Rebecca's+Page

By J.K. Rowling
The Deathly Hallows is the 7th and last book of the legendary Harry Potter series. A blend of interesting events (marriage, death, bank-robbery, war, rebellion, deception, family history exploration etc.) wrapped under a label "wizarding war", Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is certainly one of the mind-blowing novels of our time.



History:
Released on the 21st of July, 2007 by Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), Scholastic (US), and Raincoast Books (Canada), the Deathly Hallows sold 15 million copies within the first 24 hours. This broke the record as fastest-selling-book ever, which was previously held by book 6 of the series, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The Deathly Hallows won several awards. This inluded being one of the most notable books for children among the 100 notable books from the New York Times, winning best book of 2007 by critic Malcolm Jones, followed by many best-book prizes.The Deathly Hallows also won the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book award. 



Plot:
The Deathly Hallows holds a very complex yet splendidly-creative story line that concludes the thrill of the series. Harry Potter and his friends (Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley) are determined to come to an end with the task left to them by their late Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. This task is to find and destroy the 7 Horcruxes of the evil Lord Voldemort, Horcruxes being objects or living things containing portions of the creator's soul. The purpose of these things is to continue the life and existence of the creator, should the owner's original body is destroyed. In the Harry Potter books 2 and 6 (Chamber of Secrets and the Half Blood Prince), two Horcruxes are destroyed, leaving five to be found in the seventh book. Harry, Hermione and Ron manage to kill two Horcrux before the great Battle of Hogwarts, which is a rebellious and bitter conflict between Lord Voldemort (and his followers) and Harry Potter (and Hogwarts students/Order of the Phoenix). During this war, Harry Potter and his friends destroy three Horcruxes, leaving a last mystery Horcrux to be killed, as well as Lord Voldemort's original body. In the middle of conflict, Harry unexpectedly comes to witness Lord Voldemort slaughtering Severus Snape, a hated Potions master whom Harry had been loathing for causing the death of Professor Dumbledore. Harry finds himself taking Snape's memories (which Snape had asked him to take at the moment of death) into the Headmaster's pensieve, and discovers that Snape had been Dumbledore's man from long ago, and that Harry he himself was the last horcrux to be destroyed. Harry decides to destroy himself by giving himself up to Voldemort, but finds that he comes back to life with the portion of Voldemort's soul destroyed only. Back to life once more, Harry and his friends kill and drive back Voldemort and his forces.



Memorable Scenes:
Some memorable scenes in the Deathly Hallows include the chapter when Harry finds himself in the afterlife. Although it was a brief part of the book, I found it interesting and unforgettable as it showed a dreamy imagination of the world after death. It was also a heart-warming reunion with the late Professor Dumbledore, and although Harry had to leave soon, readers were able to discover the author's analysis of some mysterious parts of the series. If I were to name a second scene, it would be where Voldemort was defeated (killed). This was probably the most triumphant part of the series, as throughout the many bitter problems that troubled Harry's road, Voldemort was the main enemy that had made Harry's life so tiring.



List of Characters (main):

 * Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe)
 * Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint)
 * Hermione Granger (Emma Watson)
 * Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes)
 * Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon; played in the first two films by Richard Harris)
 * Severus Snape (Alan Rickman)
 * Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton)

Areas That Need Improvement:
Truthfully, I found no flaw with the book. It was one of the most perfect, delightful pieces of literature I ever had the luck to lay hands on. Since it's compulsary (I guess) to list some disappointments, I would just say that it was sad to see (read) beloved characters die; for instance, Hedwig, Fred Weasley, Professor Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, etc. But really, that's what any author would need to do, because a good happy ending is a really happy one when sad things have happened before.



Bibliography:
[|www.bsnbc.msn.com/id/20001720/ns/dateline_nbc-harry_potter/t/harry-potter-final-chapter/] [|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows] [|harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows] [|www.moviemag.org/2011/07/film-review-harry-potter-and-the-deathly-hallows-part-ii/] [|www.trinikid.com/2011/06/jk-rowling-to-make-big-announcement.html&categorydescriptionlist=Blogs/Personal] Pages&pn=$$FIBYR10 [|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher's_Stone_(film]) [|en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows_%E2%80%93_Part_1] Rowling, J.K. (1997) Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Scholastic, New York