Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1213 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-21
• Released on: 2007-07-21
• Format: Audiobook
• Number of items: 20
• Binding: Audio CD

Amazon.co.uk

The Final Chapter
The pubdate of the seventh and final Harry Potter audio book has been announced, and the rumours are already circulating - what are the Deathly Hallows? Who will make it through to the end? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows CD Set tells the story of Harry's final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and this is set to be the best audio book out of the series! .

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Synopsis
'His hand closed automatically around the fake Horcrux, but in spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, whether in a month, in a year, or in ten, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.' With these words "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" draws to a close. And here, in this seventh and final book, Harry discovers what fate truly has in store for him as he inexorably makes his way to that final meeting with Voldemort. In this thrilling climax to the phenomenally bestselling series, J.K. Rowling will reveal all to her eagerly waiting readers.

Customer Reviews

Stephen Fry is amazing !!
I knew the story was fabulous but it was made even better by Stephen Fry. He is amazing. He brings all the characters to life and uses so many different voices - excellent - give the man an oscar.

Brilliant!!!
I have to say that I actually bought this and read it on the day it come out and it was well worth the wait! The twist with snape and dumbledore was magnificent and things are tied up in this book that have left us wondering throughout the last ones! Why do people slag this book off I dont know - I think its because people werent actually expecting the books to end and were hoping she would keep them going- you could write more off this book though as we could start having books written about harrys parents or children so its not closed off yet! Definitely recommended!

Now the hype has died down a bit...
...it's time to take another look at the book.

The things that still upset me the most about the last book in the series is that firstly, compared to the first five books, it's so poor, and secondly, the character assassination. The Snape, Harry, Hermione, Lupin and Tonks would never behave in the shallow, nasty way they were portrayed to in DH. I never liked the idea of Snape-loved-Lily and hoped so much JKR would not take this cliche route, not least to have it as the SOLE reason Snape was a 'good guy'. Let's face it, he really believed in blood superiority for every other person but some girl he had a crush on. Regardless of cruel upbringing, that's just not a nice trait. He was always vindictive, spiteful and bitter rather than a complex anti-hero who made the right decision in spite of suffering.

Lupin, a good, brave, caring character, suddenly chooses to abandon his wife and child. The whole relationship set-up was shoddy anyway, making the strong Tonks into a clingy, moping waif. Like many other Harry Potter relationships, it seemed based more on lust (or resignation in Lupin's view, perhaps) than genuine love.

Hermione's potential is wasted on a boy who's mocked and misunderstood her the whole series, and in a job she previously thought unworthy of her. Talk about lowering one's ambitions. If JKR was insistant on pushing the relationships, they should have been made realistic and the partners made equal. Instead Ron becomes a whiny, spoilt child who encourages Harry to seduce his sister, and Ginny, after 'giving herself as a birthday present to Harry' (you couldn't make this up...oh. Wait.), vanishes from the story almost entirely. Given the Weasleys are apparently JKR's favourite characters, many of their reoccuring characters at the last read as so flat, impetuous, needlessly nasty and unpleasant that it's near-impossible to like them. Percy might get redeemed, but the 180 flip his character does in order to do so is almsot as annoying as if he'd turned out to be evil. Molly is a murdering harridan. The only vaguely likeable Weasleys either barely appear or pointlessly die.

Gratuitous torture and deaths (don't tell me Hedwig's death 'represented Harry entering adult life' or some such nonsense, and as for Fred...name out of a hat, much?), Unforgiveables being fine when the good guys use them (Harry? Molly? Oh, it's OK for them!), unresolved plotlines (Scrimgeour? What was the point there? The Veil? Fawkes?), historical comparison and metaphor carried FAR too far, the strange and frankly unnecessary epilogue which obviously covered so little of what was intended that JKR has to keep issuing further information regarding the characters' futures (so much for leaving something to the imagination), chapters of pointless exposition and leaps of illogical madness: such is the end to the series.

Admittedly the Harry Potter series was intended as a children's series, but many of the earlier books involved such interesting charcaters and plots that adults enjoyed them too. To be so let down in the final chapters is disappointing and irritating, when it could have been so much better. I have genuinely read better fanfic than this. Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that there the size of the book could have covered all the things that needed to be covered. It just didn't.

Not that there weren't a couple of good points, in a way. Neville was good, and gained some development and heroism. 'Potterwatch' was cute. Narcissa Malfoy, interestingly, was about the only character I personally came out of the book with any respect or liking for. The wedding was sweet, and Fleur and Bill a likeable couple...but these were just too few and far between.

Ah well, it was good while it lasted...until book 5, perhaps.