++ the Deathly Hallows. a masterpiece.

So I decided to delay the publishing of my Harry Potter review because I know many people around have yet to finish the book and I do not wish to carry a “spoiler alert” tag on my blog. Hence, I guess, now is a rather appropriate time, one week after the release of the book to say my piece about the final installment of the Harry Potter saga.

The Deaths
Four out of the seven deaths in this book made me feel nauseated. I guess the main reason would be the abrupt departure of all 3 of them. The first would of course be Harry’s owl Hedwig. Despite her little role in the entire series, she was always the one beside Harry at his darkest moments during his holidays. Her death made me realize Harry lost a companion, one who has silently stood by him since 6 books ago. She was a character who is seemingly unimportant but at the same time, indispensable.

The next death that overwhelmed me was when Dobby died while trying to rescue Harry from the Malfoys. It was also sudden and if I may say, Dobby could very well be seen as Harry’s number one supporter since book two where he played a significant role til the subsequent books where he appeared for awhile (in book 4). All his appearances involved the revelation of important bits of information which was crucial to the plot. Still, his departure caused me to grieve the most.

The last 2 deaths which caused the sky to darken would be the deaths of Lupin and Tonks. The beginning of the book revealed their marriage to each other, which was followed by Tonks getting pregnant and eventually having a child. No one expected their story to be that of a tragedy, when they left their newborn child an orphan.

The Ingenious
The method of transport of Harry to the Burrow by creating 7 identical copies of him was really, unexpected and highly scary. 7 of Harry’s friends took his appearance and anyone of them could just die.

The Will of Dumbledore was also a crucial linking point between the Horocruxes and the Deathly Hallows. The items he left Harry, Hermione and Ron took its time to reveal its uses and at the same time, amplified Hermione’s wits as it progresses.

Knowing Snape is not the kind of person to confide in Harry, Rowling arranged for him to relate to Harry through his memories. This really gives the entire storyline a lot more credit as readers would expect the supposed bad guy to turn good and fight alongside Harry. (like all fairytales) However, Snape died a bad guy, but lived in his memory as a brave and definitely dangerous double life.

The End
My gut feel tells me Rowling definitely considered the special effects for the movie tie-ins when writing this book. There were many parts where I could foresee grandeur and breath-holding scenes in the movie slated for release in 2010. On the whole, I’m quite satisfied with the entire story as well as the ending. Even though, many would wish for a darker and less fairytale ending, I must re-emphasize that this is after all, a children’s book.