First, I will give my thoughts on the series as a whole. Then I will get into the individual books.
There has been a lot of debate about the Harry Potter series in Christian circles ever since the books became popular. Since this debate has been sufficiently hashed over in many other places, I won't get into all the ins and outs here; however, suffice it to say that I know people whose opinions I highly respect on both sides. As such, I determined to read the series for myself to see what I thought.
That being said, I do feel as if I should address one argument that I have often heard used against the Harry Potter series. Namely, that it it based around witchcraft and magic. On one hand, I see the concern; however, I also believe that the development of this argument came about due to a misunderstanding of the series' genre. Harry Potter is classified as fantasy, and fantasy books usually include some form of magic. For example, I have yet to hear of anyone arguing against the Chronicles of Narnia or Lord of the Rings simply because their stories contain some form of magic. Yes, Harry Potter is technically set in England, the "real world" if you will; however, it is still a fantasy based real world that includes creatures such as centaurs, dragons, and giants to name only a few. In other words, although Hogwarts is a school of "witchcraft and wizardry," it is not what one could consider "real life" witchcraft and magic. It is fantasy and should be judged as such.
I had heard before that Rowling designed the books, and therefore Harry, to grow with the original readers. This became clear as I read through the series. Since each book covers one year of time, one needs only to look at the length of the last four books (636, 870, 607, and 864 pages) compared to the first three (223, 251, and 317 pages) to guess that this would be the case. Not only does each book grow more complex in both plot and vocabulary, but the suspense grows as well. In addition, though none of the books had an abundance of it, the end of the series contained characters swearing whereas I noticed none early on. I'll talk more about this below for each book separately.
As far as negatives go, my major problem can be summed up very simply in the phrase "the ends justify the means." Throughout the entire series, this philosophy is heavily prevalent. What Harry and his friends actually do does not matter so much as their intentions behind doing it and what they were trying to accomplish by it. Despite Harry constantly breaking rules, he only sometimes gets into trouble for it and is hardly ever considered to be in the wrong even when he does get into trouble. As long as the characters intended to do good, and especially if they succeeded, how they went about it did not matter.
Secondary to that is the issue of respect for authority. I am pleased to say that this seemed to improve as the series went on; however, overall, Harry and his friends believe themselves to be above the authority. There are many times that the best and most logical thing for Harry and his friends to do would be to go to one of the professors with the information and suspicions that they have. For the most part, this does not happen. When it does, the reader is left with an impression that those in authority either do not believe them, do not care, or are unable to do anything about it. As I said, this improves as the series progresses and especially as Harry and Dumbledore's relationship develops.
Now for each book separately:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - The entirety of the Sorcerer's Stone honestly felt like a set up for the remainder of the series. The reader is introduced to the characters, Hogwarts and its four Houses, the game of Quidditch, the whole system of magic that is used, and so forth. Although the book has its own plot line, even that seemed like a teaser for the rest of the series and secondary to the development of other things. I did enjoy it as an easy read, since it is definitely written on an upper elementary school level. However, if this were the only book, I would be disappointed.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Now that the reader has all the background provided in the Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets begins to focus more on the characters themselves. In my opinion, the overall plot was more developed and engaging. It was also more suspenseful, save for perhaps the revealing of the villain near the end. This caused me to enjoy Chamber of Secrets more than Sorcerer's Stone. However, for elementary aged children, it is somewhat darker and more frightening, especially for those who are scared of spiders and snakes.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - The Prisoner of Azkaban added a lot more suspense to the story than either the Sorcerer's Stone or the Chamber of Secrets had. Whereas the Sorcerer's Stone was background and set up and the Chamber of Secrets was development, the Prisoner of Azkaban was history. Throughout the story, Harry learns a lot about his parents and the events surrounding their deaths. The conflict between friends, although perhaps a little overdue, also gave the reader further insight to the characters. After three years of friendship, it almost had to happen sooner or later. The biggest element, however, was the plot twists. The situation I thought existed in the first half of the book was not the situation I found myself in during the second half. Still, I will say that the Prisoner of Azkaban ended up being my favorite of the seven Harry Potter books. The writing becomes what I would consider a middle school level, and the situations our hero finds himself in reflects that. I do not believe that a child who is ready for the Sorcerer's Stone would automatically be ready for the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - The Goblet of Fire marks a turning point within the series. In my opinion, a reader could almost begin by reading the Prisoner of Azkaban and understand everything going forward. Each book has progressively grown in difficulty, length, and suspense; however, the Goblet of Fire makes a far greater leap than any of the first three. Not only is it twice as long as the Prisoner of Azkaban, with longer chapters, but reading level has also taken a significant jump. The first two Harry Potter books were clearly written on an upper elementary school level. The third I would classify as middle school level; however, depending on the child, I could see adjusting that. The Goblet of Fire, on the other hand, left me with the distinct impression of "Not until they're teens!" The storyline is much darker than any of the prior books. In order to avoid spoilers, I will leave out details, but one should be aware that this book deals much more with the "Dark Side" of magic. Curses are used; one character is killed; and although gory details are left out, injuries include the lost of a limb. The suspense was excellent! Although the story was a bit slow moving at times, it all served to build a false sense of security. There were points where it was hard to know who to trust, and the climax left my heart pounding. Throughout, the character development continues, leaving the reader with the distinct impression that Harry and his friends have left their childhood behind.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - I found the Order of the Phoenix to be the hardest book of the series to get into. At 870 pages, it is the longest book of the series, and to be honest, not a lot seems to happen until the last couple hundred of them. I recognize that much of that is necessarily due to the plot. The majority of the wizarding world is denying what Harry and the others know to be true. Harry is frustrated that he cannot do anything about what is happening, or that nothing is happening, and the reader can sympathize. The bursts of action that do happen seem to be over in a couple chapters, and it is right back to the plodding pace of before. All that to say, I see the reasoning and skill behind it; however, it does make for a less exciting book overall. The tone set in the Goblet of Fire continues, but in a subdued form. This is definitely not a book for elementary kids, but for teenagers. However, it is less dramatic and scary than the events in the previous book. There are several lengthy conversation scenes where missing information is thrown at the reader, allowing some of the missing pieces of earlier events, both in this book and the series, to be filled in. I still enjoyed the Order of the Phoenix; however, I would consider it to be my least favorite of the series.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Although on a lesser scale than the Order of the Phoenix, perhaps because of the smaller page count, not a lot seemed to happen in the Half-Blood Prince between the first 100 pages and the last 150 pages. Between these markers is a history lesson on Tom Riddle. To be honest, very little else seems to happen save for Harry's new-found potions help being questioned along with the doings of Draco Malfoy. However, the biggest question throughout is what to make of Severous Snape. I won't give the answer, but it is hotly debated through Harry's six-year-running dislike and suspicion verses Dumbledore's unwavering trust in the man. Overall, the Half-Blood Prince was mostly set-up for the Deathly Hallows. The reader now has more information about Voldermort, and the way he can be defeated, than before, yet is still left with many questions.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - As with the Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince, I did not find the Deathly Hallows to be a page turner until over halfway through the book. In the case of Deathly Hallows, however, this was not to do with lack of things happening as much as the pace at which they happen. Some points of the plot, however, did seem a little forced. Harry's discovery of parts of Dumbledore's past have a greater effect upon him than seemed realistic to me, given who most of the facts come from at first and Harry's relationship with Dumbledore from the previous books. Also, the Horcrux's effect on Ron in particular seemed too similar to the effects of the One Ring in Lord of the Rings, and his and Harry's argument seemed to serve no purpose other than to get Ron out of the way for a while. However, there were other elements of the plot that I did appreciate, though with a love/hate relationship. The Deathly Hallows takes place in a war, and unlike many authors who refuse to allow a war to kill any of their main or loved characters, Rowling allows no less than six main characters to come to such a fate. As was said to me when I was partway through the book, one only need to ask who's still alive to know how far a reader has gotten. I t made the story more realistic and meaningful; however, that does not change the emotional turmoil associated with losing certain favorites. To avoid spoilers, I will avoid going into details; however, the issue of euthanasia is also presented. And then there is Severus Snape... Wow. The conclusion was enjoyable; however, it left something to be desired for me. I have no complaints with the epilogue, as some seem to, and even enjoyed the picture of life continuing in the next generation. For me, I want to know more of the immediate aftermath and would have liked to see reactions from more of the characters that we as readers have followed for so long. I would count this on the same reading level as Order of the Phoenix and the Half-Blood Prince. However, I did notice more swearing in Deathly Hallows than I am remembering in the previous two. All in all, the Deathly Hallows was a enjoyable book and the conclusion to an excellent series.
In summary, I enjoyed the Harry Potter series. However, these are not books that I would merely hand to a child to read without some stipulations and discussion. Many themes are addressed throughout the pages--friendship, courage, loyalty, right and wrong, love, death, loss, honor, and more. Not every child will be ready to discern and address these issues on their own. In addition, the seven books range from upper elementary level reading at first to high school level by the end. These books were designed to have Harry grow up with the reader from 11 years old to 17 years old at a year per book. Enjoy them, but be ready to talk about them.
Such are my thoughts on Harry Potter.
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