Blogging Deathly Hallows

Well, I can't resist writing about the absurdly huge event that is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, so I think I'm going to blog as I go. I don't plan on giving away any spoilers, and if I'm writing anything that even comes close I'll give PLENTY of warning. Believe me, the last thing I want to do is ruin the book for people. I'm not that guy. Mostly I just wanna write down some general observations, mention any allusions I catch, and try to keep track of all the references to the older books that I haven't read since they came out. You can't hold that against me, right?

With that out of the way...

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You can tell from the start that this is a very different Harry Potter book. Did anyone else notice the "We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter" on the inside jacket cover? And how about the Aeschylus and William Penn quotes before the first chapter? I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I am somewhat concerned that this whole thing is getting too big for its britches.

I'd remembered that Bellatrix and Sirius were related, but I didn't remember the exact connection. I looked it up on Wikipedia, where they have a remarkably complex family tree. (As an aside, Wikipedia is full of spoilers. I'm managing to evade them, but it's tough. I suggest you avoid it.) As I thought, the two are first cousins. What I didn't realize is she has two sisters; one is Tonks's mother (thus the niece references) and the other is Lucius Malfoy's wife Narcissa (thus the references to them being, well, sisters.)

The other thing that I had to look up was the mirror shard that Harry has in his trunk. Apparently, it is a two-way mirror. You use it by speaking someone's name, at which point you both can see each other and communicate. As far as I can tell, Harry has never actually used it prior to Deathly Hallows, and I have no idea how it got broken. Just from being in the trunk? Anyone know?

Okay, back to reading.