Wednesday, August 1

Book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Click for more info

And so it ends. Ten years after it all began, the Harry Potter saga is over.

I always thought that it was going to be difficult to finish off, and unfortunately in my eyes at least, I've been proven correct. That's not to say that this, the seventh book in the series, is badly written or anything. No, it just falls beside Order of the Phoenix at the bottom of the pile.

So what went wrong? Well for a start, TDH is way too long. Unnecessarily so. There is a level of fluff within that beats even OOTP that seems to have been put in just to swell the page count. But since it's all excellently written it's not a hassle to read. On the contrary it's still a pleasure of sorts just hanging out with Harry, Hermione and Ron.

The book also fails on the plot. I've always admired JK Rowling for being able to create such a watertight narrative, with no contradictions or over-reaching within it. It all breaks down toward the end though, with certain events occurring that are pretty downright unbelievable even in the world of Hogwarts. I was puzzled not by the nonsensical nature of these themselves, but the fact that they had made the final cut in the first place. If I had any hunch that JK Rowling had written the books in reverse, it's now gone.

Other thoughts are more positive. Characterisation is adequate enough, and the book is certainly the most adult and emotive of the series; people swear, hatred and love is felt by all including the reader and yes, characters even die (although some seem to be pretty token in nature).

So no, I didn't think that TDH was that fantastic. But like I said, I thought that that was inevitable anyway so I'm not disappointed in the book per se. It's definitely not enough to break the series (which is now firmly placed amongst my most favourite) and it is still classic Harry Potter at its core. As a consequence I'm compelled to recommend it, and the other six, to those who have yet to experience them at all.

1 comment:

  1. Now must say that until a few days I had read not a page of Harry Potter. Anyway, was up in Salford over the weekend, and there was a copy lying in the house waiting to be sent to Bangladesh with relatives who are visiting for one of my cousins. So started reading from a random point somewhere in the first third of the book, and kept reading, and kept reading and after about 40 pages was shocked at just how bad the writing was. Come on, even kids should be allowed to use their imagination rather than just over describing everything! Of course, I'm making no comment on Rowling's ability to great story, and my guess is that she spins a cracking yarn otherwise it's hard for me to see how there's such a fan base for the books, and yes, telling a great story is a fantastic and all to rare talent. But in terms of writing that makes you marvel at the use of language, my thougts from my admittedly VERY limited exposure are "No way, Jose!"

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