Does Superman Returns Fly? Like most people I've seen the original Superman Trilogy with the late Christopher Reeves Sporting the legendary Lycra bodice with matching red boots and red cape but the films were as far as my knowledge goes.

The release of ‘Deathly Hallows’, the seventh and concluding chapter in the world famous Harry Potter series was the most widely anticipated event in literary history. But does it satisfy the hype?

The end of the Sixth Book ‘Half Blood Prince’ leaves Harry shaken from his mentor Dumbledore’s shocking death and with the seemingly impossible task of finding and destroying Voldemorts ‘Horcruxes’ to rid the world of the Dark Lord once and for all. Deathly Hallows starts right from where the story was left. Harry leaves behind his only relatives forever, the Dursleys, and we are immediately thrown into a series of action packed life and death situations, in which Harry’s struggle for good over evil test him and his friends to their very limits.

Darker and more shocking than any of its predecessors, Deathly Harrows is littered with the gruesome and sometimes unexpected deaths of long established characters which readers have watched Rowling nuture over the years. We see well known characters develop, often unexpectedly, with good showing their darker sides and seemingly bad revealing their true colours, in the face of adversity.

These dramatic events are brought to life by Rowling’s impeccable descriptive narrative which leaves the reader incapable of putting the book down. At its heart the book carries the same Potter magic and charm which has made the series so successful. Rowling cleverly weaves humour, and the joys of friendship and camaraderie, into the most difficult and dark situations, inspiring true emotion into characters and readers alike.

The heart-wrenching, awe-inspiring, guess-til-the-last-moment climax of the book, is unlike anything I’ve ever read and in many ways seems truly the perfect ending. This fantastic conclusion to a truly magical series satisfies on all levels and shows to anyone who has ever been in any doubt of Rowling’s talent to ‘pull the whole thing off’, just why for the past ten years the world has been engrossed in Potter Mania and will be for years to come.

By peter Murray

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