Impressions of a Brazilian Muggle on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Prologue - My first encounter with Harry Potter

2006's 2nd half of November, a very stressing period that i will remember with joy for the rest of my days(even being a stressful time, I've had loads of fun). The final sprint of my graduation paper was on. After spending days in zombie mode due to a stressful condition (symptoms included constant sickness + blood pressure drop-downs and insomnia) my partner and myself delivered our final paper. After the "software development menagerie" i wanted to clear my mind entirely. The question was "How?"
The funniest thing is that the answer was right at the side of me, at a desk filled with books that mum was organizing. A red pocket book, British printing with a big title : "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" reminded of my frustrated attempt to read a fiction book in pure/raw English 2 and 1/2 years before.

Distractedly i started reading it, with a slight feeling that the book was kind of "childish" in its first moments. That observation faded totally when i noticed that i was at chapter four. The following day the reading got more intense and after 8 chapters i was in love with every element of the book. It was the kind of magic and blissful abstraction that my mind needed.
In five weeks from that day, i bought and passionately read every Harry Potter book i could get my hands on, just like millions of people around the globe.

After "The White Tomb"
With the Eyes filled of water, stunned by a rush of intense sadness and with thousands of questions in the mind, i closed the paperback of "Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince" somewhere in March/2007 feeling the luckiest guy in the world for falling in love with J.K Rowling's Universe literally at the final year of the series. But still had to wait for four months till the Deathly Hallows release. In order to calm down, just tried to imagine how the early readers were feeling after a wait of two years....

Review - pt. 1

Friday, 20/07/2007 19:50(U.K time: 23:50) With a mixture of anxiety and fear, i headed to one of São Paulo's largest bookstores. Well, i couldn't reach the bookstore in time to see the opening of DH's boxes, but 35 minutes late. The place was packed with people, and at least 50% of them were holding fresh and thick Deathly Hallows copies. I've never saw something like this in my entire life! People couldn't resist to have a go in the book even in the cashiers! Cosplayed fans were holding empty book boxes like trophies, some of them were teasing each other opening random pages and trying to come up with bombastic events. I really wanted to socialize with them and discover which Brazilian Harry Potter clans they belonged. But the idea of listening to unwanted spoilers terrified me, so i grabbed my copy as fast as i could, bolted to one cashier line and went home kinda like Charlie Bucket when he found the Golden Ticket.

Before any "review word" i would like to state something : This book is supposed to eliminate any comments like "Harry Potter is kiddy literature". If some people complained that Half Blood Prince was the darkest book in the series. Seems now that it lost its throne. Compared to Deathly Hallows, HBP is as light as Philosopher's Stone's early chapters... lol

I surely bet that even Stephen King got goosebumps while reading this one.

This book is pure action, if you expect the traditional warm-up at the beginning like most books you'll be stupefied. Worst, the "relaxation" periods between the events are tiny, so when you are barely recovering from one blast, another hits your face. It feels like facing 30 Death Eaters alone. It's tense, intense and the most "unstoppable-reading" book in the series... hours pop out like minutes. Scary...

And here i am now... 2 days later, with half of the book read. Feeling tired and wired just like Harry. I'm starting to suspect that the book itself is a Horcrux :)

Review - pt. 2


(7 days later...)

Well.. here i am now, and it's been thirty minutes that i closed the hardcover of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with the feeling of landing back on earth after a long trip.
I want to reassure that this book is not for the faint hearted. The second half of the book is still marked by emotional thunderstorms and a handful of new deaths. What a carnage! Couldn't bear to avoid my hands trembling in most of those moments, geez , i was so nervous!

It's in the second half of the book where most of the secrets that we've been dying to know are revealed. It gets clearer that Mrs. Rowling wants to settle the score for good.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the most GLORIOUS requiem given for a saga ever! If you got emotional at the end of "LOTR- The Return of The King" get ready to cry your eyes out.

If you still haven't read the book , what are you waiting for?? Go for it and read it with passion cause it's a gift from Jo for all the fans.

Now we only have to wait for the 7th movie!! I'm voting in Peter Jackson for director! He's a natural when it comes to transform literate fantasy into movies. It would be a great way to finish the Harry Potter saga for once(how about 3 hours of running time?? Hell yeah!)

Seven shards of pure magic. Magic capable of making your mind fly high toward the infinite roofs of imagination where time and space ceases to exist...