Harry Potter Full Circle

I was writing in a word document for a summary of the books I've read in 2007 (so far to date) and discovered something that truly shocked me: I had not entered in my most eagerly anticpated read into my blog! All I can think of is that I had wanted to give it the time it deserved to make it a really good post. Meanwhile, I wrote a review on LibraryThing for this book that was awarded a prize. This is the book,

#13 J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (July 2007)

And this is my review I had posted on LibraryThing. I warn you, it does spoil the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Please read with some caution.

A big fan of Harry Potter, I was eager and yet afraid to begin the final book of what for me has been a much-loved series. Throughout books one through six, we have read and watched as Harry grew up from an eleven-year-old child deemed The Boy Who Lived who learns he is a wizard, to what he becomes in book seven: a man with a heart of gold who will do everything in his power to save all he loves and then some. We have thought up as many theories as we possibly can, and have argued them thoroughly. At last, the final book has arrived, and there became seven.

With the start of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry is soon to become a wizard of age, and with that, is about to lose some powerful magic left to protect him by his mother, Lily, who sacrificed herself for her son nearly sixteen years before. Harry and the Dursley's part once more, and Harry is given a surprise as they go. The Order of the Phoenix arrives on scene with their plan that they hope will not fail as they attempt to take Harry away from Privet Drive once and for all. With not all that he left with, Harry as well as the Order make it to safety.

With the death of Albus Dumbledore new to the wizarding world from Harry's last adventure in Half-Blood Prince, people begin to speak about the Albus that they knew, whether he was the Albus they loved or that mystified them. Harry learns much more about the man who he looked up to, and, only months before he died, had told him that he was his man through and through. As it turns out, there is a heart-breaking story about Albus's past, and we learn all there is to know about Albus Dumbledore.

Unsurprisingly, Harry arrives at the Burrow in time, home of his family-at-heart, the Weasley's. Here, he celebrates his seventeenth birthday, and Harry accepts a gift from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley that would have been given to him by his parents were they still alive. Harry watches Ginny as he would very much like to be with her but knowingly cannot until Voldemort is defeated. From the previous Harry Potter book, we know their will be a wedding between Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. The wedding proceeds, an after-party is thrown, and danger begins to lurk nearer.

Throughout Deathly Hallows, Harry searches for the Horcruxes while amongst friends, and together, they destroy them. Destruction of one such Horcrux brings them closer together. Places from the past are revisited, one of which Harry can barely remember. Harry is frequently reminded of how many hold him dear, and how many are rooting for him and offer support. More characters from the past reappear. To some, Harry must say good-bye in heart-breaking moments when you will find yourself in tears. Many of them do all they can to help Harry, even two who are very much unexpected. Filled with surprises as well as chapters that had me crying all the way through them, this is a book I will reread for decades to come. J.K. Rowling has created a marvelous series, full of love, tears, and laughter. Without a doubt, the Muggle world will never forget the name Harry Potter. To the Boy Who Lived!