My Short Review Of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows"

Okay, there's a short and a long review. The long review will be later.

My short review-

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" is the last book in J.R. Rowling's famous series of books about the English Wizarding world, and it's title character, Harry Potter. While the series, from how it was written, tried to end with a bang; it instead ended with a whimper. The book suffers from several Xanatos Roulettes, not the least of which is the other title "character" of the book-the famed Deathly Hollows.

The plotting suffered...there were hints that should have been dropped in earlier books, and earlier portions of the book, that weren't.

At the end, you feel glad that it ended-because the book ended in a major deus ex machine...one that would frustrate many readers. It felt like Rowling changed the rules of how magic worked...just so she could get the ending she wanted. Add to that a series compression of how it should have ended...which would have been a great "travelogue" sort of book.

Add to that the final annoyance, in my mind-the treatement of Snape. Everything about him, up until the last book, was a character that was trying to build up his own abilities so that when Volermort and Dumbledore finally slag each other, he's at the top of the heap. I kept looking at the character's end as being one like Kerr Avon, smiling as both sides realized that he's set them both up to kill each other off...

I think that I won't be able to come back to this book for a bit. How bad was it? I got it Saturday and pulled it from my bag for work (I have usually two hardcover and two or three paperback books for reading on public transit) tonight. This is the shortest time that I've ever had a book in my bag, not even making it through the week. I don't think I'll be reading it, any time soon again. It bothered me that much...