The boy Who Lived..

I wouldn’t call myself a diehard Harry Potter fan but ever since I started reading about the series four or five years ago (before the fourth book and the first movie came out), I, like thousands or millions of other people in the world have been hooked up in this world of enchantment, mystery, friendship and love,a mong others. I was not a “die-hard” since I hardly read trivia’s, memorize little details like spells, minor characters or get too hooked up with the actors/actresses starring in the movie. BUT, I could say that my following of the series has been faithful enough for me to feel the excitement of each book or movie showing.

Order of the Phoenix
Ok first off, before raving about the book, I should discuss the movie, Order of the Phoenix first. July is what would I call the HP month since it is when the movie every year show followed shortly afterwards (if there is) by the release of the next book. Sadly, this year would be the last of this since, as all of you may now, this is the year Book 7, the last book, was released.

I never expect the movies to fully capture the books they were based on. They are for me, there to show the readers that this is how you should have imagined these scenes. When I watch an HP movie, I usually just go “Oh so that’s how that looks like”. I never expect to find everything that is in the book translated to a movie, after all, we are often times talking about 700 pages or more shrinked down to a less than two-hour-or-so-movie. Thus, I could imagine those who could only watch the movies and did not read the book be puzzled and clueless as the movies could not fully reiterate the whole Harry Potter experience. Nevertheless, I was slightly surprised on how good Order of the Phoenix was, (though it really has the weakest story line of the all the books) For me it was by far the most a movie has stayed in line with the story, as it only involved a few twitches which were understandable because again, movies have time and other constraints compared to reading a book where you can set your imagination run wild with no time limits.

Now for the Last Book
I have finished the book in a matter of two days and after I was done, I lay awake the rest of the night with my thoughts swirling on things that happened in the book. The first thing I did though, after reaching the office is write this, before I hear any of the others’ opinion, I would want to give out mine first unaffected and unchanged by any news or other things I could read in the net.

This for me is the BEST BOOK of the series hands down. The pacing was fast, sometimes too many things happening that you would have to pause and feel like catching your breath first for a minute. This kind of feeling usually happens as you approach the end of a Harry Potter book, when revelations and confrontations usually take place but, this book has been like that from beginning to end. As early as Chapter Four, an encounter with the Order and Death Eaters has taken place and more action happens all through out the book. But nothing can beat this book’s end!!! To borrow from Ron: “[The end] really gives the feeling for the scope and tragedy of the whole thing”. I can’t decide if I want to cry or to shout at the same time.

As I could be giving a lot without warning to those who have not read the book yet, I know I now should use Spoiler Tags:

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The scene was the Great Hall was the BEST!! I have never been that elated in a duel scene with the series. I wish I could hug Harry by the end of it for doing so great! I feel like he had grown up to the best of what was expected of him and even surpassed them. As J.K. has said in the dedication, the readers are those who stood by Harry til the end and I feel like I am truly routing for him at this duel.

The ending was great but I feel like the Epilogue was hurried and insufficient. We only knew what happened to Harry, Draco, Hermione, Neville and Ron but what about the other characters? Somehow, I feel like I needed the proper good bye’s for the characters I have read for years, see what happened to them.

A few questions that I also want to ask: Was Remus’ son a wolf? Did Harry became an Auror? And for a book that was so keen in reminding how important family is, I feel Hermione’s parents were thoroughly left behind, not even having the chance to part take properly in what happening in their daughter’s life.

And was it really necessary to kill so much characters? I feel like each killed was a blow and JK could not have expressed any less that this was not anymore the children's series you had once began to read.

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Never mind. As I said before and would repeat again, the book is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. I hope they would give the movie justice, as it would be the last thing to look forward into in this saga. I think they would have two parts (Matrix style) as putting everything in the book in one movie would just, just strip of its feels, as the book is the most condensed of the series. Sad, as I am though that it is over, I feel thankful that I came across Harry (well it’s hard not to) and joined what I feel like was then a bandwagon, only realizing later it truly is a magical world..