1/60s | f1.8 | 75mm | Quidditch players at a bus stop near Piccadilly Circus, London, minutes before the launch of the 7th and last Harry Potter book.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows follows the same revelations-fraught denouement of its predecessors', only this time readers have to wade through chapters after chapters of less-than-exciting reading material.
Hallows involves, in most parts, Harry on a mission to destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes while being on the run and his reprising his role as the annoying "I'm-so-victimized" prick that he could be at times. There's little mention about the rest of the characters who are at Hogwarts, no Quidditch matches and Fred and George are less funny.
The plot twists and ending are fairly satisfying but they do not exude the same excitement as those from earlier books. Also, Rowling has not tied up all loose ends, leaving many of the finer details to be debated and discussed, which may be a good thing.
The epilogue, set 19 years into the future after the last page turned, reads a tad like fan-fiction. It is nevertheless interesting and is perhaps the redeeming part of what is generally a lesser book of the Potter series.
The less-than-brilliant final book, however, does little to mar the series, which has made countless life-long readers. I picked up the first Potter book when I was 14, was enthralled by the magical world within the words and have not stopped picking up books since. For that, I thank you, Harry!