Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Review

I have finished reading the Deathly Hallows, about 40 hours after picking up the book. My initial thoughts are that I really enjoyed this book, and thought J.K. Rowling did a great job wrapping up the loose ends. Do I think all Harry Potter fans will be happy with the ending? No -- without giving anything away, I will say that I don't think it would have been possible for J.K. Rowling to make everyone happy. I equate it to the Sorpano's ending (which I hated). It'll be a love-it or hate-it issue for many people.

I did not read any of the supposed spoilers that were appearing on the internet the days leading up to the book release, but I heard that some of those people were downright angry about the end of the book (there is an Epilogue). While I was happy with it, I can see why people would be upset. I'm not even really sure an Epilogue was necessary, but given how much I hated the uncertainty left by the Soprano's, the Epilogue was a good thing for me.

The emotions I felt while reading the book varied greatly. While there was some of the doom and gloom felt in the previous two books, I think it was dominated mostly by exhilaration and adventure. There were a number of parts where there simply was not time to think (for me or the characters) because they were thrown into a dangerous situation where they had to act immediately. Definitely not a boring book!

I also experienced sadness -- it is no surprise to anyone, as J.K. Rowling stated herself that at least two characters would die. I had guessed which two I thought were most likely to go, and I got one right. I would say I had to pull out the tissues about 4 or 5 times, although some of the tears shed were out of happiness or a bittersweet moment.

Another emotion I felt while reading the book was a sense of pride for the characters who chose to stand their ground and who remained loyal. Of course, anyone who had read the previous books knows that that feeling cannot be expressed for all the characters, but the loyalty expressed by a number of characters is quite admirable.

For those of you who plan to read the book and haven't yet, go and do it! I seriously had a hard time putting the book down for any reason. Even if you don't like the end, I think you will at least like the parts leading up to the end. Now that I'm done reading, I will now start listening to the book on CD. The list price is $79.95, but it was available at Sam's Club for about $47-$48.

ETA: a friend found the CDs at Costco for $39.99.