Sunday, July 22, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - **** SPOILER ALERT ***

There's been all hue and cry about the final HP book that came out yesterday. And I have been dying to read it! Having read it, I am going to summarize my review into concise goods and bads without giving away too much..

I loved................

1) The book itself - It almost tied most loose ends though somethings were obviously let to imagination. And finally, this is a children's book which probably may not do justice to adult expectations. Read it in that view and you'll probably love t too.. It is clearly the best book among those from Goblet... up until now
2) Hermione - She is sparkling and it truly shows what it is to have a brilliant mind by your side. Some of her ideas and presence of mind are glorious..
3) Kreacher - His transformation is very enjoyable
4) The Deathly Hallows - Cool concept, well-explained and also proves that Dumbledore isn't as good as he sounds
5) Neville - Though he plays a very small part in the end, it is absolutely crucial to the story line and I love him for that
6) Polyjuice potion - Its been tactfully used at every conceivable place and you have to hand it to Rowling for thinking it up at most places. The plots surrounding its use are delightful
7) Lack of the Pensieve - The fact that Rowling didn't lapse back to the Pensieve as many times as she did in the Half Blood Prince. This was refreshingly better
8) Potterwatch - It was brilliant inclusion and refreshingly nice
9) The chapter name and illustrations - I mean Ghoul in Pajamas was sheer brilliance!

I didn't love...........

1) The epilogue - Such a wasteful ending. Why did she have to make it so feel-good and sappy? And why wasn't any son of either couple named Fred? And what do all these people do for a living?? And the epilogue seemed incomplete, almost a feeble effort to ensure that if she decided to, Rowling could pick up the strands of Harry Potter and get on with it and as if no one else could. If the book had ended just before the epilogue, it would have attained Masterpiece status in my head
2) Snape as headmaster - Why? At the end of Half Blood Prince, McGonagall was rightful deputy headmistress. What happened to that? I guess Voldemort took over the ministry but it still sounded bizarre
3) Utterly insignificant roles for Snape and McGonagall - There should have been more action for these two spearheads.
4) Why Dobby, Hedwig and Fred? Why not someone a little more major?
5) Harry being too good to be true - He's utterly flawless
6) No Hogwarts - Because our trio don't attend school, there's no Hogwarts, nothing on the teachers and no feel-good stories about the kids interactions.. makes you feel you are in unfamiliar territory
7) The Patronus messages - I loved the concept, But if it were possible, why wasn't Sirius able to send one to confirm he was alive and well in the Order of the Phoenix; why couldn't anyone have done this before to pass on secure messages? Seems futile in the past if you had such a fool-proof method of passing important messages...

All in all, a great conclusion to the series....drags a bit here and there but which big book doesn't? But I can't help but feeling lost now. No more Harry Potter books to look forward to.. in the near future atleast. All Harry Potter fans are sure to find closure with this book. A huge blood bath was imminent and the readers who expected it won't be disappointed. But you would think someone utterly significant like the main cast would die... Well, Rowling doesn't think so. A certain bestseller and a totally worthwhile read. A feel good end to the entertaining series.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

"And why wasn't any son of either couple named Fred? "......dont u think its too much revealing statement???
and wat happens to hagrid???

Anonymous said...

I already had the SPOILER ALERT warning! :) Yeah and I go on a few statements below to ask Why Dobby, Hedwig and Fred.. so that shd be more of a clue.. haha.. Hagrid.. time will tell.

Anonymous said...

SPOILER ALERT IN COMMENTS TOO. So don't read on if you have not read the book yet.

Jaya, This is Ramki's friend Aruna. Though i did love the book for the most part and it was a fitting end, i totally agree about all the points you have on the 'i didn't love'.

1. she could have not had the epilogue or written a better one.
2. because of lack of somebody really not that major dying, it did not have the impact that was there in Half Blood Prince.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aruna,

Thanks for visiting!! :) But well, the epilogue was a kind of let-down as far as I was concerned. what do these people do for a living? 7 years of fighting Voldemort and its over and then what? They join the ministry? or what? And whats everyone else upto? And why did Lupin AND Tonks have to die? Hmph.

Anonymous said...

Stop asking silly questions Jaya...jeeeeezzzz...

Anonymous said...

Stop leaving silly comments Akil.. jeeeeeeeez-er!

Anonymous said...

Pakka! Agreed with most comments and share the same opinion on Potterwatch! Absolutely brilliant. Wish there were more... I almost feel inspired to start my own radio show to crib about the death eaters in the corporate world ;-)

Anyways, I can't complain much on the roles. It is difficult to give everyone page length as we discussed. The epilogue could have been avoided but thinking about it more.. I think it is a business move to prevent extensions.

Wonderful end to a superb series!

Anonymous said...

I agree with what your brother has said about the epilogue...it was the only other option she had apart from killing him to escape extensions...but by not mentioning what they did for a living I think she has opened a different realm of imagination to flourish !

Anonymous said...

Hi Jaya..Just happened to come across you blog..saw your post about Harry Potter..so, cud'nt stop myself... :)

Well said about all the good & not-so-good things about the book. But, I would like to differ a bit about the epilogue part...Epilogue was needed because rowling needed to tell us what happens after the actual story ends...that ron & hermione marry & harry & ginny marry...also, she had to put a complete end to Voldemort and any rumours that Voldemort could return as well...thts the reason for the last sentence. "Harry touched his scar. It was not prickling.It had not prickled for the last 19 years.All was Well" or something like tht.

Anyways, awesome post. In fact, I too have been blogging on and off for quite sometime now. if you find time, do visit, vishysblue.blogspot.com. I have blogged about Deathly Hallows as well. Do let me know your comments :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Vishysblue,

The epilogue could've been better! She couldve included living details about these people and the statement "His scar had not pricked in 19 years" is sort of ambiguous... makes you think Voldy is dormant or something, instead of dead! Looks like the epilogue was written in bit of a hurry. Thats what I meant and yes, please keep visiting and I will check out yr blog soon. :)
-J

Anonymous said...

Hey..Thanks for ur comments..I have replied to ur comments in my blog...do let me know ur comments on tht :)

Anonymous said...

All true. Is certainly better than the last book. And Neville's transformation from the klutz he was, was, nice. Why didnt he get married I wonder. Its a pity she had to kill Fred, and Lupin and Tonks though, but she had to kill someone, and someone fairly important.
Just that I felt it ended on a far too sugary note.

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