Craig's Blog of Destiny

Well, I’ve finished the final Harry Potter book and find that I have very little to say about it.  I’m glad it concluded, and in my opinion concluded quite well, though my original assessment of the series remains:  It’s at best a trilogy stretched out to seven books.  At best a trilogy, probably more like two good novels.   So many of the books are the same story told over and over again.  That being said, there is no denying the appeal of taking yourself away to Hogwarts, a place everyone in my family would love to live!  It’s a wonderful place to visit, again and again and again. 

            Although the story started being about Harry, and for the most part was all about Harry, I thought this last book really missed the mark in that it should have been about Snape.  Even considering Ron and Hermione, I feel Snape has become the central character next to Harry.  He was certainly the most complex character and had the most compelling story to tell.  The back story of Dumbledore is very compelling and it does seem to fit very well in the role of filler in the final book.  However, Snape’s back story, told in such a rushed and unsatisfactory series of very short vignettes,  serves only to remind us of  the complexity of the character and leaves a gaping hole that we long to be filled.  Had she written the final book with Snape’s story at its central core, both his history and his role in the final chapters of Harry’s story, it would have been a much better book, both as the end of the saga and standing alone.

            I will continue to recommend the Harry Potter series, particularly for the young and the young at heart, as the great escape that reading can be.  Taken in that vein, as an escape, it’s even good that the series is somewhat stretched from two or three books to seven.