This month's reread of the month is Harry Potter. When I'm done with all of the books, I will repost the review I did this month.
Taryn
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Friday, May 28, 2010
Runemarks By Joanne Harris
Maddy Smith, the village witch, is left to deal with the goblins-in-the-cellar-problem five hundred years after the end of the world. Maddy Smith was born with a ‘ruinmark’, as the villagers call it, but when Maddy is seven and meets the mysterious traveler One-Eye, he tells her it’s a runemark. One-Eye teaches Maddy everything about runes, their meanings, how to cast them, and their fingerings. And, when she is fourteen, One-Eye tells her that they need to open Red Horse Hill to get to an item called the Whisperer inside. Maddy enters and sets off an amazing chain of events circling around the ancient Norse myths.
I completely and totally love this book. Harris’ writing is incredible, the pages are filled with suspense and wit, and the story is extremely well thought out. I love each and every one of the characters, even the ones I’m not really supposed to like. Some of the characters you see from the Norse myths are Odin (of course), Loki, Thor, Freyja, and Skadi. I would also like to point out that even though Harris gets much of the important information right, this book is based on the Norse myths and there have been changes made. (I think it’s important to note here, that I love the Norse myths, and I normally don’t tolerate fact changing, Harris’ story is so darn good, I just don’t care.) I didn’t give very much information here because to list every important event would have made this a very long post, it’s five hundred and thirty something pages!
Taryn
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about runes and runecasting, I created this document. All of the information is either paraphrased or copied from this site- http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/- it is very informative and even has some Norse myths on it. Harris also used different names for the runes than the ones on this site, just a heads up. Also, because the rune meanings got messed up in the document, here is the link to the rune meanings section of the site, which has graphics of the runes- http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/meanings.html
P.P.S. Here is a link from Harris’ website on the actual rune fingerings used in the book- http://joanne-harris.co.uk/v3site/books/runemarks/fingerings.html
P.P.P.S. (there are a lot of post-scripts in this post) Here are two books I recommend to read about the original Norse myths. The first is a large one, kind of like a children’s book, but the writing is not for little kids, but it’s a good Norse Mythology 101 book. The second is much more detailed and adult-like (it also looks like a regular non-kids’ book).
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths- http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-DAulaire/dp/159017125X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275076619&sr=1-1
The Norse Myths- http://www.amazon.com/Norse-Myths-Pantheon-Folklore-Library/dp/0394748468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275076672&sr=1-1
I completely and totally love this book. Harris’ writing is incredible, the pages are filled with suspense and wit, and the story is extremely well thought out. I love each and every one of the characters, even the ones I’m not really supposed to like. Some of the characters you see from the Norse myths are Odin (of course), Loki, Thor, Freyja, and Skadi. I would also like to point out that even though Harris gets much of the important information right, this book is based on the Norse myths and there have been changes made. (I think it’s important to note here, that I love the Norse myths, and I normally don’t tolerate fact changing, Harris’ story is so darn good, I just don’t care.) I didn’t give very much information here because to list every important event would have made this a very long post, it’s five hundred and thirty something pages!
Taryn
P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about runes and runecasting, I created this document. All of the information is either paraphrased or copied from this site- http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/- it is very informative and even has some Norse myths on it. Harris also used different names for the runes than the ones on this site, just a heads up. Also, because the rune meanings got messed up in the document, here is the link to the rune meanings section of the site, which has graphics of the runes- http://www.sunnyway.com/runes/meanings.html
P.P.S. Here is a link from Harris’ website on the actual rune fingerings used in the book- http://joanne-harris.co.uk/v3site/books/runemarks/fingerings.html
P.P.P.S. (there are a lot of post-scripts in this post) Here are two books I recommend to read about the original Norse myths. The first is a large one, kind of like a children’s book, but the writing is not for little kids, but it’s a good Norse Mythology 101 book. The second is much more detailed and adult-like (it also looks like a regular non-kids’ book).
D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths- http://www.amazon.com/DAulaires-Norse-Myths-Ingri-DAulaire/dp/159017125X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275076619&sr=1-1
The Norse Myths- http://www.amazon.com/Norse-Myths-Pantheon-Folklore-Library/dp/0394748468/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275076672&sr=1-1
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Thirteen Reasons Why By Jay Asher
Hannah Baker committed suicide; Clay received a box of cassette tapes on his front porch after the death. Hannah Baker was Clay’s crush, so it is immensely shocking to hear her voice coming out of the speaker when he plays the tapes. Hannah tells the listeners that she made these tapes to tell each of them that they are one of the thirteen reasons for her death, so Clay had a hand in her suicide. Hannah explains everything from her freshman year to now, and Clay gets crushed with each word. He goes to all the places Hannah tells him to go, trying to find out why she did this to herself. In the end he finds out that it was only a matter of recognizing the signs and helping her.
I found this book to be very heartbreaking. When Clay’s thoughts interrupt Hannah’s narrative, every word is filled with misery, and I felt it. Asher’s writing is incredible. The story line was well thought out and detailed. But alas, the cryptic ending hath taken its hold on this book and its final pages are filled with questions and moments of “huh?” I really did like this book, although it’s not one of my favorites. I would recommend though (but not to anyone really emotional).
Taryn
P.S. I will be reviewing Runemarks by Joanne Harris next. I have read it before, however, but have developed a craving for it, so I will be reviewing it.
P.P.S. Have you noticed I made this review considerably shorter in comparison to my recent reviews. I had a mid-blog crisis where I thought, “no one’s reading this, so why should I care,” but then I thought, if I don’t care no one will ever read it, so, mid-blog crisis solved.
I found this book to be very heartbreaking. When Clay’s thoughts interrupt Hannah’s narrative, every word is filled with misery, and I felt it. Asher’s writing is incredible. The story line was well thought out and detailed. But alas, the cryptic ending hath taken its hold on this book and its final pages are filled with questions and moments of “huh?” I really did like this book, although it’s not one of my favorites. I would recommend though (but not to anyone really emotional).
Taryn
P.S. I will be reviewing Runemarks by Joanne Harris next. I have read it before, however, but have developed a craving for it, so I will be reviewing it.
P.P.S. Have you noticed I made this review considerably shorter in comparison to my recent reviews. I had a mid-blog crisis where I thought, “no one’s reading this, so why should I care,” but then I thought, if I don’t care no one will ever read it, so, mid-blog crisis solved.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells
I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells is the story of John Wayne Cleaver. John is a sociopath and is terrified he’s going to end up being a serial killer. He has always been fascinated by the dead bodies that enter his mom’s mortuary, fire, and serial killers. A year ago he wrote a chilling report for school about Jeffery Dahmer, a notorious American serial killer, cannibal, and necrophiliac, which gave him a therapist. The therapist diagnosed him with APD or ASPD, Antisocial Personality Disorder, which means that he is a psychopath, and therefore incapable of feeling emotion. I would like to make it clear however that even though is incapable of empathy, he understands right and wrong, and even goes so far as to have written rules for himself that help him not kill anybody. When a serial killer moves into town, first killing a local auto mechanic, gutting him, and leaving the guts in a pile for people to find, John gets very excited to study the serial killer’s methods, motives, and to do a psych profile. He realizes that doing any of these things will bring him dangerously close to breaking his rules, but when he finds someone who he thinks is the killer, he can’t help it and he follows him. The drifter, who he suspects is the killer, gets one of John’s neighbors to take him ice fishing, and when the drifter tries to kill John’s neighbor, the neighbor turns on the drifter and kills him. The neighbor turns out to be a demon. John tails his neighbor, and he continues to kill, until one night John makes an anonymous tip to the police and they dispatch two policemen to try and arrest the killer. When this goes horribly wrong, John decides that the only way to stop the demon is to kill him, and to kill a serial killer, you need to think like a serial killer, so who better to kill a serial killer, than a serial killer, or in this case a not!serial killer. John knows that he’s going to have to break all his rules to do this, but he does it anyway. He gets very close to murdering and/or stalking some people besides demon-neighbor, but eventually succeeds in killing the demon.
When I was describing this book to my mom, I used the words, which I decided I’d use here, this book is so creepy it’s awesome, and so awesome it’s creepy. I totally and completely love it. It gives a very interesting look into the mind of a sociopath (although I’m not sure if it really is an accurate description, as I’m not a sociopath, although I do have an intense love of fire, but I’m not a pyromaniac, one of the traits of the Macdonald triad, three traits 95 percent of serial killers have). It was full of dark humor, that wouldn’t really be all that funny in real life, but sound pretty funny (at least to me) on paper, case in point, this passage-
She’s great, I thought. She has a birthday coming up, and I found the complete guest list for her slumber party crumpled up in her family’s garbage can. She likes horses, manga, and eighties music, and she’s always just late enough for the bust that she has to run to catch up. I know her class schedule, her GPA, her social-security number, and the password to her Gmail account.
Well’s writing style is wonderful. I kept thinking all throughout the book how certain scenes would look awesome, and great, and scary, and awesome, and did I mention awesome, in a movie. Anyway, you can tell I’m in love with this book. Thank you for reading.
Taryn.
P.S. I will be reviewing the New York Times bestseller, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher next.
P.P.S. I heard somewhere that this book (I Am Not a Serial Killer) would be turned into a trio, (squee!), if this information is true; I will review those books as close as possible to the release date.
When I was describing this book to my mom, I used the words, which I decided I’d use here, this book is so creepy it’s awesome, and so awesome it’s creepy. I totally and completely love it. It gives a very interesting look into the mind of a sociopath (although I’m not sure if it really is an accurate description, as I’m not a sociopath, although I do have an intense love of fire, but I’m not a pyromaniac, one of the traits of the Macdonald triad, three traits 95 percent of serial killers have). It was full of dark humor, that wouldn’t really be all that funny in real life, but sound pretty funny (at least to me) on paper, case in point, this passage-
“How’s Brooke?” Mom asked, muting the TV. I kept my eyes focused on the screen.
She’s great, I thought. She has a birthday coming up, and I found the complete guest list for her slumber party crumpled up in her family’s garbage can. She likes horses, manga, and eighties music, and she’s always just late enough for the bust that she has to run to catch up. I know her class schedule, her GPA, her social-security number, and the password to her Gmail account.
“I don’t know,” I said. “She’s fine I guess. I don’t see her all that often.”
Well’s writing style is wonderful. I kept thinking all throughout the book how certain scenes would look awesome, and great, and scary, and awesome, and did I mention awesome, in a movie. Anyway, you can tell I’m in love with this book. Thank you for reading.
Taryn.
P.S. I will be reviewing the New York Times bestseller, “Thirteen Reasons Why” by Jay Asher next.
P.P.S. I heard somewhere that this book (I Am Not a Serial Killer) would be turned into a trio, (squee!), if this information is true; I will review those books as close as possible to the release date.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Before I Fall By Lauren Oliver
Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver is the story of Samantha Kingston, the picture of popularity. Sam has everything, until February 12, the day she dies. After a party, Lindsey, Sam’s best friend, runs the car off the road after something jumps in front of it. The next day, after Sam wakes up, it’s February 12 again. At first she thinks that her death was just a dream, then she realizes it isn’t. The first day, she lives the day almost the same way. She dies again. The next day, February 12, she tries to avoid death, avoid the party, but instead of dying, Juliet Sykes, the freak of the school, shoots herself. When she falls asleep, she wakes again on February 12. On the fourth February 12, she decides she doesn’t care. She dresses like a prostitute, fights with Lindsey, makes out with her math teacher, smokes pot in the bathroom with the school’s resident slut, steals her parents credit card, spends a thousand or so dollars on a dress for the party, goes to the party, avoids death. At the party, she almost sleeps with her boyfriend, but instead ends up crying in a room. The boy throwing the party, Kent, finds her, and they talk, not very much, but he gives her a guest bedroom to sleep in, kisses her on the cheek, and that’s the day that things start to change a little bit. On the fourth day, Sam stays home and does some things with her little sister, Izzy, and hangs out with her family. Sam knows that if she doesn’t die, that Juliet will commit suicide, so she goes over to her house and tries to stop her. When Juliet isn’t there, Sam goes to the Kent’s party, decked out in sweats. Someone tells her that Juliet locked herself in the bathroom, when she gets there the door is locked and she starts getting crazy ideas about razors, and pills, and cutting, and blood, and death, so she barks at one of the people in the line to use the bathroom and tells them to get Kent. He comes and opens the door, Juliet isn’t there, but they find the window open. Sam follows her footprints into the woods and finds her curled up on the ground next to the road. When Sam finds her she gets up, Sam tries to convince her not to jump, but she jumps in from of Lindsey’s car, and this time, Elody, Sam’s other friend, dies. Kent takes her back to his house and she freaks out from the combined shock and grief. Kent gives her some clothes and lets her sleep on his bed. Before she falls asleep, however, Kent shares a story she almost forgot, about how when his grandfather died, he started crying in the cafeteria and Phil Howell called him a faggot and threw his food tray on the ground. Sam picked up the mashed potatoes, shoved them in Phil’s face, stuffed the turkey burger down his shirt and threw a nice insult at him. Kent said to Sam, “You’re my hero,” and swore to himself that he would be her hero too, no matter how long it took. Kent gives her a fleeting kiss. Sam wakes up in a great mood the sixth February, 12. That day she really starts to see the beauty in her life (and is a little head-over-heels smitten with Kent). She does some weird-in-a-good-way things that day. She breaks up with her boyfriend, tries to find Kent to tell him how she feels, but she has to stop Juliet from killing herself again. Juliet reveals some interesting things about Lindsey. She steals Lindsey’s keys thinking that Juliet wanted to jump in front of her car, specifically, although it was just coincidence that it happened to be Lindsey’s car that killed Juliet. Juliet kills herself again. When Sam drops Lindsey of at her house, Kent drives her back. And then, when they reach Sam’s house, kissing, and love, and I’ve never been much of a romantic, but right then and there I’m smiling, and giggling and awing, happiness. The last day, the seventh day, February, 12 to the seventh power, Sam says goodbye. She gives her sister her necklace. She tells her math teacher off for hitting on high school girls. She breaks up with her boyfriend. She’s nice to people. Kent picks her up and they kiss yet again in the driveway, and although Kent thinks it’s the first time, it’s really the fifth time they’ve kissed (I know the math seems wrong, but some of the info that I’ve left out contains an additional two kisses). She saves Juliet, and dies in the attempt.
Now I know I left out a bunch of info, but the necessary stuff is long, so the not-so-necessary stuff would make things even longer. Now the review.
Oliver’s writing is pretty good, and I’m sure it will get better with time. The conversations seem natural, yet cheesy at the same time. The characters are well developed and as likable as they can be. I found when reading it however, that I wasn’t rooting for Sam, I was rooting for the Sam-Kent relationship. And I thought when I figured this out, well, that’s not supposed to happen. At least, I should be rooting for Sam too, but I wasn’t. However, it seems like I should say that I rooted for that relationship more than anything else I have ever rooted for. I really wanted that relationship to happen. I would also like to point out that on Sam’s last day, everything is so quick. I mean, I know that she’s done these things multiple times, but to other peoples knowledge, this is the first, so, isn’t kind of cruel that she just goes, “Hi, I love you, goodbye, I’m going to die now.” Other than that, I was really satisfied with the ending for once. The books pretty great and I definitely recommend.
Taryn.
P.S. I will be review “I Am Not a Serial Killer” by Dan Wells next. I can’t wait for a break from gushy YA novels and get to some blood and guts, horror movie in written form. At least, I hope so.
Now I know I left out a bunch of info, but the necessary stuff is long, so the not-so-necessary stuff would make things even longer. Now the review.
Oliver’s writing is pretty good, and I’m sure it will get better with time. The conversations seem natural, yet cheesy at the same time. The characters are well developed and as likable as they can be. I found when reading it however, that I wasn’t rooting for Sam, I was rooting for the Sam-Kent relationship. And I thought when I figured this out, well, that’s not supposed to happen. At least, I should be rooting for Sam too, but I wasn’t. However, it seems like I should say that I rooted for that relationship more than anything else I have ever rooted for. I really wanted that relationship to happen. I would also like to point out that on Sam’s last day, everything is so quick. I mean, I know that she’s done these things multiple times, but to other peoples knowledge, this is the first, so, isn’t kind of cruel that she just goes, “Hi, I love you, goodbye, I’m going to die now.” Other than that, I was really satisfied with the ending for once. The books pretty great and I definitely recommend.
Taryn.
P.S. I will be review “I Am Not a Serial Killer” by Dan Wells next. I can’t wait for a break from gushy YA novels and get to some blood and guts, horror movie in written form. At least, I hope so.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Harry Potter Series By J.K. Rowling
Alas, the end I meet again. Alas, the pain in my heart comes into being once more.
Anyway, I should probably say before the review that even though my header states that I'm unbiased, I never thought that I would consciously decide to review the books that taught me to revere all books. So, in this case, I am slightly biased, but I did try my hardest while reading to be critical of the books. Now for a note on how this review will be done, I will give a summary of the story throughout the series, then I will go over some major plot points in each of the books, followed by my review. So, without further ado, the review of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter (and the *insert the remainder of the title here*)
Harry Potter (series) is the story of Harry Potter (character), an orphaned wizard sent to live with his Muggle (non-magic) aunt, uncle and cousin. When he is eleven, he gets a letter from Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. Hagird, gamekeeper at Hogwarts explains that his parents died at the hands of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort (referred to by the wizarding world as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, or the Dark Lord by his supporters), not by the car crash his aunt and uncle have been telling him. Harry goes to Hogwarts and meets two friends Ron and Hermione, faces multiple troubles, both trivial and not, tests, enemies, and various other things. The series progress through to Harry's second year (Chamber of Secrets), when a house elf (a race of enslaved creatures who are forced to do their master's bidding until presented with proper clothing) by the name of Dobby comes to warn Harry of a danger at Hogwarts. Dobby tries to thwart Harry’s attempts to get to Hogwarts and fails multiple times. Harry finds out about the danger, a monster in the mythical Chamber of Secrets. Hermione finds out what the monster is, and Ron and Harry enter the Chamber to kill the monster, and rescue a girl who has been taken into the Chamber (I won't say who the girl is, but you probably already know from either the book or the movie). In Harry, Ron, and Hermione's third year (Prisoner of Azkaban), mass murder Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban and is hell-bent on murdering Harry. There have been Dementors (faceless creatures that cause you to relive your worst memories, or if you've been really bad, will kiss you and suck your soul out through your mouth) wandering around to try and catch Black. Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teach, Remus Lupin, long time friend of Harry's dad, teaches him how to produce a Patronus (the only defense against Dementors) because the Dementors affect him more than anybody because he's had so many horrible experiences in his life. In the end he meets up with Sirius Black, and he finds out some things, including the fact that Ron's rat, Scabbers, is really Peter Pettigrew, friend of Harry's dad, Sirius, and Lupin. Pettigrew ultimately betrayed Harry's parents by telling Voldemort of their whereabouts. And unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade, you already know what happens next, if not from the book, the movie. In the next book (Goblet of Fire), the Triwizard tournament is taking place at Hogwarts, and Harry would be perfectly content with watching three other students from Hogwarts, Beaxbattons, Drumstrang fight for their lives, but no, it is essential that everything happens to him, therefore, someone placed his name in the Goblet of Fire (which chose the champions) under the name of a fourth school, so he has to play. So of course he survives the tasks, all the while trying to find out who put his name in the Goblet (and dealing with a crush). In the final task, he finds the cup and ties with the other Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, but when they grab the Triwizard cup, it transports them to an old graveyard, for the cup was a Portkey (a magical object that transports people touching it at a prearranged date and time to a prearranged location). There they find Peter Pettigrew holding what remains of Voldemort. Voldemort orders the death of Cedric, and Harry is forced to watch as Pettigrew concocts a potion that brings back his master. Voldemort summons his followers and he and Harry duel. Harry escapes bringing Cedric's body. Dumbledore says at the end of term feast that Voldemort is back; we then cut off and enter into the fifth book. In this book (Order of the Phoenix) the Daily Prophet (the wizarding newspaper) and the Ministry of Magic have been saying that Harry and Dumbledore have been lying about Voldemort, and when two Dementors attack Harry and his cousin Duddly and Harry has to use magic to get them out with their souls intact, the Ministry calls a hearing to make the final decision on his expulsion from Hogwarts. He gets off, but back at Hogwarts, they find that Fudge, the Minister of Magic, made Dumbledore hire a Ministry official as their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and she refuses to teach them any defense. Eventually this pushes Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the point where they form an illicit D.A.T.D.A. club, by the name of Dumbledore's Army. Throughout the novel, Harry has been getting flashes of what Voldemort's seeing, so when he gets a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius in the place Harry has been dreaming of for months, he goes to rescue him. It was a trap and a fight ensues, eventually ending with Voldemort's failed attempt to posses Harry. In the sixth year at Hogwarts (Half-Blood Prince), Harry takes many private lessons with Dumbledore in which Dumbledore shows Harry memories which feature moments in Voldemort's past. They find out that Voldemort made six Horcruxes (objects in which a person hides a piece of their soul), and that they have to destroy them to kill Voldemort. Meanwhile, Harry has been excelling at potions because of a book with helpful tips and tricks written in the margins. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione are dealing with romance, Draco Malfoy has been doing some mysterious things. When Harry and Dumbledore return from finding a Horcrux, they find out that Malfoy has been ordered by Voldemort to kill Dumbledore. Malfoy fails, but someone else succeeds. In the final book (Deathly Hallows), Harry, Ron, and Hermione go on a hunt for Horcruxes (hunt for Horcruxes sounds cool [the words, not the actual event]) while on the run from Death Eaters. They are forced to camp out in the woods, are placed under constant fear and worry, and take many detours and deal with resulting disaster before finally coming back to Hogwarts to finish it all. There they destroy the second to last Horcrux, Neville destroys the final, and a very epic battle takes place. I will stop here as to not give away anything I haven't already given away.
Now I know that was probably not very detailed in the way of explaining, but I trust that those who haven't already read the book will have seen the movies or at the very least understand many essential terms used here (mostly in the way of characters and their roles) .
I'd like to start by saying that Rowling's writing is beautiful, and I would expect no less from someone who has been penning stories from the age of six. The story line is excellent, and when you look, there are things leading up to things in the final book from the start, which is impressive. There are however loopholes, but if I were to say, I would risk spoiling an important part. I love the last book, it was awesome in my opinion. The writing dwarfs that of earlier books, the story line is again great, the dialogue is natural and unforced, everything just fell into place. My least favorites were the Chamber of Secrets and the Order of the Phoenix. I didn't like Chamber of Secrets because the plot never seemed to appeal to me that much. I didn't like Order of the Phoenix because of the whole teen angst thing. When someone writes about teen angst you're supposed to feel sympathetic to the character and relate, no matter your age, with this book, it just seemed very annoying, I kept saying, "Just shut up already, we get it, you're angry, now please be quit!" I assume Rowling forgot what it's like to be a teenager, or otherwise had trouble putting it in words. I love the story, and I always have, but I don't think it's normal to sob over the pages of a book, especially when you've already read it three times before. I leave you with a very Shakespearean take on my feelings upon leaving this series.
O, woe! my troubles hath taken over mine heart! Mine insides curl with pain, and mine eyes stingeth with tears of cruel departure! How fast it hath ended! How fast it hath leaveth me! Lo and behold my suffering! I faceth the unknown now, and may I be granted the pleasure of conquering it. Sad is my face as I turn my back on that which I love.
Anyway, I should probably say before the review that even though my header states that I'm unbiased, I never thought that I would consciously decide to review the books that taught me to revere all books. So, in this case, I am slightly biased, but I did try my hardest while reading to be critical of the books. Now for a note on how this review will be done, I will give a summary of the story throughout the series, then I will go over some major plot points in each of the books, followed by my review. So, without further ado, the review of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter (and the *insert the remainder of the title here*)
Harry Potter (series) is the story of Harry Potter (character), an orphaned wizard sent to live with his Muggle (non-magic) aunt, uncle and cousin. When he is eleven, he gets a letter from Hogwarts, a school for witches and wizards. Hagird, gamekeeper at Hogwarts explains that his parents died at the hands of the evil wizard Lord Voldemort (referred to by the wizarding world as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who, or the Dark Lord by his supporters), not by the car crash his aunt and uncle have been telling him. Harry goes to Hogwarts and meets two friends Ron and Hermione, faces multiple troubles, both trivial and not, tests, enemies, and various other things. The series progress through to Harry's second year (Chamber of Secrets), when a house elf (a race of enslaved creatures who are forced to do their master's bidding until presented with proper clothing) by the name of Dobby comes to warn Harry of a danger at Hogwarts. Dobby tries to thwart Harry’s attempts to get to Hogwarts and fails multiple times. Harry finds out about the danger, a monster in the mythical Chamber of Secrets. Hermione finds out what the monster is, and Ron and Harry enter the Chamber to kill the monster, and rescue a girl who has been taken into the Chamber (I won't say who the girl is, but you probably already know from either the book or the movie). In Harry, Ron, and Hermione's third year (Prisoner of Azkaban), mass murder Sirius Black has escaped Azkaban and is hell-bent on murdering Harry. There have been Dementors (faceless creatures that cause you to relive your worst memories, or if you've been really bad, will kiss you and suck your soul out through your mouth) wandering around to try and catch Black. Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teach, Remus Lupin, long time friend of Harry's dad, teaches him how to produce a Patronus (the only defense against Dementors) because the Dementors affect him more than anybody because he's had so many horrible experiences in his life. In the end he meets up with Sirius Black, and he finds out some things, including the fact that Ron's rat, Scabbers, is really Peter Pettigrew, friend of Harry's dad, Sirius, and Lupin. Pettigrew ultimately betrayed Harry's parents by telling Voldemort of their whereabouts. And unless you've been living under a rock for the past decade, you already know what happens next, if not from the book, the movie. In the next book (Goblet of Fire), the Triwizard tournament is taking place at Hogwarts, and Harry would be perfectly content with watching three other students from Hogwarts, Beaxbattons, Drumstrang fight for their lives, but no, it is essential that everything happens to him, therefore, someone placed his name in the Goblet of Fire (which chose the champions) under the name of a fourth school, so he has to play. So of course he survives the tasks, all the while trying to find out who put his name in the Goblet (and dealing with a crush). In the final task, he finds the cup and ties with the other Hogwarts Champion, Cedric Diggory, but when they grab the Triwizard cup, it transports them to an old graveyard, for the cup was a Portkey (a magical object that transports people touching it at a prearranged date and time to a prearranged location). There they find Peter Pettigrew holding what remains of Voldemort. Voldemort orders the death of Cedric, and Harry is forced to watch as Pettigrew concocts a potion that brings back his master. Voldemort summons his followers and he and Harry duel. Harry escapes bringing Cedric's body. Dumbledore says at the end of term feast that Voldemort is back; we then cut off and enter into the fifth book. In this book (Order of the Phoenix) the Daily Prophet (the wizarding newspaper) and the Ministry of Magic have been saying that Harry and Dumbledore have been lying about Voldemort, and when two Dementors attack Harry and his cousin Duddly and Harry has to use magic to get them out with their souls intact, the Ministry calls a hearing to make the final decision on his expulsion from Hogwarts. He gets off, but back at Hogwarts, they find that Fudge, the Minister of Magic, made Dumbledore hire a Ministry official as their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and she refuses to teach them any defense. Eventually this pushes Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the point where they form an illicit D.A.T.D.A. club, by the name of Dumbledore's Army. Throughout the novel, Harry has been getting flashes of what Voldemort's seeing, so when he gets a vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius in the place Harry has been dreaming of for months, he goes to rescue him. It was a trap and a fight ensues, eventually ending with Voldemort's failed attempt to posses Harry. In the sixth year at Hogwarts (Half-Blood Prince), Harry takes many private lessons with Dumbledore in which Dumbledore shows Harry memories which feature moments in Voldemort's past. They find out that Voldemort made six Horcruxes (objects in which a person hides a piece of their soul), and that they have to destroy them to kill Voldemort. Meanwhile, Harry has been excelling at potions because of a book with helpful tips and tricks written in the margins. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione are dealing with romance, Draco Malfoy has been doing some mysterious things. When Harry and Dumbledore return from finding a Horcrux, they find out that Malfoy has been ordered by Voldemort to kill Dumbledore. Malfoy fails, but someone else succeeds. In the final book (Deathly Hallows), Harry, Ron, and Hermione go on a hunt for Horcruxes (hunt for Horcruxes sounds cool [the words, not the actual event]) while on the run from Death Eaters. They are forced to camp out in the woods, are placed under constant fear and worry, and take many detours and deal with resulting disaster before finally coming back to Hogwarts to finish it all. There they destroy the second to last Horcrux, Neville destroys the final, and a very epic battle takes place. I will stop here as to not give away anything I haven't already given away.
Now I know that was probably not very detailed in the way of explaining, but I trust that those who haven't already read the book will have seen the movies or at the very least understand many essential terms used here (mostly in the way of characters and their roles) .
I'd like to start by saying that Rowling's writing is beautiful, and I would expect no less from someone who has been penning stories from the age of six. The story line is excellent, and when you look, there are things leading up to things in the final book from the start, which is impressive. There are however loopholes, but if I were to say, I would risk spoiling an important part. I love the last book, it was awesome in my opinion. The writing dwarfs that of earlier books, the story line is again great, the dialogue is natural and unforced, everything just fell into place. My least favorites were the Chamber of Secrets and the Order of the Phoenix. I didn't like Chamber of Secrets because the plot never seemed to appeal to me that much. I didn't like Order of the Phoenix because of the whole teen angst thing. When someone writes about teen angst you're supposed to feel sympathetic to the character and relate, no matter your age, with this book, it just seemed very annoying, I kept saying, "Just shut up already, we get it, you're angry, now please be quit!" I assume Rowling forgot what it's like to be a teenager, or otherwise had trouble putting it in words. I love the story, and I always have, but I don't think it's normal to sob over the pages of a book, especially when you've already read it three times before. I leave you with a very Shakespearean take on my feelings upon leaving this series.
O, woe! my troubles hath taken over mine heart! Mine insides curl with pain, and mine eyes stingeth with tears of cruel departure! How fast it hath ended! How fast it hath leaveth me! Lo and behold my suffering! I faceth the unknown now, and may I be granted the pleasure of conquering it. Sad is my face as I turn my back on that which I love.
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