Stopped after Book 3, thinking of returning to the series. Anyone here read it all and can offer an opinion?
I’ve read them all, it’s been over a decade though. Why did you stop reading them? It would help on recommending to continue or not.
Got a few chapters into Book 4 and it felt like the narrative fizzled a bit.
I’m thinking of going back because they were very easy reads, and I wanted something easy to re-establish a regular reading habit.
Ah that makes sense. Book 4 is in a weird middle stage of the story, where it’s still mostly magic high school drama, with some Voldemort stuff thrown in. Book 5 and on get more focused in it’s storytelling.
Since they are pretty easy reads, I’d say try and pick it up again. But if you find you are really not enjoying it, I wouldn’t feel bad about dropping it again.
Hopefully someone who has read them more recently can chime in.
If you’re looking for other recommendations. While I haven’t been reading much lately, I’m now in the middle of Brandon Sanderson’s original Mistborn Trilogy. It’s a fun light read, and has a creative magic system, with different metals giving different abilities.
Another good series is the Prince of Nothing trilogy by R. Scott Bakker. It’s a heavier series. Not as complex as Game of Thrones with so many intertwining plot points. But definitely heavier than you’re average fantasy novel, with quite a bit of philosophy thrown in, in such a way as to still be readable and not dense. One of my favorite fantasy stories, told in a way that avoids all sorts of cliches, which is refreshing to anyone who reads a lot of fantasy.
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I read to my kids a chapter a night so far on book 4, it’s an easy fun read. If you like fantasy though and haven’t read the Lord of the Rings series I highly recommend it.
Read it already and I agree wholeheartedly - Tolkien is the wellspring from which all other fantasy flows.
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Listened to them all years ago. Book four was the one with the competition or something wasn’t it? Much of the books is a blur now which tends to happen when you binge listen to them all in a month or two (I drive for much of my job and listen to audio books to pass the time and I go through a lot of audio books).
Great series. If you like it make sure you read the sequel series that starts with Alloy of Law. Its 300 years after the first trilogy and set in an old west / late 19th century type environment. Three books out in it so far with the final due to come out this year I believe.
He also wrote a novella called Secret History which is connected to both trilogies. I can’t even really say what its about without being super spoilerish to a mega development but it sort of explains whats going on behind the scenes in both books. It also shows how the Mistborn book ties into his overall Cosmere (his name for his shared universe of books) and especially how they tie into his Way of Kings series. Speaking of which its a good series but its only 3 out of 10 books in so far and each book is LONG.
Meant to say about Secret History. If you read it absolutely wait til after the first trilogy as its extremely spoilerish to things there. Best probably to wait til after the third book of the second trilogy as it will ruin the big reveal at the end of that book. I read it prior to that book so when the big reveal happened I just basically said “oh, thats how its going to work” without much excitement but if I’d read it without having read Secret History my jaw would have hit the floor in a holy **** moment and then I’d have cheered.
If you want a good urban fantasy series in the vein of Harry Potter then consider the Dresden files by Jim Butcher. Its about an adult wizard in the modern day who works as a private eye for the wizarding world. Its both dramatic and hilarious at the same time with a huge cast of likeable supporting characters. So far something like 17 books out of a planned 20 are out along with two collections of short stories set in the Dresden universe. The first book in the series is literally the first book the author ever wrote so it has a few bumps but its also remarkable for a first book. But it gets quickly better as it goes.
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Pick them up and continue with the series. There were many times I considered stopping due to the slowness of the story line, but I think she tried hard to really include things that would be important later on even though it seemed to be unrelated at the time.
I enjoyed the books. Bu then I have become interested in YA novels the past couple years due observing what my DD was reading and finding some of them rather enjoyable. Great literature, no, but still a compelling read nonetheless. 
Books 4-7 were lightyears better than the first three.
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The last couple books in the Potter series are genuinely good.
But you should check out The Witcher series by Andrej Sapkowski. They finally translated the whole series from Polish and it’s better than Potter or Game of Thrones.
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They get darker, as the kids age. I’ve read them all (read the last 5 as they came out). They are worth reading–much better than the movies.
Thanks to everyone who replied. I’m now ten chapters in to book 4 and it feels like it will hold my interest this time. Also, some good recommendations for what to pick up when I leave Hogwarts.
I am in the process of re-reading the Harry Potter books and currently on The Half Blood Prince and I am enjoying them far more the second time round.
I suspect its because I can binge read the entire series without having to wait for the next book so they are all fresh in my mind.
There is no doubt these are literary masterpieces of fiction. Rowling created a world that exists alongside our own and made it believable filled with complex characters with history, personalties and human failings.
There are some very adult themes and Goblet of Fire at the end verges on almost becoming a horror novel. I like this about Rowling she treats her readers with respect whether they be adult or child.
If you have never read any of the HP books they are definitely worth a read.
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The early books wer shorter and more simplistic. As the saga progressed, the books got more in depth and richer, IMHO.
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Have you read the Dresden files?
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I read somewhere that Rowling wrote the first book, with Harry being an 11 year old, so that it could be understood by an average 11 year old reading it. From there, the series matured as Harry did and the reader would have.
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I stopped at the end of book 5, first few pages of book 6. It gets more dark, more sinister, more suspenseful for sure. Just be ready to be reading for a while. (Goblet of Fire is my favorite of the series, but I saw the movie for deathly hallows, and that takes a close second). The books get longer as you go about the series.
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