Harry Potter

[KnowTheToe]

I just finished the HArry Potter books and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Rowling has a very readable writing style. Even though nothing major may happen for hundreds of pages, she can keep the reader interested with small bits and pieces.

There was only three things that really bothered me in her world. The first being that if a student, Harry, cast minor spells, the Ministry of Magic knew right where he was and what he had done, yet their is Lord V, who is doing what he wants and the ministry and Aurors say they don't think he is back.

The second is the lack of knowledge the wizards, particularly Mr. Weasly has of Muggles. Wizards share too much of the world not to have at least a basic foundation of muggle living.

The third is Quiddich. There are only 4 teams, how big of a deal could each game be. It would have been better to have the best school team get to play the other magic schools teams or all of the school teams playing each other. I just think this shows Rowlings lack of understandig of sports.

Everything else has been very good.

I have never read any other threads on Potter as not to read spoilers, so please share opinions of books.

 

[Tarrasque Wrangler]

Glad you are enjoying the books.

On your first point, the Ministry only seems to monitor Harry (and the other students) when he is away for summer break. He and his friends cast spells all the time at Hogwart's with no repercussions from the Ministry (who probably wouldn't like it if they did know about it!). The Ministry's ability to keep tabs on grown-ups appears to be much weaker, as Mr. Weasley, Hagrid and Lucius Malfoy, among others, do some pretty forbidden things with magic.

I was a little amused by your second point, in that Mr. Weasley is, to his dubious credit, probably the foremost expert on Muggles in England. Still, I think this points out the pains to which wizards distance themselves from Muggles, for the Muggles' protection as well as their own, to the extent of living in sequestered communities like Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Plus, there just isn't that much reason for wizards to concern themselves with technology.

A good point on Quidditch though. Must get boring to play the same three teams all the time. In addition, I think there's only three schools in Europe, so that limits intra-school competition even further.

 

[Wombat]

I avoided the books for multiple years because I thought it was all just hype.

Then my niece turned to me and said, "Uncle Wombat, you mean you haven't read them? After all the books you demand that I have to read? No choice -- you shovel books on me, so I get to shovel these on you!"

Uppity kid...

Anyway, I found that I loved them. I love the fact that the books have gotten darker as the series has progressed. When the last book was released, I was down at the local Borders playing the role of Hagrid (I'm not that tall, but I can boom a good voice and have a long beard, so...). My pay for being there for four hours was a free copy of the book ... that and watching 300+ kids staying up until midnight excited about reading!

300+ kids putting me through my paces -- if I claimed to be Hagrid, how well did I know ol' Rubeus? Trivial Pursuit was nothing on these kids!

I think the whole Qidditch thing comes back to the House rivalries -- it's less about interesting match ups over time and more about Griffyndor beating Slytherin. Just a thought, but it might explain matters.

And if she takes as long to write Book 6 as she took to write Book 5, I'm gonna scream!

 

[Jamdin]

Rumor has it that the sixth Harry Potter book will be over 700-1000 pages. Since the next movie will not be released until November 2004, we may hear about the next book after that. We might find out that Dumbledore is Harry's grandfather.

I greatly enjoyed the books even though I waited until the third one was released to start reading them.

 

[Shadowdancer]

The third is Quiddich. There are only 4 teams, how big of a deal could each game be. It would have been better to have the best school team get to play the other magic schools teams or all of the school teams playing each other. I just think this shows Rowlings lack of understandig of sports.

I think it's an English boarding school thing. In the states, we have a tradition of different schools competing against each other in various athletic events. It's my understanding that it's not as common in England, esp. at the boarding schools. Plus, given that Hogwarts is the only magical school in England, it makes it very difficult to play against teams from other schools.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I personally hope the next book is not more than 800 pages. Rowling's writing seems to follow a pattern although she is beginning to work past, the vilianous looking characters are actually good and the other new character who seems OK, is actually the baddie. The fourth and fifth book both polk along until the last 100 pages or so where she jams a boat load in. I am very happy that she ties all of the books up at the end with summer break. It will make waiting for the other books more tolerable.

I have enjoyed the dark turn in the series and the enriching of character personalities.

On a side note, how many movies do you think they will get done? Since Goblet of Fire could really be reduced to the three Triwizard events, should they combine in with another book and put it in one movie?

 

[Tsyr]

My biggest problem with the entire series is the absolute nonsensical nature of quiddich, in that, for all practical purposes, there is no point to having good players for most of the team... a couple of halfway decent bludgers and a hellfire hot seeker, since it all basicly comes down to who gets the snitch first.

 

[Shadowdancer]

On a side note, how many movies do you think they will get done? Since Goblet of Fire could really be reduced to the three Triwizard events, should they combine in with another book and put it in one movie?

Interesting. The studio is talking about making that book into two movies.

 

[Uzumaki]

On Quidditch:

I'm pretty sure that the houses only play each other once every school year. Gryffindor plays Slytherin, then Hufflepuff, then Ravenclaw. Then when every team has been matched up, the two with the highest total scores go for the Quidditch Cup. Plus, the scores go toward their House Cups, so I can understand why it's a big deal. Furthermore, it's the only sport in the wizarding world.

Kinda like football versus baseball or basketball. Football has 16 games per season, and people have a tendency to go all out crazy for them. Whereas b-ball and baseball have 100+ games per season, and, though good fans are loyal, perhaps not quite so die-hard.

 

[Dreeble]

My biggest problem with the entire series is the absolute nonsensical nature of quiddich, in that, for all practical purposes, there is no point to having good players for most of the team... a couple of halfway decent bludgers and a hellfire hot seeker, since it all basicly comes down to who gets the snitch first.

Heya:

I seem to recall that the World Quidditch Cup (in the 3rd book?) was lost by the team that got the Snitch.

Take care,
Dreeble