HARRY POTTER devotees will not be disappointed with this final instalment because, impossible as it may have seemed, J K Rowling has quite simply outdone herself. The decade-long wait for the last chapter in the Harry Potter series looks like it was worth it, as answers to the hundreds of clues and red herrings that Rowling has skilfully weaved into the first six novels come thick and fast.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is unrecognisable from the other books which, as the more discerning readers have always complained, are very formulaic in their lay-out. The notion that bad things don't happen to our hero until June is dispelled as early as the second chapter, however, as the bloodbath Rowling promised us begins and Harry has to deal with the loss of important figures in his life from the very beginning.

Loss is the predominant theme of this novel but even the prepared reader will be shocked at how much hardship Harry, Ron and Hermione have to cope with, as they are left to fend for themselves without the protection of Hogwarts, Aurors or even the Ministry of Magic. The mission . . . to collect the remaining four horcruxes in which Voldemort's soul is hiding . . . is fraught with confusion and dead ends. When Dumbledore leaves each of them a mysterious item in his will, it only adds to the mysteries the three friends, and their readers, have to unravel.

And ever present are the Death-Eaters, bent on taking over the wizarding world, while Lord Voldemort swoops in and out with frightening intensity.

Harry is his only mission and there are several clashes between our hero and the Dark Lord. There are only so many lucky escapes Harry Potter can have, however and in the end, he must defeat his nemesis or die trying.

Fans of old-school Harry Potter will approve of the fact that Rowling has given over the final book to the three characters whose friendship was long ago sealed beside an unconscious troll. Peripheral characters like Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and even Harry's love interest, Ginny Weasley, play a small role in this final instalment as they deal with their own problems in the guise of the new headmaster at Hogwarts.

Throughout his life, Harry has been abandoned by all of the most important figures in his life and when a serious rift occurs between him and his two closest friends, an inexorable hopelessness sets in. As Harry is slowly stripped of everything he has loved and relied on, it becomes increasingly unclear whether the world's favourite hero is going to live or die.