My Top 10 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Novels: #9 – The Harry Potter Series
#9 – The Harry Potter Series
Jacket art of the Bloomsbury edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher
Most people love it, some people haaaate it. And frankly, when my little sister started gobbling up these books back in elementary school, I was pretty skeptical.
They looked like kiddie nonsense and I wanted nothing to do with them. But then, my sister was sick in the hospital so it fell to me to wait in line at the bookstore with all the folks dressed as wizards in order to get her pre-ordered copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ as soon as it was released. So I had a bad association with the books until I got to college.
Waiting for the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a Californian bookshop (Borders, Sunnyvale), 5 minutes before the books official publication. Photo by Zack Sheppard
Then, friends started reading them. The movies were making millions (billions, even). They were even teaching the books in some of the University’s English classes! I decided I should at least give them a shot.
When I did, I was dragged kicking and screaming into a world of boys living under cupboards and giant groundskeepers and fortune-telling wizard teachers.
But once I was in, I did not want to leave.
The books just get better as they go along. The story becomes more intricate; the complex web of characters get more evolved and grown up. By the time Harry and his pals get to be 17, they are in the middle of a life and death struggle that is as far from a Roald Dahl children’s fantasy book as you could get.
So if you love them, great! Me too!
If you hate them, well that’s your opinion.
And if you haven’t read them, give them a try. These books will appeal to all ages and you won’t be able to put them down.
‘Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.’
– J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
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A Quantum of Knowledge 
I was the same way. It was when I saw Part 1 of the Deathly Hallows with my Potter-nut of a girlfriend that I knew there had to be something that appealing. I went through books 1-4 like birthday cake. Book 5 was a sardines. I hated that book. I am now on Book 6 and am thoroughly enjoying it.