From a boy of 11, Harry has become a young man, determined to take on quite a burden. He suffers because of his commitment, and he's not the only one. Rowling said characters would die, and she meant it. Pain and death are constant companions, and sometimes who is taken is a shocker. The deaths aren't always drawn-out, violent scenes; sometimes, you discover that someone has died at the same time Harry does.

Characters you thought you knew surprise you. Some grow in unexpected (and not always pleasant) ways, while others have more complicated pasts than you could ever imagine. No one's life is simple — with a couple of Death Eater exceptions, many of the characters prove that you can't make assumptions about people's motivations.

Rowling rewards her faithful readers; there are numerous allusions to people, places, spells and objects that were mentioned in earlier books. It's a pleasure to see how she closes the loop she opened so many years ago with the story of a young boy who one day discovered he was a wizard.

And, of course, she answers many questions: Why did Snape kill Dumbledore? Is Snape Harry's enemy? Where are the horcruxes? What are the deathly hallows?

It's been a long, long road to get to this point (the first book was published in the United States almost a decade ago), and Rowling does herself proud. She completes her entertaining, compulsively readable series with a book that is both heartbreaking and hopeful, one that left this reader sad to say goodbye to Harry but thoroughly satisfied at how it all went.

From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" to "Deathly Hallows," Rowling has completed an astonishing cycle of books that can only be described as a true literary classic.

'Potter' reviews on the Web

• www.scholastic.com

• www.jkrowling.com