Last night, as I was getting ready for bed, I intended to stay up for perhaps another hour and read another hundred pages or so; I was about a hundred pages into it. I ended up not getting to bed until I had finished the last 700+ pages at three in the morning. It's still unmistakably a Harry Potter story, but I hesitate to call it a children's book. Darker in tone and heavier in content, Rowling is definitely allowing her work to mature. The only problem I had with the book was that it became difficult to like Harry. He became too moody and self-absorbed; in short, too much of a teenager (though I can't say I wasn't that way in my own adolescence; can any of us?). One warning and mild spoiler (in case you haven't already heard): something very sad happens in the climactic scene; prepare yourself for it.

Started: 7/27/2003 | Finished: 8/2/2003

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