Harry Potter: Well 'Built' world or ...?

A beginning of a tale that touches your heart to the core.

Harry Potter Series

[STARRED, HALL OF FAME]

Personal Rating: 5

Writing: 5

Character Development: 5

Plot: 5

Readability: 5

Book Cover: 5

Theme: 5

Impact on Readers: 5

Satisfaction: 5

Why? Why is it still one of the best journey ever told that every reader can connect to?

Because of the perfect balance of all its characters’ growth in a world that is ‘well-lived’ not just ‘well-built’.

A character who is down to earth despite the fame he has in his hidden world, a world of magic while he has been brought up, not very kindly, by his aunt in the world of ‘Muggles.’

What are Muggles?

“Non-magic folk …” Read it in Hagrid's tone [Robbie Coltrane’s voice]

What really is in this book?

It’s just a story of an eleven-year-old boy who knew he lost his parents in a car crash, but then, discovered were actually [a meaningless spoiler alert] murdered by a villain. A villain who is the most powerful wizard of all times, the most talented orphan student of the wizardry of his time in Hogwarts, also the most narcissistic acknowledgment-seeker of all time.

But what is Hogwarts?

A school where they teach you magic. A place about which you’ll dream of studying, a place with house rivalry, a place where you get to play Quidditch: a flying basketball of sort, in case you still haven’t even peeked to the TV even once, thinking someone might catch you at watching (not enjoying) a story about an eleven-year-old-boy, and you might be called a Non-Man in your very Mugglish world.

Apologies. I might have ended up giving not so professional editorial review like Lee Jordan ends up siding with Gryffindor in his commentaries. But still …

Wait … What is Gryffindor, you say?

I humbly ask you to get out of here, Muggle!

Back to review: What does it have?

It has many many many characters. But unlike most of our famous epics, you won’t forget their names. If you manage to get to the fifth or even the seventh book of the series, you will find yourself crying for the most negligible characters’ [spoiler] deaths, while you’ll see you didn’t even care when in the end a certain blonde on iron throne died.

Bloody hell! [Read in Ron’s voice] Story Doctor is again giving unprofessionally attacking reviews.

Back to review 2:

So, yes! This book has the ultimate character building in a world that is fully understood, completely visualized, a world that is well-delivered that readers will connect with full satisfaction.

Speaking of satisfaction:

After reading and watching many recent books and films, I’ve seen the tendency to start with action in a beautifully magical world but poorly ‘lived’.

I am highlighting the ‘LIVED’ part repeatedly. Why?

For THIS is the main reason readers connect to Harry Potter’s world of magic but not the others’ world of magic or fantasy.

In most books these days that try to portray a magic-world or a unique fantasy world, there, I don’t see the days passing, I don’t see the MCs giving exams that matter like my own exams in schools or colleges, I don’t see holidays in a nest-like house, I don’t see weekend trips to something like Hogsmede where I end up finding a clue to the plot, I don’t see sub-plots of love or rivalry in a way I won't skim, I don’t see the days pass in tension, months pass in angst, year pass in both thrill and drill.

You see what happens is, most fictions these days have that incredible world in the first 30-50 pages, and then the characters don’t ‘live’ in it enough. After 50 or 100 pages, the characters now suddenly have to run or have to move away or fight the evil 'right now'. (SPOILER) Running happens in Harry Potter, too, but in book seven. What you don’t understand is, before HP Book-7 we had the entire 6 books showing us Hogwarts, showing us backstories, showing us games, books, library, subjects, classrooms, classmates, teachers, histories, family, love, people, ministry, banks run by goblins, a whole marketplace that sells wands and broomsticks.

But if you notice carefully, most books start at where Harry Potter’s book-7 has started. So, we don’t connect. We don’t live in the world. We just run in the little-connected world built in just 50 pages, and then we wonder when the book will finish, so we can mark it ‘read’ in Goodreads.

Does this series have no negative points?

Well, it does, of course. I’ll talk about them in the individual book reviews. Most negative points are about how Publishing-Industry in 1998 was portraying women and the South-Asian race in books. For a traditionally published author, I’ll always question the Pub-Industry for such things and not the Authors.

So, if you are an author, wondering why no one likes your magic system, I’d say, you’re asking the wrong question. The question should be “Why people are not liking the life in my magic-world?” Because that’s when you’ll realize, you have just the world and it needs life well lived, too.

[Oh! Damn! I ended up giving writing-advice instead of a book review! I wonder if it will fit in the Book-Review page at all. So, wait for my individual book-review for this series later.]

General Book Info:

Title: Harry Potter Series

Author: J. K. Rowling

First Published in 1998

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