Harry Potter Series: What are your thoughts on it?

Staple of my childhood, OP. But having reread the series as an adult I agree.

I liked the books. They evolved and grew just as the characters grew up. Rowling managed to get millions of kids to read so kudos to her. She's also given away so much money she fell off the billionaire list, that's pretty cool.

I think she is a good story teller, but not a great writer. She created an interesting world and some cool characters and in general the story arc was good. I thought the books peaked at 3 and 4. Book 4 more so for the potential it set up to be explored in the later books -- the short shortsightedness and prejudices of the wizard government that I thought would be explored in its fall before the final victory at the end. Instead she started focusing more and more on the romances (which she did not write well). The kids not only had to have their romances, but every supporting character in the group fighting Voldemart. Ginny had to be the most undeveloped, vanilla love interest ever -- and Hermione was going to end up being bored with Ron (of the three main characters - he probably had the least development). Still -- I was not the demographic she was writing for - so if the kids liked the romance I cannot complain. Also, in the end she really did focus on the three kid's friendship and the romances did not trump that in the final book.

My other complaint is that it was probably a couple books too long. There got to be a repetition to them - almost as if she had a check-off list. Quidick match, confrontation with Snape, two of the three kids feuding - the third caught in between, etc., in the later books ending with a death that shocks all etc.

That said - for the most part they were enjoyable. Decent ending (not the epilogue at the end) with the right amount of victory and true costs of that victory. I also thought it was interesting how she tarnished Dumbeldore a bit at the end -- showing his flaws with his control issues and not really whitewashing that revelation when all was said and done.

[I have slowly re-watched the movies the last couple of months -- not having seen them since they were released - so I had been thinking about the books (which I liked but not enough to spend the time rereading). The movies have held up pretty well, but watching them now that the books are not as fresh in my mind, there are some things that are left out that take out some interesting back-stories,]

Enjoyed it until I came here to talk about it. It's straight adult woman pretending to be bisexual or even gay male fanbase, pretty much the same as the people as the ponies, was humourless and nasty about any comment not 100% positive.

It's for kids. Seeing adults get upset over not everyone calling it a masterpiece made it not worth the sour taste it left in my mouth.

In other words, you can live a happy complete life without reading it.

Too long, boring, and poorly written for kids, who respond to language in JRR Tolkein and brevity in Lloyd Alexander or Joan Aiken. Also lacking in a clear and believable storyline. It's actually better for adults who want escapism, to indulge in a kind of tepid immersion like a Robert Jordan work that is nearer to reality or an E.R. Eddison that isn't too adult for kids.

My fave was Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Bone

I'm a fifty-year-old professional, and I love the HP books! I don't think they're masterpieces of modern litetature or anything, I think they're very enjoyable amalgams of the Fantasy and Mystery genres, and I think Rowling has real gifts with plotting and characterization (but not romance).

The movies are meh.

Rowling's not a great writer but she's imaginative and does well with children's literature. One of my nephews loved the series, the other was indifferent to it. I have no interest in it and only read some of the books with the one nephew who is into it.

I'm taking both of them to the Harry Potter amusement park in dreaded Florida next year. Extra Valium will be on hand.

The 3rd movie, "Prisoner of Azkaban," directed by Alfonso Cuaron, is quite good. You can watch just that one, and skip the rest of the movies, and all of the books. YW.

Crap

Love the books! Read them many times, and I was over thirty when the first book was published!

Because I love mystery books, and the HP books are as much Mystery genre as they are Fantasy. In each book, Harry and his palls have to puzzle out some mystery, and the seven books are actually structured as seven puzzles within one huge one. I've never yet found a significant plot hole, everything is plotted out from everyone's POV, and for me at least, it makes the books a pleasure to read and especially to re-read. On the tenth read I can still say "Gosh, she thought of THAT, she really did figure everything out!".

So one of my big takeaways from the series was that Rowling ought to drop the Fantasy genre and write mysteries, and sure enough, her best post-HP work as been the Cormoran Strike detective novels. They're damn good detective fiction, although the last one really did need editing.