Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Despite being the intensely obsessed Harry Potter fan that I am (read these books more than any others in my collection, been in love with the series since I was eight, and am currently involved with a blossoming Quidditch team here at UCSD), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was a book I did not completely understand when I first read it.

Actually, I hated it more than any other book in the series.

Why?

I felt like the whole King's Cross chapter was a cop-out. Harry dies, meets Dumbledore, learns some things, and comes back to life. I never understood. Granted, I didn't remember what Horcruxes were until they happened to explain it about 400 pages in, but... still. I felt I would be left with a bit more... clarity after waiting 9 years from the books' beginning to end. However, I didn't get it. Somehow, through magic not Voldemort nor Dumbledore nor Harry could really explain or understand, Harry could simply choose to go back to his body and finish out his life. What?! That's not what happens with Avada Kedavra.

Avada Kedavra -> flash of green light -> death.

It left me wondering... In all of Voldemort's entire reign of power (which timeline-wise seems really iffy in the books, I've noticed), no one else ever died to save someone else? Was Harry the only one who could have deflected the killing curse when he was a baby because of the prophecy? If the prophecy had never been given, would there have ever been a Harry, even if someone had in fact died for someone else? Maybe because I've seen a lot of movies and television, my view of dying for someone else is a bit jaded--I thought it would be more common.

Anyway, I digress.

This time around, I read the sixth one and jumped right into the seventh one, both books consuming me for the last couple of weeks, and finally concluding today, a day in which I put aside all homework and life tasks and sat and read for hours. Beautiful. Brought me back to the good ol' days when these books would first come out. I understood it better this time. Knowing the final outcome, I was not as eager to read through it so quickly to get to the end. I stopped, I reread, I I went back to other chapters. It was good for me as I forget a story with each sentence that passes through my brain.

It's a wonderful book. A book that completes an entire series perfectly. I just think that Rowling is a genius. Whether or not she had ALL of this planned out in her head from the very beginning, it works. References to past books, past memories, seeing how one tiny detail from one book becomes important in the next... it all works. And it's bloody brilliant. I believe she's one person who truly deserves every bit of the fame and fortune she's earned. The whole tale in the thought of it's creation is genius. Compare it to another popular series, Twilight pales in comparison at how thought out and perfect the story comes together. I could go on...

I know this is a book I'm going to have to read again. I said as it as I put it away on my bookshelf tonight. This is a series I'm going to have to read again. And again. It's something to be studied, thoroughly and purely for enjoyment. I could spend a long time on this series. I know I could spend simply hours reading PotterWiki. I think one day, I'm going to have to.

I don't know what else to say. It is two in the morning and there's this insane beeping noise driving me up the way and I cannot find the source of it, but other than that, I really feel like I could talk about this book forever. I think anyone could. That's probably what keeps us going with this series. And I think that's one of the best recommendations I could give it.

(While writing this blog, I had to tell my computer to accept the words Dumbledore, Voldemort, and Horcruxes. This saddened me. But it's probably because I named my computer after a vampire.)