| Harry Potter books Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
|
|---|---|
| Author | J. K. Rowling |
| Illustrators | Jason Cockcroft (Bloomsbury) Mary GrandPré (Scholastic) |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publishers | Bloomsbury (UK) Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic (US) Raincoast (Canada) |
| Released | 21 July 2007 |
| Book no. | Seven |
| Sales | 44 million (worldwide)[1] |
| Story timeline | 1997–1998 2017 |
| Chapters | 37 (counting the epilogue) |
| Pages | 607 (UK) 759 (US) |
| ISBN | 0545010225 |
| Preceded by | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince |
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh and final of the Harry Potter novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The book was released on 21 July 2007 by Bloomsbury Publishing in the United Kingdom, in the United States by Scholastic, and in Canada by Raincoast Books, ending the series that began in 1997 with the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The novel chronicles the events directly following Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), and the final confrontation between the wizards Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort.
Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in January 2007. Before its release, Bloomsbury reportedly spent GB£10 million to keep the book's contents safe before its release date. American publisher Arthur Levine refused any copies of the novel to be released in advance for press review, although two reviews were submitted early. Shortly before release, photos of all 759 pages of the U.S. edition were leaked and transcribed, leading Scholastic to look for the source that had leaked it.
Released globally in 93 countries, Deathly Hallows broke sales records as the fastest-selling book ever. It sold 15 million copies in the first 24 hours following its release, including more than 11 million in the U.S. and UK alone. The previous record, 9 million in its first day, had been held by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The novel has also been translated into over 120 languages, including Ukrainian, Swedish, and Hindi.
Major themes in the novel are death and living in a corrupted society, and critics have compared them to Christian allegories. Generally well-received, the book won the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award, and the American Library Association named it a "Best Book for Young Adults". A two-part film based on the book began showing in November 2010, when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 was released; Part 2 was released on 15 July 2011.
Contents |
Throughout the six previous novels in the series, the titular character Harry Potter has struggled with the difficulties of adolescence along with being a famous wizard. When Harry was a baby, Lord Voldemort, a powerful evil wizard, murdered Harry's parents but vanished after attempting to kill Harry. Harry immediately became famous, and was placed in the care of his Muggle (non-magical) relatives Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon.
In Philosopher's Stone, Harry re-enters the wizarding world at age 11 and enrolls in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He makes friends with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Harry also meets the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, and Professor Severus Snape, who dislikes him. Harry fights Voldemort several times while at school, as the wizard tries to regain a physical form. In Goblet of Fire, Harry is entered in a dangerous magical competition called the Triwizard Tournament. At the conclusion of the Tournament, Harry witnesses the return of Lord Voldemort to full strength. During Order of the Phoenix, Harry and several of his friends face off against Voldemort's Death Eaters, a group of Dark witches and wizards, and narrowly defeat them. In Half-Blood Prince, he learns that Voldemort has been using "horcruxes" to become immortal. These objects are fragments of a person's soul placed within an object so that when the body dies, a part of the soul remains and the person can be regenerated or resurrected.[2] However, the destruction of the creator's body leaves the wizard or witch in a state of half-life, without corporeal form.[3] Two horcruxes have already been destroyed, one by Harry in the events of Chamber of Secrets and one by Dumbledore shortly before the events of Half-Blood Prince. When returning from a mission to discover a horcrux, Dumbledore is murdered by Snape, a former Death Eater whom Harry suspected of secretly remaining loyal to Voldemort. At the conclusion of the book, Harry decides to leave school, find and destroy the remaining horcruxes, and defeat the evil wizard Voldemort, once and for all.
Following Dumbledore's death, Voldemort continues to gain support and increase his power. When Harry turns seventeen, the protection he has at his aunt and uncle's house will be broken. Before that can happen, at Mad Eye Moody's suggestion, Harry flees to the Burrow with his friends, many of whom use Polyjuice Potion to impersonate him so as to confuse any Death Eaters that may attack. They are indeed attacked shortly after leaving Privet Drive; Mad Eye is killed, and George Weasley wounded, but the rest arrive safely at the Burrow. Harry, Ron, and Hermione know they cannot return to Hogwarts School for their seventh year. Instead, they decide to finish the quest Dumbledore started: to hunt and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes, objects in which he has hidden parts of his soul for the purpose of being immortal. They isolate themselves to ensure their friends and families' safety. They have little knowledge about the remaining horcruxes except the possibility that two are objects once belonging to Hogwarts founders Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff and a third may be Nagini, Voldemort's snake familiar. The whereabouts of the two founders' objects is unknown, and Nagini is presumed to be with Voldemort. As they search for the Horcruxes, the trio learn more about Dumbledore's past. Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour are married, but the wedding is disrupted by the news that Voldemort has taken over the Ministry of Magic.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione flee into London and to 12 Grimmauld Place, where they learn from Kreacher the whereabouts of Salazar Slytherin's locket. They successfully recover this Horcrux by infiltrating the Ministry of Magic and stealing it from Dolores Umbridge. Under the object's evil influence and the stress of being on the run, Ron leaves the others. Harry and Hermione travel to Godric's Hollow, Harry's birthplace and the place where his parents died. They meet the eldery magical historian Bathilda Bagshot, who turns out to be Nagini in disguise and attacks them. They escape into the Forest of Dean, where a mysterious silver doe leads Harry to the Sword of Godric Gryffindor, one of the few objects able to destroy horcruxes, lying at the bottom of an icy lake. When Harry attempts to recover the sword from the pool, the horcrux attempts to kill him. Ron reappears, saving Harry and using the sword to destroy the locket. Resuming their search, the trio repeatedly encounter a strange symbol that an eccentric wizard named Xenophilius Lovegood tells them represents the mythical Deathly Hallows. The Hallows are three sacred objects: the Elder Wand, an unbeatable wand; the Resurrection Stone, with the power to summon the dead to the living world; and an infallible Invisibility Cloak. Harry learns that Voldemort is seeking the Elder Wand, but is unaware of the other Hallows and their significance.
The trio are captured and taken to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix Lestrange tortures Hermione. Harry and Ron are thrown in the cellar, where they find Luna Lovegood, Ollivander, Dean Thomas, and Griphook. They escape to Shell Cottage (Bill and Fleur's house) with Dobby's help, but at the cost of the house-elf's life. Harry knows that Voldemort robbed Dumbledore's tomb and procured the Elder Wand, but he decides to focus on the Horcruxes instead of the Hallows. With Griphook's help, they break into Bellatrix's vault at the Wizarding Bank Gringotts. They retrieve Helga Hufflepuff's cup - a Horcrux - and escape on a dragon. Harry learns that another Horcrux is hidden in Hogwarts, which is under the control of Severus Snape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione enter the school through Hogsmeade (being saved by Aberforth Dumbledore, who explains more about Albus's backstory) and - with the help of the teachers - Snape is ousted from the school. Ron and Hermione go to the Chamber of Secrets and destroy the cup. The trio find Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem (another Horcrux) in the Room of Requirement. Vincent Crabbe casts a Fiendfyre curse in an attempt to kill Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but he instead destroys the diadem, the Room of Requirement, and himself.
The Death Eaters and Voldemort besiege Hogwarts, while Harry, Ron, Hermione, their allies, and various magical creatures defend the school. Several major characters are killed in the first wave of the battle, including Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley. Voldemort kills Severus Snape because he believes doing so will make him the Elder Wand's true master. Harry discovers while viewing Snape's memories that Voldemort inadvertently made Harry a horcrux when he attacked him as a baby and that Harry must die to destroy Voldemort. These memories also confirm Snape's unwavering loyalty to Dumbledore and that his role as a double-agent against Voldemort never wavered after Voldemort killed Lily Evans, Harry's mother and Snape's one true love. It is revealed that Dumbledore had less than a year to live when he died, and that his death by Snape's hand had been per Dumbledore's request, to protect Draco Malfoy's soul. After using the Resurrection Stone to bring back his deceased loved ones for a short while, Harry surrenders himself to death at Voldemort's hand. Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at him, sending Harry to a limbo-like state between life and death. There, Dumbledore explains that when Voldemort used Harry's blood to regain his full strength, it protected Harry from Voldemort harming him; the Horcrux inside Harry has been destroyed, and Harry can return to his body despite being hit by the Killing Curse. Dumbledore also explains that Harry became the true master of the Deathly Hallows by facing Death, not by seeking to avoid or conquer it. Harry returns to his body, feigning death, and Voldemort marches victorious into the castle with his body. However, he shows that he is still alive while Neville Longbottom kills Nagini, the last horcrux, with the Sword of Gryffindor. The battle resumes, and Bellatrix Lestrange is killed by Molly Weasley.
Harry and Voldemort engage in a final climactic duel. Harry reveals that because he willingly sacrificed himself to death by Voldemort's hand, his act of love would protect the Wizarding community from Voldemort in the same way the sacrifice Harry's mother made protected Harry. Harry also reveals that Snape was never loyal to Voldemort and did not murder Dumbledore (Snape killed Dumbledore at Dumbledore's request). Voldemort, who murdered Snape, was never the master of the Elder Wand. Draco was the master of the Elder Wand after disarming Dumbledore, but Harry disarmed Draco at Malfoy Manor, making Harry the true master of the Elder Wand. The wand refused to kill the one to whom it had allegiance, further protecting Harry. During the duel, Harry refuses to use the killing curse and even encourages Voldemort to feel remorse, one known way to restore Voldemort's shattered soul. Voldemort dies when his own killing curse backfires; he and his Death Eaters are finally defeated. The wizarding world is able to live in peace once more.
The novel, the last in the series, closes with a brief epilogue set 19 years later, in which Harry and Ginny Weasley are a married couple with three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna. Ron and Hermione also married and have two children, Rose and Hugo. The families meet at King's Cross station, where a nervous Albus is departing for his first year at Hogwarts. Harry's godson, Teddy Lupin, is found kissing Bill and Fleur Weasley's daughter Victoire in a train carriage. Harry sees Draco Malfoy and his wife with their son, Scorpius. Neville Longbottom is now the Hogwarts Herbology professor and remains friends with the two families. Harry comforts Albus, who is worried he will be sorted into Slytherin, and tells his son that one of his two namesakes, Severus Snape, was a Slytherin and the bravest man he had ever met. He adds that the Sorting Hat takes one's choice into account, like it did for Harry. The book ends with these final words: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well."
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was published by Bloomsbury, the publisher of all Harry Potter books in the United Kingdom, on 30 June 1997.[4] It was released in the United States on 1 September 1998 by Scholastic—the American publisher of the books—as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,[5] after Rowling had received US$105,000 for the American rights—an unprecedented amount for a children's book by a then-unknown author.[6]
The second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998, and in the US on 2 June 1999. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999, and in the US on 8 September 1999.[7] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.[8] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.[9] It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.[10] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on 16 July 2005, and it sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.[11][12]
Shortly before releasing the title, J. K. Rowling announced that she had considered three titles for the book.[13][14] The final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, named after the mythical Deathly Hallows in the novel, was released to the public on 21 December 2006, via a special Christmas-themed hangman puzzle on Rowling's website, confirmed shortly afterwards by the book's publishers.[15] When asked during a live chat about the other titles she had been considering, Rowling mentioned Harry Potter and the Elder Wand and Harry Potter and the Peverell Quest.[13]
Rowling completed the book while staying at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh in January 2007, and left a signed statement on a marble bust of Hermes in her room which read: "J. K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on 11 January 2007".[16] In a statement on her website, she said, "I've never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric." She compared her mixed feelings to those expressed by Charles Dickens in the preface of the 1850 edition of David Copperfield, "a two-years' imaginative task". "To which," she added, "I can only sigh, try seventeen years, Charles". She ended her message by saying "Deathly Hallows is my favourite, and that is the most wonderful way to finish the series".[17]
When asked before publication about the forthcoming book, Rowling stated that she could not change the ending even if she wanted. "These books have been plotted for such a long time, and for six books now, that they're all leading a certain direction. So, I really can't".[18] She also commented that the final volume related closely to the previous book in the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, "almost as though they are two halves of the same novel".[19] She has said that the last chapter of the book was written "in something like 1990", as part of her earliest work on the series.[20] Rowling also revealed she originally wrote the last words to be "something like: 'Only those who he loved could see his lightning scar'". Rowling changed this because she did not want people to think Voldemort would rise again and to say that Harry's mission was over.[21]
In a 2006 interview, J. K. Rowling said that the main theme of the series is Harry dealing with death,[22] which was influenced by her mother's death in 1990, from multiple sclerosis.[21][22][23][24] Lev Grossman of Time stated that the main theme of the series was the overwhelming importance of continuing to love in the face of death.[25]
Academics and journalists have developed many other interpretations of themes in the books, some more complex than others, and some including political subtexts. Themes such as normality, oppression, survival, and overcoming imposing odds have all been considered as prevalent throughout the series.[26] Similarly, the theme of making one's way through adolescence and "going over one's most harrowing ordeals—and thus coming to terms with them" has also been considered.[27] Rowling has stated that the books comprise "a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry" and that also pass on a message to "question authority and... not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth".[28]
Some political commentators have seen J. K. Rowling's portrayal of the bureaucratised Ministry of Magic and the oppressive measures taken by the Ministry in the later books (like making attendance at Hogwarts School compulsory and the "registration of Mudbloods" with the Ministry) as an allegory of criticising the state.[29]
The Harry Potter series has been under criticism for supposedly supporting witchcraft and occult. Before publication of Deathly Hallows, Rowling refused to speak out about her religion, stating, "If I talk too freely, every reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books".[30] However, many have noted Christian allegories apparent in Deathly Hallows.[30] For example, Harry dies and then comes back to life to save mankind, like Christ. The location where this occurs is King's Cross.[31] Harry also urges Voldemort to show remorse, to restore his shattered soul. Rowling also stated that "my belief and my struggling with religious belief ... I think is quite apparent in this book", which is shown as Harry struggles with his faith in Dumbledore.[32]
Deathly Hallows begins with a pair of epigraphs, one by Quaker leader William Penn and one from Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers. Of this, Rowling said "I really enjoyed choosing those two quotations because one is pagan, of course, and one is from a Christian tradition. I'd known it was going to be those two passages since Chamber was published. I always knew [that] if I could use them at the beginning of book seven then I'd cued up the ending perfectly. If they were relevant, then I went where I needed to go. They just say it all to me, they really do".[33]
When Harry visits his parents' grave, the biblical reference "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Corinthians 15:26) is inscribed on the grave.[34] The Dumbledores' family tomb also holds a biblical quote: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also", which is from Matthew 6:21.[34] Rowling states, "They're very British books, so on a very practical note Harry was going to find biblical quotations on tombstones ...[but] I think those two particular quotations he finds on the tombstones at Godric's Hollow, they sum up – they almost epitomise the whole series".[34]
Harry Potter pundit John Granger additionally noted that one of the reasons the Harry Potter books were so popular is their use of literary alchemy (similar to Romeo and Juliet, C. S. Lewis's Perelandra and Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities) and vision symbolism.[35] In this model, authors weave allegorical tales along the alchemical magnum opus. Since the medieval period, alchemical allegory has mirrored the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.[36] While the entire series utilizes symbols common in alchemy, the Deathly Hallows completes this cycle, tying themes of death, rebirth, and the Resurrection Stone to the principal motif of alchemical allegory, and topics presented in the first book of the series.
Christian author Nancy Carpentier Brown also noted many Christian themes, such as Harry marking Mad-Eye Moody's grave with a cross, showing remorse and giving Voldemort a chance to redeem himself, and the Resurrection Stone.[37] She also pointed out that Harry becomes a godfather to Tonks and Lupin's son, Teddy Lupin.[37]
The launch was celebrated by an all-night book signing and reading at the Natural History Museum in London, which Rowling attended along with 1,700 guests chosen by ballot.[38] Rowling toured the US in October 2007, where another event was held at Carnegie Hall in New York City with tickets allocated by sweepstake.[39]
Scholastic, the American publisher of the Harry Potter series, launched a multi-million dollar "There will soon be 7" marketing campaign with a "Knight Bus" travelling to 40 libraries across the United States, online fan discussions and competitions, collectible bookmarks, tattoos, and the staged release of seven Deathly Hallows questions most debated by fans.[40] In the build-up to the book's release, Scholastic released seven questions that fans would find answered in the final book:[41]
J. K. Rowling arranged with her publishers for a poster bearing the face of the missing British child Madeleine McCann to be made available to book sellers when Deathly Hallows was launched on 21 July 2007, and said that she hoped that the posters would be displayed prominently in shops all over the world.[42]
After it was told that the novel would be released on 21 July 2007, Warner Bros. shortly thereafter said that the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix would be released shortly before the novel would be released, on 13 July 2007,[43] making many people proclaim that July 2007, was the month of Harry Potter.[44]
Bloomsbury invested GB£10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until the 21 July release date.[45] Arthur Levine, U.S. editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two U.S. papers published early reviews anyway.[46] There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments—that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series—would no longer be a deterrent.[47]
In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms. On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the U.S. edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date.[48][49][50][51] The photographs later appeared on websites and peer-to-peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source.[52] This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history.[53] Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks.[54] Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real.[53]
Scholastic announced that approximately one-ten-thousandth (0.0001) of the U.S. supply had been shipped early — interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies. One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount. Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties;[55] however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment.[56] Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book."[57] Some of the early release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US$250 from an initial price of US$18.[58]
Asda,[59][60] along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just GB£5 a copy (about US$8). Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices. At these prices the book became a loss leader. This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions. Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price. Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers. Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases. Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in. We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss-leader, like a can of baked beans." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book. At this point, you are lowering the value of reading."[61]
In Malaysia, a similar price war caused controversy regarding sales of the book.[62] Four of the biggest bookstore chains in Malaysia, MPH Bookstores, Popular Bookstores, Times and Harris, decided to pull Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows off their shelves as a protest against Tesco and Carrefour hypermarkets. The retail price of the book in Malaysia is MYR 109.90 (about GB£16), while the hypermarkets Tesco and Carrefour sold the book at MYR 69.90 (about GB£10). The move by the bookstores was seen as an attempt to pressure the distributor Penguin Books to remove the books from the hypermarkets. However, as of 24 July 2007, the price war has ended, with the four bookstores involved resuming selling the books in their stores with discount. Penguin Books has also confirmed that Tesco and Carrefour are selling the book at a loss, urging them to practice good business sense and fair trade.[63]
The book's early Saturday morning release in Israel was criticised for violating Shabbat. Trade and Industry Minister Eli Yishai commented "It is forbidden, according to Jewish values and Jewish culture, that a thing like this should take place at 2 a.m. on Saturday. Let them do it on another day."[64] Yishai indicated that he would issue indictments and fines based on the Hours of Work and Rest Law.[65]
The Baltimore Sun's critic, Mary Carole McCauley, noted that the book was more serious than the previous novels in the series and had more straightforward prose.[66] Furthermore, reviewer Alice Fordham from The Times wrote that "Rowling's genius is not just her total realisation of a fantasy world, but the quieter skill of creating characters that bounce off the page, real and flawed and brave and lovable". Fordham concluded, "We have been a long way together, and neither Rowling nor Harry let us down in the end".[67] The New York Times writer Michiko Kakutani agreed, praising Rowling's ability to make Harry both a hero and a character that can be related to.[68]
Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007, ranking it at #8, and praised Rowling for proving that books can still be a global mass medium.[25] Novelist Elizabeth Hand criticised that "...the spectacularly complex interplay of narrative and character often reads as though an entire trilogy's worth of summing-up has been crammed into one volume."[69] In a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, the reviewer said, "Rowling has shown uncommon skill in playing them with and against each other, and also woven them into a darn good bildungsroman, populated by memorable characters and infused with a saving, irrepressible sense of fun". They also praised the second half of the novel, but criticised the epilogue, calling it "provacatively sketchy".[70] In another review from The Times, reviewer Amanda Craig said that while Rowling was "not an original, high-concept author", she was "right up there with other greats of children's fiction". Craig went on to say that the novel was "beautifully judged, and a triumphant return to form", and that Rowling's imagination changed the perception of an entire generation, which "is more than all but a handful of living authors, in any genre, have achieved in the past half-century".[71]
In contrast, Jenny Sawyer of The Christian Science Monitor said that, "There is much to love about the Harry Potter series, from its brilliantly realised magical world to its multilayered narrative", however, "A story is about someone who changes. And, puberty aside, Harry doesn't change much. As envisioned by Rowling, he walks the path of good so unwaveringly that his final victory over Voldemort feels, not just inevitable, but hollow".[72] In The New York Times, Christopher Hitchens compared the series to World War Two-era English boarding school stories, and while he wrote that "Rowling has won imperishable renown" for the series as a whole, he also stated that he disliked Rowling's use of deus ex machina, that the mid-book camping chapters are "abysmally long", and Voldemort "becomes more tiresome than an Ian Fleming villain".[73] Catherine Bennett of The Guardian praised Rowling for putting small details from the previous books and making them large in Deathly Hallows, such as Grindelwald being mentioned on a Chocolate Frog Card in the first book. While she points out "as her critics say, Rowling is no Dickens", she says that Rowling "has willed into a fictional being, in every book, legions of new characters, places, spells, rules and scores of unimagined twists and subplots".[74]
Stephen King criticised the reactions of some reviewers to the books, including McCauley, for jumping too quickly to surface conclusions of the work.[75] He felt this was inevitable, because of the extreme secrecy before launch which did not allow reviewers time to read and consider the book, but meant that many early reviews lacked depth. Rather than finding the writing style disappointing, he felt it had matured and improved. He acknowledged that the subject matter of the books had become more adult, and that Rowling had clearly been writing with the adult audience firmly in mind since the middle of the series. He compared the works in this respect to Huckleberry Finn and Alice in Wonderland which achieved success and have become established classics, in part by appealing to the adult audience as well as children.[75]
Sales for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were record setting. The initial U.S. print run for Deathly Hallows was 12 million copies, and more than a million were pre-ordered through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble,[76] 500 percent higher than pre-sales had been for Half-Blood Prince.[77] On 12 April 2007, Barnes & Noble declared that Deathly Hallows had broken its pre-order record, with more than 500,000 copies pre-ordered through its site.[78] On opening day, a record 8.3 million copies were sold in the United States (over 96 per second),[79][80] and 2.65 million copies in the United Kingdom.[81] It holds the Guinness World record for fastest selling book of fiction in 24 hours for U.S. sales.[82] At WH Smith, sales reportedly reached a rate of 15 books sold per second.[83] By June 2008, nearly a year after it was published, worldwide sales were reportedly around 44 million.[1]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has won several awards.[84] In 2007, the book was named one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books,[85] and one of its Notable Children's Books.[86] The novel was named the best book of 2007, by Newsweek's critic Malcolm Jones.[87] Publishers Weekly also listed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows among their Best Books of 2007.[88] In 2008, the American Library Association named the novel one of its Best Books for Young Adults,[89] and also listed it as a Notable Children's Book.[90] Furthermore, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows received the 2008 Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award.[84]
Due to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' worldwide fame, it has been translated into many languages. The first translation to be released was the Ukrainian translation, on 25 September 2007 (as Гаррі Поттер і смертельні реліквії).[91] The Swedish title of the book was revealed by Rowling as Harry Potter and the Relics of Death (Harry Potter och Dödsrelikerna), following a pre-release question from the Swedish publisher about the difficulty of translating the two words "Deathly Hallows" without having read the book.[92] This is also the title used for the French translation (Harry Potter et les reliques de la mort), the Spanish translation (Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte), the Dutch translation (Harry Potter en de Relieken van de Dood) and the Brazilian Portuguese translation (Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte).[93] The first Polish translation was released with a new title: Harry Potter i Insygnia Śmierci – Harry Potter and the Insignia of Death.[94] The Hindi translation Harry Potter aur Maut ke Tohfe (हैरी पॉटर और मौत के तोहफे), which means "Harry Potter and the Gifts of Death", was released by Manjul Publication in India on 27 June 2008.[95]
Deathly Hallows was released in hardcover on 21 July 2007,[96] and in paperback in the United Kingdom on 10 July 2008,[97] and in the United States on 7 July 2009.[98] In SoHo, New York, there was a release party for the American paperback edition, with many games and activities.[99] An "Adult Edition" with a different cover illustration was released by Bloomsbury on 21 July 2007.[100] To be released simultaneously with the original U.S. hardcover on 21 July with only 100,000 copies was a Scholastic deluxe edition, highlighting a new cover illustration by Mary GrandPré.[101] In October 2010, Bloomsbury released a "Celebratory" paperback edition, which featured a foiled and starred cover.[102] Lastly, on 1 November 2010, a "Signature" edition of the novel was released in paperback by Bloomsbury.[103]
A two-part film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is directed by David Yates, written by Steve Kloves and produced by David Heyman, David Barron and J. K. Rowling. Part 1 was released on 19 November 2010, and Part 2 on 15 July 2011.[104][105] Filming began in February 2009, and ended on 12 June 2010.[106] However, the cast confirmed they would reshoot the epilogue scene as they only had two days to shoot the original.[107] Reshoots officially ended around December 2010.[note 1][108] Part 1 ended at Chapter 24 of the book, when Voldemort regained the Elder Wand.[109] However, there were a few omissions, such as the appearances of Dean Thomas and Viktor Krum, and Peter Pettigrew's death.[110] James Bernadelli of Reelviews said that the script stuck closest to the text since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,[111] yet this was met with negativity from some audiences as the film inherited "the book's own problems".[112]
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released simultaneously on 21 July 2007, in both the UK and the United States.[113][114] The UK edition features the voice of Stephen Fry and runs about 24 hours[115] while the U.S. edition features the voice of Jim Dale and runs about 21 hours.[116] Both Fry and Dale recorded 146 different and distinguishable character voices, and was the most recorded by an individual on an audiobook at the time.[117]
For his work on Deathly Hallows, Dale won the 2008 Grammy Award for the Best Spoken Word Album for Children.[118] He also was awarded an Earphone Award by AudioFile, who claimed, "Dale has raised the bar on audiobook interpretation so high it's hard to imagine any narrator vaulting over it."[119]
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