Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows *Contains Spoilers*

My initial response upon completing this novel was a sense of relief.  Having devoted several years to the storyline, like many others I found myself sighing as I closed the cover and sat back to absorb what I had read. 

I concluded after a couple hours that this book is no longer for children, as the series originally started out, though the writing itself has not progressed into a maturity adult readers would find satisfying.  Most kids under the age of fourteen seem to have a hard time digesting the storyline after the third book, and unless they read with their parents or supplimented information from the films, the story stops there for them and feels impossible to comprehend.  Take into account that the films leave an extraordinary amount of information to the imagination, winking only occasionally to readers with a subtle flare here or there.   

The level of violence began to increase after the return of Lord Voldemort at the end of book four, each subsequent book bringing more violence, murder, hardship and torment.  Yes, violence and murder are everywhere around us, children must learn to deal with the hardship of losing a loved one, as Harry himself did in book five, Order of the Phoenix, but how many of the children who read these books can fully relate to the idea of a beloved parental figure dying beside them in battle?  A concept that feels wholly unrelatable to many of the books young readers, Harry's anger and bitterness explode into a new sense of maturity that will carry Harry through the rest of the series.

By the time book seven hit the shelves, Harry had said goodbye to a number of friends and family members:  including his beloved parents, Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, and then to further complicate matters, Harry's mentor and master, Albus Dumbledore.   Book seven begins in an estranged sense of confusion and bewilderment about where to go next, what will become of Harry, and what matters of importance his deceased mentor left unspoken before his untimely death.  Already he has lost so much, but then immediately the book slices away the first bit of comfort allowed to Harry, his beloved Owl, Hedwig.  This death seems to cut away the last bit of youth from Harry, but it is only the first of many to follow.  Shortly after Hedwig's murder in flight to the Burrow, MadEye Moody, who inspired Harry early on to pursue a career as an Auror, was struck down by death eaters.  At the same time, George Weasley loses an ear, Harry gets a tooth knocked out and nearly loses his longtime friend Hagrid.  The blood and angst in this scene is enough to put anyone on the edge of their seat, now imagine if that person is a child.  Following after that are a countless number of violent deaths, some vague characters barely exposed, others well-loved and loyal friends that laid their life down on the line for Harry time and again.

Setting aside the notion of violence and the seemingly inappropriate content for children, we look at the non-target audience, which has grown in volumes since the series first exploded onto the market back in 1997.  Much of this population consists of adults, many with a fantasy sweet-tooth, even more with children of their own (who couldn't wait to find out what happened to Harry after book one, and probably at times seemed more excited than their own children....)  Rowling's ability to create believable adult characters and relationships has been questioned from the beginning, though there are several adult role models who do the job rather nicely.  Professor McGonagall for instance, Molly and Arthur Weasley, eventually Professor Remus Lupin (who turns out to be a werewolf, despite how much the children love and adore him...)  As the stories progressed, however, the lack of believability when it came to many of the adult relationships and characters seemed forced.  The only adult relationships of importance in the series are again, Molly and Arthur Weasley, and Vernon and Petunia Dursley.  The two extremes presented here seem to allow no middle ground, and once again the adult population begins to feel sorely misrepresented in the story.  Many readers expected that these relationships would develop as the series did, and with the inkling of romance between Remus Lupin and metamorphmagus Nymphadora Tonks sparked in the fifth book, looked forward to the development with high hopes.

However, as the relationship progressed, it fell flat on its face as Remus Lupin's character fell into question when he left a pregnant Tonks to go on adventure with Harry and the Trio.  It seemed almost as uncharacteristic an act as him showing up after (listening to reason and finally going home to his wife and unborn child) his son is born to fight in battle, followed quickly by his wife only to have both of them die without description or reason.  Two of the most skilled wizards (Remus being a former DADA professor and Tonks an auror for pity's sake!!!) and just like that they're dead.  To add insult to injury, as Harry uses the Death Stone to bring back his loved ones to comfort him before his own death, we find Lily and James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.  There is no Tonks, and Remus appears perfectly happy without her there.  What is that, if not a complete and total lack of development?  And further more, what kind of example does that entire scenario present to the readers? 

As I realize this is a story about Harry, and not all the characters can have their moment in the spotlight, it seemed an insult to the characters above mentioned to even have that brief mention of marriage and family, if she was only going to gloss briefly over their heroic deaths.  

I did find that the redemption of longtime Arch-nemesis, Severus Snape, rather exciting.  Many a reader, including myself, had long ago concluded an obvious connection between Lily Evans and Severus Snape, though how close that connection was, no one could tell.  There were many things about Snape's death, however, that bothered me immensley.  Snape was an extremely powerful wizard with incredible knowledge of the Dark Arts, and he dies before Voldemort and Nagini like a muggle. 

Having spent the last four years an avid reader of quite a bit of fanfiction, there were so many scenes that might as well have been written by some of the more talented fanfiction writers out there.  The 'wrapped in a bow' ending seemed to climb straight out of fanfiction hell, as Harry and Ginny put their eleventeen kids named James, Lily, Albus and I've forgotten the others for the moment, on the train to HOgwarts.  There is hardly mention of Teddy Lupin, Harry's own Godson, who would have seemed the more logical choice to close the circular story with than little Albus Severus Potter.

There is much more that happens in this story that I have glossed over in the same manner Rowling seemed to have glossed over the important bits in her own story because all in all the story itself was not that bad.  There was action, adventure, and challenge as we have seen in the series all along, but overall I am at a loss as to who this story should be geared toward.  It is certainly no longer a children's story, and while I hate the idea of censorship, I certainly don't think my own twelve year old would be able to read and actually comprehend this story.  The torture and violence that appear from the very first chapter onward are simply too much for the age level Scholastic Books has marketed these books to.  In theory, many of the original readers will have grown with the series, but the fact that coloring books, sticker books, toys and so on come out with each of these books suggests that these books are geared toward children, but the cold, hard facts are that they are no longer appropriate for the age group they're geared toward.

I could go on forever, but I won't.  I was happy to see Ron and Hermione finally have their day, and it was great to see Severus Snape redeemed.  I was glad Harry didn't really have to die, and that Voldemort got his in the end.  It was nice to see Dumbledore had flaws, because no one expected it, but overall, I am glad the series has come to an end because I fear further stories in the series would lack any sense of quality whatsoever.

This review is an opinion, and I do not expect everyone to agree with me.  I would love to hear your feelings and opinions, and will respect any and all differences, but please only reply if you have constructive things to say.  Flames will not be tolerated.