Spoiler-free notes on “HP and the Deathly Hallows”

Not that it was a race, but I finished the Potter book yesterday in about 12 hours, taking a couple of breaks to eat and run errands. I usually plan to spread such books over at least a couple of days, but this time I decided from the start that I would read it straight through.

I don’t feel a need to mourn the series or the characters. I enjoyed the book, and at the same time I’m glad it’s done. Other books have affected me more — I wanted “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” never to end, and “Infinite Jest” as well, to name two other doorstop-type recent novels.

But I like the world J.K. Rowling created, her invention and puns, and the choices she made in sticking to and deviating from the classic hero’s journey storyline. I find her writing in the last book to be better than any of the others along the way.

It’s not a series one can pop into at any time; you have to start at the beginning to appreciate the end. There’s little I can say about the end without spoiling it for others, but I think I’m safe in revealing that the end fits the series as well as I might have hoped.