Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7) in CoS Forums

May 08, 2011 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

2020 Update:
I’d just like to say how much this has helped with my anxiety this past week by reading this with everything gone on at the moment. I hope that others can find comfort in it as well.

My favorite of the series tied with Prisoner of Azkaban and Half-Blood Prince. It took the second time reading this to realize how much I loved it. It will never cease to amaze me.

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Oct 02, 2010 Lucy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Re-read notes July '20 There is so much sadness in this book, even when Voldemort is defeated it is at a price. The 3 go camping didn't seem to be as long as I remembered, maybe that's just because of my memories of it, or maybe I approached it differently. I actually liked the epilogue more this time, it is a bit cheesy and too neat, but it also gives a lighter feeling to the end of the book, and it goes somewhere to explaining what happened after it was all over. I have mixed feelings about th Re-read notes July '20 There is so much sadness in this book, even when Voldemort is defeated it is at a price. The 3 go camping didn't seem to be as long as I remembered, maybe that's just because of my memories of it, or maybe I approached it differently. I actually liked the epilogue more this time, it is a bit cheesy and too neat, but it also gives a lighter feeling to the end of the book, and it goes somewhere to explaining what happened after it was all over. I have mixed feelings about things J.K has released post-DH. In some ways yes I wanted to know what happened to the characters, but maybe my imagination was better for that? You don't always want things tied in a pretty bow, you want to have your own thoughts and feelings to go into what life would have looked like post the battle of Hogwarts. I also sometimes think that J.K didn't always have everything planned out, that maybe the fans pushed for more, and maybe she wanted to use it to give the sort of answers fans wanted, rather than a truth about what she had imagined. I don't blame her for doing either, in some ways I even pity that she can't just leave it as it is.

I am a complete Harry nut but all the same it’s been a couple of years since I last read a Potter book, and I’ve only read Deathly Hallows a couple of times. Part of it is that there’s a sadness to this book other than the story itself. It’s the end of something which has been in my life for so long, and which has effected my life. If it wasn’t for Harry this blog would probably never exist because it’s Harry that started my internet life. I wanted to re-read Deathly Hallows after seeing the film, I felt I wanted to know it better- as well as I know the other books, and I wanted the satisfaction that doesn’t some from the film. I never really like the films, they just don’t match up to the books.

As far as the book itself is concerned it’s not my favourite (that jumps between Chamber of Secrets and Half-Blood Prince….can you see the common theme?) but it’s not my least favourite either. There is a lot of time when there isn’t actually that much happening. When they have no idea where to find a horcrux- or at least no probable idea. In fact finding out where the next horcrux is was pretty much good luck really, and not that much they actually worked out for themselves. That’s not to say it was boring. Maybe it’s my love for Harry that kept me reading, that I had to know how it ended? But I don’t think that would keep me reading a second and third time. I think that there was the right balance of realistic timing and events which kept the reader reading.

This book is by far the saddest for me. In a way it is sadder after the first reading because you anticipate what is coming. You’re sad before what makes you sad has actually happened. There was one bit which was less sad than the first time for me because I know what was about to happen, although it was still somewhat upsetting.This was when Harry thought he was going to die. I can remember being so shocked the first time and trying to convince myself that he couldn’t die , and I really thought he might. Deaths wise this book was so sad because there was a realism there. That war isn’t fair and the people who ‘shouldn’t’ die aren’t exempt. It’s not nice but it seems right, I think I would have disliked it if only people we didn’t care for died, because it would be like Rowling was trying to stop fans from being upset.

As for the controversial epilogue? I’m not a fan. It answered very little for me, and somehow made everything as the fans expected- not that that’s a problem, but it’s kind of too perfect, and it’s what I would have presumed for myself- I wanted to know other things. Some of it Rowling has revealed in interviews but I am still hoping for the rumoured encyclopaedia. I like to debate but it would be nice to know.

5/5 ...more

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Dec 02, 2010 Jacqui rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 24, 2010 Yoana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: women-authors, important-female-authors, queer, novels, children-and-ya, british, fantasy-speculative, tear-jerker, political, darling-copy

Well we were right about Snape and Lily!! Take THAT, haters! They may have successfully gotten the Snape/Lily topic banned pre-DH, and now all Snape-related stuff taken down from CoS, but they can't change what's in this book. THANK YOU, JKR ...more

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