Okay, how to even begin without spoilers?

Finally, with Book 7, J.K. Rowling brings her epic Harry Potter series to a close. For those who complained that Book 6 was all talk, and no action, fasten your seat-belts. Deathly Hallows is just the opposite. It’s fast-paced. Violent. Creepy. It’s good, but also sort of ultimately unsatisfying. I mean, it ended the only way that it could (great battle between good and evil, losses on both sides, some heart-wrenching), but I guess I wished for something else. And while I understand that to give it a sweet, bubble-gum ending would be to cheat the fans out of everything they’ve been waiting for, damn! the death count is high. Rowling admitted in advance to the deaths of two major characters, but there are more. Way more. Some of the deaths I predicted (the one that is handled at the Shell Cottage), others had to happen (and we all knew it). But the very first loss crushed me (hint: the character was in every single book, but never spoke a line–I was sad through the rest of the book over that one), some of the ones at the end just sucked, and I don’t think the ultimate gain was really all that rewarding.

On top of that, the end of the book gets strange. Really weird and sort of hard to understand. The action is rolling along, Harry is after the horcruxes, everyone is fighting an epic battle, and then bam! Harry looks in the Pensieve and sees something that just pisses you off. But he goes with it, only it doesn’t work out as planned, and the book picks up again. There’s just this strange lull in the middle of the climax and the final showdown is kind of a letdown, in my opinion.

But aside from all the fighting, the book wraps up some other loose ends. I have to give Rowling credit for paying attention and tying things together. We learn a lot about Dumbledore and his family, which is great, because he becomes a lot more human, but he also becomes less likeable, and I can’t decide which version I prefer. Aberforth Dumbledore finally gets introduced, even though we all knew he was the bartender at the Hog’s Head. Bill and Fleur get married. Neville gets his chance to shine; Luna proves she’s not so looney; Kreacher warms up to Harry; the Malfoys are the tiniest bit redeemed; and our heroes get the drop on Bellatrix three times! And at last, we finally learn the truth about Snape, and Harry’s reaction is even stronger than I would have expected. His real opinion about Severus is made clear in the epilogue, which is quirky in itself, and makes me certain that if Rowling ever does revisit Hogwarts, it won’t be Harry she’s writing about.

To sum it up? I love Harry Potter, and I devoured this book in 7 hours! It’s great to know how things happened, but I’m not sure how I feel about the resolution. I think I liked it, but maybe I need to read it again!

Note: did anyone else notice that the book is apparently set in 1997?