Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Spoiler-Free Review (Novel)

For me the Harry Potter series peaked with the forth book, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire". While I found the two books following very readable, I felt they didn't amount to much. Part of the problem is that, after the Goblet of Fire, the Harry Potter series became more concerned with backstories, really stalling the series.

The backstories are compelling. It's presentation through letters, conversations, biographies, newspaper articles and interviews, not so much. For example, the story of Tom Ridell in "The Half-Blood Prince" is great, but it's impact undermined and muted due to it's presentation through flashbacks in the pensieve.

This problem continues in Book 7 -"The Deathly Hallows. The backstory, of Lilly and James Potter shown through letters and Voldemorts memories, of Dumbledore through Rita Skeeters biography and Snapes through the pensieve, mutes their impact.

Mind you Rowling may have deliberately created distance in the backstories. Presented with maximum impact, this book (and others in the series) could well have become unsuitable for kids.

Snape is the most undersold character in the book. The Deathly Hallows should have been about Snape and his relationship with Dumbledore and the Potters. He deserved more than just briefly appearing in the beginning of the film and in the end, where his story is told through the bloody pensieve, right in the middle of a climactic battle. He deserves his own book and movie

This book finally fully reveals Dumbledore, following him through his childhood, to his youth, adulthood and death. Nothing is as it has seemed in other books. His death in the "Half-Blood Prince" never quite made sense but in this book, we finally find out what really happened.

Kreacher, the house-elf that betrayed Sirius Black comes back and his part in the whole saga with Sirius's brother, is also very compelling.

And thats the great strength of the "The Deathly Hallows". The pay-offs of all the major story and emotional arcs have been worth the ten year wait.

A strong villan in a series like this is essential. Voldemort is just that. But it is the manner in which all the characters like Snape, Kreacher, the Malfoys react to him, that make the Harry Potter series.

The book continues its theme of Holocoust-like persecution of Muggles. But we also find that Muggles have also behaved badly.

Books 7 -"The Deathly Hallows"- is a much better book than Book 6 -"The Half-Blood Prince" and Book 5-"The Order of the Phoenix" and ends the whole series in a way that most readers will find satisfying- I read the epilogue several times. Set in the future, it ties up the fate of all remaining characters (those that don't die in the book) in a way that ensures nobody will try to resurrect the series in the future.