My long journey with the Harry Potter series has come to an end - I've finished the Deathly Hallows and I can't help the sense of accomplishment rising inside me. This series and I go a long way back - to the ancient times when I was a kid and tried my best to avoid it due to the hype of the time, to when I became a teen and started feeling curious about it, to then growing older and feeling mad I couldn't participate to conversations about it because I had not read it, to later, when I grew up even more and finally decided to get into it - even if I considered myself too old for it. I guess you could say it was a complicated, love-hate relationship that has come to a happy end.
The "Half-Blood Prince" was my favorite book in the series so far, and I think it's safe to say that I got into the "Deathly Hallows" with high expectations - maybe even unfairly high for the book. I expected a more spectacular conclusion to the series but ended up feeling underwhelmed. Not that it was bad, by any means! No, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either - overall, I think it was fine. I thought it was disappointing in the bits that were supposed to be the strongest and most impactful, yet unexpectedly good in parts that weren't or didn't seem as important. The first half of the book seemed better written and more spread out, while the second half seemed a bit more rushed and a bit abrupt. It felt like the ending didn't get the time or space it needed and lost some of its impact along the way.
***SPOILERS AHEAD***
The build-up was very interesting and I enjoyed following the heroes in their quest for the Horcruxes and the Deathly Hallows. Their journey was amazing and I really enjoyed seeing their clashes and reconciliations. I felt like I got to know them very deeply and saw their growth and evolution throughout the story. In this book I got a whole lot of new respect for Harry - I think that in this final book, he was at his best, I enjoyed his every scene.
Since I started the series I had anxiously been waiting to read the entirety of Snape's story. He had always been one of my favorite characters and his story always fascinated me, so I was looking forward to reading the chapters about him. He's not a nice or likable character and I'm not even sure if he's redeemable, but he still has been one of my favorites, because he's realistically deep and layered. He's a character that is walking a very thin line between the real and the fantastical element - he's a wizard, yet he feels as real as your next-door neighbor. And he's one of the characters in fiction that - if I were a writer - I wish I'd have thought and written about.
Anyway... While I love his story's plot twist and I absolutely loved how it was portrayed in the film, I didn't enjoy it as much in the book. Not because of the - admittedly - more sympathetic portrayal of his character in the movie, but because of the way that it was written. I expected that reading his memories about Lily would be heartbreaking and sad. Instead, it felt a bit awkward and even though it gives you more of an understanding of the characters, it didn't feel as emotional as I expected. I got a whole lot of new respect for Lily and she became more likable to me. Yet, the chapter lacked the feeling that the movie successfully created - maybe it was the montage, maybe it was the directing, or maybe it could just be me, but it was how I felt.
The scene of his death was absolutely heartbreaking and I liked it more in the book than I did in the movie. It was still very sad in the movie too and I liked how they changed his final words, but how he tried to avoid Voldemort, to run back and warn Harry, tell him the truth, reveal what he knew, even in the last moment, even if he knew his end was near... He was about to die and he still struggled to complete his mission and his promise to Dumbledore. Not so much to save Harry, which would have been noble if it were the case, but I think more out of respect and loyalty to Dumbledore, but, even more than that, I think that he did it all in a desperate attempt to try to redeem and forgive himself, to try and take back the bad he had done.
A scene that I did not expect to be emotional, but ended up getting to me, was the scene after Harry has "died" and speaks with Dumbledoor (or his ghost, I guess?). I really loved reading about his conversation with Harry and seeing Harry finally understand some things. But most of all, I loved reading about Grindelwald and his relationship with Dumbledore - that was indeed unexpectedly heartbreaking to me.
Okay, let's address the elephant in the room (or in the book, I guess)... I had heard so many people complain about the epilogue and I couldn't understand why. The epilogue in the movie was okay; it felt nice and it was subtle enough. But I confess, reading it in the book, it was seriously bad! I hated it! I'd rather not have read it at all. Still, if it had to be there, it should have been written differently, because it felt cringy and kind of out of place. The dialogues felt off, and the characters felt different (and not in a nice way, as if they grew up and matured, no, they felt out of place).
I preferred the way that Voldemort dies in the book compared to how he dies in the movie. The whole fighting scene between Voldemort and Harry was much better in the book than in the movie, even though ideally I'd like it to be longer and more developed. Voldemort died just like any other simple person, not any different than a simple muggle, than any other human without magical abilities. He died such a simple, humiliating, and unceremonious death. He failed to defeat his biggest fear and enemy; death itself. And all because of his ignorance and his arrogance... His dying like this not only makes a lot of sense but feels very right and proper, poetic even, as his whole story, his character arc goes full circle with his self-destruction. On the contrary, his death in the movie retains a sense of mystery and mythos around his whole existence.
Doby's death was really sad and it was interesting to see Harry's reaction to it. He was really brave and saved everyone, but he couldn't save himself in the end.
Fred's death was sad, but not nearly as heartbreaking as I had expected, or as it should be - at least for me... I understand that it all happened in the middle of the battle so we could not spend too much time with it at the moment, but still, I think it could be better. On the other hand, when we later see his family mourning him, that lived up to my expectations...
I was really mad at Lupin and Tonks, not only for their whole story when they were alive, but also for their death! The fact that they died and how they died made me mad!
I thought that Kriecher's character was quite interesting in this book and I really liked his character arc and how he "changed", but I wish that we'd seen a bit more of him afterward.
I loved seeing Ron and Hermione's relationship evolve and progress throughout the book. All of it; their ups and downs, their fights, and their reconnections, it all made sense and it was all nice and wholesome. In my opinion, these two were made for each other and there couldn't possibly be anyone else for either one of them. I don't understand the people that didn't like them together and support that they should have ended up with other people.
Do I even need to talk about Harry and Ginny? I think it's universally accepted that the films absolutely butchered their relationship dynamic and Ginny's character. I also think it's widely accepted that in the books Ginny is a lot more interesting and their relationship is more realistic, cute, and natural. Again, just like Ron and Hermione, to me, it's pretty obvious that they were made for each other and are supposed to end up with no one else but each other.
It was also heartbreaking to see Draco's decline and how he fell into his own trap. I felt sad for him and for Narcissa. I think that all of them realized that they had been on the wrong side and that, in the end, the only important thing was their family. Their redeeming quality was their love for each other and their willingness to fight for each other. Narcissa's final act of defiance against Voldemort (not revealing that Harry was alive) for the sole purpose of protecting her son, her daring to lie to Voldemort in his presence was impressive.
***END OF SPOILER SECTION***
Overall, it was an okay conclusion to the series and a nice read. It left me mostly satisfied and I had only a few complaints about it. While it was a nice book overall, it was by no means my favorite from the series. That's why I gave this book 4/5*. Now, having read all of the books in the series, if I had to put them in order of preference, I'd put them as follows:
- From most to least favorite:
- "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"
- "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"
- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
- "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
- "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"
- "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"
I'd love to hear your thoughts about the book and how much you liked/disliked it. Please, feel free to share your opinions and tell me how you'd rank the books/movies according to your own preference.
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