Harry Potter

I just finished the 7th and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It was good. A very good ending for the series. And as a whole, the series was actually very good. Not many books can follow an eleven year old through school and teenage years as well as J. K. Rowling has done here. Many criticize the later books for being darker and less humorous, but in reality it was the first couple movies that brought out the humor initially rather than the early books. I think for an eleven year old to pick up the first book and read them as they were released, the maturity level increases appropriately. The final book isn't one I would recommend to many pre-teens.

I resisted reading the series until the third or fourth book was on its way and everyone was raving about getting it. So I picked them up to key in on this cultural phenomenon that I had let pass by without much regard. I was so engrossed, I read through the series non-stop and became one to eagerly anticipate the next story. Since then, once another book was announced, I would re-read the previous one to get back up to speed and then read the next installment. A strategy much required for the later books that follow previous events closely and draw upon your growing store of knowledge of past characters and events.

While they can be classified as children's books, I really whole-heartedly recommend them to everyone. They're good stories and a nice escape from the real world. The movies are good too, but no match for the books -- think of them as Cliff's Notes that cover the high points of the stories. It's sad to see the series end, but I am confident any number of side projects and parallel universe books will crop up in the future. Think about the Star Wars and Star Trek series of novels. Most of us just know the movies, but there are entire legions of books that fill in every void and cover all the important historical events left out of the core set. I look forward to seeing the Harry Potter universe expand in this way as well. The various characters are just too rich to let die: Luna Lovegood, Hagrid, the Longbottoms, etc. With the first couple books, some of the text books students were to buy were published along side the novels, so it would be nice to see The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore in print too. I think. That has the potential to be done very poorly, however.

Anyway, read the whole series. It's worth the time.