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Editor's warning: This story contains hints about the book's ending.

NEW YORK — The books are out; the word is spreading.

"The last Potter is amazing. It has definitely gone way beyond what I expected," said Deb Kiehlmeier, 16, of Philadelphia suburb Cherry Hill, N.J., about "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which was released Saturday to worldwide ecstasy.

"Harry Potter fans are always trying to predict what will happen next, and J.K. Rowling always gives them something different," Kiehlmeier told The Associated Press.

On Day 1 of the A.H. (After Harry) Era, reviewers and readers mourned the end of a historic series that proved young people can still crave the written word like the crispiest french fry. It was a day for the sleepless and the sleepy to enjoy and to recall one last, fresh taste of Potter.

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune were among those bowing before Rowling's achievement. She was compared to the greats of children's and fantasy authors — J.R.R. Tolkien, L. Frank Baum, Roald Dahl — and held in awe for living up to the most intimidating standards.

"To create such an extraordinary world, fill it with complicated characters and convergent back stories is beyond the reach of most writers," wrote the Los Angeles Times' Mary McNamara. "To sustain that world and grow those characters over seven books filled with plot twists, folklore and even a magical curriculum and then bring it all to an articulate, emotionally wrenching conclusion — that is a truly epic quest."

The AP's Deepti Hajela called the seventh and final Potter a "classic," writing that Rowling "completes her entertaining, compulsively readable series with a book that is both heartbreaking and hopeful, one that left this reader sad to say goodbye to Harry but thoroughly satisfied at how it all went."

"The deaths aren't always drawn-out, violent scenes; sometimes, you discover that someone has died at the same time Harry does," Hajela wrote.

Some readers, ironically, were tougher than the critics, especially about the 759-page book's brief epilogue.

One reader on the Potter fan site www.mugglenet.com even suggested skipping the last chapter, or at least reading it later so the rest of the book could be thoroughly enjoyed first.

Potter is a pastime and a business. Before the release date, booksellers competed worldwide to sell the $34.99 book, with some cutting the price by two-thirds.

Now, the re-sales are starting. On Amazon.com, used copies, and some new ones, were priced at as little as $16, $1.99 less than Amazon's price. On eBay, where just a few days ago a pre-release copy was worth $250, "Deathly Hallows" was offered Saturday for $10.99.