Monthly Archives: July 2007

It was with no small amount of trepidation that I opened the seventh, final installment of the Harry Potter series that I have so grown to love. I had certain hopes, of course. Some that, in the end, were fulfilled (though not necessarily in the manner I would have preferred), and some that were not.

All in all, the book was well worth the read, a good end to one of the greatest series ever created for younger readers, and a series that will live on and on for generations. These characters are the sort that become your friends, your comforters late at night when you need to retreat to a good book to get away from the stress of the day. Ron, Hermione, and Harry, as well as many of the others, will inevitably join Frodo, Sam, Westley, Buttercup, Bastian, Atreyu, Peter, Susan, Alice, and many, many others in the annals of unforgettable literary characters, but their author is not so technically skilled a writer as Tolkien or Lewis, and there are some problems that even a fan such as I can’t help but notice. (Spoilers following)

The deaths began early, but that was to be expected, with the war finally in full swing. However, despite the early action, the book was slow to get moving, with chapters upon chapters of exposition and internal monologues regarding Harry’s emotional conflicts. Instead of being in the midst of the war, fighting battles as young soldiers, the Golden Trio go wandering about the wizarding world alone, largely unsuccessful in their endeavors, the many sundry non-events that occur seemingly existing only so that Emo!Harry can get on the last nerves of his best friends.

By the end of it, the reader was just as frustrated with Harry as his friends, and perhaps that was the point, and from that moment the book begins to pick up steam again, the action propelling the characters on each side (and those playing both sides) to the inevitable, and expected, climax. Unfortunately, there were few surprises that Ms. Rowling had in store for us. Much of what happened, from the way Harry had to destroy Voldemort to the people who died, was so utterly predictable that it seemed rather like a horror movie where, the moment you see the pretty blonde walk onto the screen, you know she’ll be among the first to die, and as such, many of the deaths seemed rather shallow and meaningless.

The Messiah symbolism with regard to Harry has never been stronger than in this installment to the series, from his emotional struggles to his eventual death and resurrection. Meanwhile, Ginny, previously shown to be a very strong character, and who could easily have become a strong, fighting heroine befitting of her knight, is literally shuffled off and hidden away throughout the entirety of the story.

The ending itself reeked of deus ex machina, where the hero triumphs and survives, literally, due to a miraculous intervention, the bad guy dies, and his worst henchmen with him, and the double agent is redeemed posthumously. The epilogue itself was saccharine sweet and almost unrealistically perfect, a “happily ever after” ending to a fairy story.

Severus’s death (and the circumstances of his work), in particular, seemed lazy. It would have been nice to see a man who had a genuine, selfless change of heart and a strong morality instead of the petty creature he was drawn to be, and much, much more interesting to watch what would happen if he lived, how the Order and the Ministry would treat him, once his true allegiance was known, though that would have been, perhaps, harder to write and less likely to end in golden-hued perfection….in other words, more like real life.

However problematic, this was still a good story….the central characters are still wonderfully fleshed out and realistic portrayals of teenagers placed in an untenable situation. If you are a fan of the series, it is wonderfully bittersweet to return to these characters for the last time, and then to turn the last page. Of course, you can always go back and read the books again, but never again will Harry go on any new adventures. His story is ended, but I really do hate to say goodbye.