Let me set the stage for you when I went into reading this series. I had never seen any of the movies, and had never read anything about the books. All I knew about this series was the initial controversy regarding witchcraft usage in the series, and how since it was sort of like a “kid’s series of book”…that it may glorify witchcraft. Other than that, when a friend convinced me to read the series, I went into it blind. So I read every one of the books back to back. I’m almost sure that this influenced my perception of the series, since I didn’t spend time contemplating/theorizing/discussing the events of the book with others. I would put one down & pick up the next one…so take this post as you would.

Sorcerer’s Stone
Not too shabby. Looking back at it from the initial point of view, it was very much a “kid’s book”. I called it that the other teacher (not Snape) was evil…the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. And I can see where some parents would get upset…not necessarily from the usage of magic, but from the (well where I live) child abuse of Harry Potter. Living under the stairs in a closet, quasi-malnourished, and all that. Brutal much? Looking back at this book, it did set up some important story elements that would come up later.

Chamber of Secrets
So this is a pretty heavy book. In the last one, we kinda dealt with the death of HP’s parents….in this one, it’s a student who died (in the past), and the distinct possibility of other students dying. And then when Gennie Weasley gets possessed by Voldy…that’s pretty hard core. Again, not too bad of a book, but it was somewhat…simplistic?...to read

Prisoner of Azkaban
Ok..I didn't mean to forget this book, as I thought that it was getting really good. I didn't see that Sirius would be HP's godfather. I thought that the introduction of wormtail and the whole petronas thing was really good. I liked the establishment of some of the fundamental world stuff as good. Sirius' eventual inclusion into the story and the pseudo-father figure he turns into was great.

Goblet of Fire
Now we’re getting good…the first 3 books seemed like a really long prologue. There were a few twists in this….Moody isn’t the real moody. I called that it was Moody who put HP’s name into the Goblet. Someone with some serious mojo needed to do it, and he was the only one around who had no real reason to not do it. I just didn’t call that it was an imposter Moody. The pensieve is used for the first time, and is established to be a good plot devise. And then everything else considered, Cedric is killed off. Talk about heavy for a “kid’s book”. Fleur is introduced, and the Weasley’s are definitely becoming Harry’s actual family.

Order of the Phoenix
Let me say that Umbridge is evil. I don’t care if it could have been greatly influenced by the Slytherin Locket. She actually attempted to have Harry killed. Uhm…hello? No consequences for this action? And then the Minister of Magic Fudge….voluntarily blind much? The formation of DA & the usage of the Room of Requirement…cool.

Half-Blood Prince
Ok, I called this one a mile off. Snape is the half-blood Prince. I just thought that Prince was a name given to him (or he took it himself)…not necessarily an ancestral name, but whatever. The introduction of the Horcruxes was good, as we needed something to tell us how Voldy survived the initial attack on infant HP. The ending completely caught me off guard. Dumbledore dead? Wow.

Deathly Hallows
Now the introduction of yet another plot devise, the hallows, was somewhat off-putting to me. I get how they were used later in the book…well the wand especially…but it just seemed too much. I also get how HP had to choose between assembling those or getting the Horcruxes. Meanwhile, over and over in my head I kept counting up to the 7 fragments…I didn’t get how I kept coming up 1 short. Looking back, it does make sense. The ending was pretty good, but I’m still divided on the epilogue where it showed everyone 19 years later.

Things I liked
I liked the development of the principle background characters, especially the Weasley family. The parents and the kids were especially developed (note: not talking about Ron or Ginney). Some of the teachers were pretty well developed. Even some of the bad guys (I’m thinking the Malfoys & Snape) were done well. The main characters (the 3 kids, Dumbledore, Voldy) were done well. I liked the creation of the quidditch game.

Things I didn’t like
The Magic system was…inconsistent. I get it…its magic. But this one idea came into my head, and I wondered why it would be this way. The kids have a whole class on turning one thing into another. I can get inanimate into inanimate or live creature into live creature. I can even deal with live creature into inanimate object. But creating life from non-life? That seems a bit whatever to me. And then this idea coupled with the fact that they cannot make food out of something else. I remember Hermoine speaking of there being 5 set rules…wish I knew what they all were. And I may just be whatever, but I liked it when Snape “murdered” Dumbledore. I liked the betrayal of it. If the character would have stayed un-redeemed, I think that it would have been a better story. To see Draco somewhat redeemed is one thing, but Snape? Nah…the betrayal was priceless.

All in All
I liked it. I’m glad that I read it. It did make it more fun that I didn’t know anything about it going into it. Would I recommend the series to another? Definitely. Would I recommend the series to kids? Not really. If I had kids, I wouldn’t let any kid younger than 12 or so read the series. It gets a bit dark at points, and some of the subject matter (child abuse, rebellion against authority) I’m not sure a young kid should be reading. But taken all in all, I liked the series quite a bit. Now I’m looking forward to seeing the movies, but my friend does tell me that some of the movies took a bit more artistic license.

[Edit: Due to the fact that I forgot Prisoner of Azkaban. ]
~Jeordam