Originally I had posted up between Hunger Games and Harry Potter. HP won by a landslide. I had planned to just move on to Hunger Games next but since it lost so terribly I wasn’t sure if I should just assume that is my next series. So, I will open this up to a vote. Poll will remain open for 1 week.
*Spoilers Ahead* Just in case I wasn’t the last person on the planet to read Harry Potter.
I finally finished up the series. I won’t lie I did enjoy it much more than I thought I would.
Books 1-3 almost did me in. I really debated if I wanted to keep going with the series or not. But book 4 turned it around for me. I really liked 5. 6 was my favorite. And I felt like 7 could have been fantastic but missed the mark pretty terribly.
I think much of my lack of enthusiasm is unlike everyone else I know I didn’t start reading the books when I was Harry’s age. So, to go back to being eleven doesn’t hit home. 4-6 though did up the excitement, action, and overall just were better written.
The two biggest things that bothered me of the entire series was the way Rowling stuck to the school year long story telling every single book. There are only so many times where someone can forget to save the world because he has finals. Every single book has a series of months that jump by just to hold to the year long story telling.
The second was how Rowling faces death. The only two characters I felt for when they died were Dumbledore and George. Everyone else gets a single sentence that basically comes down to, and then they were dead. She had so many chances to really make us feel, but she skips those instances.
In the end though, I am glad to have read the series. It was enjoyable.
I’m still trudging along through the Harry Potter novels. Many people told me when I was debating if I could keep going through the series that things would turn around in book 4. I have to admit this is the first novel in the series I did like, and much of that came from how well Rowling tied information from the first three books back into this story. I still find the school year long story arc to be tiresome. A little variety there would make me enjoy this more. Also would still like some better characterization. There are hundreds of cardboard characters running around, I’d like a handful of them to be better developed. Anyhow a deal is a deal and I will continue moving forward. I now do so with the belief that I might like the series by the end.
A deal is a deal, so I am plugging along. 1 HP per month. This months was The Prisoner of Azkaban.
So, I am liking the serious less by the book. People keep telling me it’ll get better in the next one. So it goes.
Anyhow, I find the exact one school year time line to be getting quite tiresome. 70% of the book is passing time until the real story starts. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy the last 30%, and there are hints and details in the first 70% that come to be important. However, a little variety would add a ton to the story.
Here is the big issue. Time travel. I understand you can create the rules you need with time travel, but my issues is no rules have been made other than don’t be seen. First issue with this: No one has tried to go back in time and kill Riddle when he’s a kid. Second issue: Harry never asks to go back in time to see his parents or kill Riddle. Now, I understand it is a simple fix. Harry you can’t do that because by changing the time line that drastically it would have so many effects that they could be far worse than Riddle ever was. Fine. Makes sense. But to kid who wants nothing more than to see his parents, he should have asked.
Anyhow, my gripes aside this was my favorite cast of characters. Lupin, Black, and Wormtail were all quite enjoyable. I thought Ron and Harry acted a bit out of character in their treatment of Hermione, but hey could have been worse.
And for all of those that think all of my comments are negative, these are simply my observations. The Harry Potter franchise doesn’t need my support to be successful, so I would rather add the things that bothered me since I think they promote more discussion than Yay HP.
The one major positive I am taking from this is how to set up a series. Each book could be read without reading the one prior because Rowling is good at dropping in enough details of what happened, and giving character backgrounds. This was something i was struggling with in the second book the The Primal Age Chronicles. So, thanks to another JK for the help.
My thoughts
For those of you folks coming late to the party I am reading the HP series based on some voting that took place a bit ago. Finished up book two of the series, and I think the writing has greatly improved from the first one and the structure of the writing has also come a long way. (Everyone needs a good editor)
I enjoy the characters and as I said during a speaking engagement last week characters are what make people fall in love with books. My issue with these characters is Rowling is so wedded to her full school year structure it makes the characters behave like chess pieces from time to time.
Like I have to investigate this thing, but crap we are still having finals. Why would a school have finals omg, let me forget about my friend who is petrified and the mission I was on to figure out what was happening to I can worry about the finals I didn’t think I would be having. Apparently he didn’t learn anything from the muggle world. Nothing. Nothing stops finals.
That being said I did enjoy the read. Mostly because of the character developments that I didn’t get from the half of the movies I had seen. (For the record I watched this movie at circuit city on one of their couches with a bag of chips and a soda, so it has a special place in my heart)
Anywho, next month when I can get my next free book from the kindle lending library I will move on to the next book. So final summary, I haven’t found them frustrating enough to not make good on my end of the deal.
For those of you coming late to the party, I put up a poll and let my audience decide if I would read the first book from Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. Harry Potter won by a land slide.
As a man of my word I read the first book of the series. Though I can see why so many of my generation love it to death, I am sadly no longer 11 and have grown up in a world where the Harry Potter universe is better known than the laws of our own. Since most of the first book is world building I didn’t find it all the gripping. I do think this is a great book for kids, and am trying to get my niece to read them. (The kid devours books but anything I suggest she won’t touch)
Now, before anyone goes and forms a lynch mob, I am not saying anything negative about the novel. I think it was well written and I like her characters. Just wasn’t gripped by it. However do to some friends saying I need to give it another chance, and the series remaining free via the Kindle Lending Library I will be continuing on to book two when I get some free time.
Good news right?
Well, in other good news my novel, Foamers, received its official release date today of March 25.
The votes are in and Harry Potter has won hands down. I have loaded The Sorcerer’s Stone onto my kindle. Thanks to all who voted, and I will let you all know what I think.
So, I never read either of these block buster series. I can’t deny the impact they have had on society. I can still remember the day when the world was depressed, because everyone in existence read to the same place of a certain character dying in Harry Potter, and I’ve seen the amount of girl’s wearing their hair in braids increase exponentially over the last few years.
Currently both series are available through the Kindle Lending Library, so I’ve decided I will give one and only one a shot. Seeing as it is hard to find unbiased feedback on which is the better series to invest my time in, I am going to allow bias be my decision. Below you will find a voting box. You can vote for The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, or Neither. Feel free to leave a comment below as to why you voted the way you did. I will be keeping this poll open until December First. You will be able to vote once each day.
Justin Kassab 