The End Of Harry

I did it. I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows last night, or I should say this early morning. I started reading Sunday morning but stopped after lunch because I had to go out of the house. By Monday I was reading during lunch and dinner breaks.

What can I say, without spoilers for a change?

I admit that I was disappointed with Books 5 and 6 because I found JK Rowling’s writing of the action scenes weak; she doesn’t know how to set up a very dense, action-packed scene visually. While I was reading the fight scenes in the Ministry of Magic (book 5) and in Hogwarts (book 6), I had trouble visualizing the place, where the doors were, where the people were located within the venue. But in the last book, it seems JK realized her mistakes. Book 7 starts action-packed and almost never lets up, but this time I could imagine what was happening in my mind.

This book is the most un-Harry Potter of them all: no more Quidditch, no more Hogwarts school scenes, and a whole lot of action and surprises. And deaths, lots of deaths—the book really lives up to its deathly title. For months people were speculating who among the major characters will die. Some were betting on two characters being killed off. Well, a lot of characters are killed, some of which were with us since book one. It was fascinating how the body count piled up; it’s as if JK wanted to make sure no one would think of something similar to the “Gone With The Wind” book sequel being done to her beloved boy wizard.

As always JK manages to pull off eleventh-hour surprises; I think this is her strength as a storyteller. Almost every chapter has a gasp-inducing “What the—?” moment. And the ending was quite satisfying. It’s so easy for JK—or any writer, if in her shoes—to disappoint at the ending. That she was able to pull it off means that she really had it all figured out early on.

So go ahead, plow through the book. It’s really a page-turner, so you might want to reserve a weekend for it.

Bottomline, did I like it? Yes.