POTTER STRUCK!
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling (Bloomsbury)
Now that the world’s most closely guarded secret has been revealed, savoured and digested with the release of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, let’s get the worst out of the way. The Harry Potter series, as the world has known and loved for 10 years, has come to a close. There is nothing to look forward to any more – unless you count three cherubic children, one of whom is aptly named Albus Severus Potter, after two of the greatest headmasters of Hogwarts. The final chapter of the book seems to read as though Rowling has been stricken by Bollywood. She signs off in a style truly reminiscent of our trademark Hindi cinema – soppy and sickly sweet.

Harry returns after the longest summer holidays ever. He bears the weight of the entire magic world on his shoulders and we plunge headlong into his adulthood that, beginning with deaths and losses, has a sinister aura permeating it. The toll of casualties in the worldwide wizarding war keeps mounting; a wedding and a birth provide touches of surreal bliss, albeit tarnished with evil portents. Dumbledore on his mind and his best mates by his side, Harry continues on his quest to destroy his nemesis. He faces tougher obstacles, unanswered mysteries, hazy pasts, excruciating visions, estrangement, bitter truths and, almost inevitably, unbearable loss.

Any flaws in the plan? Well, Rowling lets go of Harry far too easily. It’s the last we’re going to see of him, but with the final chapters all we are left with is a strange sense of incompleteness and a hurried goodbye. Yet although the book may not be perfect, it succeeds 100 per cent in captivating and drawing out your emotions at the turn of every page. With Harry – and his friends – hurtling through some chapters, crawling through others, you feel frustration, anger, momentary mirth, followed by foreboding fear, determination, despair, desertion, trauma and finally, triumph. After all, Harry Potter... is a fairy tale and in that realm, good will always conquer evil!