Ten years after Potter-mania first swept the globe, the epic series draws to a close with HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, the hotly anticipated seventh and final book of the internationally revered Harry Potter series. Prophecies will be fulfilled. Beloved characters will die. Questions will be answered. (Is Dumbledore really gone forever? Who is R.A.B.? Is Severus Snape truly a villain?) In this final volume, Harry’s seemingly impossible quest is to discover the locations of the remaining horcruxes--items sacred to Lord Voldemort containing shreds of his soul, making him immortal--and destroy them, saving the world from becoming a Death Eaters’ paradise where Muggles are prey and purebloods rule. Accompanied by Ron and Hermione, Harry embarks on a dangerous, confusing, and often frustrating journey to discover the horcruxes. The trio is repeatedly in dire straits, making their mission seem, at times, doomed. Throughout the series, author J. K. Rowling has been steadily escalating events towards the climatic battle between Harry and the Dark Lord, and numerous seemingly trivial details from the previous novels play important roles--proof of Rowling's masterly control of the sprawling and multi-layered "wizarding world" she has invented. By far the darkest of the novels, this impressive finale shows Harry bereft of his godfather Sirius Black, the wise and secretive Dumbledore, and even his friends, forced to truly grow up and face a fight where he is the sole lynchpin in the battle between righteousness and a nearly omnipotent evil. With modern problems re-imagined in a magical setting, echoes of Christianity, and an unwavering faith in goodness, Rowling’s epic saga will remain a children’s classic for generations to come.