Series Review: Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Disclaimer: My review of this series is not in any way showing my support of J.K. Rowling and her beliefs. I am simply discussing the matter of a series that played an integral role in my childhood. I am not in any way encouraging you to support Rowling directly.

After years of not touching them, I recently found myself reaching for my copies of the Harry Potter series. I had not reread the series in years, after reading it for the first time about 15 years ago. Harry Potter played an integral role in my childhood, as I’m sure many others can agree.

Harry Potter changed the world. It created a world in which millions wish to escape and a community that fans continue to connect through. It altered mainstream culture as we know it. Adults and children both unite in their love for the series. And, no it does not make you immature to read the books as an adult.

Re-reading the books gave me such a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I felt the immediate connection with the characters that I did as a child. I felt as if I was once again growing up with them the same way as when I read the books in grade school. While reading, I felt like I was roaming the hallways of Hogwarts, following Harry, Ron, and Hermione on their adventures.

Synopsis

Harry Potter is the story of a boy who grew up believing he was no one special. Orphaned at a young age, believing his parents died in a car crash, Harry spends the first 11 years of his life living with the Dursley’s: his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. His time with them was less than savory, having lived in a cupboard under the stairs, fed scraps of food, and forced to do work around the house.

One day, Harry finds a suspicious letter in the mail addressed to him. Before he can read it, his Uncle Vernon snatches it from him and discards it quickly. This is to no avail, though. In the next few days, the Dursley’s home is bombarded with letters addressed to Harry. In the post, through the fireplace, in the windows, all delivered by owl. With nerves running high, the Dursley’s decide to make a run for it and go into hiding. They don’t want Harry to find out the contents of the letters.

In hiding, on the exact date of Harry’s 11th birthday, they receive a visitor. Hagrid, a half-giant man, has come to collect Harry. Amidst the confusion, Harry learns that he is a wizard, that the letters were actually his acceptance letter to the renowned wizarding school of Hogwarts, and that his parents did not die in a car crash. They met their demise at the hands of a powerful, dark wizard named Voldemort. But Harry, extraordinarily, survived, and became extremely well known as The Boy Who Lived. Obviously, this information is taken as a shock to Harry, who eventually leaves the Dursleys to follow Hagrid to the wizarding world.

Plot and Writing Style

Over the course of seven books, we follow Harry through bunches of adventure, dangerous journeys, and close run-ins with deadly witches, wizards, and creatures, as he learns that Voldemort is on the rise again. It is up to Harry to stop the Dark Lord. Harry Potter explores the found family and boarding school tropes, with twists of mystics and magic along the way.

Set and written in the 1990’s, Harry Potter exudes a sense of nostalgia for the reader. While stylized as children’s books, all ages can read and enjoy the series. As the books go on, the reader will find that the maturity grows and develops as the characters do over the years.

There may be some content in the series that you may deem unsuitable for children of younger ages, so I would recommend these books for ages starting at 9 years and up.

Character Overview

As previously mentioned, the reader of the books can feel as if they are growing, maturing, and developing right alongside the characters of the book. There is an immense amount of detail interwoven with each character that could have only been developed over time, and it is often obvious when a character is going through growing pains, a particularly rough period of adolescence, or learning how to decide between right and wrong.

In all seven books, we meet our fair share of morally gray characters. This makes them feel all the more human, more realistic. No one in real life is entirely perfect- there will always be some roughness around the edges, and this is perfectly encapsulated in the novels. As a reader of Harry Potter, you will often feel stuck between loving and hating characters, finding it difficult to choose between “good” and “bad.”

Main Characters

Harry, first and foremost, is thin, with messy black hair, round glasses, with a famous lightning-bolt scar on his forehead. Throughout the books, we see Harry grow and learn and begin following the path he was always destined for. Remember that you are reading through the eyes of adolescence. There will surely be times in which you find Harry incredibly brave. On the opposite side of the coin, he can be maddeningly juvenile and irritating in some of his ways. But certainly, you can always know Harry to be bold, determined, and protective over not only those that he loves, but also the innocent, and even those who have wronged him.

Harry’s sidekicks through it all are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is tall, lanky, redheaded, and freckled. He plays more into his and Harry’s own mischievous side, and is one of Harry’s all-time best friends. Hermione has bushy, brown hair and massive smarts. She acts as the brains behind each and every operation, and always knows what spell is needed to get them out of a sticky situation. The three of them embark on a multitude of adventures that aren’t necessarily age appropriate for a bunch of 11 year olds, but which showcase their bravery and unwilling sacrifice to protect the wizarding world at any cost.

Additional Characters

In later books, we get to meet a multitude of new characters that cover an array of personalities, affiliations, purposes, and more. As our main characters (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) age and mature, so do the troubles and newcomers they are facing. It is further on in the books that we truly begin to explore the basis of what morally gray truly means. It makes it so that certain characters can make it hard to choose between what is deemed “good” and “evil”.

Many of the characters, not just the main, seem to jump off the page in such a way that makes you want to get to know them better. We are introduced with just enough information that leaves you yearning to learn more, and often, that information is not fully given until the end of the series, when questions asked in the first books are finally answered. Reading Harry Potter makes you feel as if you are catching up with old, childhood friends. Something about watching the characters grow and mature in front of your eyes makes them unforgettable.

Photo by Rithika Gopalakrishnan on Unsplash

Opinion

My opinion of the Harry Potter series is that it is, in fact, worth reading. As I mentioned in the beginning, this series played such a huge role in my childhood. It allowed me to open my mind and let my imagination soar. I have a feeling that if it weren’t for reading books like this as a child, I wouldn’t be here writing this now. While I can confidently say that I have always loved reading and writing, I can also be sure that reading Harry Potter is what sparked my love for epic fantasies and magical worlds that has followed me into adulthood.

There are many things that I love about the books. The characters who truly feel as if they are old friends of mine. The imagery that is created from the written words makes you feel as if you are also a student at Hogwarts, living and learning inside a medieval castle. The magic that seems to jump off the page at you, the epic fantastical journeys that you get a front-row seat to.

Much like any other book, there are some things that could improve. For one, there is a lack of diversity in the books, as well as some tired tropes and stereotypes that could be done without. I also wish there was more enunciation on certain characters, or more of a background story for some of those that seemed to be on the outskirts for the majority of the series.

Rating

I would give the Harry Potter series five stars. When I read it for the first time 15 years ago, I would have said the same. Harry Potter is a series that is somewhat a rite-of-passage for both a child coming of age, as well as an adult looking to relive parts of their childhood. The sense of familiarity and coziness that the story evokes in the reader is spectacular, and I still get the same feeling reading it as I did back in grade school. Harry Potter is part of the reason that I have the interests I do, with my favorite genre being fantasy, and my long-lasting love for reading and writing still enduring today.

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