The book we've all been waiting for finally came out on saturday. Yes, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the ultimate finish for the magical (literally and metaphorically) and brilliant book series; and the very same that millions of people queue up outside bookshops at 7am in the morning to get a first peek at.
Most amusingly, the RJC bookshop proceeded to put into place a scheme for collection that varied from any competent bookstore. The "lucky" students who had ordered before April could collect their books from the universal release time of 7am, while those who ordered after April and June would be relegated to 1pm and Monday respectively. This was probably the most ridiculous thing possible as logically speaking, those who had bothered to even place an order would be some bit of a Harry Potter fan, and condemning them to sit backstage while others enthusiastically finished their books within 12 hours would be mere torture. No doubt, my pity is incurred for those who faced this sorry fate. I think they paid even more than me, who purchased the book on the day itself, despite the "GST absorption" (really funny how everyone seems to use the GST absorption as a marketing tool- doesn't seem to be working out really, but then and again the imaginary differences such as the services provided would be a much more significant factor than the meagre price difference.)
Well, the debate- Is The Book a good book? Personally, I would give credit to this most enthralling series which I have read time and again, noneless this last book obscured my attention for no less than 16 hours. However, I agree with the critics that the last book is indeed quite a letdown. I had expected no less than a thousand pages of action packed, hair-raising excitement, whereby Harry learns some of the most advanced magic possible and deals the final blow to his rival Voldemort. Sadly, this was not to be, and it was a comparatively thinner book (compared with previous books) that met my eyes at the bookshop. And within this few pages, there seemed to be huge chunks which made the reader feel uneasy, hoping to move along. For me, this would be the parts where Ron, Harry and Hermione are arguing and quarrelling after finding the 1st Horcrux. I'm sure many will concur, considering the shared sentiments among some of my other avid classmates. (Of course Mr Kok may point out that this is a biased sample, but no matter.) This parts would do much better to be replaced with more action, or mysteries, to give the readers their 50 dollars worth. Apart from this, the ending was also most asthetically unpleasing. As Chloe and Cheryl most fervently commented in class, it makes one seem as if he is reading some cliched fan fic, and this is nearly the worse degradation that one can impose onto JK Rowling. So you can probably gather how ordinary the ending was. Perhaps JK Rowling just wanted to emphasize that the peaceful perfect equilibrum had been reached.
Nevertheless, JK Rowling still has my envy for many things. Firstly, the Escape Scene with 7 Harry Potters. That was most brilliant, in my opinion. The action was top grade, and my heart was pounding fast throughout the first 60 pages? Secondly, she managed to avert the guesses of her fans. Just before the book was published, my brother bought this book giving all the arguments on what would happen in the next book, and one huge argument was that Snape would invariably show his true allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix, playing a huge role in the downfall of the Dark Lord. One appealing theory was that Snape would, at the last moment sacrifice himself, shocking both Harry and Voldemort. If Voldemort kills him, he has fallen into the same trap as before with Lily and that would mean goodbye. Apparently, JK Rowling decided to make things go her way, which people had hardly predicted. Indeed, through the whole book, Snape was depicted as an unrepentant, triumphant Death Eater reigning as Headmaster of Hogwarts, even bring his Death Eater mates in as professors. He wasn't given a chance to redeem himself, and it was only after he died when Harry, and us, realised that he was in fact good, having led Harry to the Gryffindor Sword. This is most unexpected as we would expect Snape to redeem himself, and repay the life bond to James Potter, and his love for Lily. Another character expected to redeem himself in a very useful way was Peter Pettigrew, yet all guesses were averted once again when he died swiftly. Thus is the brilliancy of the writer- showing the unexpected and surprising everyone all.
Nonetheless, I have some nagging questions which I wish to direct to the great author. Firstly, in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", when Harry Potter was visiting the Mirror of Erised for the 3rd time, Dumbledore saw him and talked to him. Question is: How can Dumbledore see him when he's wearing Peverell's Invisibility Cloak, which is stated in Book Seven to be one of the 3 Hallows, which are most invulnerable? This assumption that Harry was wearing it can be supported too, as Dumbledore himself said: "Funny seeing how blind being invisible can make you" or something along those lines. This said, is something flawed? Secondly, as stated in the last book, when Dumbledore died, all the members of the order of the phoenix became secret keepers. As such, why did Voldemort not order Snape to bring the Death Eaters on a tour in Grimmauld's Place instead of stationing people outside? After all, Snape is now at liberty to divulge information, isn't he? Voldemort can hardly be so ignorant as to take the long, hard way out. Thirdly, also mentioned in the ultimate book, traces of underage magic are also linked to the house that it is performed in, i.e. if magic was performed in The Burrow, it would not be detected. Using the same logic, Harry was blamed for Dobby's magic in his uncle's house. However, why then, did the Ministry of Magic not get notice of magic done when the Order of the Phoenix were evacuating Harry out of his house in Book 5- Order of the Phoenix? Or had Dumbledore already informed the Ministry of his men removing Harry to safety?
Well, thats all I have to say on Harry Potter. It has really been a most interesting read, probably even shining greater than the legendary Shakespeare plays. Perhaps it would be studied for Literature in the future. Lucky students!
