I'm re-reading it at the moment before I pass it on to my husband ;) By the way, this is a great forum for discussion - interesting posts!

Rowling is a remarkable writer - that she can hold the interest of both child and adult is testimony to her skill as both a writer and as an observer of human nature. That she never stops subtly teaching the kids she writes for (she was a teacher of classics I understand before she took up writing - I may be wrong in that?) is a joy to see. She's one clever lady ;) I understand that Book 5 is now available in both Latin and Welsh. Wouldn't Harry Potter be much more fun on the junior Latin curriculum the the old Latin Primers? I know which one I'd chose ;)

I have enjoyed these books immensely both for their storytelling and for the way that Rowling has crafted them. I've been intrigued by the way she has them made increasingly complex to match the kids' developing maturity; the way she has given such depth to the characters who people the books - each one is unique with his or her own strengths and failings or should that be shortcomings? Real people...and this care for character crafting has been extended to subsidiary characters as well.

As to the increasing darkness of the books: it seems appropriate to me - kids, I think, are sometimes shortchanged in the way adults regard them - they are a lot more canny, resilient and informed than we sometimes give them credit for. That Harry is unhappy, resentful, confused, at times powerless to control the events that shape his life, angry that he is being treated like a child when he has weathered and dealt with so many responsibilities thrust upon him at such a tender age says a lot about his developing maturity; that Dumbledore showed remorse at the end of the book and admitted that his handling of events with respect to Harry was less than perfect was an interesting and unexpected turn of events. It demonstrated, to me, that Harry and Dumbledore were beginning to interact on a level playing field.

I think someone made a comment about Dolores Umbridge? - I can't quite recall what the gist of it was but I find her an interesting character. She's truely vile - a cruel vindictive woman who is power-hungry and who doesn't hesitate to abuse her power. She is believable - unfortunately I have met one or two just like her in RL...worked under one in fact but that's quite another story ;) That she is not a Death Eater says a lot about the infinite shades of grey that exist in this book...most of the Rowlings books. As with RL, nothing is ever black and white which makes her books all the more interesting.

That truely ghastly things happen to people in Rowlings' books(Cedric pops into mind here) makes me think of the old 'fairy tales' that were around when I was a kid. They were certainly not the homogenised and vapidly 'happy-ever-after' tales kids digest today - undiluted Hans Christian Anderson could be rough on the emotions. Mum and I used to weep over the sad tale of the Little Mermaid or the Little Matchgirl I think it was. Life...not artifice. Rowling doesn't shortchange her readers which is one of the many reasons I admire her as a writer.

That said, I look forward to Books 6 & 7!

Alohomora!