UPDATED to include readafew*

The winners of the Harry Potter review contest, picked by you! The reviews for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came pouring in—there were 288 by August 6th (the day the contest ended), and 364 as of right now!

As we said, the top six seven winners get a $50 gift certificate to Amazon, Abebooks, Booksense, or any independent bookseller. These were choosen because they were the reviews that got the most thumbs-up, using our new rating reviews feature. We intended to award the top five, but of course, there was a tie for second, so we’re giving out seven top prizes, total.

Without further ado, the winners:

LadyN’s review was by far the top ranked, with 28 “thumbs-up” when the contest closed (it’s even higher now!). LadyN captures the book perfectly, I think, when she writes:
“In Deathly Hallows, Harry gradually finds himself without several things he has previously believed he relied upon, the truth growing ever more apparent that his true magic is drawn from friendship, loyalty, protection, courage and the pursuit of what is right.”

The next five were all tied, with 19 thumbs-up votes.

sinister_wombat’s review was less glowing, rating the book only 2 stars.** sinister_wombat found fault with the consistency of Rowling’s world, and notes that: “Harry’s quest for the hallows feels like a clunky story haphazardly thrown into the main narrative with no real point or purpose.”

xicanti’s review appreciated the way the entire series built to this final book, saying, “Many, many times, I found myself crowing with glee as a long-running plot point was summed up, or when one of my theories proved correct.”

ablueidol’s review sums it up by saying, “Expect that the story and the consequences are darker. Discover that loose ends from the various stories are tied up. And that all that glitters is not gold.”

invisiblelizard, it appears, read the book through the night (as many of us did). The review notes that the “ending … timed to coincide with the first rays of sunlight after a long night, felt warmer to me. Even with several main characters left on the floor.”

Kerian’s review celebrates the Boy Who Lives—”Filled with surprises as well as chapters that had me crying all the way through them, this is a book I will reread for decades to come. J.K. Rowling has created a marvelous series, full of love, tears, and laughter. Without a doubt, the Muggle world will never forget the name Harry Potter.”

readafew’s review was a great (and spoiler free!) journalistic commentary: “What? You want to know about Harry Potter? Sorry, I can’t answer any questions about on-going investigations….”

The other fifty winners were pulled randomly from all the members who both wrote a review and voted for others’ reviews. It’s kind of neat to see how many people participated all around.

These 50 winners get a free membership to LibraryThing*** and a CueCat for entering their books.****

Congratulations to all, and thanks for writing. These were truly fun to read.

*So we pulled the top winners by calculating the number of votes minus the number of flags against that review, as of Aug 6, when the contest closed. But it mistakenly counted flags against the review that had been applied *after* the fact, which counted readafew out. So thanks to all for setting me straight, and thanks to the Hogwarts Express crew, who noted the correct winners, waited patiently for me to blog this, *and* wrote a fantastic song… 🙂
**I think this allayed a lot of concerns about the “thumbs up” review voting feature—that people would only give positive reviews a thumbs up. Good job, folks.
***You’ve already got one? Pass it along to a friend!
****We’re sending you a profile comment if you won, but if you have comments disabled, or if we miss you somehow but you see yourself listed here, then send an email to info@librarything.com to claim your prize.