rblog

Author: J. K. Rowling
Amazon info

I have completed my first reading of this and have started reading it aloud to Matthew, so that we can finish the series. Which leads to a digression. I finished reading Book 6 in February and realized that we had a little over 5 months until Book 7 and needed something to fill the time. I figured we needed about 1000-1200 pages and chose the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. So, for months we ploughed through that and, reading our standard 10-20 minutes per night, found ourselves with 7 pages remaining in the final book of the Lord of the Rings on the afternoon of July 21st. We couldn't believe how well our timing worked out - as Amazon was supposed to deliver Book 7 that day. We read for 15 minutes and finished "The Return of the King" and, as our tradition dictates, we could then watch the movie version. It was quite a long film and when it was done, we went to the front door, opened it, and while we were watching the movie, Book 7 had arrived! I am pretty good at estimating, but this was probably the best estimation that I have ever done - getting 1107 pages read in precisely the right amount of time (we didn't cheat and have marathon reading sessions or anything like that).

Now, to book 7. I was pleased. There were lots of loose ends to wrap up and I thought it was well done. I found the writing to be less annoying than previous books as JKR skipped the incessantly repetitive descriptions of Snapes sneer or Uncle Vernon's purple face (those descriptions were still there, but not unending). Good tensions in the narrative - not only Snape good/Snape bad but also Horcrux vs. Hallows (and others). I had read a book from MuggleNet speculating on the plot of Book #7 and to JKR's credit, they were not right on all counts. They did get the major items right (SnapeGood, HarryHorcrux) but JKR definitely pulled some surprises on a pretty fanatic audience. I enjoyed it, although JKR is no Tolkien.

Recommended: To all those who read Book #6.