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meteordustI think we lucked out in this timezone - a 9 AM local release for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows means being able to wake up refreshed and spend the whole day reading, which basically sums up my yesterday.
I thought about posting something last night, after I finished, but my head was still too full.
Time was when I would have said, "Yeah, they're good fantasy novels and I enjoy them a lot, but don't go in with expectations at the level of the hype, because no book on earth could live up to that."
I take that back.
I noticed early on in the series that Rowling was really good at laying down plot - each book is structured around a central mystery, and the clues are carefully seeded throughout. But now, in this last book, we see not only its own mystery, but the culmination of the greater mystery that has taken seven books to unfold. And it is staggering, to witness how many threads are woven together, to understand how many details have been planted from day one. She's been playing a long game, has Rowling, and I am awestruck at the degree of planning and patience it must have involved. But the payoff is worth it.
But it's not just about an astonishingly intricate plot. It's about a story that is effortless to read, that draws you in completely, where the stakes are high, the threat is overwhelming, and the characters are pushed to their uttermost limits. Where it is a temptation to give in, or to run away, and where the consequences of defeat are terrible. The best of fantasy shows us how important it is to speak up against injustice and take a stand against oppression, and how so much of the good and the evil in the world depends on people making choices. And so you see characters make good choices, and you see characters make evil choices. And there is courage and friendship, love and sacrifice, and hope for the future won by those willing to give up their lives. It's the stuff of epics.
So yeah, ask me today how I'd describe these books, and I'd give you a different answer. I'd say Rowling has succeeded in creating an epic, which deserves to stand among the great works of fantasy literature.
I thought about posting something last night, after I finished, but my head was still too full.
Time was when I would have said, "Yeah, they're good fantasy novels and I enjoy them a lot, but don't go in with expectations at the level of the hype, because no book on earth could live up to that."
I take that back.
I noticed early on in the series that Rowling was really good at laying down plot - each book is structured around a central mystery, and the clues are carefully seeded throughout. But now, in this last book, we see not only its own mystery, but the culmination of the greater mystery that has taken seven books to unfold. And it is staggering, to witness how many threads are woven together, to understand how many details have been planted from day one. She's been playing a long game, has Rowling, and I am awestruck at the degree of planning and patience it must have involved. But the payoff is worth it.
But it's not just about an astonishingly intricate plot. It's about a story that is effortless to read, that draws you in completely, where the stakes are high, the threat is overwhelming, and the characters are pushed to their uttermost limits. Where it is a temptation to give in, or to run away, and where the consequences of defeat are terrible. The best of fantasy shows us how important it is to speak up against injustice and take a stand against oppression, and how so much of the good and the evil in the world depends on people making choices. And so you see characters make good choices, and you see characters make evil choices. And there is courage and friendship, love and sacrifice, and hope for the future won by those willing to give up their lives. It's the stuff of epics.
So yeah, ask me today how I'd describe these books, and I'd give you a different answer. I'd say Rowling has succeeded in creating an epic, which deserves to stand among the great works of fantasy literature.
