Actually, it defined my adolescence somewhat, too, since I read it just before it got REALLY big 'round these parts. I liked the first few well enough, but I got really, really sick of everyone going nuts over it.
What did it for me wasn't so much how the series started as how it failed to really progress--the characters weren't so much uninteresting to me as downright obnoxious, and they never get past the obnoxious part. The ones I liked were the side characters, really. But mostly my problem is the same one I have with sitcoms: the overwhelming urge to scream "THAT IS A BAD IDEA!", "LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!", or "COMMUNICATE, YOU IDIOTS!" at the characters. ETA: And the magic system got weirder and more unwieldy as it went along.
And that's not even getting into the fact that half the time Harry winds up making things WORSE because of that. I would be willing to accept that as a cool literary device in a "best-laid plans of mice and men" sort of way, except he rarely laid his plans very well in the first place.
In conclusion, if you want kids learning magic, I recommend Tiffany Aching, Circle of Magic, or even Diane Duane's barely coherent but bizarrely awesome Young Wizards instead.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2011-07-01 05:29 am (UTC)What did it for me wasn't so much how the series started as how it failed to really progress--the characters weren't so much uninteresting to me as downright obnoxious, and they never get past the obnoxious part. The ones I liked were the side characters, really. But mostly my problem is the same one I have with sitcoms: the overwhelming urge to scream "THAT IS A BAD IDEA!", "LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES!", or "COMMUNICATE, YOU IDIOTS!" at the characters. ETA: And the magic system got weirder and more unwieldy as it went along.
And that's not even getting into the fact that half the time Harry winds up making things WORSE because of that. I would be willing to accept that as a cool literary device in a "best-laid plans of mice and men" sort of way, except he rarely laid his plans very well in the first place.
In conclusion, if you want kids learning magic, I recommend Tiffany Aching, Circle of Magic, or even Diane Duane's barely coherent but bizarrely awesome Young Wizards instead.