Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Review

     Finally! I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows earlier this week. I've been looking forward to reading this book ever since I started the first book back in April. I can't even imagine having to wait a full year before the book was released in 2007.

     In the Deathly Hallows Harry, Ron, and Hermoine must continue on with the mission that Dumbledore left them with. They must find and destroy Voldemort's remaining Horcruxes. Also Harry struggles with the stress of being "The Chosen One." It was said in a prophecy that he was the chosen one to get rid of Voldemort for good. it was said that "one could not survive while the other lives." If he fails then Voldemort will take control of the wizarding world. Which leads me to my next plot point. Voldemort infiltrated the Ministry of Magic and they begin hunting down Muggle born witches and wizards. The parts of the book that mention that are arguably some of the darkest parts of the book. It's reminiscent of the Holocaust when the Germans passed the anti-semetic laws and the Jews were losing their jobs and homes. Everything has been set into motion. Either Harry will triumph and defeat Voldemort once and for all, or darkness will reign at Hogwarts.

     There were two parts I loved about the book. The first one was the Battle of Hogwarts. I remember before I read that I texted my brother "I'm about to read the Battle of Hogwarts. I fear very soon there will be a lot of dead characters." My brother texted back "Say goodbye to your favorites." Yes two of my favorite characters died in that battle. But it was so suspenseful and so well written. I was able to enjoy it. My other favorite part of the book was that final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. Harry's taunting him by calling him Riddle which is his real name. When he finally triumphs and kills Voldemort, it was such a great moment. It's what fans were waiting for so long.

     The other thing I have to say is that for the first six books, I didn't like Professor Snape. However there's a chapter in the book where you learn a lot about him. Not only did I understand him more, I actually grew to love him. He just might be my favorite character in the series. He's the one who sacrificed the most in the fight against Voldemort. I really grew to respect him a lot.

    When I finish a series and I'm sad that it's over, I know I've read a good series. The Harry Potter series will live on forever. It's right up there with The Lord of the Rings for the most influential fantast series of all-time. I don't know why I didn't read this when I was younger. Of course Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows gets 5 out of 5 stars. I'm currently reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. I'll have a review for that when I finish it. I thought of a fitting way to end this review of the Harry Potter series with a quote from Alan Rickman who plays Severus Snape in the movies. "When I'm 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I'll be reading Harry Potter and my family will say to me 'After all this time?' And I will say 'Always.'

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Book Review

     I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I'm very emotionally drained after reading this.

     This book opens with Harry back living in Privet Drive with the Dursleys. Dumbledore comes to get him and takes him try and recruit Horace Slughorn, old teacher at Hogwarts to come out of retirement and teach again. He teaches Potions and Professor Snape finally gets the job he's always wanted, teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Throughout the year at Hogwarts Harry gets he gets help from the mysterious "Half-Blood Prince." Also, the war against Voldemort rages on. Hermoine checks the obituary section of The Daily Prophet every day for familiar names. 

     There's also a lot of mystery in the book as well. The reader will continue to wonder who the Half-Blood Prince is. I thought it was Voldemort at first. Because his mother was a witch and his father was a Muggle so he was a Half-Blood. Also when Dumbledore comes to pick up Harry, his hand is injured and you'll wonder how that happened. All this leads to a very interesting and shocking twist ending.

     I would say this is the darkest book in the series thus far. Mainly because of the final climax of the book. There's a big battle at Hogwarts between some Death Eaters and the Order. It was very suspenseful and that's why I'm so emotionally drained right now. This book is the only one in the series that has a sad ending. The characters are at the lowest they could possibly be. I keep thinking to myself that this is the "Empire Strikes Back" of the Harry Potter series. Because without spoiling too much I feel as if Voldemort and his Death Eaters have won a huge victory.  Professor Umbridge is not in the book too much which I was extremely happy about. But the way the book ended left me devastated.

    Overall I really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. It's not my favorite of the series thus far. It's a tie between The Goblet of Fire and the Order of the Phoenix. But this book was very suspenseful and it leads right into the Deathly Hallows. I'm going to give Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince 5 stars out of 5. I'm looking forward to reading the Deathly Hallows and I'll have a review for it whenever I finish it.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review

     Last night I finished reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was the longest book in the series thus far and it took me about two weeks to read.

     This book opens with Harry and Dudley getting attacked by dementors. Harry has to use magic to save them but since he's underage, he gets expelled from Hogwarts for underage use of magic. However he gets a hearing and he beats the case. He also finds out about a secret order of witches and wizards who fought Voldemort in the last war called the Order of the Phoenix which Ron, Hermoine, and he joins. The main plot of the book is Harry starts teaching his fellow students Defense Against the Dark Arts. Harry must teach them because they are not allowed to practice the counter curses and jinxes under the order of the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; Delores Umbridge. I must say Joffrey Lannister has serious competition for my least favorite literary character. Umbridge was just awful. I don't want to spoil too much in case anybody hasn't read the series but I will say this, you will hate Umbridge more than you will hate Voldemort. That says a lot because Umbridge is not a dark witch she's technically on the good side. She's the undersecretary for the Minister of Magic. But the Ministry on Magic is so full of Bureaucrats I can't say I like any of them.

     One thing this book does really well at is just when you think things couldn't get any worse for Harry and his friends, they do. I would say this was the darkest book in the series so far. It seems to get darker and darker every book. I also loved the direction J.K Rowling took with the characters of Fred and George. There's a scene when they start a riot to get back at Umbridge. I felt a similar feeling when I was reading "A Clash of Kings" when Tyrion slapped Joffrey. It's just so satisfying when a character you cannot stand gets humiliated in some way. 

     I don't think I have any problems with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In my opinion it didn't beat the Goblet of Fire that's still my favorite of the series. But I still will give The Order of the Phoenix 5 out of 5 stars. I have not yet started The Half-Blood Prince however I will review it when I finish it.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Book Review

     Sorry I'm getting this review to you guys a little late. I finished reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about a week ago.

     This book begins with Harry back at home on Privet Drive with the Dursleys and he gets invited to the Quidditch World Cup with the Weasleys. While there they see some of Voldemort's old supporters called the Death Eaters return. When they return to Hogwarts, they find out that the Quidditch season has been cancelled to make way for the Triwizard Tournament. Where two other wizard schools from Europe come to Hogwarts, where a champion is selected, and they have three events and whoever has the highest score at the end of the three events wins. Dumbledore set an age limit on the Goblet of Fire where people submit their names so only sixth and seventh years are allowed to enter. The Hogwarts champion was Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff  But somehow Harry's name got entered and he was selected to be in the Triwizard Tournament as well. Someone is trying to Kill Harry but who and why? 

     I don't even know where to begin this book was so good. The chapters where the events from the Tournament were so compelling and the last four chapters were so white knuckled. Harry gets transported to a graveyard and he witnesses something. That was one of the most intense endings to a book I've read in a long time.    

     The other thing I need to mention is that I had heard that J.K Rowling kills off some of her characters in this series, while the first three books had no casualties, someone dies in this book. I've been told where I am in the series, I shouldn't get attached to any characters.

    Overall I really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This series gets better and better every book. I'm going to give this book 5 out of 5. I'm halfway through the Order of the Phoenix I promise I won't procrastinate to write a review for it when I finish it.

X-Men Days of Future Past Review

     Last night I saw X-Men Days of Future Past. Nowadays whenever I go to a comic book movie that's not made by Marvel Studios, I go in a little skeptical. Especially for an X-Men movie because X-Men 3 The Last Stand and X-Men Origins Wolverine were terrible movies. However Bryan Singer is back directing Days of Future Past and that got me excited. 

    The movie opens and it shows the future and it is grim to say the least. It's similar to Terminator in the sense that war is desolating the whole world. The only way to stop it is to send Wolverine's consciousness back to 1973 and get Charles Xavier and Magneto to get together and stop the grim future from ever happening. 

     I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Bryan Singer still makes good X-Men movies. If this movie was bad I would remember him as the director who made Superman Returns. This movie did a great job at humanizing the characters. James McAvoy is great as Charles Xavier. In the first two X-Men movies you looked up to Charles Xavier but you couldn't relate to him. In this movie you can because when you see him in this movie he is at his lowest low. Micheal Fassbender is awesome as Magneto as well he is one of my favorite actors working today. As is Peter Dinklage who plays Trask in this movie. In the comic book Trask is not small like Dinklage is but he was still perfect for the role. Size doesn't matter for the role what does matter is acting ability. Jennifer Lawrence is also in the movie and without spoiling anything for those who have not seen it she is one of the most important characters in the movie. Another thing I love about this movie is it has a very clever sense of humor. The jokes were really well timed.

     Overall this movie took the problems of X-Men The Last Stand and X-Men Origins Wolverine and it corrected them. I loved this movie, I don't know if it's the best X-Men movie we've had but it was definitely a great X-Men movie. I'm going to give this movie 4.5 out of 5 stars. If you're an X-Men fan, you'll love this movie and also I should mention there are some great Easter eggs and a great post credit scene.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Book Review

     One thing I love about the summer season is sitting outside on a nice day reading a book. Today was such a nice day out so I sat on my back porch and finished reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

    Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was written by J.K. Rowling and it is the third book in the Harry Potter Series. The book begins with Harry on holiday he's back at home with the Dursleys and as usual they treat him terribly. To make matters worse, Uncle Vernon's sister Marge is visiting and she's even worse. Finally, Harry packs his bags and leaves. He goes and stays on Diagon Alley, a street where a lot of wizard shops are. Harry hears reports that a prisoner has escaped from Azkaban named Sirius Black who apparently was the heir apparent to Voldemort. Guards at Azkaban kept hearing Black mutter in his sleep "He's at Hogwarts... He's at Hogwarts." Harry isn't safe not even at Hogwarts. 

     In my opinion, this series is getting better and better with each book. I love the Prisoner of Azkaban more than I loved the first two books. And the first two books were really good. The Prisoner of Azkaban was intrueging, exciting, had a great twist, and a gripping climax. It also had a very satisfying ending. 

    Another thing I love about this series is that the first book was written on an eleven year old reading level, the Chamber of Secrets was written on a twelve year old reading level, and so on. So with each book you read, you're growing with the characters.

     Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite on the series so far. Of course it gets 5 out of 5 stars. I've already started reading The Goblet of Fire so I'll have a review of that as soon as I finish it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Book Review

     This week I finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. As I promised when I reviewed The Sorcerer's Stone, I will now review The Chamber of Secrets. In my last review, I mentioned how I should've read this series a long time ago. To that I still hold because I really enjoyed this book.

     This book starts off with Harry back home living with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and his cousin Dudley. Because they treat him so badly all Harry wants is to go back to Hogwarts. However shortly before his term starts, he gets a mysterious visitor who tells Harry that if he returns to Hogwarts disaster will strike. And strike it does. The mysterious Heir of Slytherin has been causing attacks on students at Hogwarts.

   One thing I loved about the first book is that it was a fantasy novel as well as a mystery, and it had comedic moments as well. This book had all that going for it as well. It was also a darker book in my opinion. Three quarter through the book and the characters were at there lowest low. The attacker still hadn't been caught, the Quidditch season had been canceled, and Dumbledore was going to shut Hogwarts down. Which meant Harry would have to go back to live with the Dursleys. That brings me to another thing I loved about this book. In my Sorcerer's Stone review, I made a point of how much I cared about the characters. The Chamber of Secrets brought that to a whole new level. You really feel bad for these characters when they're at their lowest point. Also The Chamber of Secrets had a very interesting twist, and a satisfying ending which I will not spoil in case there is anyone like me who's reading this series for the first time.  

     Overall Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is right on par with the first one. I don't have any problems with it. I'm going to give it 5 out of 5 stars. I'm about halfway through the Prisoner of Azkaban right now. I'll post my review of it when I finish it.