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| Author: J. K. Rowling
Creator: Mary Grandpre
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $34.99
Buy Used: $5.25
You Save: $29.74 (85%)
New (218) Used (389) Collectible (104) from $5.25
Avg. Customer Rating:  3238 reviews
Sales Rank: 86
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st Edition, Book Seven (7)
Reading Level: Ages 9-12
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 784
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.4 x 2.2
ISBN: 0545010225
EAN: 9780545010221
ASIN: 0545010225
Publication Date: July 21, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Recycled Library Edition
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| Customer Reviews:
 My favorite July 21, 2007
21 out of 34 found this review helpful
The history revealed about Snape, Dumbledore, and Harry's parents helps enrich the book, which focuses on Horcruxes, wandlore, and Harry's search for the truth.
The sappy epilogue is happy enough to comfort those still shaken by the many deaths.
If this is not enough, Mrs. Weasley says a bad word! ;)
 a fitting but uneven close with a weak start and strong middle 3.5 July 21, 2007
86 out of 112 found this review helpful
There's good news, middling news, and bad news in the final Potter installment, a book that replicates in many ways the unevenness of the series as a whole. First the good news. The main character, which has always been the book's strength, continues in that vein through most of the book. Harry's oh-so-realistic ongoing grief at his parents' deaths, his sometimes-bends-but-never-breaks bond with Hermione and Ron, his coming-of-age process through idol-worship then respect then disillusionment then adult understanding with Dumbledore, his sense of a greater good--all of these aspects that have made Harry Potter one of the more compelling figures in modern fiction are here in full force. Along with the character of Harry himself, the triangular relationship with Ron and Hermione has also been a consistent highlight in the series, and this too continues, though here it has its rough moments that feel a bit forced, as if Rowling felt the need to show the relationship in danger of fraying so as to make us appreciate it all the more when it does not. Personally, I found the "bend" moment hard to believe and could have done without it. With or, better yet, without it, though, it's hard not to be moved by Rowling's presentation of the bond between these three.
The middling news involves the plot itself. The Potter books have always, I thought, been uneven in this area. The first two solid if not inspired, the third the strongest, the fourth too episodic, and the fifth and sixth with strong plots at the core but diluted by overwriting.
The good news on the plot is that there are, as there always have been, several very moving scenes. There are also a few good action scenes, though action scenes have never been Rowling's strong point and they aren't here as well with a few exceptions. The biggest problem with the plot is that it doesn't actually start to take off, doesn't become compelling, until one is already a third of the way through it. That's a lot to slog through to get to the good parts, though of course nobody is going to put the book down at this point.
The problems with the first few hundred pages are rife. First, there is a great sense of disconnect as the reader moves between a sense of urgency and violence. On the one hand, Voldemort and his death Eaters are infiltrating the Ministry and Hogwarts, killing muggles and muggle-borns right and left, torturing others while the Order of the Phoenix is marshaling its forces, going into all-out battle, and yes, dying. On the other hand, we're treated to an oddly desultory wedding scene as days trundle by in preparation for domestic bliss. The two just don't seem to make sense side-by-side. There are also several major plot holes which I won't go into to avoid spoilers, but at which any discerning reader will find themselves saying "but what about . . . " or "but wouldn't they . . . " again and again. Coincidences also stack up too neatly to move the plot along.
Even worse then the ongoing coincidences though, are the plot points that are necessary to the Deathly Hallows that seem to have been pulled from nowhere. We get lots of exposition and explanation, but for many of these it's just too hard not to think that we should have heard a lot of this before. For instance, in all the many, many, many pages of quidditch detail we get (way too much) in earlier books, it turns out there is something we somehow haven't learned that just happens to play an important role in this book. And it's just one such example of too many such examples. It gives the book a sense of arbitrariness that spoils the reading somewhat, though again, mostly in the first third or so of the book.
There are a few other problem areas. Time moves on in awkward chunks in the first third. The final third, which is especially strong, has its pleasures diluted somewhat by some very clunky exposition, something that has unfortunately been a pattern of earlier books. Perhaps Rowling felt too tied to the formula she's set for herself. Some of the characters were disappointing--Hermione seems to lack some of her strength we've seen growing in her, Ginny was too absent, and some characters (no names due to spoilers) have major changes in attitude that happen far, far too quickly and easily, literally in a matter of a few lines. The book, as all of them since book three have done, suffers from being overly long. One of the reasons book three was so strong was it was the tightest of the series. Hallows could easily lose 200 or 300 pages and be all the stronger for it.
Many have remarked on how the tone of the books has darkened as the series has continued, and this book certainly continues that trend, with more deaths in the first few chapters than perhaps all the others combined. While I thought we've been set up well for this trend, it still seemed a huge leap in intensity and frequency, as if we'd jumped the smooth curve we'd been on the last three books. And the deaths, until the end, were on the one hand jarring due to the new frequency and nonchalance, but also were too abstract, as if they were mere props so we "know" what a bad guy Voldemort is. He's always been a somewhat amorphous villain, one of the weaknesses of the series, and that continues here as well. He's given newfound powers, and a newfound freedom to kill and torture, but he still never feels alive as a character. He's there because he needs to be there, Harry needs an adversary and what's a fantasy epic without a Dark Lord, but he's more of a symbol of a dark lord than one that really makes you feel his evil.
A few other general problems. Part of the richness of the Potterverse has been its small touches of magical background we see in Hogwarts. There was no way around this for Rowling but due to the requirements of the story we get almost none of that here. It's understandable, as mentioned, but it still feels like a loss. The magic in general also feels a bit more muddled, with lots of stunning spells and wands flying into the air and so on. The rules of magic have always been a very weak part of the story but that hasn't mattered much. Here, where the stakes have been raised so high, the reader feels that thinness much more. That same thinness also surrounded the magic world's place in the muggle world. With so much of the series staying so highly focused at Hogwarts and other "magical" places (such as the ministry for instance), that hasn't been a problem. But in the beginning, as Rowling attempts to show Voldemort's effect on both worlds so as to heighten his villainy, the muddiness of their connections becomes more pronounced. One of the reasons the latter two-thirds of the book is so much better is she pretty much drops the whole muggle world connection.
It's hard to discuss much more of either strength or weakness without giving away too much of the plot. So how does Hallows stack up as the finale? To be honest, the first near-300 pages were incredibly disappointing. I despaired of finding anything enjoyable, being regularly bothered by awkward plotting, bad plot holes, forced characterization, arbitrary revelation of knowledge, convenient coincidences, and poor writing. But the change at around 300 was pronounced, almost becoming a completely different novel. The book became much more focused in terms of plot, time narrowed and no longer moved along at a strikingly non-urgent pace, the bond between the three main characters came more into play, and we rediscovered the Harry Potter character that has carried so much of the series. From 300 to close to the end was the book we'd all been waiting for and it carried me along in its plot and moved me thanks to its characters. It redeemed the first few hundred pages and then some. Unfortunately, it didn't maintain that level of quality all the way to the very end, as it stumbled somewhat to the close with, as mentioned, some very lengthy and awkward exposition (not once but twice, including at what should have been a climactic moment which was spoiled by too much explanatory talk) and then an epilogue that had its moments but felt too much like trying to wrap up lots of ends and that had as well some moments where things seemed like they hadn't changed enough (and if that's too vague, well, what do you expect--we're talking about the epilogue after all).
In the end, there's a great 300-page book in the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, you have to read a few hundred pages to get to it. The book's strengths do in the end outweigh its weaknesses, or at the least, by the time you get to the latter third you've forgotten the weaknesses. The four stars are really closer to three, but in fact it should almost be given several different ratings: a low two for the first 300 pages, a high four for the next several hundred, and a three for the last 40 or so. It's a fitting end to the series, and in its unevenness, a microcosm of the series as a whole. That said, it's with a bittersweet sense of completion that one closes the book--a fitting and appropriate end, but an end all the same.
Intensity's Peril July 21, 2007
12 out of 17 found this review helpful
The seventh book was a great book in it's own right. It was suspenseful and gripping in a way that none of the other books really became until the very end. This intensity began from the opening scene with the death of a previously unknown character, whose identity wasn't revealed until the last couple of pages of the beginning chapter to the very last page.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing. The good is that it was remarkably dark and true to the concept of Voldemort and what would be required of Harry to face him. Unfortunately, however, as the books came closer and closer to their destiny (getting to the real beef of killing voldemort) they got farther and farther away from the original attraction of the series. Magic.
DH felt entirely like a montage for all of the relics from every one of those books and while it was personally poignant it made the introduction of the new concepts, especially the concepts of the Deathly Hallows themselves more than a little choppy.
DH was very much a finale, in that it felt like the end of every Harry Potter book ever written, from the Philosopher's Stone to HBP. But this led to a desensitization of sorts. Reading the entire book you expect people to die, in fact you mentally prepare yourself for it. And the book does nothing to dissuade any illusions.
Overall though any faults of DH was made up by for the fabolous Dumbledore-Harry-Snape interaction. Overall all of the characters were made much more human, those three in particular, but Dumbledore especially had some of the greatest scenes ever written in YA fantasy sciencefiction.
I didn't love DH the same way that I loved all of the other potter books but I loved it just the same.
The only possible ending July 21, 2007
12 out of 22 found this review helpful
A story can have integrity, or it can be inconsistent and cheap. Most of the books on the market are in the second category. Harry Potter desparately needed to be in the first. Thank heavens, and a brilliant writer, that it has. With all the twists and hidden clues in the first six books (the chapter "Horcruxes" remains the key revelation of the series), Book 7 relied on tying them all together. There was a fine balance to be struck between deus ex magica and simply having things play out with no reveals. To be strict, the book is not flawless. One key point has been predicted well in advance, and the denoument at the end is slightly saccharine. But fear not, Potterphiles, for Book 7 is the end we've all been waiting for.
Realistic, defiant, brilliant, and touching! July 21, 2007
17 out of 25 found this review helpful
[Contains no spoilers.]
A thrilling conclusion to the Harry Potter series -- at last, everything is revealed, and the puzzle is complete. It's a thrilling ride with a plot that zigzags toward the inevitable ending, not without interludes and digressions, but on the whole, a satisfying page-turner no Harry Potter fan can possibly skip.
As other reviewers have pointed out, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a dark story with real sacrifices, perhaps too dark for younger fans (you've been warned). But I think the darkness of the plot is necessary and realistic, consistent with the portrait of a world torn apart by what must be equivalent to a World War in our universe. Think about it -- A win on either side without injuries and deaths would only trivialize it. After all, if the Dark Lord and the evil he represents can be easily defeated, it wouldn't have taken this long. What must be done -- if it can be -- has to be a real fight in every sense of the word: physically, emotionally...wholeheartedly.
Some sections in the book are indeed painful to read -- similar to the ending of Book 6. What's remarkable is that even in the darkest moments, where our favorite characters' will, determination, and abilities are brought into question, Rowling manages to paint them in a sympathetic light. We see that they are heroes with magical powers, but they are not flat, black and white characters -- they're teenagers, adults, children, parents, and teachers who are very much human. And readers are never left without a sense of hope, without a feeling that somehow, things will, in one way or another, work out in the end, even if it's not what or how you have expected, even if the losses are grave.
I should also mention that Rowling writes with her usual sense of humor and sharp wit in this book. Life under the shadow of You-Know-Who is not without jokes and mischiefs, or devoid of moments of ordinary happiness. There's a sense of defiance in that the characters are not letting fear completely rule and ruin their lives. That is definitely another winning point of this book.
Some parts of the book are a bit slow; the editing could've been better done to reduce repetition and improve the flow of the story. But before you know it, you turn a chapter, and it's an absolutely breathless thrilling ride. And I can think of alternative endings, as I'm sure everyone can, but the one that Rowling presents here is a satisfying, logical ending.
So I say, prepare yourself for a dark, complex but touching story, grab a box of Kleenex, take a deep breath, and plunge not a minute too soon right into the world of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You won't want to miss it.
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