Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Until its tremendous climax with the death of Dumbledore, much of the sixth book in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, seemed to be treading water: compulsive page-turner though it is, it does not advance the story in proportion to its length. That could never be said of this seventh and concluding volume, which brings the whole astonishing phenomenon of Harry Potter to a splendid close. The book is not in any sense free-standing; it depends on the reader’s prior knowledge of the entire series, and especially that flawed sixth book. But the quality of this final episode is extraordinary even by Rowling’s highest earlier standards. The pace, dexterity and ingenious showmanship of Rowling’s management of twists, turns, surprises, flashbacks, and mini-climax after mini-climax in this spellbinding story merit a job on the Hogwarts staff as Professor of Magical Yarnspinning.

In this last fateful episode Harry is on his own (his faithful friends apart) with all protection seemingly gone. His seventeenth birthday means that the magical protection bestowed on his childhood by his mother now expires. Neither Privet Drive nor Hogwarts now affords him refuge, and one by one in this book other temporary havens will collapse. Harry is hunted as never before, but he is also the hunter, charged by the dying Dumbledore with a specific mission that will bring down the evil Voldemort. At its simplest, this is a classic escape story and a classic quest story.

But it is also a fully-fledged novel, drawing together not only endless narrative strands from earlier books, but also the dark truths and serious themes implicit in them. The bond between Harry and Voldemort is complex and mysterious, though readers can easily miss the adroitly casual moment where Rowling reveals that it has only one possible outcome. That bond and its fate are only partly in the realm of magic. The whole series, and especially this book, are about more important things than magic. They are about the love of power and the power of love. ‘It is a curious thing,’ the shade of Dumbledore tells Harry, ‘but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them.’ Not the least of this last book’s achievements is its depiction of Harry’s personal development, and the lonely turbulence of mind and feeling that steadily enhances his stature. This story is his critical, intensive stage of growing-up to final mastery, and the same can be said of the novel itself, and its place in the amazing sevenfold enterprise.