Harry Potter

I dunno if I've mentioned that I love the Harry Potter series before. Well, I do. I've loved it every since I read the first book in 6th grade. Since then, I've read each book about 20-something times, discovering hidden meanings in each book.

 Harry ponders over his scar in the mirror.

But a few days ago, I questioned myself. It takes some really good writing for me to appreciate any book.Why, I asked myself, why, why, why do I love the Harry Potter books so much? 

So I decided to make a list.

1. It's fantasy. And that helps me throw the real world out the window and take a bite of the fresh writing.
2. It's realistic. I know I just contradicted my previous sentence, but in all honesty, Harry and his friends go through experiences similar to...well...Muggles. Other than all the spell-casting and wand-waving, they have emotions and feelings, and that helps people relate to them.
3. It's well-written. That seems obvious, right? Who would love a book that wasn't well-written? You'd be surprised. A lot of books are trash, but because of their exciting/romantic plotlines, people read them anyway. Not Harry Potter. 
4. It's thrilling. No one--well, not me, at least--wants to read a book without ups and downs, twists and turns.
5. It's full of substance. Like I said before, a lot of books pretty much rely on romance. They have angsty love triangles and fairytale romances. Ew. Ew ew ew. Thankfully, the Harry Potter series doesn't have romance until the ending books, and even that is lighthearted; if a reader skipped over those bits, the book would still make sense; it would still be interesting.
6. It's dark, but it's still happy. Not many books can pull that off. Harry Potter's tale is sad. It makes me cry. But it has a happy ending, and it leaves us with the nice feeling that despite tragedy and murder and all that, life can still be happy.
7. It's like a puzzle; everything fits. Everything. The spells are named after the Latin/French word for their effects, the names are based off of old English words, etc. And not just that, but all confusions are cleared up logically at the ends of the books, and you feel like, "Oh, why didn't I see that before?"

So yeah, seven for luck. By the way, the sketch up there? It's from nocturnalsoldier.org/Tealin/harry.html. He's got some fantastic artwork.