Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Review

Note: As this book is still only a week old and time of review, I'm trying my best to make this a spoiler free review. 

It's the end of July, and the Harry Potter phenomenon has come to its official close.  With the publication of the seventh and final Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, author J.K. Rowling has penned an enjoyable, fast read that stays true to the story arc set forth in the first six books, while retaining an air of unpredictability.  Except for the ending that is.

Our seventh book finds Harry, Ron and Hermione on a quest to find the remaining horcruxes that were first discussed and expounded upon in the previous installment.  Meanwhile, our old friend Voldemort is gaining power and is close to regaining the absolute power he had before he ran into a baby protected by his mother's love.  Can the 3 young adults find the rest of the horcruxes before it's too late?  Is there more to Dumbledore than we ever really imagined?  Which side is Snape on, anyways?  And just WHO WILL die at the end?

All of those questions are answered in the book.  I will say that I found the first 150 pages of this book to be extremely slow going in comparison to the previous six books.  After that, things get much more interesting and frantically paced, but the first 150 pages are, at times anyway, arduous to get through.

I also found the ending to be all too predictable and disappointing.  For a book that had it's share of surprises, the ending felt written for the big screen, and not as the true final conclusion to this series that so many people have spent years invested in.

Ultimately, most Potter fans will find the Deathly Hallows to be a fitting conclusion to this seven book arc.  Despite it's obvious influences (and not so obvious, i.e. Alexander's Book of Three series, something I highly recommend to anyone who has never read it), Potter does have a solid message that manages to stay free of being merely "cliche."  Sure, I might've liked a better ending, but that is really my only quibble.