Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

29Jul07

WARNING – THIS REVIEW INEVITABLY CONTAINS SPOILERS

So after seven books, 3407 pages and more twists than a very twisty thing the Harry Potter saga is at an end. Thankfully the seventh and final book, whilst far from perfect, provides a very serviceable close to the series which should serve to please Rowling’s legion of fans worldwide. As with all the recent Potter books The Deathly Hallows is too long by half and really only hits its stride once Harry reaches Hogwarts for the final showdown with Voldemort, however the revelations surrounding Snape and the whereabouts of the final Horcrux ensure a stirring finale.

Understandably much has been made of the ‘darkness’ of The Deathly Hallows and, for a children’s book, the death count is extraordinarily high. However, whilst death is a more regular occurrence than in any previous book, the more significant change is that Rowling now seems willing to fully interact with death. The demise of Sirius in The Order of the Phoenix, for instance, was underplayed to an almost comic extent, however here, the final moments of Dobby the house else, and perhaps most appallingly the death of Serverus Snape, are relayed with every gory detail. Death is more real and death is more painful than ever before.

Having said that, The Deathly Hallows relies more heavily on Star Wars-esque battle sequences than any of the previous Potters. Throughout the book, the wand fights become increasingly preposterous to the point where the climatic final battle would surely render everyone dead. Indeed in terms of structure The Deathly Hallows is somewhat repetitive in the way that it veers from one gun (wand?) totting action set piece to another. Whereas in previous books Harry had to use his ingenuity and cunning to foil his enemies, in The Deathly Hallows he becomes increasingly reliant on Polyjuice potion, his invisibility cloak, and quick fire wand handling to make it out of any tricky situation.

The middle section of the book is also weakened by the absence of many of the series’ best characters. Thanks to the secrecy of their mission, Harry, Ron and Hermione spend much of the novel isolated from the rest of their allies. This makes for some quite frustrating reading, especially as some of Harry’s most interesting protagonists and antagonists, the likes of McGonagall, Snape and Lupin barely get a line between them over the first two thirds of the book.

Nevertheless The Deathly Hallows has much to savour. Right through the series, the insights into the life of Harry’s parents have been almost as interesting as the action of the present and the final revelations about Snape are probably the highlight of the final book. Snape is arguably the deepest, most enigmatic character in the series and the fact that he frequently seemed to go out of his way to save Harry, despite a strong mutual dislike, was one of the most interesting of the mysteries still left to be explained. Fortunately the truth does not disappoint and in an odd sort of way Snape ends up as one of the saga’s greatest heroes.

Following the death of Snape, the remaining narrative twists and turns beautifully and it is clear that this section really was planned from the beginning. The chapter in which Harry meets with Dumbledore is handled really neatly and Rowling resists the temptation to over sentimentalise any of the romance. In some ways the end brings relatively few surprises, however realistically there was only ever one way in which the series could finish.

With so many loose ends to tie up The Deathly Hallows was always going to be rather unbalanced, however whilst it takes a little while to get going, it is a book that will disappoint very few readers. When Rowling gets on a roll her frantic prose style and fantastic narrative invention are impossible to resist. It may now all be over, Lord Voldemort may be dead, but you can bet that Harry Potter will be around for a very long time to come.

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: JK Rowling
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Released: July 21st 2007
Pages: 607

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Tags: books, harry potter, jk rowling