Harry Potter Five

Well, I have made it about half-way through the fifth Harry Potter. Thus far it is everything that I had hoped. Ms. Rowling really does a fine job with building suspense through her plot-line and the use of foreshadowing. So far, I like the older, more confused, and more petulant Harry. It goes a long way to building credibility of a teenaged boy making his way through the educational system. I don't imagine it is easy to plan and write a series of novels that covers a boy's exploits between the ages of eleven and seventeen (or so). Ms. Rowling seems to be getting better and better at relating the exploits as she takes on this challenge.

I have said to a number of people that the first book in the series was my least favorite - though that is not to say that I did not enjoy that first book. Each book has gotten better and better even if it has taken more and more pages to tell the tale. In fact, I would say that as each boook has gotten longer and longer I have enjoyed more and more the storytelling.

I am over 400 pages into the latest book, and there has really been only one scene that would generate excitement and suspense in a movie (dementors in the alley). Still, I can feel that this book is building towards lots of very exciting things.

This is simply a great series. I read the Narnia Chronicles during my most recent spate of unemployment, but they just don't compare to the stories of JK Rowling. The Narnia series was packed full of Christian imagery and propaganda. Such storytelling - I am sure - will make the series a perennial favorite with the parents. But for sheer enjoyment and for storytelling, Harry Potter is the way to go.

Jonathan 6/24/2003 08:57:00 PM