Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Fiction Series
For ages 12 and up
Scholastic, 2007 ISBN: 978-0545010221
In just a few days Harry Potter is going to be seventeen years old. For all wizards this is an important birthday for when they turn seventeen they are considered to be adults and they are free to make decisions about their own future. For Harry it means that the protective charm that has kept him safe in his aunt Petunia’s house will break. It means that he will no longer have a safe haven from Voldemort and his Death Eaters. It has therefore been decided that Harry will be taken away from aunt’s house and hidden by the Order of the Phoenix.
Unfortunately Harry and his friends are betrayed. Just as they are leaving Privet Drive, they are attacked by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Harry, Ron and Hermione manage to escape in one piece, just about, but Harry decides soon after, that the best thing to do is to get away and to begin the job that Dumbledore left him to do. Before Dumbledore was killed, he told Harry that it was vital to destroy all the vessels, the Horcruxes, in which Voldemort stored parts of his soul. Once this was done then Voldemort could be killed. So far two Horcruxes have been destroyed. Four more remain and Harry has no idea what they are or where they have been hidden. Still, he is determined to do his best to find them and to end Voldemort’s reign of terror, and Ron and Hermione are equally determined to go with him no matter what happens.
With Death Eaters and Voldemort looking for them, Harry, Ron and Hermione criss cross the country looking for clues, trying to figure out where the young Voldemort might have hidden parts of himself. At the same time they have to stay one step ahead of their enemies. All the while they hear of the terrible things that Voldemort is doing. They hear of the fall of the Ministry and how muggles are being murdered in increasing numbers.
Then Harry hears the story of the Deathly Hollows, of the stone that brings the dead back to life, of the cloak of invisibility, and of the wand of unsurpassed power. Could the story be true? And if so how is it tied to the story of Albus Dumbledore, the man Harry thought he knew but who appears to have had a secret life which Harry knew nothing about? Are the Deathly Hollows somehow tied to the story of Voldemort and his hidden Horcruxes?
In this final installment in the highly acclaimed and unforgettable Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling takes her readers on a sometimes hair raising ride to bring them to the stunning conclusion of her fabulous story. Readers who have been speculating for months about what will happen in this final book will be left gasping, and those who have developed a fondness for certain characters will have to get out their hankies for there are casualties in the battles that take place between the good wizards and Voldemort’s forces. Without a doubt this book is as gripping and as superbly crafted as the previous Rowling creations, and readers will become engrossed after reading the first couple of pages. Thank you, J.K Rowling, for giving us ten splendid Harry filled years.
