JK Rowling is a juggler of extraordinary ability. Over the past 10 years, she has held aloft an incredible number of characters, backstories and plotlines with a literary dexterity that has left many of us somewhat spellbound. Now, finally, over the course of 607 tightly plotted pages, the juggler pulls off one final acrobatic feat. Then the balls are caught and laid down - none is dropped - and everything that passed before is seen to have a shape and meaning.
By no means is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a perfect book. In some ways it is predictable, and the middle section is soggy as the many plotlines leading to the end game are painstakingly built up. However this is the book that we wanted, the one that fits together parts of a puzzle gathered from as far back as book one. It is a satisfying yarn that brings to a nailbiting conclusion, the epic quest of the Boy Who Lived.
The story opens close to Harry's 17th birthday, which is when he loses the protective charms that his dead mother's sacrifice have afforded him - not the best state of affairs for someone setting out to fulfill a destiny that is inextricably tied to that of the evil Lord Voldemort.
For sure, Harry has faithful Hermione and Ron on his side, as well as the powerful members of the Order of the Phoenix; in fact, the green-eyed boy with the scar has become the symbol under which anyone resisting the Dark Lord rallies. But Harry has lost his best protectors along the way: his parents, godfather Sirius Black and headmaster Dumbledore.
In the best tradition of the hero's journey, however, this is necessary: ie, Luke Skywalker needs to lose Obi Wan and Frodo needs to be without Gandalf's counsel, by the time each approach the end game. It is on his own that the hero must defeat the evil villain that threatens his world, and almost more importantly, discover for himself the stuff he is truly made of.
At the heart of Deathly Hallows - we are irresistibly reminded of Star Wars and Anakin Skywalker - is a choice that Harry must make between personal glory and the greater good. In other words, should Harry continue with the increasingly murky and dangerous mission that Dumbledore has set him - concerning the Horcruxes - or seek out the power of the titular Deathly Hallows?
Horcruxes, as most of us know by now, are the devices in which the darkly evil He Who Must Not Be Named has secreted away parts of his soul. Harry needs to find and destroy each of these Horcruxes before he can hope to destroy Voldemort once and for ever. This search sets the pace for the physical action and events of Deathly Hallows.
And yes, we do enjoy all the action - the fabulous sequence of Harry being spirited away from his Muggle home or the apocalyptic battle against the Death Eaters - and we do mourn the casualties of war along the way. The bodycount, as it turns out, is way higher than the recent feverish speculation of 'which two characters will die?' But the strength of the book, equally, derives from the consistency and intricate detailing of Rowling's imagined world, from characters who are flawed but real, and from an obstinate, unfashionable belief in the power of love.
Many of us who awaited the release of the book, really, didn't want advance copies or reviews that jumped the queue or information about - supposedly - leaked facts. The reviews and dissections could come after; the magic lay in the spells cast by the characters within and outside the book - and in discovering how the journey ended alongside the boy with the scar, who started out with us.
As for naysayers who pooh-pooh our fascination for a bunch of imaginary characters, we might offer them the same advice that Dumbledore gives Harry on one occasion: 'Of course, it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?'
