Being a 90s baby, I grew up in the shadow of one of the most famous wizards of them all- Harry Potter. As I grew up, I was in the perfect age range to read the books and watch the movies as they came out, but alas- I did not. In elementary school I read the first two novels, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and while I thought they were interesting, I did not follow through with the rest of the series. Call my pre-teen self juvenile or, possibly, an elitist believing that fantasy books should remain in the hands of Tolkien, but I went through the rest of my years not thinking I was missing too much.
Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked. And by fire nation, I mean my older brother. He decided that he was going to begin reading the books again, so naturally I became curious. I soon picked up the first book again, thinking I would have the same thoughts I did when I was younger. About six weeks later, I finished the series for the first time. This happened for a few reasons...
It turned into a competition. My brother was already four books ahead so I needed to see if I could catch up before he finished (I ended up finishing the series before him).
I legitimately became interested in all of the side plots that were not present in the movies (for example: Hermione's S.P.E.W. storyline that lasts for several books.)
I began making tiktoks to hold me accountable to continue reading. In each tiktok I would layout a formula where upon completion of a book I would state: favorite character, least favorite character, favorite professor, character I relate to, favorite moment, and ultimate rating (out of ten). For those of you curious, here is that list (if you don't care what I think, what are you doing reading this???)
Book: Sorcerer's Stone
Favorite Character: Lee Jordan
Least Favorite Character: Hagrid
Character I relate to: Ron
Favorite Professor: McGonnagall
Favorite Moment: When the Weasleys and Harry discuss their Christmas sweaters
Rating: 8/10
Book: Chamber of Secrets
Favorite Character: Hermione
Least Favorite Character: Dobby
Character I relate to: Ron
Favorite Professor: McGonnagall
Favorite Moment: Parseltongue discovery
Rating: 9/10
Book: Prisoner of Azkaban
Favorite Character: Sirius Black
Least Favorite Character: Aunt Marge
Character I relate to: George Weasley
Favorite Professor: Remus
Favorite Moment: Marauders/Snape drama
Rating: 7/10
Book: Goblet of Fire
Favorite Character: Fred
Least Favorite Character: Winky
Character I relate to: ???
Favorite Professor: Dumbledore
Favorite Moment: Abolitionist Hermione
Rating: 6/10
Book: Order of the Phoenix
Favorite Character: The Twins and/or Neville
Least Favorite Character: Centaurs (other than Firenze)
Character I relate to: Ginny
Favorite Professor: McGonnagall
Favorite Moment: Oof, there's a lot
Rating: 9/10
Book: Half Blood Prince
Favorite Character: Ginny
Least Favorite Character: Percy
Character I relate to: Harry
Favorite Professor: They all are kinda eh in this one
Favorite Moment: Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione; hanging out after they start dating
Rating: 10/10
Book: Deathly Hallows
Favorite Character: Neville
Least Favorite Character: James (father)
Character I relate to: Aberforth
Favorite Professor: McGonnagall
Favorite Moment: Ron taking his shoes off for Dobby
Rating: 8/10
Overall Series
Favorite Book: Half Blood Prince
Favorite Character: Ginny
Least Favorite Character: Dumbledore
Character I relate to: Aberforth
Favorite Professor: McGonnagall
Favorite Moment: Too many
Rating: 8/10
The final reason I was able to breeze right through the seven-part story, besides the fact that it is simply written well, is the fact that the fandom was comforting and felt innocent. If you would allow me to digress for a moment... Star Wars was my first fandom. The first obsession. The first love. This is the case for so many people across the globe. And while I used to enjoy talking about this mythical universe with others that also found interest in it, the fandom has since become overwhelmingly toxic. So much so, that it would
take an entire second article to fully detail the issues with Star Wars fans.
To keep it brief, I will say that everyone sees the Star Wars universe in their own light, and everyone believes that their viewpoint is correct- enough to terrorize others that feel as strongly about the story as themselves. I would say there would be a Star Wars civil war, however there are not even two clear sides to the issue. Everyone is drawing their own lines as far as what is good and bad about Star Wars. Now, part of this is because it has been around for almost fifty years, and within those years it has changed hands of owners and directors and writers, all with their own visions. This causes a break in fans to choose what they prefer.
Why this digression? Because reading the Harry Potter books was like a breath of fresh air. It was escapism at it's finest. Even among the fans that I began interacting with an innocence remained. We all enjoyed the books and that was that. So after all of this, let me just say- the Harry Potter books were quite wonderful and fans of every fandom have to chill out a bit to give everyone a chance to enjoy the same thing. Amen.
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