Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

How it reads

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is fantasy (young-adult epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are friendship, power and politics and love. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending resolves happily. At 759 pages it's a real commitment. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.