Just a warning: this is going to be long, it will contain many spoilers for those who have not read the books or seen the movies...if you haven’t go and do that right now. This post also may contain some very unpopular opinions.
Okay, so to start, I do not hate
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is not even one of my least favourite
books. I love Harry Potter, I have grown up with Harry Potter, and I have reread
all the books multiple times...which is I think the problem.
My first issue with Deathly Hallows is the
the lack of foreshadowing, or even mention of the idea of the Deathly Hallows
before this book. To me one of the greatest things about Harry Potter is that
you can go back and reread them again and again and feel like every time you piece together something new . My favourite thing in
the entire series may be that Scabbers is Peter Pettigrew, it was awesome and shocking and if you saw that twist coming I applaud you.
Also things are introduced a long time before they are really seen, or used
again. Like how it is on Sirius Black’s bike that Hargrid delivers Harry to Privet
Drive on. Awesome. Crouch Jnr uses Polyjuice Potion in Goblet after Hermione makes it in
Chamber of Secrets. . It would have been so easy
to have Ron or any of the other Weasleys talk about the stories they were read
as a kid...just...ugh, it just annoys me that things were introduced in the
final book.
My next issue is the camping
section. The huge section where to me, not a lot happens. I may be alone here
but one of the main reasons I love the Harry Potter books is because of the world,
and most importantly Hogwarts...and guess what most of this book does not take
place at Hogwarts, it takes place when they are camping. And for most of that
time it is just Harry and Hermione, who are wonderful friends, but don’t often
make for very entertaining scenes together, in fact Harry points out that
hanging out with just Hermione leads to a lot of time being spent in the library. Although I did love the pay off
when Ron came back.
Teddy Lupin...just ugh. I hate
that both Lupin and Tonks died just to make the book end with another orphan. I
can just see it now Teddy Lupin and the Plot Contrivance. Just no. Also, the
character assassination of Lupin’s character just made me so angry, it was so
out of left field and wrong.
I think the biggest problem for
my was the redemption of Snape. I love Snape as a character, I love the way
that Alan Rickman portrayed Snape in the movie...Snape is awesome! Until the
end of book seven where we find out his motivation that to me just doesn't make
sense. He hated Harry because he looked like James, which we knew, but he also
felt the need to protect Harry as he had his mothers eyes, and Snape had always
been in love with Lily. He hated James, and he had reason to hate James,
but that does not excuse his bullying of Harry, or that it was his fault that
Harry’s parents died AND when it came down to it he only cared about saving
Lily. Something tells me Lily would not want to be with him after he was
responsible for the death of her husband and son. Just saying.
The entire epilogue. Why did that have to happen? I did like that Draco married someone Harry didn't know, because the books
end when they were 17, and the odds of all of them staying together past 17 are very
very slim. Now the names...James Sirius is good, I like that one. Then there is
Lily Luna...which the alliteration just really annoys, and I know I am probably
alone here but I don’t really like Luna Lovegood as a character, she just irritates
me and I don’t know why. I just feel like the impact of Lily, James and Sirius
are lost when Luna who is alive and well is just tossed in there. Maybe that
was Ginny's input, I don’t know.
And then there is Albus Severus,
that poor poor child. God, I love Harry, and the decisions that he makes but no
just; no. Throw in Lupin, or Mad-Eye or Hagrid or freaking Cedric but not Albus
Severus. Not only does that kid now that to try and live up to the name Albus,
one of the greatest wizards of all time, but Severus is tacked on there as
well...you know, the guy who wanted to be with Harry’s mum. I wonder what James
would think about this? And the whole “Snape was the bravest man Harry ever
knew” crap, no just no. You know what’s brave? Defying the Dark Lord three
times like his dad did, or escaping Azkaban like Sirius, or standing up to his
friends like Neville did. Snape made a great error in judgement that cost him
the one thing that he loved, and he took it out on Harry.
But I promise I still love the
books!
