I have usually maintained that J.K. Rowling is a great storyteller but merely a decent writer. I feel that she may have finally proven her art proud with this, the final installment of the Harry Potter series. One of the problems that I had with the series from the beginning is that there are always loopholes (come to think of it, the series begins and ends with a loophole), deus ex machina, and sparks of brilliance in the middle of nowhere — things that seemed childish, but necessary to move the plot along.

However, the series proved early on that it was not written with children especially in mind. While the first three books proved to be innocent capers inside the halls of Hogwarts, with easily foiled enemies and pangs of adolescent drama, the rest of the series deepened in intensity quite rapidly — perhaps from the very first chapter of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Suddenly, there was background and deaths that began to grow closer and closer to Harry himself — deaths that he would be forced to witness and cope with. From this stems my other problem with the series: the overwhelming angst. People die, certainly, but Harry doesn’t ever let them go. He turns against everyone, screams, rages, broods, and becomes quite annoying. Was it really necessary? Perhaps — I doubt any of us could have better handled the situations. Was it classy? Certainly not.

This book, thankfully, tones down the angst to a few pointed intervals — unlike Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price which was primarily composed of angst and teeny-romance, this book actually tries to get the main characters thinking — thinking and acting.

Without giving anything away, I suppose my final verdict would be that the book rounded off the series nicely — but not perfectly (and I’ll admit, rather wimpily). There are still several holes, several inconsistencies. It’s not the happiest ending, no, but I admire the detail with which Rowling crafted the background of this story — the betrayals, the plots, and the final encounters that so many tried to plan and predict — and that so many others tried to spoil.

I think this book turned out merely the second largest spoiler turnout since the books came out — the first being the little catastrophe when the ending of Half-Blood Prince was leaked. Spoilers, while dreadfully annoying, don’t really spoil the book. They reveal key plot items of a book, but never how or why — that’s what the rest of the book is for. If one page out of seven hundred is the most valuable of all, why were the other six-hundred and ninety-nine written? Needless to say, I avoided spoilers like the plague before I got this book. I’ve foiled them before, and I daresay I’ve foiled them again. I, like so many other people, delight in the full experience of a book or a movie — otherwise, there’s no real joy, happiness, sadness, or fear. There’s just an empty feeling of knowing what’s going to happen — maybe even when — but never why; why, in a novel, is always the most important factor. Why? is what we ask when characters live, die, or move apart. Why? is what we always want to know — that is what spoilers can never give but what reading can. To all spoilers (you guys suck), wannabes or repeat offenders, nice try, but a well-written novel cannot be simply revealed; it must be understood.

So thank you J.K. Rowling, for several years of entertainment, waiting, and endured nerdiness. Thank you for living up to expectations and fully closing off the world that you so lovingly created. Thank you for writing.