It’s done (finally)! Harry Potter 7 Review!
NOTE: WHILE I WILL ATTEMPT TO BE AS VAGUE AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID SPOILERS, BEAR IN MIND THAT THIS IS A REVIEW, AND THEREFORE IT WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE TO AVOID ALL SPOILERS.
I’ve always been a reader. And I think that what drew me to the Harry Potter series was the same thing that drew me to anime and manga. Obviously, it’s a vastly different subject matter, but the… the defiance of the constraints placed on it’s format (at least by the American culture) are the same. Anime, when it boils down to it, are cartoons. And in American culture, there are only two kinds of cartoons: the Saturday-morning fare for children, or the raunchy, poorly animated “comedy” crap for adults (can you tell I’m not a fan of the latter?). Anime defies this, by creating a niche for that middle group. For the 13-25 year olds, with stories that are neither dumbed down for children, no so full of potty humor and sex jokes that it would be too inappropriate for children. Manga, likewise, is the same. It defies the American idea that comic books are, for the most part, superheroes and their epic tales (interesting as a side-note, some of the more acclaimed works in comics in the US have been non-superhero stories). And Harry Potter goes right in with that. Like anime, Harry Potter tells a story that is neither “too adult” for children, nor “too child-like” for adults. And once it draws you in, it keeps you there.
Now, as for the book itself.
<i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows</i>. Or, as it is retooled for international translation, <i>Harry Potter and the Relics of Death</i>. “Deathly…” “Death…” Nice happy title there, isn’t it? But, then again, this book is a far cry from the naive and inexperienced Harry boarding the train to school way back in Book 1. This isn’t the Harry who is surprised to find out that the strange things that have been happening to him is magic, and that he’s a wizard. No, this is a Harry who has seen and experienced far more than any 17-year-old should ever have to experience. And there’s another parallel to my forte: How many anime feature teenagers in situations that even hardened soldiers wouldn’t be able to handle?
Speaking of 17 years old, that’s what greets us in the beginning of the book: Harry’s upcoming 17th birthday. And, as we were told in the last book (or was it book 5? I can’t remember the exact scene), when Harry turns 17, and comes of-age, the spell protecting him while at the Dursley’s ends, and there is no longer anywhere that Harry can stay safe from Voldemort.
Throughout the course of the book, Rowling makes no bones about reminding us that this is war. The first death occurs in chapter 1 itself, and the first major character death in chapter 6. I won’t spoil who they are, but Rowling has said previously that there was one character, over the course of the series, who was supposed to die (and therefore not be present at the final climax of book 7), but got a reprieve, and that at least two characters whom the original plan did not include the deaths of did die, one of them dying in the place of the one who got the reprieve (but not at the same place in the series).
Instead of a regular review, though, like you’d be able to see on any HP website on the ‘net by now (we even have a semi-review here already), I want to look at smaller things, things that come not only from within the books, but outside sources as well.
I’ve always enjoyed reading the things on Rowling’s website and in interviews, and now that I’ve read the end of the series, so much of it makes more sense now. Things like Dean Thomas’ background (did you know that while the American version of Sorcerer’s Stone notes that he is black, while the British Philosopher’s Stone doesn’t?), which came into play in the 7th book, or things like alternate titles for the 7th book (for those who want to know, one of them was used as the title of chapter 32).
I was happy, reading the book, to see Hermione’s blue flame pop up again (has it even been seen since the first book?), the basilisk fangs from the second book, other little things that you thought were done with. Although, after Riddle’s diary ended up being more important after Book 2, who were we kidding?
Anyway, I loved the book, and can’t wait until I have time to read all of them in order. Yes, there were some things that I wished would happen differently (which I was expecting), and, of course, there’s the Epilogue, which is slightly awkward (but I still love it), but, overall, a very satisfying end to the series.