The Uber-Deathly Hallows, or Oh, Henri!

At the behest of Henri, the only faithful contributor/commenter to my blog, this post shall attempt to review the last book in the Harry Potter series, The Deathly Hallows. To avoid spoilers, stop reading this now.

Everyone dies. I told you there would be spoilers. If you didn't stop when I told you to, it's your own dang fault.

OK, so maybe not everyone dies, but a right lot of them do end up as the main course at a worm feast before this jeremiad is over. In Henri's opinion, this book doesn't live up to the others. I agree with her, quite literally, as more people are brutally butchered in this children's tale than all of the Saw movies put together. I had to read something a little more light hearted like Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump or The Wizard and the Hopping Pot just to stop the nightmares.

Was Rowling just pulling at our heart strings, or was there a real purpose to killing half the characters, including Harry's poor little owl? She did say she wanted to make sure no other authors could come after her and exploit the Harry Potter franchise by writing follow up books. In that sense, knocking off Hedwig seems like a pretty good idea. Harry can't very well fight off future dementors and evil wizard lords if he can't even receive the post. How's he to know the return address of his would-be attackers? I'm sorry I ever doubted your genius, J. (yes, I am on a first initial basis with Ms. Rowling).

This is supposed to be a children's book. With all the senseless killing and, as Henri put it, 'the profanity and more complex writing style' full of 'unpronounceable words', I think J. has made it apparent she is ready to move on to headier genres. My money is on a sci-fi western romance with a genteel cowboy roaming the open 'space' (SPACE: What is it and why is it important?) fighting intergalactic outlaws and looking for interstellar love. I'd book Fabio for the cover now before his schedule is filled with imitation dairy spread endorsements and Red Hat Club appearances.

I think Henri said it best. "The best things in life are things you don't need." And what could we need less than a sci-fi western romance written by a billionaire children's author featuring Fabio in a cowboy hat and little else on the cover? (Don't bother asking what he's wearing inside the covers.)

P.S. I actually enjoyed the book. It's simply much easier to write a critical review. I tried writing a glowing review but "It was really quite good" was all I managed to come up with.