Book 41: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Here it is.  The final chapter in the Harry Potter saga.  I'm a little bittersweet about this one.  On the one hand, I'm very eager to finally see the final result of this series.  But on the other, I'm a little sad that it will be over once I finish this book.  I haven't seen any of the movies beyond the 5th one, Order of the Phoenix, so this book, like the last are virgin territory for me.  I'm finding that that makes them more interesting.  I have no idea what's going to happen and it's exciting!

Well, this is a big book, but they go quickly.  759 pages makes 109 pages per day.


REVIEW:

This is it, the culmination of the series.  I was unbelievably excited to get to this book.  I finished the previous one early and started on this one as soon as possible.  The previous book was a cliffhanger of sorts and getting answers to all the questions brought up from the beginning the series was enticing, to say the least.  The book starts out with a some great action and continues to deliver some epic scenes throughout.  In fact, Rowling has progressed amazingly as a writer and gives some of the most memorable scenes that I've read in any fantasy book.

The book was not perfect, however, there were a couple of things that detracted from it.  At one point the plot seemed to slow to a standstill for several chapters.  Eventually the plot picked up again but it relied on a bit of a deus ex machina to get it started.  In fact, several plot points seemed to rely on handy coincidences to be successful.  It was not fatal to the book, however.  Even with some of these plot conveniences and slow bits the novel was a tremendous success and the only other problem I had was with the epilogue.  After all the action had resolved and the story reached its climax, the very end seemed a bit awkward and poorly written.  I've been told that it was written a long time ago, but it could have been done better.

I think the biggest disappointment with the book is that now there's no more Potter.  Overall, I'm really glad that I decided to read the series and didn't dismiss them as kiddy books.  It's definitely a series that I will always remember fondly.

9 out of 10

Book 30: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I'm back to Harry Potter.  I can tell that this series is good because I'm always excited to get back to it and, here it is, the penultimate book.  The last book fully evolved the theme into it's more adult, darker tone and I'm sure this one will continue in that way.  People tell me that it's a really good book, and I haven't seen the movie for this one yet either, so the entire plot should be a surprise for me.

It's a little bit shorter than the last installment at 652 pages.  To complete it in one week would be 94 pages per day, but I tend to read these obsessively so I may finish ahead of time.

REVIEW: Another great installment of the Harry Potter series.  The thing I liked best about this book was the pace.  Because the plot is now revealed and Lord Voldemort is now acting openly, Rowling is free to advance things much more quickly.  Harry has grown out of his petulant phase and it much more trusting of his friends, Dumbledore is now acting in a much more direct and less mysterious manner and even Harry’s classwork seems to be much more focused and useful.

I like the pace that I’m going through these books as well.  I’m reading them about 10 weeks apart as I cycle through other genres and it builds up the suspense nicely.  I’m glad that I didn’t read them when they were first released or it would be a year or two between books. 

The whole reason that I started reading these books is that I felt that there was too much missing from the movie versions.  I wondered what became of Harry’s first love interest, Cho, and how his romance wth Ginny started.  I also wanted to know more about characters like Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom.  I have been completely satisfied with the books in that regard.  I have even come to like the house elves. 

The book is so full of surprises that I can’t really say much more without spoiling things, but I’m really impressed with the growth of Rowling’s writing and the overall plot of the books.  Harry Potter has definitely justified all the hype that surrounded the series and then some.  I’m looking forward to the final chapter in the story.

9 out of 10. 

Book 21: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

I'm getting started late on this one due to a mixup with the library.  I found that the library had a compilation of The Walking Dead comics and had a very clever scheme allowing me to keep the book over the holidays but it didn't turn out as intended.  When I checked out the book and flipped it open I found that it was actually volume 3 of the set and the library didn't have volumes 1 and 2.  Bummer.  Oh well, I said, back to the book I was originally intending to read, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I have a couple of Potter-philes at work that say that this is their favorite of the series.  Mine, so far, is still The Prisoner of Azkaban but we'll see.

This volume has 870 pages which would be about 125 pages a day, but since I'm getting a late start I'll have to do better than that.

REVIEW:  With this book, the transformation from Children’s Literature to something more mature is in full swing.  Harry is now 15 years old and Ms. Rowling does a great job of writing a teenage boy.  Unfortunately, this also makes Harry a bit of a jerk.  He’s short-tempered with his friends, he’s frustrated with authority figures and he always thinks that he knows more than those around him.  A teenage boy to a tee.

With a darker theme pervading the book there is little room any more for some of the fun stuff.  It’s a good 200 pages before Harry gets to Hogwarts.  Then with everything that’s going on in his life, tests, girls, Voldemort and the new, authoritarian teacher, Prof. Umbridge, even the previous fun parts like classes and friends become more serious and less whimsical.

It’s not entirely a bad thing, however.  I’m very impressed with Ms. Rowling’s ability to alter her world as Harry (and his readers) get older.  The first book was written for a younger audience and it shows, especially, with names like Dumbledore, Hogwarts and Hufflepuff.  As the audience gets older and the theme gets darker, some of the more innocent things about Harry’s world get darker as well.  A good example of this is the self-drawn carriages from previous books.  It was assumed that they were self-driven somehow, but now, Harry can see what is pulling them: skeletal horses with leathery wings.  It turns out that you cannot see these horses, called Thestrals, unless you have witnessed death.  Pretty dark, huh?

It was still a good read and the world and events are still interesting, but the more mature, darker mood of the books has taken some of the whimsy and fun out of the story.  Also, Harry is a bit less likable than he is in previous books.  7 out of 10.

Book 8: "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" by J.K. Rowling

Enough of this high-brow stuff!  It's time to get back to where I left off with Harry Potter.  I found the first one to be a really good children's book.  Right up there with some of the classics.  The next two were also quite fun and addictive.  So, on to book 4.  734 pages, but they're very easy to read.  105 pages per day.

UPDATE:  At first, I didn't find this book to be as addictive as the third in the series "Prisoner of Azkaban", in fact, I fell behind a bit in the middle of the week.  But as I got further into it, I became progressively more interested. In fact, I stayed up until 1AM reading the last 200 pages because I just couldn't put it down.  This book was the first in the series where I felt that there was a large amount of substantial content left out of the film version.  To me, this is a big plus, because even though I'm reading the book 6 years after the film was released, and 11 years since it was first published, there is still a lot of material left to explore.  This is also the point in the series where things take a dramatic turn toward a darker storyline.  The final few chapters are very tense and, even knowing the ending from the film, you don't really know how everything happens.

With all the publicity and fanfare surrounding the Harry Potter franchise it is tempting to dismiss the phenomenon and try to distance yourself from the frenzy.  But, I truly believe that the series will stand the test of time and I am sure that I'll be revisiting it from the beginning when my little ones are old enough to enjoy it.  Thanks Harry, for another fun adventure.