J. K. Rowling has once again penned an amazing story that even surprised people who had been speculating and theorizing about the series for years. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, released on July 21, 2007, is the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter Septology. JKR’s narrative is brilliant, and the characters believable. Personally, I like Deathly Hallows better than it’s predecessor, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though it’s not my favorite of the series. Can one really have a favorite among seven amazing books? If I had to choose a favorite, it would probably be Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

In Deathly Hallows, Harry leaves the Dursleys for the last time, going to The Burrow for Bill Weasley’s wedding. On his seventeenth birthday, a day before the wedding, he is legally enabled to use magic outside of Hogwarts. On that day, he also finds that Albus Dumbledore had left him and his friends a number of odd objects with no explanation why. Their importance only comes into play later in the book.

Right after the wedding, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave The Burrow to hunt for Voldemort’s four remaining horcruxes. With several setbacks, discoveries, and close encounters with Voldy’s followers, they eventually succeed in finding (and destroying) most of them. Unfortunately, one horcrux remains….plus Lord Voldemort himself.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one of the best books in the series. It’s absolutely packed with plot-twists, explanations everyone’s been waiting for, and surprises no one would have guessed. I highly recommend this book, though you should definitely not read it unless you’ve read the previous six books in the Septology.

You heard that right. The Site of Requirement has an article up about the whole thing.

Photos of book pages (supposing it’s the real book and not a hoax) were spread through BitTorrent. Scholastic has obtained a court order, with the intent of identifying the book-spoiler. The torrent files have been removed, and the images as well I believe.

The Leaky Cauldron has made yet another countdown to the upcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (to be released July 21). The new countdown features a rotating Deathly Hallows book and a daily trivia question. Other countdowns can be found on The Leaky Cauldron Countdown Page and The Site of Requirement Countdowns Page.