The final and best in the Harry Potter series
594253
The final and best in the Harry Potter series......one of the final chapters "The Battle of Hogwarts" is one of the most exciting ever!!
2711414
The Deathly Hallows wrapped up all the questions that remained from the other 6 Potter books.  Very good story.  It is a shame that the series has ended.
561153
This was by far the best book in the series. I never thought I would read all of these Harry potter books and I finished the entire series in th  span of two months...a new record fir me. Highly recommended.
2680720
The seventh and last book on the Harry Potter Series is the Best. All the threads and stories get wrapped up with many unexpected twists. Its fun, scary and all that you could want.
354388
Loved this final book in the series of Harry Potter. Great story from JKR. All the books were good, but the first and last were best...
4534311
As usual J.K. Rowling is nothing short of pure brilliance. All the books usually start slow ending with a chaotic climatic nail biting ending leaving you with a cliff hanger.  All of the back story and references to other books are all necessary for the ending. I was basically shocked when someone important in this book dies. It is Harry's destiny to take down the dark lord, nobody else can do it. Be prepared to have your heart broken by the end of this book, but death can bring new life and new hope. This is basically the best series ever.
373630
When completing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (book six) so long ago, I remember questioning whether everything could possibly be wrapped up in one more volume.  I was trying to determine if I had officially heard there would be but seven volumes or whether that was just a widely held but unconfirmed belief based on the wizard academy's duration (seven years).  I felt the manner in which book six ended could have opened the door to several more volumes.  If there was to be one last volume, I could not fathom how JK Rowling would finish the Harry Potter saga in a tidy fashion.

Shows what I know.  Book seven, The Deathly Hallows, has been confirmed as the final book (at least for now) and it concluded in a most satisfactory fashion.  Questions were resolved.  Back stories were fleshed out and fully informed.  And of course the climactic showdown foreshadowed and expected from the beginning satisfactorily occurred and concluded.

Book seven was not perfect in my opinion, but it did end near perfectly.  I felt the pacing was somewhat uneven at times.  There seemed to be so much yet to resolve while whole new mysteries were heaped on additionally.  Yet by the end, each of these issues was resolved believably if not evenly.  As the series of books progressed I became increasingly frustrated with the characters.  Many of their actions just did not seem reasonable.  I found it increasingly hard to justify their behaviors with any rationale.  Perhaps this is an unfair complaint given that not everyone enjoys similar reasoning ability and some are more dominated by emotion than reason, etc.  But it was frustrating and seemed too contrived at times.  Book five (The Order of the Phoenix) seemed terribly unbelievable to me in this way (in addition to the adult disbelief and misbehavior) and I did not enjoy it much.  Book six was much better but was still tainted in a similar fashion.  Finally, book seven also suffered similarly, but it was so full of action and drama that it was not as glaring.  And more importantly, as I have already alluded to, its ending was so well done I could overlook the rest.  The final few chapters were simply magnificent.  I was sad, angry, anxious, etc.  The book really tapped into my emotions incredibly well.  JK Rowling demonstrated a marvelous adeptness at manipulating the situation for greatest emotional impact.

Wonderful knowledge is gained about both Snape and Dumbledore.  Both of their histories are brought to life.  Is one or the other good or bad?  We are not necessarily told what to think, but we are finally granted full disclosure.  We fully see what we need to see to form our own conclusions.  The veils are removed, and I am terribly thankful they were.  Many other authors have fallen far short of Rowling's achievement in satisfactorily concluding a lengthy series.  Often questions are unanswered or resolutions are too contrived.  This ending, however, seemed to flow naturally.

JK Rowling created a wonderful world, brimming with possibility and imagination.  The saga of Harry Potter was truly a gift of imagination.  Even if the books weren't perfect, the world was vividly and lovingly presented.  It was a great place to escape to for periods of time.  It is sad to see it go.  But if it must go, at least it goes in a very tidy and satisfying manner.
1074981
For me, this final book in the Harry Potter saga was a little slow getting started.  Somewhere around page 200 I was on the edge of my seat and couldn't wait to find out what happened next.  It stays like that right to the end where all the big questions and mysteries are solved and resolved.  I won't spoil it for you, but the ending is satisfying and logical even though some of Harry's friends don't make it to the end.  J.K. Rowling is a master story teller.  I'm going to have to read the whole story again just to see how everything ties together.  I thought this was the best of the seven books.  It's one of those books where you say "Wow!" when it's all over.
3781429
The 5th book in the Harry Potter series starts with a whimper and ends with a bang.  I give it 4 stars rather than 5 because there's a bit too much deus ex machina in the climax, and a monologue by Dumbledore at the end that, while cool and extremely intriguing, just comes out of left field.  On the plus side, this is the best character development in a book that I've seen in a LONG time.  Harry comes across as a perfect adolescent (at least to my recollection, and it wasn't that long ago), alternately angry, confused, and full of righteous indignation.  For the first time I felt connected with Harry, and I genuinely cared what happened to him.  While it seemed to me that Ron and Hermione got some short shrift in the development department, almost all of the other characters were extremely well fleshed out.  A lot of backstory is revealed and I left the book with a sense that I understand the characters.  Snape is no longer just a jerk; the Twins aren't just one trick joke ponies.  The list goes on and on.
This book is definitely darker than the previous volumes in the series.  The book does a wonderful job of bringing up tension for the climax that might disturb younger readers who don't realize everything will (probably) turn out right in the end.  One other warning though: while the book stands alone very well, I last read the previous volumes several years ago and had to keep consulting my girlfriend on the relevance of some events and characters (she having read them more recently).  The book is jam packed with reference to previous events, and it would be very useful if the reader were to read this after a careful rereading of the previous volumes.
This is definitely the best in the series so far, and if J.K. Rowling has to get sued, get married, contract writers block, and/or take another 3 years for the next volume, so be it.  I'll be there at 12:01 AM sometime in the next few years for the next volume.
4879714
I just finished reading the last volume of Harry Potter a few minutes ago, and I'm quite impressed with Rowling's accomplishment.  While the series has obviously been centered around Harry, Hermione and Ron, I think Rowling's best character she created and developed was Snape.  Without giving anything away, we find out in this volume the motivations behind Snape throughout the series.

Some people have mentioned a lull in the middle of the book, but I felt that Rowling did a fantastic job of putting the main characters at a point nearly as low as they could go, and did quite a service to show how people can pick themselves out of tough spots.

Rowling's greatest accomplishment is the resurgence of reading, both young and adult alike.  This series has obviously been massively popular, and it is a credit to the cast of engaging characters she has created.  Although it took me awhile to get hooked on this series, the last few books were quite rewarding.  Job well done, Ms. Rowling!
1164663
This is unquestionably the darkest of the series, and the longest, but as entrancing as its predecessors.

I appreciated the way Rowlings allowed the characters to mature, yet stay true to who they are. And taking the tale so completely beyond the confines of Hogwarts, yet returning for the finale, added another dimension not often visited in the previous books.

If there is any drawback here, it's that it's a very long read.

[..]
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2088502
Well, what more needs to be said about Harry Potter? I finally finished Deathly Hallows last night. I read much slower than most people... I need to savor two or three chapters at a time, take in the details and move on. I admit it took a while to finish because I, probably like many others, had a favorite character whose fate I longed to be OK. I won't spoil who it was or his or her fate, though. Everyone who has a favorite characters will speed through the pages wondering what their ultimate fate is. But regardless, Rowling wrapped it all up brilliantly... that is until the last epilogue. This is as close as I will get to a spoiler but, really, if you're reading all these reviews and haven't finished the book, you should really know better! :P The epilogue is "nineteen years later" and this is a serious error on Rowling's part, IMO. We see what happens to the characters after the main story has ended, and they are now full-fledged adults with kids of their own. Yes, I know characters grow up and this is a "coming of age" book, blah blah blah. But... it left me feeling cold. The book should have ended with the last chapter and nixed the epilogue and left the characters ultimate destinies to the imaginations of each reader. If Rowling does indeed write further adventures of the Potterverse some time in the future (and you KNOW the pressure will be on her from all sides to do just that!), the epilogue ties her down to the destinies of many of the major characters.
Having said that, though, I've never seen a series tied together so wonderfully or with as much satisfaction. She balances the line between euphoria and sadness, between innocence and "reality"... I thought the series was becoming too dark and too "real", reminding us that "war is hell, people die, real life isn't like a fairy tale with happy endings..." after suckering us in with childhood innocence and blissful escape and then proceeding to darken that world progressively. I sort of resented her a little bit for doing that to us over the course of the series even as I loved this world, like millions of others, immensly for its universal themes and characters you instantly care about. But she pulled it through and completed the arc of the whole story dang near perfectly... until that damn epilogue, that is! Nonetheless, FIVE STARS and BRAVO Ms. Rowling! You have done it...you have created a series for the ages. It will stand the test of time. I really believe it will.
2387556
This final book in the Harry Potter series is the best conclusion youngsters and adults can expect to read. The twist in the ending is least expected and it gives a very satisfying result. Hats off to J.K. Rowling. There are no loose ends and everything comes together perfectly in the end. I am one of the lucky ones who got to read all the books rather than just watch the Harry Potter movies which I feel don't do justice to the books as much. The epilogue was a little bit cheesey but hey, it is a book written mostly for children right!
2217846
The triumph of this last book in the Harry Potter series can possibly only match the triumph of J.K. Rowling herself, having spent close to 17 years of her life on this brilliant magical story and then having brought it to such grand resounding end. The complexity of the plot and the characters is unrivaled, as are the stakes, the final battle between good and evil, love and hate, life and death. I don't recognize myself uttering these big important words here, still imbued with the mood of the book, riding high the wave of its story. For that, please, pardon me, but I can't seem to be able to contain myself. If I could just sail through this book, without stopping to eat or sleep or pee or attend to any other necessary bodily functions, I would do it. If I could only pick up all those little nuances of description, all little minute details that played a major role upon closing the story, I would. Alas, my brain cannot phantom how it is possible to do so, not mentioning how it is possible to write something like this. The word "genius" sounds too small (yeah, I know, I'm gushing, can't help it!).

As to the story itself, it takes a big hike from the children's story of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It's a fully fledged coming of age tale, albeit transported into the world of witches and wizards and spells, yet it's closest to real life from all other books, with deaths and births and families torn apart and coming back together, the usual human mess that is painstakingly visible here, even magnified, paralleling our own history all too well, frighteningly well, I would say. It's all about Harry, Ron, and Hermione finding the horcruxes, about destroying parts of Voldemort's soul to finish him for good, and yet it isn't. It's about understanding life for what it is and being ready to give it up for those you love (blimey, I sound grand again!). It's littered with sacrifices, with revealed strengths of characters, and, on top of it all, with secrets. What shape is Snape's patronus and why? What does Kreacher know about his master that Harry doesn't? What can be hidden in a snitch? Who is looking at Harry from Sirius's broken mirror? Who was Dumbledore's sister? What are the deathly hallows? And what has really happened at the very beginning of the story, when Voldemort wasn't able to kill Harry Potter?

All I can say is that I want to start reading it all over again, opening the first book and picking up clues that I might have missed before. It will forever stay my absolutely favorite book series.
561972
The twists and turns in the plot line of this, the final book in the Harry Potter Series, are guaranteed to keep any reader turning pages till the very end.  An excelent read, as the complexity of the story grows with the characters, so that both young and old audiences will appreciate it!
3189109
The penultimate chapter of this masterfully written series blossoms with maturity as the reader walks with Harry through the test of fate and cleverness. Its excitement and mystery, pain and injustice builds into a direly suspenseful conclusion that is as captivating as it is heartbreaking. Few books have the power to extend empathy past its written pages such that you feel like really are there with Harry- feeling as he feels, fighting as he fought. The world which JK Rowling crafted is rich with life, lessons and love. No matter your age, your status or disposition, this story will continue to teach and show you deeper parts of yourself, your desires and fears. Through the many stages of my life, these books have always been a treasure and a beacon out of darkness. This story has become a part of me. Whether you are new to the wizarding world or longing to return, take comfort. Hogwarts will always be open for those who believe.
231947
After a long 10 years filled with excitement and adventure, fear and despair, and love and hate, the final piece to the Harry Potter puzzle leaves the reader thirsty for more. Although ending in a primarily enthusiastic tone, the Harry Potter fan won't have enough until it is really over.

Ending Rowling's epic journey of the boy wizard glorified triumph and valor, as well as beguiled failure for the education, knowledge, and experience most gained from it. She thrusts a fast paced final journey for the defeat of evil in her seventh installment, describing most gruesome of scenes in early chapters. Unlike previous books, Voldemort plays a more apparent character this time around, now fully understanding Potter's true potential. Deathly Hallows is a train without brakes; once it starts, it is full speed ahead with no way to stop.

But it isn't just the full fledged adventure the trio endure this time around, but the growth finally seen pulled together from all previous books. Once again, Rowling's brilliance is visible as we see characters and barely mentioned ideas pulled back into the picture to aid Potter in his defeat of darkness. The subtle stories drawn as one contribute to a greater appreciation of fine writing. In addition, Rowling continues to thrill on an emotional rise.

Some of Rowling's best [and it's fair to say worst] writing is held in her final story of the boy wizard. Harry's scene of facing death was most eloquently written. Deathly Hallows is a continuous roller coaster of feelings, and by the last chapters, the reader is as emotionally exhausted as emotionally thrilled.

Her symbol for hope and righteousness lived on. Rowling said it best; "All was well".