Harry Potter

I'm going to post my views on all seven of the Harry Potter books- you could see it on my shelfari page, but it would take a while to find it, so here it is:
I think that stating the weak and strong points and aspects of the books is a good way to understand everyone views of the book(s) and what they thought made the book interesting or a good read and what they thought could have been better, so...:
1. Magic. Well, although J.K. Rowling did have some creative ideas, it seems as if she was just playing around the usual Halloween-themed idea of goblins, witches, and ghosts of which many books have been written about. I believe that the magical side of the story was not very consistent throughout all seven of the books and that Harry's magical abilities were not clearly stated in the series. Sometimes, Harry performed outstanding spells that would even conquer Voldemort's wand and on other hands, he was not top of the class in most subjects and often needed Hermione's help for simple summoning spells and transfiguration. Also, J.K. Rowling simply compares Harry's skill in classes at Hogwarts to Ron, although Ron probably wouldn't be able do the things that Harry did to Voldemort. Then, there is also Lily Potter's love for Harry and how powerful it proved to be against Voldemort. In my opinion, the detail is kind of fuzzy because I'm not sure if the author ever explains just how love is supposed to interfere in magic. Finally, there is the Floo Network and the Apparating and minor magical details like that, I have different views about things like that. Although these simple things were not always clearly explained, I believe that they were very creative and if you think about it- what would Harry Potter be withouht magic? There wouldn't be much to read about. This is one of the reasons why I didn't like the seventh book so much as the first books- because Harry, Ron, and Hermione were just camping in the woods, and I missed reading about all the magical passages and portraits and such in Hogwarts. Overall, I have mixed views about the magic side of this book and from a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate it a 6 and a half or a seven.
2. Plot. The plot is the most important part of the book because it creates all the suspense and keeps the reader reading on. I think that J.K. Rowling did a good job at this in the first six books. On the other hand, at the end and in the Order of the Phoenix I wasn't very impressed at first with the whole idea of Harry having visions in Lord Voldemort's mind and one day going to save his godfather because he thought that he was dead. But then, it turns out that Lord Voldemort was using these visions against Harry and that Sirius was not in danger. So, then the Order of the Phoenix turns up in the Ministry of Mysteries room and helps Harry fight against Voldemort, which in the process- Sirius dies. It just seems kind of cluttered at first but once the reader sorts everything out, it begins to make sense. I actually really liked the last books plot wise because like Bo-Peep says, the sixth books turns you against Snape and then the seventh book makes you realize that he was actually helping Harry and killed Dumbledore on Dumbledore's commands. Also, being an avid mystery reader and lover I enjoy suspense and questions and throughout the whole book, you are wondering- is Snape a double agent for Dumbledore or is he really on Voldemort's side? Which, I think is one of the reasons why the reader keeps on reading and therefore, I believe that the plot is a strong point throughout all the books.
3. Characters. I'm not really sure why, but I think that in the last books it was as if Harry just realized that his parents had died and that Voldemort was after him because he suddenly began to have random angry outbursts and got frustrated really often. True- you could say that this made him more "human", but I didn't really like it because it made the reader just want to tell Harry that if he listened to Dumbledore instead of blaming people and getting angry at Dumbledore, he would be much better off. I liked it much better when Harry was reasonable in the first books and faced the facts without over-reacting and I believe that although Dumbledore thought that Harry was too young at age eleven to be told about the prophecy, maybe it was better if he had been told at age eleven instead of fifteen- (or sixteen was it?) because it was as if Harry had been keeping his feelings inside him for a long time and suddenly he released them in the last book. Ron was kind of the same as Harry because he suddenly started having all these fights with Harry and Hermoine and if anything- I don't think that it was much help for Harry and that if he was still the reasonable, reliable friend to Harry as he had been in the first few books, he would have been much greater of a companion and friend. Hermione was just Hermione. I must say that J.K. Rowling created her well and I agree with Bo-Peep about how boring it would be to read about perfect characters, but I think that she began to express her feelings a bit in the last book- not very much though, just enough that she seemed human. Dumbledore was also a well-created character but he seemed way over protective of what Harry should know and what Harry should not know. It just puzzles me why he didn't tell Harry so many things and just left Harry to find them out for himself in the last book. It seems that he trusted Harry and knew that he would never cross over to Lord Voldemort's side, so why not tell him? Snape was a very unusual character and I agree that he was not created so well. No one truly knew what side he was on until the very last part of the last book which is good in a way because it keeps the reader reading but then again, at least he should be a tad bit nicer to Harry, in fact he acted so mean to Harry (which I'm sure was part of his I'm-On-Lord-Voldemort's-Side Charade) that it began to get a bit suspicious and I'm surprised that Lord Voldemort did not began to question and suspect Snape himself.
4. Details. Well, I must admit that I didn't really pay much attention to those broken details, but I must agree that if too many mistakes are made, then it starts to get obvious and then it doesn't seem very put together. It's kind of like movie bloopers. Some people find mistakes in movies that would have been obvious to anyone had the paid attention to it, but usually in movies, mistakes are found and are changed before the movie is being released. In books, however as the broken details grow more in number, they grow as bigger mistakes and then the book doesn't make sense at all, for we must remember the small details make up the bigger ones. It's just that the author might have skimmed over these mistakes while a very careful reader might immediately detect them their first time reading the book through. So, the details were not very strong- I agree. Overall, I believe that while certain areas were not very strong, other areas and parts of the books covered up for them, such as the interesting plot kind of made up for the magical part of the book not being very good. Do you understand what I mean? It's just that we can find both strong and weak parts of the book but the strong parts- if really good- can make up for the weaker parts making the book not as good.