to take place. It brings in all the needed characters and gives them personalities. This book is truly great and reminds adults what it was like to be a teenager. That point in life where you think you know everything are start to rebel. It ends on sad note that nearly brought a tear to my eye. The sixth book is probably the most exciting and crushing build up to a finale that I have read next to book seven of "The Dark Tower". The death of Dumbledore at the hands of Snape enraged me and actually made me feel as if I had been betrayed. I cried at the funeral of Albus Dumbledore. And now for this book. Book seven in my opinion is the greatest of all. It answers most if not all the questions that you may have about the lives of the characters, their past and their future. Harry's relationship with Ron's sister is realized and the truth about Snape and Dumbledore's relationship is revealed. The whole book had me in a range of emotions but for a book to make me cry from sorrow, relief, and happiness that is an amazing thing. Very few writers can do that. The last few sentences still make me cry.Read full review
After years of waiting for the final showdown, this is the best she could give us? We were thoroughly disappointed. Rowling wrote like she was tired and just wanted to wrap it up already.... She didn't even bother to have it make sense... Honestly, Harry's had the Invisibility Cloak since year 1 but, Ron and Hermione never told him that there was this old story about the Deathly Hallows that they had heard since they were kids? What the heck was she thinking! She had an ending of a great epic within her grasp and had mapped her way toward it perfectly. One final battle of Good vs. Evil. One final stand for the lives of Lily & James and Harry and everyone else who had suffered under Voldemort's tyranny. But what happened? Snape was going to go down. That was a given. Anyone could have guessed that. For Lily's sake, he would die defending Harry. However, instead of the blaze of honorable, brave glory that he deserved, after years as Harry's protector, Rowling has Snape walk right into his death, and poof, he's gone. Didn't even get to draw his wand or even knick old Voldemort! Not fair! Shame on her! And the final battle? A glorious triumph of Good over Evil?... it was a bloodbath! She killed off so many beloved characters! Hogwarts and the Order suffered casualty after casualty, yet the Deatheaters seemingly lost none. No one was safe by the end! The worst losses were Hedgewig, Colin, and Mrs. Weasley loses one of her beloved children!! We half expected Hagrid to get it in the end. It was horrible and senseless! She even kills off Tonks and Remus leaving Teddy an orphan! Just nasty! And yet, then, the Malfoys emerge without casualties! What was she thinking? And then, the worst was that we get to see them all years later! This was the biggest disappointment of all! Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age now seems to be a housewife!?!?! Only Neville appears to be doing something with his life teaching at Hogwarts. The rest are all just playing house out in suburbia?!?!?! What kind of ending is that? Harry Potter, dad, husband, mower of the lawn?!?!? Please! What kind of ending is that? And the middle is just plain boring. Pages and pages of hiding in the woods....Talk about anti climactic! I loved the time we had between books 6 & 7, when we all tried to guess how it would go down! That was fun! We had so much better ideas than Rowling! Shame. All it was, in the end,... was an ending. Oh, well.Read full review
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