This is one the very few times I actually checked out the hype. I guess in a way it was worth if for nothing else than to connect with those who talk about the characters and plot.
Overall, I was not very impressed. The combination of trying to reach the younger generation with kid protagonists and goofy names, while trying to simultaneously appeal to the older crowd with darker thematic elements (not to mention somewhat gory and chilling) just did not mix well. I think the series started off well aiming at the teens, but when Voldemort is reincarnated, it just goes downhill. There is nothing to connect with. The bad guys are too bad, the wizened old wizard is too smart (and too lenient), and the hero is too powerful. You get the sense that Harry is more terrified of his adoptive relatives than the Lord V.
There were some elements I did like. For instance, the owls. I kinda like how they are kinda watching over their charges, even though they have no real powers outside of normal owls. I liked Fred & George Weasley; forget the stupid things the author stuck them with, I like how they turned magic to their mischievous will. I like the background of Tom Riddle. And I think Snape was done up well as the double-double-double-double crossing bad guy who is a good guy who is a bad guy; plus he was cast quite well in the movies.
I like how the last book answered a lot of questions, answers that were long in the coming. We learned a lot more about Dumbledore and Potter, Snape and Riddle. I appreciate that the last book was the last book. Finally! =)
But there was so much to hate. The names of things are just dumb. Ok, I get that the author wants to appeal to children, but when you start having a Dark Wizard who imbibes blood and goes around killing folks just because, you kinda discriminate against the parents of the children. Spells especially are ridiculous. There are perhaps a few that seem original and in good taste. While the idea of the art of wandmaking is rather interesting, the theory that wands are merely instruments for a well-learned wizard (and not, alledgely, the source of the magic in the first place) falls on its face when the Big Bad Guy is so intent on getting the biggest and baddest wand. Yes, the famed wandmakers did try to warn Mr. V that he just didn't get it, and we the reader are supposed to understand that Riddle was so consumed that he was blinded. But even Dumbledore had to use a wand, not to mention all the other power players. Both the books and movies place way too much emphasis on the wands. Perhaps another throwback to children?
I did not like how our young heroes were always so much better than their elders. How is it they they excel so much where their mentors fall short? I even felt at times that the children were more mature than the adults.
I really did not connect with these stories at all. I think they make for interesting conversation. And the fact that there is so much hype about them easily lends itself to the impression, the false sense of some level of "good quality", that people will actually have intelligent discussions about the ideas and concepts put forth in those pages. I think that is more to the credit of the critics and fans than the author herself.
