REVIEW: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter #7)
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: July, 2007
Genre: Young Adult
Rating: 10/10

Description: Begun a decade ago and encompassing six shelf-bending novels, the seventh and concluding volume of the international literary phenomenon that is the Harry Potter saga comes to a bombshell-packed - and oh so satisfying - conclusion in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, arguably the most wildly anticipated release in modern publishing history.

My Thoughts: My feelings while reading this book were very bittersweet. Even knowing how it would play out, I wanted to savor this last Harry Potter story. Knowing I would cry as some of the main characters are killed did not deter me. The same feeling of hopelessness I felt before came back, compassion for Harry to lose so many loved ones, anger on his behalf for the cruelties and evil committed against him for no good reason and lastly pride that in spite of it all, Harry continues to be a giver instead of a taker, a boy quickly becoming a man and putting the needs of others in front of his own. Even at the very end, knowing that one of them must die, he is willing to make that ultimate sacrifice.

Most of this story takes place away from Hogwarts, unfortunately. Though Rowling does an amazing job of drawing us into the world Harry is currently situated, I still found myself missing the days at Hogwarts, as I’m sure Harry did. Sadly, there was no Quidditch, no Peeves to contend with, no excursions to Hogsmeade on the weekends and no Halloween feast. After seven years, I had become so enamored of life at Hogwarts that not being able to be there bothered me a great deal. Instead, Harry is living in hiding with Ron and Hermione as public enemy #1. He is being hunted by Death Eaters constantly. After a very near miss when Harry is being moved from the Dursleys and again at Bill and Fleur’s wedding, Harry’s only choice is to hide while hunting the Horcruxes. Luckily for him and Ron, Hermione foresaw this eventuality and planned ahead with supplies. Unfortunately, none of them know where to find the Horcruxes or how to destroy them.

Their quest takes them to several places as they try to decipher the clues that Dumbledore left for them. Tempers are short as well. They are all frustrated and I felt frustrated for them. Ultimately, the war comes full circle as Harry and his friends return to Hogwarts for the final showdown with Voldemort and his followers. Harry learns many truths that were kept from him until now and I felt that finding them out now made his resolve stronger. I don’t think he could have or would have appreciated the significance of the Deathly Hallows in his first or second year.

So now I have finished the series, breaking my own rule of never re-reading a book. I am so happy I did. I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure with Harry, Ron and Hermione once again and I must say that this time around was even better. I am sad to see it end, however. This is a story that could have stretched into another 3 books, in my opinion. I will miss Harry, Ron and Hermione but I know they are just a short distance away from me anytime I want to visit them again.

New Additions To The TBR Pile In November

I may not want to admit it, at least not out loud, but I have lost the battle and possibly the war at reading more than I acquire. Every month I say I want to read more than I take in and that's just not happening. Never has...never will. Whatever...

Turned by Julie Kenner

Description: When Lily Carlyle died in an act of vengeance, she came back as an assassin for the light. But when she discovered her masters' true darkness, she decided to choose the right side for once...

Her own.

With her cover as a double agent inside the forces of evil blown, Lily has no choice but to go underground. She takes along a cadre of warriors: humans, angels, demons, and other trusted creatures. Their only hope is to stop the forces who are attempting to use the Ninth gate as a wedge that will unleash the fury of Hell.

But even as they attempt to stop the unholy rituals, they are confounded at every turn by their foes. With the fate of all life on earth in their hands, Lily must confront the hatred inside her own soul and uncover a traitor in her midst --- and closer to her heart than she ever could have imagined...

The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

Description: Every crime scene tells a story. Some keep you awake at night. Others haunt your dreams. The grisly display homicide cop Jane Rizzoli finds in Boston’s Chinatown will do both.

In the murky shadows of an alley lies a female’s severed hand. On the tenement rooftop above is the corpse belonging to that hand, a red-haired woman dressed all in black, her head nearly severed. Two strands of silver hair—not human—cling to her body. They are Rizzoli’s only clues, but they’re enough for her and medical examiner Maura Isles to make the startling discovery: that this violent death had a chilling prequel.

Nineteen years earlier, a horrifying murder-suicide in a Chinatown restaurant left five people dead. But one woman connected to that massacre is still alive: a mysterious martial arts master who knows a secret she dares not tell, a secret that lives and breathes in the shadows of Chinatown. A secret that may not even be human. Now she’s the target of someone, or something, deeply and relentlessly evil.

Cracking a crime resonating with bone-chilling echoes of an ancient Chinese legend, Rizzoli and Isles must outwit an unseen enemy with centuries of cunning—and a swift, avenging blade.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Description: Quentin Coldwater is brillant but miserable. He's a senior in high school, and a certifiable genius, but he's still secretly obsessed with a series of fantasy novels he read as a kid, about the adventures of five children in a magical land called Fillory. Compared to that, anything in his real life just seems gray and colorless.

Everything changes when Quentin finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the practice of modern sorcery. He also discovers all the other things people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. But something is still missing. Magic doesn't bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he though it would.

Then, after graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real.

Single In The City by Michele Gorman

Description: It's official. Hannah has left her friends and family in the US behind and is following her dream. To live in London.

Hannah's looking for:

1. Her dream guy. A prince or Hugh Grant would be nice. Or does she have to settle for her half-naked Australian housemate or an "English gentleman" with terrible hygiene habits?

2. Her dream job. Something fantastic in fashion. So how has she ended up being the mini-me for an evil party planner who doesn't even trust her to arrange the paper clips?

3. Her dream friends. But everyone in London seems to have known each other for years and Hannah doesn't know the rules of engagement. Who's she going to have fun with?

Dream life? Should Hannah just dream on? She wanted a big change but maybe it would have been simpler and cheaper just to get a new haircut. Was she mad to move 3,000 miles away from everyone she knows? Will she ever find love and her perfect life in England?

Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich

Description: Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum’s life is set to blow sky high when international murder hits dangerously close to home, in this dynamite novel by Janet Evanovich.

Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. And a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying.

Only one other person has seen the missing photo—Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can. With the help of an FBI sketch artist Stephanie re-creates the person in the photo. Unfortunately the first sketch turns out to look like Tom Cruise, and the second sketch like Ashton Kutcher. Until Stephanie can improve her descriptive skills, she’ll need to watch her back.

Over at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. The bonds bus serving as Vinnie’s temporary HQ goes up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls in love with their largest skip yet. Lifetime arch nemesis Joyce Barnhardt moves into Stephanie’s apartment. And everyone wants to know what happened in Hawaii?

Morelli, Trenton’s hottest cop, isn’t talking about Hawaii. Ranger, the man of mystery, isn’t talking about Hawaii. And all Stephanie is willing to say about her Hawaiian vacation is . . . It’s complicated.