Book Report: The Deathly Hallows

NO SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW!

It all started Friday night with a wait and Kings Books and Doyle's for the last installment of Harry Potter. I saw a few bloggers there including ZestyEnterprise and TacomaChickadee, and a whole lot of other people waiting to capture the last book.

I read it for a little while Friday night, but by the time I went to an afternoon wedding Saturday I was less than 200 pages into the 784 page behemoth. I was able to do a fair bit of reading last night and after some work today on the condo I finished the 7th and final book of Harry Potter at about 10:30.

What all can I say without giving anything away?

The NYT review (published before the release, incidentally, but not read by me until after finishing the book) says that JK achieved a certain "convincing inevitability" in the story and that is true. The book felt right pretty much the whole way through.

There were a few places (Chapter 12 mainly) where I was surprised by the true darkness of book and the twists the story had taken to get there. But other chapters were still great fun with wonder and excitement (Chapter 26, for example).

The writing still drives me crazy. A good rule of thumb would be: if you wouldn't say it out loud, don't write. Matter-of-factly? Maddeningly? C'mon, JK! How exactly do I say something maddeningly?

But I can forgive that quibble easily. I'll probably re-read all 7 sometime, just to put everything back together in my head (it was very hard reading this book with Book 6 two years in the past).

This was a really wonderful way to spend a weekend. I'm happy that the book held up, even with all the expectation.

Thanks for a great read.