Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 

wooohooo

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/book....ap/index.html

I really wish there was a release date

I was really hoping for Harry Pottre and the Return of the King. Oh well. I;'m sure this is very exciting news for all the Harry Potter fans around these parts. Congrats to you.

This is horrible news, hearing the title just makes me want the last book even more. This thing cannot come out soon enough.

Interesting Title.... HURRY UP AND WRITE WOMAN!

Who was the Half blood prince?

I think she should have released the name as "Harry Potter Dies" and see how the media whirlwind went.

I'm glad she's working on it and moving along. I only hope it lives up to all the expectations everyone has for it. She's been pretty devoted to her vision all along, and as we know, she doesn't necessarily play by all the standard rules of pop literature.

It's Professor Snape. Severus Snape was the son of Eileen Prince and a Muggle named Tobias Snape. 'Half-blood' refered to his parentage, and 'Prince' was his mother's maiden name.

Oh yeah! He wrote in the potions book.....
I wanna see a squib do some magic.

Damn right! She should be in her office, burning the midnight oil finishing the damn thing. Not sitting around giving bloody press conferences.

Is the new book going to come out before the movie?

I think it would be in her best interest to have the book come out shortly after movie 5. What do I know? She has all of us by the balls and could well make us wait a year or more.

I actually surprised it doesn't look like it'll be out on July 7th, 2007 given the significance of the number "7" in the Potter mythos. Fans will know what I speak of.

Im not surprised......I think releasing the new book and the new movie on the same day would not be the best of ideas

While many of the other titles have had a nice ring to them, this one hurts. It doesn't get any love trying to roll off the tongue and "deathly" is a strange word. It's much more often used as an adverb (deathly afraid), whereas here she seems to want to use it as an adjective. Also, "hallow" is usually a verb, which means that "the [anything] hallow" is total gibberish. Color me confused. Maybe it's supposed to be "Deathly Hollow"? Does "hallow" have a meaning as a noun that dictionary.com is hiding from me? "Half Blood Prince", "Goblet of Fire", "Chamber of Secrets" are all much better.

She needs to get this last book out so I can read the series already. I've watched the movies on the advice and pleading of my girlfriend and found them sufficiently entertaining. I refuse to not be able to read the books straight, though, so I'm waiting for her to finish up before I delve in.

Perhaps her success has given her some license, but she's got quite the attitude and ego when it comes to what she's doing. I await, skeptical.

I agree. The title is a major disappointment.

If you enjoy the movies the books will floor you. While the movies have been very well done, they pale significantly when compared to the books.

Oh dang....I forgot the movie's out that day. Shows what kind of a philistine I am!

The movie comes out July 13th. If the released the book July 7th it could do wonders for the box office.

perhapes Hallows refers to all hallows eve?

After some thought, the title got me confused as well. While all the previous titles (after hearing them for the first time) left you going 'oooh-aaah', this one left me going 'huh?' :confused:

Hopefully as time goes on and she gets more written she'll let some more about the book slip at the press conferences she seems to be so fond of.

Very disappointing. A school child could have come up with a better title.

****UPDATE****

I have just returned from Borders. The very same one where Pan and I met I might add.

There I reserved my cupy of Book 7.

They said there is a release month. July 2007.
No date just yet.

Also, it is the general consensus that everyone hates the title.

I like the title. It fits the series' end. Nothing overboard and nothing too cheesy. By the way, I'm locking myself in a padded cell and reading the last book untouched from the world until I'm done. I had the ending of the last book ruined for me, and I had the fucking thing on opening day and was over halfway done before the first day was over. Too many assholes that have Internet access to remain untouched by the spoiler dicks. If you don't want the last book ruined, I suggest not looking at the TV or Internet until you're done with the book because the last book's ending was PLASTERED on every website and TV station for a month after it released. If you know the ending of HBP then it ruins the whole fucking book.

publish date for the new book

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movi....ap/index.html

W00T!!

I can't wait! I doubt I'll be able to pre-order it locally yet, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for it.

Thanks for the update, Shani.

The countdown has begun :thumbsup:

I couldn't be any more excited! :D

I pre-ordered my copy a month ago... *marks calendar* BRING IT!!!!!!!!!

It will take extreme control to not read the ending first......:hyper: This is the most exciting one! For the 2 characters that die....I vote Snape and Neville. :hyper:

I cast my vote for Voldy and Snape... eventhough I adore Snape.

I just will not be able to stand it if Snape dies

I would be alright with Snape biting the dust if it proves that he is a good guy and he dies saving someone who simply must live to kill Moldy Voldy.

I think there is no way that Snape is actually a bad guy. I refuse to believe it.

I hope every character in the book dies. That way other authors can't write knock off books about Neville Longbottom or Luna Lovegood or Harry Potter's relatives, the Dursleys. It all should go down in a huge wizard battle, or each character should get killed by a ninja pirate wizard.

This is a beautiful and I fully support it for a wide number of reasons. Hopefully she took your advice.

13 days...

and as a side note,

3 days till the movie comes out...

Incase anyone cares, there's an ebook of Deathly Hallows available now if you know where to look :)

Actually, I always thought the best ending (movie and book) would be to fade to JK tucking "her children" in and saying goodnight....... and show that it was just a bedtime story.

After all HP was just a bedtime story she made up and had decided to write down so as not to forget.

The movie you could do it obviously visual.... the book... you do it just at the ending climax... just when everyone is about to wage death and war and so on...... and you just listen to everyone yell how cheap an ending, on something you created and was in charge of where it went.

But noone except me and my twisted thinking would find that ending to be a great one.

i found it, but can't even corrobrate that it's the real deal until the real deal comes out.

I'm gonna go get it from a local bookstore at a midnight opening.

As for how its gonna go down... well, I have no idea so I hope this is in no way taken as a spoile... but a great evil cannot be defeated without paying a great price.

some could argue that the great price was already paid in ending of book 6.

I suppose they might... but I wouldnt buy it. The ending of book 6 was standard. It was necessary to enable an understanding that this was not a battle that could be fought within the boundries of the safe world, but one which which would disturb the world.

I think there will be a price that one of the 3 will have to pay personally.

A bedtime story with murder and war? Please pardon my husbands sick sense of humor!

LS if you think about it, arent the bible stories we christians tell our kids as bedtime stories full of murder and war?

It's a bedtime story in my house... I have no trouble reading about death and war to my kids. It's all in the context. In the case of HP, the thing to remember is that it is a story of good vs. evil and Harry is always morally right in his actions.

Whenever there are dark or scary moments, these are just opportunities to have a chat about that part of human nature.

You know how I feel about that too. :shakehead:

Love ya anyways though. :)

I dont think the war has yet begun.

Not to mention rape and incest.

I was just saying that pan's sense of humor really isnt all that sick if you think about age old stories some people tell their kids. Hell have you ever read some of the fairy tales?

Just as a warning to people who like the series and have concerns about spoilers:

They are out and, as far as anyone can tell, they're real (they look like digital pictures of the book with proper formatting, font, etc.). Look if you want but be careful and aware of them if you're browsing casually, since they're going to become increasingly out in the open sooner rather than later.

For those of you curious, this is the supposed epilogue:

SPOILERS

Page 753
Page 754-755
Page 756-757
Page 758-759

Certainly looks legit, but who knows.

link
Well the libraries have been delivered their editions already under strict orders to not open them at all. The legal department around here has been nuts with drafting contracts that goes all the way from the distributors to the actual bookstores stating that they will not open the boxes until sale date.

Who knows for sure, I d/l an electronic version the other day but it doesn't look legit. Can't tell unlike with movies and music...

I do not even want to look at that !!!

the last time it wasn't given to me so freely though!

i sat reading this email of millions of tshirts that were apparently selling like hot cakes and in this email, there was a t-shirt that said "Harry Potter, page three hundred and some odd, Dumbledore dies! now i just saved you $40 and 4 hours!!!"

this was way after the 6th one came out though but i hadn't read it yet!!!

healer was st work and i phoned him immediately or rather had him phone me to tell me if it was the truth! i just couldnt believe it.

so, i've learned my lesson not to look at strange things that have to do with harry.

Its going to be SO hard not to hear how the book ends. I may just have to cut off my computer saturday morning and not get online at all until I've finished the book.

The hardest part is going to be, because I read so much faster than Dave does.....hiding any reaction from him is going to be very hard to do (ESPECIALLY whatever happens involving Snape....I honestly could care less if Harry dies...but if Snape does I will be in mourning forever lol)

I would just like to say....and this is giving nothing away at all about the book this is my new fav quote from any HP book lol (as much as I love Snape, this is classic)

"He can move fater than Severus Snape confronted with shampoo"

My copy arrived in today's mail, and it's killing me that I had to set it aside for later this evening. Great quote, Shani. :)

Not giving anything away until people are ready to discuss it - but this book is absolutely fantastic. :) If you haven't read it yet, well what are you waiting for?

The Deathly Hallows
 

Well, Ive finished it.

I wont to the slightest extent post any spoilers, or even "fore-shadowing" here, and hope no one else does - because I can't think of anything more mean spirited than trying to spoil a book for another person and steal their joy from it....

But, I am I the first TFP person to finish it??

Im almost finished!!!!! 100 pages left

if you read the thread we already had...I've got 100 pages left

Nope, probably not the first. I finished about 4 hours ago and I loved every minute of it. Very bittersweet, it being the last book and all - but it was so well written. Hopefully everyone else will agree.

Woo-hoo! Go Shani! :D

I agree, it isnt a work of literature... but it is the end of the story, and it is an adventure... I enjoyed it.

well, perhaps I should have not made a new thread if this one is also talking about it.

I have finished, I thought it was not as good as the other books (other than The Order of the Phoenix), but then it couldnt be... it had to end the story, and it did so.

I dont want to say ANYTHING to effect anyone else's reading.... but I really enjoyed the serious a lot.

or I meant series of course. I dont know what it means that makes such errors.

I finished the book a few days ago (downloaded online, not a fan fiction version)... I still went and bought the book last night though. I thought it was a great ending to the series.

best book in the series bar none

cant wait to talk about it!!!

Finished.

well get on yahoo so I can talk to you about it!!!

I just want to say (SPOILER...DONT HIGHLIGHT UNTIL YOU'RE FINISHED READING)

Spoiler: I TOLD YOU ALL SNAPE WAS GOOD!!!!. I cried when he died, I cried thru the pensive and I cried with the explanation of the childs name at the end

250 pages in...really enjoying it so far.

I had a very busy day, so that I've managed 250 pages in less than 12 hours is pretty impressive to me!

I am still trying to recover... it is a very emotional book for those of us who have been waiting so long. I am just glad that 90% of what I predicted to begin with came to pass... still I am exhausted from numerous crying jags at various points in the book.

Finished it. Action-packed. Lots of twists.

I really enjoyed it, and I think it was a fitting end.

Er, if you haven't read the last chapter of the book, and you decide to highlight this text. . . .That's your problem ;)

Spoiler: Anyone else notice that Rowling didn't live up to her promise that this final book would close the door on more books in the Potterverse? I mean, when you get right down to it, she killed off a bunch of bit characters and left the mains alive and happy. There's all sorts of story possibilities in the 19 years between the last 2 chapters. There'll be one hell of a mess to clean up, evil still to be stomped out, etc. Then there's always the possibility that the Potter gang's kids will find adventures of their own. I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see another Potter book or two come out in 5-10 years.

Spoiler: The thing that strikes me - Dumbledore is the WORST villian of all. At least Voldemort did not seek to hide his bad nature, Dumbledore was a villian AND a hypocrite. His sister's blood was upon him (of course it was he who cast the killing blow - why even merit such lies as "it might have been me, I dont know" with consideration); he threw Snape to the wolves (he KNEW what it meant to ask Snape to kill him when he was the holder of the Elder wand) and callously betrayed Snape's grief over the death of Lily and tormented him with it; he betrayed Harry and lied to him from the start - sending a boy to do a job which he was not man enough to do.

Done. Had to work all of yesterday, that's why I'm so late. :) Don't know how to do spoiler tag thingys, but I generally agree with most of the comments.

I finished it last night.

Without going to far into it, I think this book could've been about 2/3 or maybe even 1/2 the size it currently is and been a much better book. Not that I don't appreciate 700+ pages of Harry Potter goodness, but the middle third, which is absolute crap when compared with the rest of the book, feels like filler and I hate filler. It was a chore getting through this part of the story and that's a shame.

A few more notes...
Spoiler: I absolutely hate what she turned Dumbledore into. For six books, he's been...well, Dumbledore and now it turns out he's really this sort of this manipulating scumbag. That would've been great had it been a thread in all the other books, but this felt tacked on. "Oh, by the way, Dumbledore for a time was best friends with this real evil bloke that did horrible things....over there....and his sister was beat up by muggles....and he uses everybody....yeah, that's the ticket...just read this article by Rita Skeeter.

Seperately, I hate when writers do that, by the way. Articles, book excerpts and such....It's stupid and lazy, in my opinion, whether the offender is J.K. Rowling or Stephen King.

As for the epilogue, I think that stinks as well. This series, since about book 3 I think, has matured very well over the years, dealing with darker stuff and more adult themes as the audience has gotten older. The relationships have gotten more complex, the villians harder to spot and by book seven the shine has really come off the wizarding world that was all pixies and magic dust in the first book. To tack on this super sweet syrupy ending is...well, I don't know, it feels a bit insulting. Ginny and Harry, Ron and Hermione...it all worked out. And kids, no less, named after dead parents and dead heroes. "Albus Severus, don't listen to James, Lily or your second cousin Remus Nymphadora Rubeus Flitwick Minerva Sirius Neville Lovegood,
they're just trying to pull the wool over your eyes, the little scoundrels.
Ruffle hair, put them on train to Hogwart's and wave as the train pulls out the station. End Scene "...and they all lived happily ever after."

Other than all that I think the book was pretty good. I thought she handled Snape's story rather well and last bit (the battle of Hogwart's and Voldemort's death) I thought were pretty good as well.

I've said too much... :)

I loved...

Spoiler: that Neville ended up headmaster, I thought that was perfect

He didnt... it was Professor of (spoiler thingy that I dont know how to do).

are you saying I read that all wrong? Damn it I cant get my book, Dave has it with him and he's gone

Spoiler: Neville became the professor of plants... and as for the naming of one of Harry's children, I think it is a great dishonour to Snape to be juxtaposed with the villian Albus Dumbledore in such a way.

Ok I have the book back....and I totally misread that!!! oops

Well I enjoyed it, read it in all one sitting which is unsual for me, so didn't get to bed until the early hours.

Just got done reading it!!!!Spoiler:

I agree that the middle section was a little lackluster, even though it did make the bond between Ron, Hermione, and Harry deeper to the readers.

BTW I've seen some pretty wild things about Dumbledore being the true villian of the book. Am I missing something? This book, if anything, showed that Dumbledore wasn't an Angel From Above like the first six represented him, but a real, true wizard who learned from past mistakes and showed that it's possible to make the best out of any life. Adding a human element to Dumbledore made him a more interesting character. Plus, arguing that what he made Harry go through was bastardly and that he was just using him is false also...the book clearly (well, I thought it was clear) explains that Dumbledore led him down this path to suicide because he knew it would destroy the soul link between the two. It did, hence Voldemort being mortal and Harry being free from the scar burning. Dumbledore knew this would happen and it did. I don't see how you could twist this into evil unless you read up to the point before Harry actually committed the act of suicide and then stopped.

I also thought that the chapter(s) containing the scene where Harry realized that he had to die and he actually marching solitarily to Voldemort were possibly the best written scenes of all the books.

Spoiler: I liked the massive battle between the death eaters, spiders, giants against the Order, Dumbledore's Army, Hogwart's teachers, Hogwart's students and Hogwart's various statues. What a battle!

Overall, I enjoyed it. Of course, the powerful compulsion to finish the series would have made me read a pile of dog turds just to find out what happened. Was I the only one sitting in the theater to watch "Order of the Pheonix" with his new copy in his hands on Saturday morning?

Spoiler: Beyond what Lazereth said, I'm just puzzled at the idea that hypocrisy automatically puts Dumbledore on a lower level than than the mass-murdering genocidal Voldemort. Even if Dumbledore could have been accurately described as a two-sided unrepentant asshole to the moment of his death... even if Voldemort was always honest about his evil motives and deeds... no, not at all, Voldemort's still worse and it's not even remotely close.

I'll probably sound like a broken record by now, but... as far as evils go, hypocrisy is HUGELY overrated. It's a logical flaw, so it can be much more compelling argumentatively to shout "Hypocrite!" than "Jerk!", but hypocrisy itself rarely if ever compares to the moral flaw under the hypocrite's mask. It can even, relatively speaking, be a good thing. To paraphrase Gandhi - or was it Gore? - it's better to be a hypocrite than to be consistently wrong.

Back on topic: I really enjoyed Neville's triumph, I was really hoping he'd have a shining moment and Rowling delivered. I liked the glimmer of humanity still strongly showing itself in Narcissa Malfoy. I liked that Snape's story was exactly as I - and probably the majority - had suspected it would be. Sometimes the expected is just too good to trade in for the unexpected. And finallly, I liked the revealed Dumbledore who wasn't Godlike or saintlike, who made both tactical and moral mistakes. He seemed more interesting and convincing that way.

Spoiler:

i agree fta: i didn't see dumbledore's actions in a way that made him less at all. in the first books, i think we're given to see him as a child would - and you don't always explain your actions to a child. as the series goes on, we see more and more behind the curtains as to the real machinations behind the events in the book. in this one, i think we're given the final pieces to the puzzle.

after the splitting of voldemort's soul that occurred when harry was given the scar, there really wasn't any choice but for harry to die. that, or let voldemort live and continue to kill people. how could dumbledore have prepared harry for that when he was 15? particularly if dumbldore couldn't know who to completely trust. i liked the fact that he 'used' harry in the way he did. as far as his childhood relationship with grindlewald, i don't see that sullying him at all. he was a kid. i read the passage about his sister, in the confession to harry at the end, to indicate that he wasn't the one who killed her directly - but perhaps he felt his preoccupation with the hallows had blinded him to the nature of his friend.

i enjoyed the change in rowling's writing style in this book. i felt like i could sense her competing desires to justice to the story, and to be done with it. for a while, i thought she might end up just killing them all off, which would have been kind of interesting. adding in the cursing - i thought it was all a bit funny. i didn't really feel that the book dragged through the middle...then again, i read it in a straight marathon session. of course i thought the end was a little cheesy, but there you go. it's still a children's book.

and when the snape bit came up, i was happy for shani and snowy. i've always thought snape had kind of a pathetic character...all mopey and like a little goth bitch - but i'm glad that he was shown to have pulled out the iron balls when it counted.

you never know what will happen in the next several years, but i have to say i'd be a little bit surprised if another book came out that wasn't primarily involved with the children, or that wasn't a prequel dealing with james, lily, sirius and the rise of voldemort and so forth. sure, there's going to be stuff that happened in the 19 years between the book and the epilogue, but after defeating voldemort and scattering the death eaters, it would be pretty anticlimatic. sort of like tacking on a silmarillion book...after frodo leaves middle earth. the story of samwise and how aragorn ruled in gondor. maybe not a bad story, but i think it would pale next to the events we've already been given.

i was kind of expecting a plot twist that more directly dealt with the three hallows - some of sort of necessary combining of the three of them to defeat voldemort in a more direct fashion. they all factored into the final battle, but it wasn't really quite what i was expecting.

regardless, it was worth the read in my opinion.

Lasereth, I 100% agree with your middle statement....I dont get others opinions about that either!!!

Pig, you made me very happy! Finally someone who gets it! I swear if I would have heard one more negative thing about the person in question, spoiler tag or not ida had to defend him. People need to read more carefully and understand why things were done.

Agreed. I thought the actions of said person were well explained.

I agree with everyone on this page.

In regards to your spoiler, I have never read anything about Rowling closing the door to more books about the HP universe, just that she herself feels that she is done with the characters for now.

Photos of Harry Potter Place at the Publisher's main office in SoHo NY.

http://gothamist.com/2007/07/20/new_yorks_own_h.php

Spoiler: Thanks for thinking of me! I was totally stoked that Snape turned out to be an all right guy, and *gasp!* a soft heart. I think perhaps the masterstroke of brilliance in this book on Rowling's part is her ability to make her characters so amazingly human. Certainly, we have characters representative of epic hero archetypes, but at the same time she balances out those ideas with incredible humanity--Dumbledore is a prime illustration of this, as is Snape, as is Harry.

Oh, and Molly Weasley is amazing...though I wish Rowling had killed off Percy instead of Fred.

I forgot to post, that if you are a subscriber to this thread via email, the spoiler tags don't work in emails, only in the forum. I'm not done yet and almost got screwed!

WATCH OUT!!!!

Spoiler: Dumbledore the Sorrocide should be dug up, beheaded, and buried at a cross roads. What right had he to cast aside Snape the way he did? What right to decide that Snape should die? To constantly expose his students to risk for the sake of his power games. Harry UNDERSTOOD that the good shepherd will leave 99 sheep to search for the one lost sheet... Dumbledore worked with acceptable loss ranges (as long as he wasnt the one at risk)

He used and manipulated Harry to do a job he hadnt the stomach or the heart for... Dumbledore's one saving grace in this book was his insight, his knowledge that Harry was vastly superior to him.

SF, all I can say is you got a TOTALLY dif meaning out of the book than I did

Spoiler: His sisters blood was upon him. And he accepted this as an acceptable loss in his progress to be a great wizard. Did he plan to kill her - certainly not; but he was the one who pulled the trigger, who cast the curse. Dumbledore states that he is not certain that he was not the one who killed her, so it is certain that he did. He would have looked at his wand after the duel and known the spells it cast, if he was innocent he would have been sure and said so... are we supposed to believe he never tried to find if it was he who killed her? Are we supposed to believe if the German wizard had been the killer he would not have sought vengence - but instead hid from him in shame until the last moment (causing many more deaths because again he would not do his duty)?

No. Her blood was on his hands... and he was sorry and everything, and he didnt mean it... but why should her murder stop his great career? What is one little idiot girl compared to the Great Dumbledore and all that he can do? So she was cast aside... he would not admit it to Harry because he was a liar all his life and so a liar in spirit he remained. For the sake of her honour he should have admitted the crime, and accepted punishment... but no - he was a great wizard, and the poor girl under the stairs was already gone... so cast her aside, feed her to the wolves.

Being serious, no - he wasnt as cruel as Voldemort, and he did not seek to actively kill for power or sadism... but he was more than happy to throw a few innocents to the lions if it fitted into his bigger picture. He was more than happy to send Harry to fight Voldemort because he didnt have the heart to fight him (or course he knew his supposed "skill" was really only down to the Elder wand).

Snape's blood is upon him, and so are many of the children in the school... but nothing stands out like the sororicide. Any good, whatever he achieved in his career, is nothing to this crime. The murder of his sister and his refusal to face his sin consumes anything else he did, any good.

Dumbledore was not as bad as Voldemort certainly - but they shared a bond, the father killer and the sister killer. Maybe they should lie together at the same cross roads.

remind me again.....

Spoiler: just how was dumby supposed to kill voldemort without killing harry? I must be confused as I thought Harry had to be the one to kill him since he was a horcrux

Spoiler: I was talking about his sister first of all, not Harry... but if Harry was not an "acceptable loss" maybe Dumbledore should not have decided that Voldemort had to be killed. He could simply have been put in prison (Harry nearly always used stun and disarm spells, not killing spells)

ahahahahaha

Spoiler: you SERIOUSLY think voldy could have been imprisoned?

Spoiler: So uhh.. does Harry die?

I've not read a word out of the books.

Spoiler: he died, and he lived

Strange Famous I think you've been reading too much Rita Skeeter