Random Developments

Word of advice: this post has spoilers after the fold (after the link to “read more”). I will discuss fine points of the plot and the ending. You have been warned.

So, I’ve finished reading the last Harry Potter book a few days ago, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I was honestly worried that it would not live up to the hype, but it does. Every last plot point is very well finished, all the mysteries are solved and everything fits together perfectly. Not only that, but details from all previous books (even the first two) are relevant to the story and to the conclusion; it seems that J. K. Rowling did know what she was going for from the beginning, and she got to the end in the best possible way. A co-worker of mine even joked that she should get a job with the producers of Lost, now.

There one minor annoyance, which I will discuss in the spoilers session below; nothing too serious, though. An advice to anyone who hasn’t started it yet: go re-read book 6 beforehand. I had read book 6 soon after it came out, and didn’t touch it since; that was a mistake, as I started reading book 7 with just a vague recollection of the previous events, and there was no “previously on Harry Potter” at the beginning… it took me a while to remember what, exactly, was a horcrux, or what relevance that locket had.

I did a long “stretch” to finish the book; I read the final 150 pages or so in a single sitting, and I was exhausted at the end. There is so much going on, so many details to keep track of and so many mysteries being solved that you end up physically tired at the end. Worth it, though, and I almost started reading it back from the start right away. I decided on starting from the beginning, though, and I’m going through the audio version of “Philosopher’s Stone” now (from the library; these audiobooks are unbelievably expensive); Stephen Fry’s narration is wonderful. And, by the time I finish the first 6, the audio version of book 7 should be available.

In short: great book. Spoilers to follow.

The annoyance: there was lots of talk about a major character dying in this book. After the death of Dumbledore in book 6, I was honestly expecting this to mean that one of the three main characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione) was going to die, which would indeed be shocking to most people. I didn’t really expect Harry to die, so I was betting on Ron or Hermione (then, again, I was expecting Hermione to die in book 5, when there were similar rumours — that time, it was Sirius who died).

And who dies? Well, quite a few characters, to be sure: Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Dobby, Fred, Tonks, Lupin, Snape, several others named and unnamed. Well, and Voldemort, of course. The ones most deserving of the adjective “major” are probably Snape, Voldemort and (with some good will) Fred; I’m still not quite sure which death was to be the “shocking” one, but I’m betting on Fred. I don’t know about you, but I was more shocked about Hedwig, because (a) it came very early in the book, (b) she was very cute and (c) I got a plush white owl with my book, pre-ordered from Borders. And I can’t imagine how they’ll keep the movie from getting an R rating in the US if they go around killing animals in cages.

At the end, as I said, this didn’t matter much; it was still a pretty good book. I liked the way the last chapter basically kills any chance of a sequel (by saying, in essence, “nothing much happened in the following 19 years”). Of course, a determined editor could, maybe, shoot for a prequel… say, “Voldemort, the early years”, covering the 11 years that precede James and Lily Potter’s deaths. I wouldn’t be surprised — and I would buy it.

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