Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

...As requested by Ayu, I am copying the review I did for my blog here...

Like everyone else who has the smallest smidgen of enjoyment of Harry Potter I was looking forward to reading the last of the series (allegedly).

In fact, I went to Borders at 7.40am just to get my copy... after receiving an annoying buzzed text message from a certain someone in Ireland saying that she's got HER copy... Previously, I planned to go and get my copy with Nini at around 10.00am (yeah right!!). However, I could NOT seem to wait and thought back on Ayu's entry.. not to mention Baizurah's entry and of course Syuhada's entry... I SIMPLY HAD TO GET OFF MY BUTT AND GET MINE! So, I did. I called Nini to inform her about the change of plans (once my copy was in my hands) and called back to check her current progress to get her copy... and hahahaha sure enough, she's left house to get her copy. Note to Nini: Hahahaha.. tapi tak ada your *ahem BF (wink wink) plak Nini!! :D

Anyway, upon returning home and preciously holding my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I promptly sat down and tried to read it cover to cover in one sitting - didn't manage that, but I did manage to complete in in 24 hours! :D What to do?!! I'm a bookworm! Caterpillarbuku LIVES ON!!! This fantasy reads rather well, it has to be said, flowing nicely along at a good pace. It's dark and bloody, but then again what do you expect with Voldermort kicking around?

Alas, one could argue that therein lies the problem. There are not really any of the plot twists and turns that one expects from Harry Potter books. In fact, one could argue that must of it was rather predictable in extremism. That is not to say it is not a rather enjoyable romp through the final tale of the boy wizard. One thing that strikes one throughout the book is that it is rather visual, almost cinematic. The book was clearly written in a manner that would not make it too terribly hard to turn into a script... so look out people... coming soon to a cinema near you!

J. K. Rowling seems to have recovered the part of Hermione and she is not a whining teenager anymore. She does have a strop, which is a bit of predictable foreshadowing to the end of the book, well rather, the epilogue of the book. There are a lot of loose ends that are tied up rather well for all the characters, although I have to say that I was disappointed to see one of my favorite characters in the whole set of tales, Hagrid, reduced to a bit part in this novel. In fact, truth be told, much of the book only really revolves around the core three, which one might have expected.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is probably not Rowling's best book in the series and adults might find it to be a bit thin at times. It reads a bit rushed, and there are some plot glitches. But taken as a whole series, Rowling has done something only few other authors like Tolkien have done. She has created a series of books that can be read by child and adult alike and enjoyed in similar but slightly different ways. By the end chapter, I felt like there were no closure to a few things... like did Harry became the Auror that he wanted to be..? What is Hermione doing? If Rowling's intention was to create a"nineteen years later" chapter, maybe it should not be so hurried and answers all the questions that were raised in the earlier books... but that's just me and my opinion...