Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The book starts out well with Snape betraying Harry to "He Who Must Not Be Named". One of my favorite sentences is on the first page, "..his blunt features sliding in and out of sight as the branches of overhanging trees broke the moonlight." We learn that Dumbledore is not the perfect role model we had earlier thought...taking care of his brother and sister after his mother died prevented him from traveling with a chum and achieving the greatness he thought he should attain. So the plot thickens.

Alas Harry, Ron, and Hermione then spend a great deal of time dithering from place to place in the cold English countryside in a tent trying to escape Mr V and the Death Eaters while Harry tries to figure out what his mission is that Dumbledore has given him -- is it to get rid of the Horocruxes or to piece together the 3 Deathly Hallows to beat Mr V? At this point I am missing Hogwarts and evil happenings and the professors with their crazy classes.

Finally after a lot more dithering and visiting his parents' grave site and a few close encounters with evil, Harry and his chums  go to Hogwarts. They meet Dumbledore's brother. The big battle is staged with some excitement. And yes our hero is triumphant. Snape turns out not to be an ape- he loves Harry's mother, Lily. Harry is willing to face death for his friends. He has people who love him and Mr. V does not and therefore can never win without a "heart." How can it be otherwise with lots of youngsters reading it. No one really important dies - darn! (Unless you count Dumbledore from the last book and Snape in this book).

The epilogue is very unnecessary -- do we really need to know Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione marry and have kids and send them off to Hogwarts? Too neatly wrapped up for my tastes. But it is sad to have the 7 books at an end. Dave wrote a few sneaky things in this book. He fooled me at first. How dare he spoil my first edition??

Harry Potter books in print in the U.S. by title--

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - 29 million
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - 24 million
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - 20 million
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - 19 million
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - 17 million
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - 17 million
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 14 million

To date, over 350 million copies of the seven books in the Harry Potter series have been sold worldwide.