The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

The independent newspaper of the University of Iowa community since 1868

The Daily Iowan

Bitch Please: Harry Potter

Harry Potter: Hottest wizard ever

Maybe I just like living in my own fantasy world, but I think Harry Potter freaking rocks. The common argument against the series — aside from many people believing it promotes belief in magic and the devil — are the books are written for children. I think that’s crap, and here’s why.

The books started out being written for an underage audience. Hell, I started reading them before entering fourth grade. They were at my reading level (and at the reading level of countless other children) in the beginning. Not to mention the fact that Harry Potter was still young (so what if he’s a fictional character) when the books first started.

As the characters grew older, so did many of the readers (the ones who have been following Harry from the beginning) and the books matured also. That was an absolutely brilliant move on J.K. Rowling’s part, whether she did it intentionally or not. I think it’s safe to say it would be hard to find people who still think Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was written for fifth-graders. Seriously.

Harry Potter: Only a decent children’s series

I was never quite sure how the Harry Potter books got so huge. Sure, it may be a decent fantasy-adventure series, but it doesn’t deserve all the hype.

Don’t get me wrong, I did try to read some of the Harry Potter books. When Sorcerer’s Stone came out and everyone was raving about it, I gave it a read and decided it was decent. But Harry Potter just isn’t all that likable of a character. If he existed in the real world, Potter would be the nerdy kid that thinks he is better than everyone else and continually raises his hand in class. Then I purchased the second book, Chamber of Secrets and lost interest about halfway through. The series was starting to feel formulaic, and there were better books to spend time reading.

People argued that the Potter books matured as the series progressed, which may be true, but there was still nothing all that extraordinary about the series, including the movies. I am sure if I had gotten into Harry Potter when I was in middle school, I would have enjoyed it more.

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