784!

That's the page count that's being reported for the American version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which reportedly will mean my British edition clock in at around 700 or so.

This will make Hallows the second longest book in the series, and while some people have been critical of Rowling's inability to cut it down, I actually prefer the longer books. The strength of Rowling's story has always been characterization and the detail which she puts into Harry's world, and a longer book just means we get more of that. Otherwise we'd have novel equivalents of the movies, and nobody wants that.

Of course, none of this will matter if Rowling has decided to kill Harry. Based on the responses I received in my highly scientific poll*, if Harry dies at the end of the book culture and civilization as we know it will cease to be and everyone will join mass suicide cults. Talk about pressure.


*Poll may not be highly scientific.