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Loading... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) (edition 2009)by J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPre (Illustrator)
Work detailsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
It was completely worth the wait! (  ) alsatia | May 11, 2013 |  If they screw up this movie, heads are going to roll. ( ) Mirkwood | May 10, 2013 | Young adult, fantasy, magic, 2007 (  ) Whitney.Flocka.Flame | May 6, 2013 | Before I begin this review, I should first make it clear that I have been a huge fan of Harry Potter since my favorite librarian introduced me to Harry and the gang back when hardly anyone had heard of them. I was hooked from the first chapter, and happily spread the word of this incredible new author and her wonderful characters and story lines. A children's book, which grabbed the attention and held it fast? Marvelous! And so my Potter era began. Like hundreds of thousands of others I waited happily for each new installment, buying not only the book, but also the cd's, so that I could listen while I did other things. Every listen brought me closer to certain characters, and of course, made me despise others just as deeply. Feeling a little down, want something that you can listen to and enjoy without having to pay a whole lot of attention to the story line, as you have heard it all before? Pop in a Harry and go about your day. The year that Goblet came out, I was so ill I should have by rights been in hospital. Instead, I was sitting in the drive through lane of the coffee shop of my local bookstore, behind a van full of what must have been every single child in this woman's neighborhood, shouting, cheering, and screaming. Well hey; just think how quiet it would be on the return trip! Then comes Hallows. Like everyone else, I wait with baited breath, both excited and depressed. After all, Rowling has promised and sworn that she will never write another Potter, so by rights this should be her best work ever, right? Exciting, intense, everything that a Potter has ever delivered and more! The first chapters are pure Rowling, exciting and well written as usual. And then... nothing. Flat. Harry, Ron and Hermione, flicking around England in a tent, arguing, being depressed, and meeting no one, basically being as boring as humanly (wizardly?) possible. Even when they run across other wizards, they cower in the dark, refusing to lend aid, or gather intelligence. At this point, for anyone other than Rowling, I would have taken great pleasure in pulling the book apart and layering it with other stinkers into the compost pile I keep for my irises. But since it is Rowling, I switch chairs adjust my knickers, pour another cup of tea, and settle down to another bout of reading. It has to get better, right? There are moments. The trip to Godric's Hollow almost seems to be vintage Rowling. Then, the story goes flat again. Finally, in the last few pages, we get to `The Battle'. Finally! Maybe it will start moving again! We make it through the fight, losing some of our favorite characters. And suddenly, it's over. We get "50 people died". Who? What happened to Luna? Neville's grandmother? All the other wonderful characters we have come to know and love? Did they live? Die? Suffer loss of limb? And what happened after? Suddenly it is 14 years later and we are at the train station, seeing the next generation off on the train, with no idea of what has gone between times. What do the characters do for a living? What have their lives been like? We get a glimpse of the children, but who are the other children that are mentioned but then dropped? One name we think is probably that of Fleur and Bill's child, just because of the French name. So we get a quick couple of pages, the word "scar" as promised, and finis. It's over. Or is it? Apparently not. After years of hearing "I won't write another Potter, don't ask me!" the next morning we get Rowling on international television, with a simpering little smile, announcing that she is going to write another book, a sort of "encyclopedia" of what happened to everyone else. Hold the phone!!! So, she wrote this doorstop, this testament to bad high school level writing, as simply a stepping-stone to the new Potter she swore she would never write? So book seven was written to gather a few more hundreds of thousands of pounds to add to her already overflowing purse? The richest writer in the country, writing a total clunker of a book, just so she fills pages and can write another? I'm sorry, that is just disgusting. It took me this long before writing this review just to be able to get over my disappointment and anger. Believe me, I won't buy the next book, no matter how fond I was of the characters we `lost' and how much I would like to know what happened to them. I just made up my own outcome for them all! Yes, I know, millions more will buy it, and my puny loss will not matter one bit. But maybe, if we all start thinking about it, many more will realize what a rip-off this book actually was, and how our favorite author has actually treated us all with an incredible level of disrespect. How many parents scraped and scrimped and did without to buy these books, thrilled that their children were reading, that these books were a path to a better life for their children? They read, they study, they learn and they have a chance to make it out of the lives they grew up in. It isn't just disrespectful, it's insulting. I fully expect to be disagreed with by many. After all, we all have loved Harry and his family of characters. But just possibly some others will begin to think about what I have said, and Ms. Rowling will consider just how far she has come from her humble beginnings, when she too scraped and did without to provide. She had the opportunity to write an incredible book. Instead, she filled pages with pabulum, leaving huge gaps that she can fill in later in the other book she was `never going to write'. Sigh. After ten years of admiring you deeply, Ms. Rowling, my respect for you has been replaced by contempt. How sad. (  ) Leiahc | May 4, 2013 | Before I begin this review, I should first make it clear that I have been a huge fan of Harry Potter since my favorite librarian introduced me to Harry and the gang back when hardly anyone had heard of them. I was hooked from the first chapter, and happily spread the word of this incredible new author and her wonderful characters and story lines. A children's book, which grabbed the attention and held it fast? Marvelous! And so my Potter era began. Like hundreds of thousands of others I waited happily for each new installment, buying not only the book, but also the cd's, so that I could listen while I did other things. Every listen brought me closer to certain characters, and of course, made me despise others just as deeply. Feeling a little down, want something that you can listen to and enjoy without having to pay a whole lot of attention to the story line, as you have heard it all before? Pop in a Harry and go about your day. The year that Goblet came out, I was so ill I should have by rights been in hospital. Instead, I was sitting in the drive through lane of the coffee shop of my local bookstore, behind a van full of what must have been every single child in this woman's neighborhood, shouting, cheering, and screaming. Well hey; just think how quiet it would be on the return trip! Then comes Hallows. Like everyone else, I wait with baited breath, both excited and depressed. After all, Rowling has promised and sworn that she will never write another Potter, so by rights this should be her best work ever, right? Exciting, intense, everything that a Potter has ever delivered and more! The first chapters are pure Rowling, exciting and well written as usual. And then... nothing. Flat. Harry, Ron and Hermione, flicking around England in a tent, arguing, being depressed, and meeting no one, basically being as boring as humanly (wizardly?) possible. Even when they run across other wizards, they cower in the dark, refusing to lend aid, or gather intelligence. At this point, for anyone other than Rowling, I would have taken great pleasure in pulling the book apart and layering it with other stinkers into the compost pile I keep for my irises. But since it is Rowling, I switch chairs adjust my knickers, pour another cup of tea, and settle down to another bout of reading. It has to get better, right? There are moments. The trip to Godric's Hollow almost seems to be vintage Rowling. Then, the story goes flat again. Finally, in the last few pages, we get to `The Battle'. Finally! Maybe it will start moving again! We make it through the fight, losing some of our favorite characters. And suddenly, it's over. We get "50 people died". Who? What happened to Luna? Neville's grandmother? All the other wonderful characters we have come to know and love? Did they live? Die? Suffer loss of limb? And what happened after? Suddenly it is 14 years later and we are at the train station, seeing the next generation off on the train, with no idea of what has gone between times. What do the characters do for a living? What have their lives been like? We get a glimpse of the children, but who are the other children that are mentioned but then dropped? One name we think is probably that of Fleur and Bill's child, just because of the French name. So we get a quick couple of pages, the word "scar" as promised, and finis. It's over. Or is it? Apparently not. After years of hearing "I won't write another Potter, don't ask me!" the next morning we get Rowling on international television, with a simpering little smile, announcing that she is going to write another book, a sort of "encyclopedia" of what happened to everyone else. Hold the phone!!! So, she wrote this doorstop, this testament to bad high school level writing, as simply a stepping-stone to the new Potter she swore she would never write? So book seven was written to gather a few more hundreds of thousands of pounds to add to her already overflowing purse? The richest writer in the country, writing a total clunker of a book, just so she fills pages and can write another? I'm sorry, that is just disgusting. It took me this long before writing this review just to be able to get over my disappointment and anger. Believe me, I won't buy the next book, no matter how fond I was of the characters we `lost' and how much I would like to know what happened to them. I just made up my own outcome for them all! Yes, I know, millions more will buy it, and my puny loss will not matter one bit. But maybe, if we all start thinking about it, many more will realize what a rip-off this book actually was, and how our favorite author has actually treated us all with an incredible level of disrespect. How many parents scraped and scrimped and did without to buy these books, thrilled that their children were reading, that these books were a path to a better life for their children? They read, they study, they learn and they have a chance to make it out of the lives they grew up in. It isn't just disrespectful, it's insulting. I fully expect to be disagreed with by many. After all, we all have loved Harry and his family of characters. But just possibly some others will begin to think about what I have said, and Ms. Rowling will consider just how far she has come from her humble beginnings, when she too scraped and did without to provide. She had the opportunity to write an incredible book. Instead, she filled pages with pabulum, leaving huge gaps that she can fill in later in the other book she was `never going to write'. Sigh. After ten years of admiring you deeply, Ms. Rowling, my respect for you has been replaced by contempt. How sad. ( ) Leiahc | May 4, 2013 |
 How can Voldemort and his wicked forces have such power and yet be unable to destroy a mild-mannered and rather disorganized schoolboy? In a short story this discrepancy might be handled and also swiftly resolved in favor of one outcome or another, but over the course of seven full-length books the mystery, at least for this reader, loses its ability to compel, and in this culminating episode the enterprise actually becomes tedious. Is there really no Death Eater or dementor who is able to grasp the simple advantage of surprise?  In the end, no one plays Quidditch. That's about the only spoiler I'm willing to reveal about the final chapter in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Book 7 and the close of J.K. Rowling's wonderfully entertaining series. If the review seems a little vague as a result, well, tough. I'm not ruining this for fans who have waited 10 years to learn the outcome of the final showdown between the Boy Who Lived and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and wanted to savor the last time they would ever pick up a new "Harry Potter" book.  Nowadays, the story of the boy and his author is as familiar as the Nativity. Harry Potter, the unloved orphan with the weird-ass scar, turns out to be not just a wizard but—for reasons he can barely recall—one of the most famous wizards in the whole wide wizarding world. And thanks to hundreds of millions of books bought, read and loved, J.K. Rowling, once dowdy and grouchy and broke, is now as prettily patrician as a Redgrave sister, and richer than the royals.  The release of the seventh and final instalment of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series did not go without controversy, with a much-publicised embargo breach and many internet spoilers. Still, the fate of Harry Potter was not truly decided in the minds of fans until 9.01am on Saturday, when the book officially went on sale. With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling has created a lovely conclusion to her astonishing seven-book series. Ironically, amid all the hysteria and hoopla, the rumors, the leaks, the overheated theories, Hallows provides a calm ending to a global sensation that has made millions of children and adults happy. Is contained inHas the adaptationInspiredThe Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling Mugglenet.Com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7 by Ben Schoen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1: original motion picture soundtrack [sound recording] by Alexandre Desplat Has as a reference guide/companion
References to this work on external resources.
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| Book description |
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The heart of Book 7 is a hero's mission--not just in Harry's quest for the Horcruxes, but in his journey from boy to man--and Harry faces more danger than that found in all six books combined, from the direct threat of the Death Eaters and you-know-who, to the subtle perils of losing faith in himself. Attentive readers would do well to remember Dumbledore's warning about making the choice between "what is right and what is easy," and know that Rowling applies the same difficult principle to the conclusion of her series. While fans will find the answers to hotly speculated questions about Dumbledore, Snape, and you-know-who, it is a testament to Rowling's skill as a storyteller that even the most astute and careful reader will be taken by surprise.
A spectacular finish to a phenomenal series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a bittersweet read for fans. The journey is hard, filled with events both tragic and triumphant, the battlefield littered with the bodies of the dearest and despised, but the final chapter is as brilliant and blinding as a phoenix's flame, and fans and skeptics alike will emerge from the confines of the story with full but heavy hearts, giddy and grateful for the experience. --Daphne Durham
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Begin at the Beginning
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Hardcover
Paperback Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Hardcover
Paperback Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Hardcover
Paperback Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hardcover
Paperback Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hardcover
Paperback Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Hardcover
Paperback
Why We Love Harry
Favorite Moments from the Series
There are plenty of reasons to love Rowling's wildly popular series--no doubt you have several dozen of your own. Our list features favorite moments, characters, and artifacts from the first five books. Keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive (what we love about Harry could fill ten books!) and does not include any of the spectacular revelatory moments that would spoil the books for those (few) who have not read them. Enjoy.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
* Harry's first trip to the zoo with the Dursleys, when a boa constrictor winks at him.
* When the Dursleys' house is suddenly besieged by letters for Harry from Hogwarts. Readers learn how much the Dursleys have been keeping from Harry. Rowling does a wonderful job in displaying the lengths to which Uncle Vernon will go to deny that magic exists.
* Harry's first visit to Diagon Alley with Hagrid. Full of curiosities and rich with magic and marvel, Harry's first trip includes a trip to Gringotts and Ollivanders, where Harry gets his wand (holly and phoenix feather) and discovers yet another connection to He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named. This moment is the reader's first full introduction to Rowling's world of witchcraft and wizards.
* Harry's experience with the Sorting Hat.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
* The de-gnoming of the Weasleys' garden. Harry discovers that even wizards have chores--gnomes must be grabbed (ignoring angry protests "Gerroff me! Gerroff me!"), swung about (to make them too dizzy to come back), and tossed out of the garden--this delightful scene highlights Rowling's clever and witty genius.
* Harry's first experience with a Howler, sent to Ron by his mother.
* The Dueling Club battle between Harry and Malfoy. Gilderoy Lockhart starts the Dueling Club to help students practice spells on each other, but he is not prepared for the intensity of the animosity between Harry and Draco. Since they are still young, their minibattle is innocent enough, including tickling and dancing charms.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
* Ron's attempt to use a telephone to call Harry at the Dursleys'.
* Harry's first encounter with a Dementor on the train (and just about any other encounter with Dementors). Harry's brush with the Dementors is terrifying and prepares Potter fans for a darker, scarier book.
* Harry, Ron, and Hermione's behavior in Professor Trelawney's Divination class. Some of the best moments in Rowling's books occur when she reminds us that the wizards-in-training at Hogwarts are, after all, just children. Clearly, even at a school of witchcraft and wizardry, classes can be boring and seem pointless to children.
* The Boggart lesson in Professor Lupin's classroom.
* Harry, Ron, and Hermione's knock-down confrontation with Snape.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
* Hermione's disgust at the reception for the veela (Bulgarian National Team Mascots) at the Quidditch World Cup. Rowling's fourth book addresses issues about growing up--the dynamic between the boys and girls at Hogwarts starts to change. Nowhere is this more plain than the hilarious scene in which magical cheerleaders nearly convince Harry and Ron to jump from the stands to impress them.
* Viktor Krum's crush on Hermione--and Ron's objection to it.
* Malfoy's "Potter Stinks" badge.
* Hermione's creation of S.P.E.W., the intolerant bigotry of the Death Eaters, and the danger of the Triwizard Tournament. Add in the changing dynamics between girls and boys at Hogwarts, and suddenly Rowling's fourth book has a weight and seriousness not as present in early books in the series. Candy and tickle spells are left behind as the students tackle darker, more serious issues and take on larger responsibilities, including the knowledge of illegal curses.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
* Harry's outburst to his friends at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. A combination of frustration over being kept in the dark and fear that he will be expelled fuels much of Harry's anger, and it all comes out at once, directly aimed at Ron and Hermione. Rowling perfectly portrays Harry's frustration at being too old to shirk responsibility, but too young to be accepted as part of the fight that he knows is coming.
* Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge. Rowling shows her darker side, leading readers to believe that Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven for young wizards. Dolores represents a bureaucratic tyrant capable of real evil, and Harry is forced to endure their private battle of wills alone.
* Harry and Cho's painfully awkward interactions. Rowling clearly remembers what it was like to be a teenager.
* Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape.
* Dumbledore's confession to Harry.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
* The introduction of the Horcrux.
* Molly Weasley asking Arthur Weasley about his "dearest ambition." Rowling has always been great at revealing little intriguing bits about her characters at a time, and Arthur’s answer "to find out how airplanes stay up" reminds us about his obsession with Muggles.
* Harry's private lessons with Dumbledore, and more time spent with the fascinating and dangerous pensieve, arguably one of Rowling’s most ingenious inventions.
* Fred and George Weasley’s Joke Shop, and the slogan: "Why Are You Worrying About You-Know-Who? You Should Be Worrying About U-NO-POO--the Constipation Sensation That's Gripping the Nation!"
* Luna's Quidditch commentary. Rowling created scores of Luna Lovegood fans with hilarious and bizarre commentary from the most unlikely Quidditch commentator.
* The effects of Felix Felicis.
Magic, Mystery, and Mayhem: A Conversation with J.K. Rowling
"I am an extraordinarily lucky person, doing what I love best in the world. I’m sure that I will always be a writer. It was wonderful enough just to be published. The greatest reward is the enthusiasm of the readers." --J.K. Rowling
Find out more about Harry's creator in our exclusive interview with J.K. Rowling.
Did You Know? 
The Little White Horse was J.K. Rowling's favorite book as a child. 
Jane Austen is Rowling's favorite author. 
Roddy Doyle is Rowling's favorite living writer.
A Few Words from Mary GrandPré 
"When I illustrate a cover or a book, I draw upon what the author tells me; that's how I see my responsibility as an illustrator. J.K. Rowling is very descriptive in her writing--she gives an illustrator a lot to work with. Each story is packed full of rich visual descriptions of the atmosphere, the mood, the setting, and all the different creatures and people. She makes it easy for me. The images just develop as I sketch and retrace until it feels right and matches her vision." Check out more Harry Potter art from illustrator Mary GrandPré.
(retrieved from Amazon Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:20:48 -0500)
"The final adventure in J.K. Rowling's phenomenal, best-selling Harry Potter book series"--Provided by publisher.
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