We have now come to an age where finally the harry potter series are complete. Now its time to look at the series as a whole with a hard eye and state the mistakes with it.

I am too tired to give full crits at the moment, but i will say a few things:

Firstly, the series is good, but i think all the hype it has got is just a bit too far. i mean, seriously, how did a mere kid's book about a wizard that goes to school and has an arch nemsis (which by the way has happened before potter) get so popular with over 350 million copies sold worldwide??? Even most adults are reading it, and though its all right with other high fantasy such as LotR that deals with older people and a "general" thing if you get my meaning - Harry potter has even outdone LotR with the amount of adults reading it (LotR was an adults trilogy remember?), which in my opinion is just plain queer. I am still trying to unravel the mystery surrounding potter's popularity - is it his name? or perhaps everyone decided to become attracted to wizards pointing small wands - not staffs - at each other and muttering a word and poof! someone is stupified and the other is dead. or perhapsd the adults got attracted to it, because all the kids were so they decided to have a peak and got attracted? once again, i cannot understand how harry Potter has outdone LotR and Earthsea and other high fantasy classics that are not "mere kids' nonsense". i like the series very much indeed, but its a common series and doesn't add anything to the fantasy genre, and frankly, probably won't be remembered within a decade or so. I have more to say on this particular topic soon.

Now thoughts?

I have to agree taht it was WAY too hyped. I mean seriously..its just a book...

I agree that they were good books (though I only read the first two) but they added nothing speacal to the world of fanasty books (in my opinion). And how it out did LotR in the amount of people reading them is beyond me.

well, i agree that they are very good books in terms of a good read, but the quality and everything cant possibly compare to LOTR or other books like it. maybe it was first a good book, then almost became the popular thing to read, if that's possible, and then those who read it because friends did actually liked it, so more read it, and others read it because everyone else was, and so on. anyway, its a very good book, but no where near worthy of the "Crown of Fantasy". that would probably be LOTR. i think its just a good book, but easy enough to read that even poor readers can read it with out trouble. i don't really know why.

Another failure: Why did Harry never use the killing curse against Voldemort? Like in the graveyard?

i agree, i dont know why Harry Potter became so popular.

theres alos alot of lack of origanality in it. flying on broom sticks is basicly in every single thing involving whiches and/or wizards, same with wands. also the thing with harry potter is that bacicly anything can happen, and lots of weird things happen, it makes it exiting at first, but latter everything becomes pointless because if anything is wrong they can just solve it with magic and its over.

I suppose because now that its a full series, we can't just praise it, but we have to criticize it as well.

When something is read by enough people it does become more popular because so many people recommend it. These books began in 1997 (ish) and have spread about becoming more popular. I have never read LOTR but heard its good to read or amazing whatever but for some people its more of an adult book not exactly for younger people who can't be bothered to read anything longer than 100 pages without moving on to something more intresting.(This doesn't count for eveyone but i know a lot of people like this.) But just by saying its not as good as LOTR doesn't really count because the Fantasy genre is vague it doesn't have to be all other worldy or anything like that. Harry Potter is more of a real-life sort of fantasy while LOTR is more of a hard-core other worldly fantasy. Neither are better or worse than each other because they are just different. But HP might appeal to more people because its an easier read maybe and doesn't look as threatening as LOTR.

i have read 2 and a half of them and seen all 5 movies. i might read the rest in a cople of years, but the 5th one was so boring that i couldnt finish it, so i stopped reading them.

I finished LOTR at 12 so I don't really get what you mean by LOTR being an 'Adult's' book.

And I guess Harry Potter is only so popular because its, as treebeard would say it, a hasty story. I think that if JKR did not write 7 books, there might be ALOT of critics saying poor character development and stuff like that. But oh well, that's just me.

You wouldn't compare Harry Potter to LOTR and I think it's silly when people try to. The books are directed towards a different audience and have a completely different sort of tone and style...setting...everything! just my opinion.

wow rpm should NOT have posted in this topic........ you watched the movies psssh i fell asleep in the movies!! the 5th book is one of the greatest books in the series so how did it bore u? it starts at a slow pace but moves up faster

I'm currently rereading the whole Harry potter series. I started two days ago, and am on Book III. And amazingly I just cannot put the books down. It appears I was mistaken - there's no failures with the series now that I am refreshing my brain with them. As good as Lord of the Rings. Yep, Harry Potter has again become #1 on my list with LOTR.

But if anyone comes up with a really good loop hole they've discovered, please post it here.

how the hell could voldy fly? and why in the 5th one couldnt harry do side along apparition with mr. weasley? why did dumbledore fly up before falling down gently when he was killed?

try magic? i mean, its harry potter. virtually anything is possible, because we know so little of the magic that can be done.

I'm re-reading them too---on 7 now. i was re-reading them a while back, but stopped at 4, cus i didn't feel like buying more just yet. so i read the library's book 5, bought 6, and already had seven. they are VERY good

well, i finished DH. great book. own all but #5, the first and last in hard cover. I love these books, might be the series i've most enjoyed in my life. or awful close. very few mistakes.

And i actually understand everything now!!!

Order of the Phoenix is one of my favs!! Its long, yes, but still really good!! I personally see very few flaws in the series: she does a great job, especially with making you love the characters.

The deaths were quite good. Since, they are only fictional characters, I felt no sadness, I knew the deaths weren't pointless.

However, I have found one flaw - magic. Sometimes it seemed like the rules weren't abided (constant) throughout the series. A little example is the shield charm. the text stated in book 4 or 5 that it could only deflect minor jinxes, hexes and curses, yet in Deathly Hallows Harry uses it to deflect fully operational killing curses. Another is in the Ministry of Magic in book 5. Harry couldn't get that brain off Ron et when about a thousand landed on him he said the Wingardium Leviosa spell and all the brains flew off him.

just decided I'd comment on this.

I <3 this thread...so many to list...so little time...

Hmmm...yes, i see where you mean. never thought of that one. Oh, and remember the stone? The second Hallow? When that brother brought back one of his loved ones, she/he (forgot) seemed sad, but when Harry brought back his parents for a time, they were very happy.

Also, wasn't the elder wand the wand that was unbeatable? But Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald who was using the elder wand at the time. I thought it said before that if you are true master of that wand you'd win any duel.

So...err...are you reading Deathly Hallows at the moment?

Actually, she is richer than the queen. She's the richest woman in England.

you might want to get a different website (they arent very reliable) but i heard in general about all that stuff and some of the characters were based on some people from her past i dont know if thats true but i heard from somewhere

ok about wikipedia theres usually a reference to the site they got it from so if your good at using wikipedia(im not) you can know if its reliable or not

i must say i agree with you 100% this was one of my first series that i love sooo much. but now i guess it is kind of obvious i now love eragon!

i personally think that J.K faffed the last 3 books up. i think that she made them more movie friendly and quest like.... book 1, 2, 3, and 4 were all fairly good however book 6 n 7 were more quest like and movie friendly, book 5 was a mixture n i found it rather boring

i did not really like book five either i thought there was aaaaaaaalllllllllooooooooooooootttttttttttttt of yelling from harry and it was boring compaired to the rest

exactly! it went downhill from book 5 anyway book 6 was quest like n not really in the style that she wrote the first 5 n book 7 i feel the end was to quick there were 7 books written to conclude in Harry killin voldy n in the end it was jus 2 quick. i did like the part at the end tho when it tells u about harry n his children in the future

i like the part also when it told about who got married and who had kids. But i wished it could have been longer because i dont like these kinds of things to end

that would be awesome if she continued the series with their children but i'm not sure what the stories would be about? who would they all be fighting?

well maybe we would have to find out voldemort had a child that no one knew about and they have to fight him. i dunno it was just a thought

he could have had a kid with draco's aunt (im sorry i forgot her name) and his kid could round up new death eaters. it probably wouldnt be the same as the first time but i would still read it for sure.

Well, offhand, I would guess the Leaky Cauldron...

Voldemort+Umbridge(horrified smile thing)

that is really cool!! and ur right unbridge would be a great wife for voldy!! that would be an interesting ceremony though

no if my memory is right i dont think she came back in another book (if im wrong hopefully someone will set us straight)

No, she came back in the 7th book I think, but it wasn't a big part.
I'll have to read it again...

thanx for setting me straight.


imagine what there kids would look like if they did get married

i thinkshe shoul write some more books concentrating on Harry n Ginny's children. that could be interesting

That makes sense: both the backround filling in and the end of the series. All stories must end, and people must move on. And she must be a little tired of all the HP questions by now...