I just finished the seventh and last Harry Potter book this morning. It was very, very good.

I read the first Harry Potter book back in March, and read through each one after that, and finished the sixth book over a month ago. I decided that I wanted to read the fifth book before the movie came out, and to have finished all six before the seventh book came out. I was the same way about the Lord of the Rings series - when I found out the movie series was coming, I read through all of the books (including The Hobbit) before the first movie came out.

The Harry Potter series was a very rewarding series to read. Rewarding in the sense that each successive book reveals more of the story, intertwines more of the characters, and creates a progression to the end of the last book. I'm seriously thinking about re-reading the series again - because of the way things (and characters) that you didn't think were important early on become very important in the end.

We also saw the fifth movie last week, and they did a great job adapting it from the fifth book.

I think one of the things I liked most about the Harry Potter series is that he's not an infallible hero. He's a hero, but he makes mistakes. He gets things wrong sometimes. But unlike the villain in the series, it's Harry's friends and his relationships with others that helps him to make the right decisions, and figure out what it is that he needs to do, and helps him get it done. He keeps trying to do things on his own in order to protect them, but then he realizes that he has to trust and rely on others. It's a constant theme throughout the series, that love is the best weapon that Harry has, and the only weapon that his enemy cannot understand.

I understand why some Christians have a problem with this series, but it's no different from Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Mary Poppins, or any number of other magical-oriented stories oriented towards children. The primary difference is that they call them "witches" and "wizards." I fully believe that if Rowling had used a different term for a female magician (or had only applied it to the villains), Christians would not have reacted as they have. In any case, the values and themes portrayed by the books are very positive.

It's a fascinating series, I highly recommend it. And if you enjoy movies, and haven't started watching the Harry Potter movies yet (I know a few of you haven't), do so. They're quite good, and getting better. Trust me, you'll want to see the sixth and seventh movies when they come out. Or better yet, just read all seven books.

Labels: books, movies