[Urko Crust]

I have read and enjoyed the HP books, but i have read many, many better series. i cant understand what is so special about HP that it became so popular. Anyone got any ideas?

[Astra]

I don't even read HP books. I watch movies and that's enough for me. I believe it is teenager fantasy, I am too old for it. Like Narnia. I have seen the movie, no way I am going to read it. My guess is that HP books have very good movies for them to support for youngsters to like it. I think movies are very good indeed. Although I despised a one thing in particular about HP such as playing this sport game on brooms. It had nothing to do with the fantasy, nothing to do with the plot, nothing to do with HP. It was a pure marketing trick. Like in many hollywood movies they always play football or rugby or basketball. I the end of the second or third moovie when HP received super duper broom for his achievements . I didn't like. It felt like a cheap trick meant to buy a certain audience.

[Brahm_K]

Harry Potter is pure escapism. There's no logic to the wizarding world, yet there's enough of our world in there (especially through the whole boarding school thing) that it becomes a funtastic experience for kids. In the early books, Harry is so obviously everything nearly every kid wants to be; he plays the only position that matters in a sport that incidentally makes no sense and succeeds, he solves mysteries like Scoobie Doo, he's special, he's important, he fights evil; yet, unlike other protagonists in many childrens books, he also acts like a kid. I don't quite understand the success myself, though; they're good books, but nothing special.

[Astra]

Brahm_K said:

Harry is so obviously everything nearly every kid wants to be.

Agree but I believe it gives kids false hope that you can achieve anything without working too hard. Ot to the contrary if you work hard you will always get what you want. It is untrue in RL. Say if a kid wants a bike, it doesn't matter how good he is going to study in a school, if his parents cannot afford to buy one he will never get it, while HP got this blasted broom. I felt sorry for kids at this moment. It was so out of place.

[QuickTidal]

Harry Potter is a benchmark that other books can be measured by. It is a series unlike any other and I unabashedly love it.

[Urko Crust]

you think it is a series unlike any other? what about the worst witch? or Enid Blightons The wishing tree?

[The Crazy Mob]

I never got the huge appeal of HP. It was an ok quick read but didn't grab my attention at all. It was a bit unique but not to the extent that others have made it out to be.

[Whelp]

Although I personally don't really like HP much - the books are average, there are a few interesting things, and a few stupidities as well -, the fact that it makes kids read is an important merit imo.
For that, I even forgive the movie version for being so ... weak, to be politically correct

Edit: I think Brahm K got the reason for success right.

Quote

a funtastic experience for kids. In the early books, Harry is so obviously everything nearly every kid wants to be; he plays the only position that matters in a sport that incidentally makes no sense and succeeds, he solves mysteries like Scoobie Doo, he's special, he's important, he fights evil; yet, unlike other protagonists in many childrens books, he also acts like a kid

[Urko Crust]

Traveller said:

I never got the huge appeal of HP. It was an ok quick read but didn't grab my attention at all. It was a bit unique but not to the extent that others have made it out to be.

hear!! hear!!
wider audiences for reading is all gravy. but why couldnt they pick a better series for the massive success. i for one would like to see high budget films of magician, GRRM, TP, SE, and for god sake even Eddings. all far superior books (maybe not Eddings?)

[Abyss]

Because of a few factors...

- The series starts simple, so a younger reader can be intro'd to it and 'grow into it';
- Of course it's escapism. ALL fiction is escapism. It happens to be particularly effective bit of escapism, in that a parent reading to/with a child can enjoy it. Not necessarily 'will', but 'can';
- It always amuses me when fantasy fans bemoan the fact that HP gets movies and all this publicity and 'better' series are relatively ignored. People - if those series were 'better', in the sense that HP is better in the view of the mass public, you probably wouldn't enjoy them as much. Think the Belgariad if you happen to read it when you were young enough to really enjoy it, then remove half the characters, the magic system, most of the prophecies, drop the ages of most of the other characters... (ie: the Book of Three or somesuch, and even that only rated one half-assed animated movie).
- point being, it works because it's less complex than those other series, not in spite of it.
- @Ventinari: Terry Goodkind makes me bleed from my eyes.

- Abyss, enjoys the books, yes, the movies only so-so.

[ObsoleteResolve]

It's enjoyed because it's easily accessible. People who rarely read will read Rowling because, well, not to be too pessimistic, but it's on their level language and structure wise.

Hell, if you want to see the average level of proficiency in America, just read any newspaper. Journalists write the way they do because they want it to be accessible to as many people as possible. The same is the case with Rowlings work.

It's an enjoyable piece of light-hearted fun, and that's why people like it, as well. She tells a decent tale.

.david
-I personally love the fact that Rowling's books sell so good. Remember: this means that more young people will continue reading, some of whom will probably stay in the fantasy genre, making it more of a concern for publishers. Aye, we'll get knock-offs in years to come, but we'll also possibly get some true talents from this.

[Astra]

ObsoleteResolve said:

-I personally love the fact that Rowling's books sell so good. Remember: this means that more young people will continue reading, some of whom will probably stay in the fantasy genre, making it more of a concern for publishers.

This is a very refreshing idea. I have never thought about this way...uhm, something to ponder...

[Morgoth]

I am still waiting for Harry to kill a bunch of pacifists in a glorified manner.

And we do actually sell a lot more fantasy books these days. HP opend for a lot of children's fantasy - read Pullman, Taylor and so forth. Thus several of the HP children will grow into the genre, which is a good thing I'd say. The only problem is that I have difficulties getting as many GotM in as I'm selling out.. You hear that, Patch? I want percentages!!

[Anomander Rake]

Well what got me started to reading this was the hype that surrounded it, back just before HP 4 came out. I used to hate reading, but because of the hype on news/TV etc, I decided to order the first book.

And it is an EXCELLENT escapism read. It takes you back to wanting to be a kid and experience the adventure. Some of the ideas were refreshing, and sports like Quidditch really made readers want to play it to. The Storytelling was very good, and writing not too simple as some teenage books are, but right to appeal to all ages.

I then went onto reading Lord of the Rings, SE's Malazan Series, GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire.

Harry Potter I still enjoy greatly as its one of the best escapism books out there, and there's always been good mysterious plots which you can try and figure out in a fun way, whereas GRRM and SE's mysteries tend to be more complex and require much more thought, analysis etc.