I had some extra time at Heathrow yesterday and didn’t have a book with me so I picked up a copy of the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I read it in the airport and on the flight home and it was ok. Better than the last two I think, the plot moved along better, but I realized one reason it seemed to drag out is J.K. Rowling’s insistence on following her formula of each book taking one full school year. That felt very forced to me and could have been compressed for the last book without hurting it at all. Like the last couple of books it could have used a more forceful editor working on it with Ms. Rowling, but once you are the richest author in the world you get to tell the editor to stuff it and it showed. There were many sections that could have used a real trim. The meat of the book is pretty good, the showdown is everything you want in a set piece summer book the characters stay likable right through to the end. I won’t give any spoilers other than the big Crying Game one in the news about Hermione really being a man* but simply put, if you liked the series you will will almost certainly like the last book.

* This may not be true.

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