Well, this is late in coming, life has been busy, but I figured that I would catch up with this topic.
My wife picked up the last Harry Potter book at its midnight release, read it in just over 25 hours, and then handed it to me.
To be honest, this was the first book that I “read”, all of the previous texts being enjoyed through the benefits of books on CD. I must admit, that I get really invested in characters when they are displayed in this much detail. There are a few anime series that were much the same way with me, with characters so well developed that I felt rather compelled to see their stories through to the end. So, after listening to the story of Harry for the first six years of school, this was one of those endings that I really had to see through myself.
I guess I should warn you that their will be spoilers below, but that’s mostly directed as the four people in the contiguous US who haven’t read this series. ;)
Of course I liked the book, loved it would be more accurate. At 17, Harry was going through the types of fights that most real world adults would run from. Rowling’s story telling was masterful, and while she didn’t tie up EVERY loose end, she did end the story very well.
Some thoughts:
I spent the last six books hating Snape with the type of dedication I’m used to only investing into my church life. The completion of his story, and the revelation of what his true motives were, was a masterwork piece of literary craftsmanship. Well done, Rowling, Well done indeed.
I guess I’m as much of a hopeless romantic as the rest of the readers, but I just have to admit that finding out that Harry and Ginny did tie the knot (as well as another well know couple ;) ) was a rather rewarding ending. Frankly, I have never been overly thrilled with the classic “parting shot” ending that has the hero and the love interest standing together over the scene of the final fight… yada, yada yada… Being a married man means that I know how much commitment and long term dedication it takes to hold up your end of a family with children. And it’s a far cry from the basic, uncomplicated emotions that teenagers experience. The books epilogue told me as much about the characters in what it didn’t say as with what it did.
Again, well done.
Body count!
Wow, I was starting to think I had accidentally picked up Shakespeare for a minute. We really racked up a long list of fallen heroes and friends. It takes guts to kill developed characters, and Rowling was dropping them like flies at some points. Normally after a high body count situation, I am tempted to just write it off as pointless of useless, but here, she did an excellent job showing us what it meant to fight, and what the cost of fighting was.
