Rate: 5/5

Medium: Audiobook

Overview (No Spoilers): My Harry Potter reread has now come to a fantastic, yet bittersweet ending! A little over a year ago I started my second complete read of a series I’ve adored since the titles were first released. So much time has elapsed since initially picking up these books that the content in each individual installment had become indistinguishable. I’d hoped by revisting this beloved series I would be able to assign a ranking to each novel. For the most part, The Deathly Hallows is a fast paced read that is absolutely crammed full of action. Other than one dragging pity party, the majority of this novel had our key characters jumping from one magical location to the next in search of the illusive horcruxes.  Sure, along the way there were many, many coincidences worked out conveniently in Harry’s favor from brilliant last minute insights to stumbling across the right people at the ideal timing.  Sure, I may have rolled my eyes as these lucky instances began significantly accumulating toward the end of the journey, however it didn’t stop me from enjoying the ride any less. When compared with the series as a whole, I will likely rank The Deathly Hallows as my favorite or a close second alongside The Goblet of Fire.  I’ll have to eventually compile the full list in a later post after I’ve mulled over the reads and allowed them to settle in my mind. On a side note, be conscious of the activities in your schedule as you near the end of this read. I was on my way to yoga during one of the most heartbreaking scenes, provoking all the tears. Thankfully the dim lights of hot yoga were perfect to mask my literary induced grief. Reflecting upon the series as a complete set, The Deathly Hallows was the title I’d remembered the least, resulting in much of this novel feeling as though I was encountering the material for the first time, a truly delightful scenario for any reread. Overall, I can’t hardly think of a more perfect conclusion to the Harry Potter series in The Deathly Hallows as so many loose ends were neatly tied up, while coinciding simultaneously with just the right amount of heartbreak.

Additional Insight (Spoilers Abound):

• How did four students create something like the Marauder’s Map? Wouldn’t security personnel be utilizing similar magic all over the magical realm?  Also, as a coworker pointed out, how could the map be so strong to see through Harry’s invisibility cloak?
• This last book puts significantly adds forgotten context to the new series with Newt Scamander.  Sure I’d remembered that there was evil wizard named Grindelwald, however I’d not remembered that Voldemort had visited/killed him or that he’d not revealed that Dumbledore had the Elder Wand.  Was he protecting Dumbledore?
• Harry’s lack of faith in Dumbledore was more infuriating than I remembered. How could he doubt his mentor’s intentions after all they’d been through.
• I still can’t get over Ron and Hermoine ending up together. Ugh.
• So Harry is the master of the Elder Wand. He needs to die undefeated to break the power of the notorious wand, however he is an Auror as an adult. Doesn’t that seem like a high risk field in which he could be disarmed at one point or another therefore transferring the wand’s power to someone else?
• What did the Goblin Griphook do when the Gryffindor sword disappeared?
• What did the Ghosts of Hogwarts do during the fighting?
• Neville becomes a professor! I loved getting to see his Grandma finally being proud of him. Did she survive the fighting? Can the professors have families?
• Did Slughorn stay to fight?
• So I took the Hogwarts House quiz, smug that I would of course be a Ravenclaw, but I was shocked when I was actually a Slytherin.  Sure I can embrace this turn of events, however I wish in the story that not all the Slytherins had been for Voldemort.