Rating: **** 1/2

Summary: Harry Potter has lived almost all of his miserable life with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia spend most of their breath complaining about him, and his cousin Dudley loves to beat him up. On his eleventh birthday, Harry finds out something that changes his life forever... that he's a wizard. Not only that, but a famous one! And so he begins to attend Hogwarts, a school of witchcraft and wizardry. Soon, he makes friends, and Hogwarts becomes the home he never had, but it's not all fun and games. There is also a hefty mystery brewing, and a very nice surprise ending.

    In case you don't know, the Harry Potter series is, well, an obsession. If you've ever been to one of the message boards devoted to these books, you know what I'm talking about. The people go so in-depth and pick apart the entire story just for an inkling as to what's in the next book. I'm not ashamed to say I'm one of those people. Anyway... The two things that really struck me in these books are the surprise endings and the way the author mentions a small detail in one book that is very important in the next. It's an intricate way of foreshadowing that prompts the reader to guess what's going to happen next. It's mainly because of these little clues that people are so... thorough when making predictions on the next book. The twists always leave me stymied until the very end, which is a good thing. I don't like stories that give away ending in the first 20 pages. There are people out there who will argue with me, saying these books are like those cheap serials (soap operas) on tv, which always leave you wanting more. That's not a bad thing. If you come back, it means you enjoyed the experience. Other's will tell you it's a fad, or it's not good literature. There are even people who feel these books are evil, works by the devil to lure unsuspecting youngsters. I can't tell you who's right, you'll have to read it and form your own opinion.

Written by: Lava