Day 4: Your favorite book of your favorite series.

I'm just going to plagiarize off the Megan of four days ago, because I wrote this on Facebook for something and now I am going to paste it here.  (I cheat, and I eat pumpkins). :)

I'd tell you what you want to hear and say "Oh my god, it's just like Sophie's choice! It's just like Joey Tribbiani choosing between food and sex!" But it's not. As an endearing/obnoxious fan of the series, I've given this a great deal of thought. While Goblet of Fire has got all the buildup, mystery, and suspense you'll ever want from a novel, Order of the Phoenix is the emotional peak of the chain, and Half-Blood Prince is nothing short of brilliant in terms of plot devices, the biggest slice of my love is reserved for the one-and-only Deathly Hallows. It's essentially the Mecca of the series - the one we waited for for ten years of our lives.  I spent so much time speculating, along with the rest of the world, what was going to happen in this book.  It was like the best game ever.  Is Snape on the side of good or evil? Will Voldemort die? Will Harry die? Should Harry die? Blaaaargh! And nobody ever had the answers until July 21, 2007.  Nobody could win these arguments - all they could do was ferociously tear through the books, searching for clues to back up their cause (much the same way people do with the Bible. Except, you know, this is less important).  You better believe my kids aren't going to be allowed to date or drive or have fun until they read the entire series, but even they won't get to experience that thrill of not knowing what was going to happen to the pretend people you loved throughout your entire childhood.  And the book did not disappoint. It had everything I hoped it would and more.  Everything converged in a spectacular array of twists and emotional ups and downs and...I can't even. It was just perfect.

[I suppose this next part contains some vague spoilers. Just in case you haven't read it and nobody has ruined it for you in the past 3 and a half years. :)]

And to the person who's sitting there thinking, "Okay, but what about the epilogue? The epilogue sucked." I agree that Albus Severus is an awful thing to name a child, but you've got to admit that the characters were all consistent, the scene was realistic, and the biggest argument people have against it is that it was "too happy."  Personally, I don't think it needed to have a dark ending. I think the literary world is too pessimistic, and that the idea of good triumphing over evil in the end shouldn't be such a cliche, but something appreciated as realistic. There is good in the world, you know. I think this book did an excellent job conveying that. Through all the chapters. Even the epilogue.

BUT LOOK! NOW I'M DONE! I have officially used up my quota of Harry Potter talk - it's over for my 30 Days of Books-a-thon. Aren't you glad I got it out of the way early?

....Aren't you? :)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Google Books