By J K Rowling Illustrated by Mary GrandPre
Scholastic, 2007
0545029368, 9780545029360
759 pages
I like the overall series. However, I still don't really give a flying fuck about Harry. I don't even really care about Hermione or Ron at this point. I want to know about Neville, Ginny, the whole Weasley family, Tonks and Lupin. I feel like a huge part of the story is in these characters and we just get the thinnest etching of them. The one exception is Snape. We see that his "love" for Lily profoundly changed him for the good, but his pursuit of that good was done for all the wrong reasons. It was meant to redeem the character, but I didn't believe in his redemption.
Also, who knew this was going to make an argument for Death with Dignity? Dumbledore knows he has less than a year until the curse will take him over, so he chooses to die before that happens. He's like a terminally ill person who wants go out while they can still think for themselves, on their terms. Maybe the next generation, having grown up with stories like this, will have a change of heart and 47 more states will enact Death with Dignity laws.
I guess the other bit that I didn't really like about the book, is the whole "19 years later" thing. I didn't need it, we already had our happy ending. It was overkill. Great, everyone married their high school sweethearts and had loads of magical kids. I just don't really care.
**Spoilers**
(but the book is three years old so it's sorta not my vault if you don't know, I just don't wanna be one of those 'SnapeKillsDumbledore' people)
**Still Spoilers, the above was just an addendum to my spoiler-warning. Here's the spoilers**
My favorite part of this book is Neville's bad-assery. This guy is on fire and still manages to cut a snakes head off. Where is this kids book? This guy is awesome.
***End Spoilers***
This book is by far the best in the series.
Four out of Four Stars.
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