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Book Review, © Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
Harry Potter is a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry. An evil wizard (I won't mention his name, as I don't want to attract his attention) killed his parents when Harry was a baby, and is trying to kill Harry now. There are more bad people here than you can shake a broom at. These "children's" books are very good stories.
The Harry Potter series started out as very well-written fantasy (magic) stories, for children and adults. There were a few serious issues in the background, child abuse, bullies, death of parents, honesty, good and evil. As the series continued, a few things happened: The writing got even better (maybe better than children's books of decades ago). The struggle between good and evil began to dwarf Harry's other problems (we have a villain who casually murders innocent people for no reason). And the latest books suddenly got huge.
When you have troubles, wouldn't you want to wave a wand and have them disappear? So would Harry. But usually, magic is not enough, or it makes things worse. Instead Harry solves most of his problems with his good human qualities, and with some help from his friends. And then there is magic, just to add some spice to the stories, and you can't defeat You-Know-Who without a little magic.
The movies are good too.
Also see Harry Potter and Magic in my Issues/Opinions pages.
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