I decided to title this article based on how my oldest son, Aidan, likes to refer to sequels (and for that matter, originals: “Daddy, we’re going to go see Transformers number 1.”)

A few months ago, my wife placed a pre-order for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and assuming we would have completely moved to Phoenix by then, decided to use her grandparent’s address for the shipping address. Long story short, this is the only book of the series that I was able to read before her.

Though it was Becky that got me started on reading the books, I have really enjoyed them, and was looking forward to the book arriving (though I’ve always seemed to like entertainment intended for children). While I am no critic (though, it could be argued that the common reader is the best critic), I did think the book was very well-written; however, I can’t say if I actually enjoyed the book or not.

Becky knows me well enough to know that if I liked a story, it means that no one (of importance) dies; and if I didn’t like it, it means someone I didn’t want to die does (in the case of this book, that would be Harry, Ginny, Ron, or Hermione; sorry, still can’t spoil if any of them live or die, because I don’t want to die myself).

And yes, I’m very shallow when it comes to stories; which is probably why I had a hard time reading some of the assigned Shakespeare tragedies in high school.