children's fiction
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2007
ISBN 1-55192-976-7
607 pages
$45.00
"Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is coming to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing – if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him?"
There is no gentle saunter into the story in this final instalment of the Harry Potter series. It starts with a bang and keeps a relentless pace throughout its six hundred pages. It may be the finest book I’ve ever read. Every single thing ever uttered in the books preceding it is explained, even the origin of the blood on the Bloody Baron’s clothing. The death count is inconceivable; I think I cried all day while I read it.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione don’t return to Hogwarts for their final year. Instead they set out on a quest to find and destroy all the horcruxes of Lord Voldemort so he can finally be beaten. It is a journey filled with trepidation and horror, as they are captured, escape, and are captured again. But in the end, every question is answered and the theme of the whole series comes into focus: love. It is all about love. The love that Severus Snape had for Lily Potter saved the world. The love that Harry Potter had for his friends also saved the world. And the courage of Neville Longbottom proved greatest of all.
It is a fitting conclusion to the series that has rocked the foundations of our world. Thank you, J.K. Rowling, for bringing it into my life.
Showing posts with label harry potter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harry potter. Show all posts
Monday, August 13, 2007
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Four Stars)
Children's fiction
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2005
ISBN 1-55192-756-x
607 pages
$41.00
"It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys’ house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-to-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can’t quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys’ of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks’ time? Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine…
"J.K. Rowling charts Harry Potter’s latest adventures in his sixth year at Hogwarts with consummate skill and in breathtaking fashion."
So the world knows of the existence of Lord Voldemort and Harry may expect his life to get a little easier. Especially as he is getting private lessons from Professor Dumbledore. Yet to his dismay, Professor Snape is finally handed the Defense Against the Dark Arts position he had been vying for every single year. A new Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, is an intriguing character who holds the key to Voldemort’s downfall.
As Harry and Dumbledore search for hidden objects that contain bits of Voldemort’s soul, tensions between magic and muggle escalate, and battle lines are drawn even within Hogwarts itself. The greatest mystery of all? Who is the Half Blood Prince?
Rowling once again proves her mastery over the world she has created, and her narrative style brought me to both tears and laughter.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2005
ISBN 1-55192-756-x
607 pages
$41.00
"It is the middle of the summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursleys’ house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-to-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can’t quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursleys’ of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks’ time? Harry’s sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of Muggle and magic start to intertwine…
"J.K. Rowling charts Harry Potter’s latest adventures in his sixth year at Hogwarts with consummate skill and in breathtaking fashion."
So the world knows of the existence of Lord Voldemort and Harry may expect his life to get a little easier. Especially as he is getting private lessons from Professor Dumbledore. Yet to his dismay, Professor Snape is finally handed the Defense Against the Dark Arts position he had been vying for every single year. A new Potions teacher, Professor Slughorn, is an intriguing character who holds the key to Voldemort’s downfall.
As Harry and Dumbledore search for hidden objects that contain bits of Voldemort’s soul, tensions between magic and muggle escalate, and battle lines are drawn even within Hogwarts itself. The greatest mystery of all? Who is the Half Blood Prince?
Rowling once again proves her mastery over the world she has created, and her narrative style brought me to both tears and laughter.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Four Stars)
Children's fiction
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2003
ISBN1-55192-570-2
766 pages
$43.00
"Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. ‘It is time,’ he said, ‘for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.’
"Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down…
"This is a gripping and electrifying new novel full of suspense, secrets, and – of course – magic, from the incomparable J.K. Rowling."
Author J.K. Rowling steers her incredible craft into seething waters in this novel. Considerably darker than the novels that have preceded it, The Order of the Phoenix chronicles Harry’s obsession with dreams that lead him down a mysterious hallway to a prophecy that tells the final truth about he and his enemy, Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic proves that it is under the thrall of power-seeking wizards who try to tell the wizarding world that Harry is lying about the return of Lord Voldemort to power. They even send an evil witch, Umbridge, to be a High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, who eventually takes over the running of the school.
Whatever boundaries Rowling may have created in previous books are shattered in this tale, as Umbridge devises cruel detentions, Snape’s past is revealed and Harry’s own fond memories of his father and Sirius are blown apart. At the close of the book there is an explosive battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore, and the whole wizarding world is finally forced to believe the awful truth: Voldemort is back.
The longest book in the series and, personally, the most painful to read, this book stays true to modern teenagers in their angst, their inadequacies, and their first loves. This book is phenomenal.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2003
ISBN1-55192-570-2
766 pages
$43.00
"Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. ‘It is time,’ he said, ‘for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.’
"Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year at Hogwarts will turn his world upside down…
"This is a gripping and electrifying new novel full of suspense, secrets, and – of course – magic, from the incomparable J.K. Rowling."
Author J.K. Rowling steers her incredible craft into seething waters in this novel. Considerably darker than the novels that have preceded it, The Order of the Phoenix chronicles Harry’s obsession with dreams that lead him down a mysterious hallway to a prophecy that tells the final truth about he and his enemy, Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic proves that it is under the thrall of power-seeking wizards who try to tell the wizarding world that Harry is lying about the return of Lord Voldemort to power. They even send an evil witch, Umbridge, to be a High Inquisitor at Hogwarts, who eventually takes over the running of the school.
Whatever boundaries Rowling may have created in previous books are shattered in this tale, as Umbridge devises cruel detentions, Snape’s past is revealed and Harry’s own fond memories of his father and Sirius are blown apart. At the close of the book there is an explosive battle between Voldemort and Dumbledore, and the whole wizarding world is finally forced to believe the awful truth: Voldemort is back.
The longest book in the series and, personally, the most painful to read, this book stays true to modern teenagers in their angst, their inadequacies, and their first loves. This book is phenomenal.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Five Stars)
Children's fiction
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2000
ISBN: 1-55192-337-8
636 pages
$35.00
"The summer holidays are dragging on and Harry Potter can’t wait for the start of the school year. It’s his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and there are spells to be learnt, potions to be brewed and Divination lessons (sigh) to be attended. Harry is expecting these: however, other quite unexpected events are already on the march…"
It has taken J.K. Rowling an impressive 17 years, but she’s accomplished what no author ever has before. Other than making billions of dollars, she has reintroduced the love of reading to a generation of children (and adults), who now read more than ever before. She has created a phenomenon, and part of her secret is this: her characters, though magical, go through many of the life-changing events as normal children do; the story takes place in a familiar, present-day world; and her characters have magic, literal magic, talents and abilities that all of us wish we had. She has also created a super villain, Lord Voldemort, who threatens to take away all that is good in the world.
This is the fourth book in her seven book series. It is also drastically longer than the three previous novels. Harry Potter is fourteen, and begins to experience true adolescence; terrified of talking to girls, daydreaming of Cho Chang, wishing he were a hero… The story is intricate yet it never loses you. This is storytelling at its finest.
There has been a sharp increase in sales of juvenile fiction in the past few years. This is partly due to J.K. Rowling and a bespectacled boy named Harry Potter.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
J.K. Rowling
Raincoast Books
©2000
ISBN: 1-55192-337-8
636 pages
$35.00
"The summer holidays are dragging on and Harry Potter can’t wait for the start of the school year. It’s his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and there are spells to be learnt, potions to be brewed and Divination lessons (sigh) to be attended. Harry is expecting these: however, other quite unexpected events are already on the march…"
It has taken J.K. Rowling an impressive 17 years, but she’s accomplished what no author ever has before. Other than making billions of dollars, she has reintroduced the love of reading to a generation of children (and adults), who now read more than ever before. She has created a phenomenon, and part of her secret is this: her characters, though magical, go through many of the life-changing events as normal children do; the story takes place in a familiar, present-day world; and her characters have magic, literal magic, talents and abilities that all of us wish we had. She has also created a super villain, Lord Voldemort, who threatens to take away all that is good in the world.
This is the fourth book in her seven book series. It is also drastically longer than the three previous novels. Harry Potter is fourteen, and begins to experience true adolescence; terrified of talking to girls, daydreaming of Cho Chang, wishing he were a hero… The story is intricate yet it never loses you. This is storytelling at its finest.
There has been a sharp increase in sales of juvenile fiction in the past few years. This is partly due to J.K. Rowling and a bespectacled boy named Harry Potter.
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