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quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him ...
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as the mistress of storytelling, whose books with be read, reread and read again.
Although I've felt that the series went into a decline after Order of the Phoenix, like millions of others on the planet, I was interested in knowing how Rowling would wrap up her story of Harry and his friends. What she's produced was never going to satisfy everyone but even whilst making allowances for that, I found more that I disliked about this book than what I liked.
For starters, this is easily the darkest book in the series. Rowling does not stint on the deaths, beginning with that of Harry's oldest companion and then running as almost a checklist of names as the pages get turned. I'm actually a big fan of main character deaths in fiction - one of the best things about OotP was the death of Sirius Black - but what was frustrating here was precisely the fact that it did seem to be such a checklist because with the exception of the first two deaths in the book (Hedwig and Moody), Rowling never contemplates the effects of the deaths on the main characters. This is particularly the case with the final battle at the end of the book - well-loved characters are practically dropping like flies, many of them off-page so that the effect of the loss never comes into play. I was particularly annoyed with the deaths of Lupin and Tonks, despatched off-page seemingly for the hell of it, and in a way that Harry doesn't seem to care about.
There are long passages within the book that don't serve any particular purpose - particularly the seemingly endless scenes where Harry and Hermione are in their tent hiding out around the country trying to decide where to look for Horcruxes. It feels a little as though Rowling got caught on a theme because at first, those the tent scenes with Harry, Hermione and Ron do serve to show the difficulty of the task ahead of them and the strain that it's putting on their friendship. As it progresses however, it feels like a chase scene without resolution as Harry and Hermione disappear and reappear around the country, pursued not by bears but Death Eaters and Ministry officials.
The sudden introduction of the concept of the Deathly Hallows (three magical objects aimed at beating death) is jarring. As with the Horcruxes, I wished that Rowling had introduced the idea in the earlier books because as it is, the concept feels like an exposition dump and contrivance to help Harry get to the end of the story. This was particularly the case with the Elder Wand, which was introduced so suddenly that it felt very deus ex machina, although I was more satisfied with the explanation for Harry's invisibility cloak which at least does serve a purpose.
There's little of the humour that was so welcome in the earlier books and I really missed that because there were times when Rowling really needed to take her foot off the doom and gloom peddle and ease back. It's also noticeable how Rowling tries to change the language used by her characters in this book - Ron says "effing" an awful lot. Whilst I appreciate that she could never have her characters use the f-word, this half-way house serves to accentuate rather than hide the problem.
There is one big plot hole within the text that really irked me, involving the sword of Gryffindor. I believe that Rowling has since clarified this in an interview, but it's not convincing - particularly given what happens in the story which does not seem to leave open that possibility. I also wasn't convinced by Rowling's explanation of what happened to the Sorting Hat, which we're led to believe is destroyed by Voldemort and yet is clearly up and working 19 years later. I have to admit that I also felt that the final show-down between Voldemort and Harry, which effectively turns on Voldemort not doing his homework, is something of a let down. The idea of who truly owns the Elder Wand is hurriedly explained and feels too much like an easy means of getting to the finale.
Regarding the Epilogue, I could see what Rowling was trying to do with it - all the way through the books has been this theme of Harry never having a proper family, which is why it's clearly important to her to show him as having one. I have no problem with that. Unfortunately, the way she chose to write the Epilogue was somewhat confusing and really amounts to little more than a series of character names with little context to it, which suggests to me that she'd have been better off just doing a family chart at the end.
The worst part of the book however is how she deals with Snape. Given that he was probably the most interesting character in the entire series, it's very poor that he gets such an ignoble end and with his actions explained in such a pat manner. Whilst I could buy the motivation for his actions (albeit, it would have been easier had there been more set-up and hints in the earlier books), his motivation still does not explain the antagonistic relationship he had with Harry and worse, we have nothing in the book showing Harry's reaction to the discovery of this information. For 6 books we've listened to Harry despising Snape, holding him responsible for the death of his godfather and Dumbledore so for him to discover that he was wrong all along deserved some scene of shock and realisation and maybe even guilt that he was so judgmental. Rowling unfortunately, does not bother and the result is to rob the book of perhaps what could have been its most mature and interesting scene.
I don't want to just focus on the negatives - the many, many negatives. There were several things that I enjoyed in the book. For example, I thought the scenes involving the take-over of the Ministry and particularly the return of Umbridge were well-drawn and quite subtle. The image of Umbridge having robbed Moody's body of his mad-eye so she could put it in her door was chilling, as was the fervour with which she chose to persecute Muggle-born wizards whilst hiding her own background. In addition, Neville Longbottom really comes into his own in the book - long derided as weak and an also-ran, he's the one who keeps the resistance together whilst Harry's away from Hogwarts and at the end, he's the only person other than Harry to directly defy Voldemort to his face. My only regret is that we get no mention of Trevor in this book and also, I'd have liked to see him have a love-interest of his own, given that even nasty Draco is shown as married with sprog. Speaking of the Malfoys, Rowling did well with their characterisation in the book - Lucius in particular always felt rather two-dimensional but Rowling is careful to draw a picture of the dangers of getting what you wish for and it's telling that her theme of the importance of love is one that's finally demonstrated by Narcissa for her only son.
The ultimate feeling that I got though from reading Deathly Hallows was one of how much the Potter series fails to work as an overriding story arc. In particular, the critical information is only really given out in the last two books, which means that Rowling really missed the opportunity to drop in clues and build in mystery earlier on in the series, resulting in large exposition dumps that didn't really satisfy me. Consequently, whilst I will definitely dip into the self-contained stories that were books 1 to 4 in the series, I will not be reading or indeed, re-reading books 5 to 7.
The Verdict:
Oddly, I think that the book felt rushed - the use of exposition was simply too heavy to be effective and I got the impression that Rowling really lost her bottle when it came to character deaths in that whilst she was happy to whack characters, she didn't want to write anything that gave any emotional impact to those deaths. On many levels, I found the book to be personally unsatisfying - the Epilogue is poorly written and there are two plot holes that really irritated me. Parts of the book could easily have been edited out without causing any loss to the reader and much of the exposition dumped here could have been hinted at or explained in earlier books. Whether this is the children's classic that reviewers claim is something that only time can tell, but I think that looking at this book in terms of the overall arc, it was an undeserved end to the series.
Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him ...
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as the mistress of storytelling, whose books with be read, reread and read again.
Although I've felt that the series went into a decline after Order of the Phoenix, like millions of others on the planet, I was interested in knowing how Rowling would wrap up her story of Harry and his friends. What she's produced was never going to satisfy everyone but even whilst making allowances for that, I found more that I disliked about this book than what I liked.
For starters, this is easily the darkest book in the series. Rowling does not stint on the deaths, beginning with that of Harry's oldest companion and then running as almost a checklist of names as the pages get turned. I'm actually a big fan of main character deaths in fiction - one of the best things about OotP was the death of Sirius Black - but what was frustrating here was precisely the fact that it did seem to be such a checklist because with the exception of the first two deaths in the book (Hedwig and Moody), Rowling never contemplates the effects of the deaths on the main characters. This is particularly the case with the final battle at the end of the book - well-loved characters are practically dropping like flies, many of them off-page so that the effect of the loss never comes into play. I was particularly annoyed with the deaths of Lupin and Tonks, despatched off-page seemingly for the hell of it, and in a way that Harry doesn't seem to care about.
There are long passages within the book that don't serve any particular purpose - particularly the seemingly endless scenes where Harry and Hermione are in their tent hiding out around the country trying to decide where to look for Horcruxes. It feels a little as though Rowling got caught on a theme because at first, those the tent scenes with Harry, Hermione and Ron do serve to show the difficulty of the task ahead of them and the strain that it's putting on their friendship. As it progresses however, it feels like a chase scene without resolution as Harry and Hermione disappear and reappear around the country, pursued not by bears but Death Eaters and Ministry officials.
The sudden introduction of the concept of the Deathly Hallows (three magical objects aimed at beating death) is jarring. As with the Horcruxes, I wished that Rowling had introduced the idea in the earlier books because as it is, the concept feels like an exposition dump and contrivance to help Harry get to the end of the story. This was particularly the case with the Elder Wand, which was introduced so suddenly that it felt very deus ex machina, although I was more satisfied with the explanation for Harry's invisibility cloak which at least does serve a purpose.
There's little of the humour that was so welcome in the earlier books and I really missed that because there were times when Rowling really needed to take her foot off the doom and gloom peddle and ease back. It's also noticeable how Rowling tries to change the language used by her characters in this book - Ron says "effing" an awful lot. Whilst I appreciate that she could never have her characters use the f-word, this half-way house serves to accentuate rather than hide the problem.
There is one big plot hole within the text that really irked me, involving the sword of Gryffindor. I believe that Rowling has since clarified this in an interview, but it's not convincing - particularly given what happens in the story which does not seem to leave open that possibility. I also wasn't convinced by Rowling's explanation of what happened to the Sorting Hat, which we're led to believe is destroyed by Voldemort and yet is clearly up and working 19 years later. I have to admit that I also felt that the final show-down between Voldemort and Harry, which effectively turns on Voldemort not doing his homework, is something of a let down. The idea of who truly owns the Elder Wand is hurriedly explained and feels too much like an easy means of getting to the finale.
Regarding the Epilogue, I could see what Rowling was trying to do with it - all the way through the books has been this theme of Harry never having a proper family, which is why it's clearly important to her to show him as having one. I have no problem with that. Unfortunately, the way she chose to write the Epilogue was somewhat confusing and really amounts to little more than a series of character names with little context to it, which suggests to me that she'd have been better off just doing a family chart at the end.
The worst part of the book however is how she deals with Snape. Given that he was probably the most interesting character in the entire series, it's very poor that he gets such an ignoble end and with his actions explained in such a pat manner. Whilst I could buy the motivation for his actions (albeit, it would have been easier had there been more set-up and hints in the earlier books), his motivation still does not explain the antagonistic relationship he had with Harry and worse, we have nothing in the book showing Harry's reaction to the discovery of this information. For 6 books we've listened to Harry despising Snape, holding him responsible for the death of his godfather and Dumbledore so for him to discover that he was wrong all along deserved some scene of shock and realisation and maybe even guilt that he was so judgmental. Rowling unfortunately, does not bother and the result is to rob the book of perhaps what could have been its most mature and interesting scene.
I don't want to just focus on the negatives - the many, many negatives. There were several things that I enjoyed in the book. For example, I thought the scenes involving the take-over of the Ministry and particularly the return of Umbridge were well-drawn and quite subtle. The image of Umbridge having robbed Moody's body of his mad-eye so she could put it in her door was chilling, as was the fervour with which she chose to persecute Muggle-born wizards whilst hiding her own background. In addition, Neville Longbottom really comes into his own in the book - long derided as weak and an also-ran, he's the one who keeps the resistance together whilst Harry's away from Hogwarts and at the end, he's the only person other than Harry to directly defy Voldemort to his face. My only regret is that we get no mention of Trevor in this book and also, I'd have liked to see him have a love-interest of his own, given that even nasty Draco is shown as married with sprog. Speaking of the Malfoys, Rowling did well with their characterisation in the book - Lucius in particular always felt rather two-dimensional but Rowling is careful to draw a picture of the dangers of getting what you wish for and it's telling that her theme of the importance of love is one that's finally demonstrated by Narcissa for her only son.
The ultimate feeling that I got though from reading Deathly Hallows was one of how much the Potter series fails to work as an overriding story arc. In particular, the critical information is only really given out in the last two books, which means that Rowling really missed the opportunity to drop in clues and build in mystery earlier on in the series, resulting in large exposition dumps that didn't really satisfy me. Consequently, whilst I will definitely dip into the self-contained stories that were books 1 to 4 in the series, I will not be reading or indeed, re-reading books 5 to 7.
The Verdict:
Oddly, I think that the book felt rushed - the use of exposition was simply too heavy to be effective and I got the impression that Rowling really lost her bottle when it came to character deaths in that whilst she was happy to whack characters, she didn't want to write anything that gave any emotional impact to those deaths. On many levels, I found the book to be personally unsatisfying - the Epilogue is poorly written and there are two plot holes that really irritated me. Parts of the book could easily have been edited out without causing any loss to the reader and much of the exposition dumped here could have been hinted at or explained in earlier books. Whether this is the children's classic that reviewers claim is something that only time can tell, but I think that looking at this book in terms of the overall arc, it was an undeserved end to the series.
