J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter — (1997-2007) Ages 9-12. Publisher: Harry Potter has no idea how famous he is. That's because he's being raised by his miserable aunt and uncle who are terrified Harry will learn that he's really a wizard, just as his parents were. But everything changes when Harry is summoned to attend an infamous school for wizards, and he begins to discover some clues about his illustrious birthright. From the surprising way he is greeted by a lovable giant, to the unique curriculum and colorful faculty at his unusual school, Harry finds himself drawn deep inside a mystical world he never knew existed and closer to his own noble destiny.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the UK)

I don't give out five star ratings very often. In my view a book has to be simply excellent to warrant it — it has to be a book that I return to again and again. In my opinion, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone falls into this category. It isn't as though it's a perfect book — the writing is pretty ropey at times and the basic story is not dissimilar to others I have read — but it is a warm, entertaining, and very inventive read.

Who doesn't know the story by now? Harry Potter is on the cusp of his eleventh birthday, living with the beastly Dursleys, when he is visited by Rubeus Hagrid who informs Harry that he is a wizard. From here Harry goes to Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He finds out that he is famous, thanks to events that occurred when he was just a child and managed to defeat Voldemort (or He Who Must Not Be Named). In this first tale about Harry, we are swept into the world of wizardry and straight into a first-class mystery about the object being guarded by a three-headed dog...

So why do I love this book so much? After all, the plot is straight out of other books — who hasn't read about the orphan child who discovers hidden powers, and learns to use them in order to defeat evil? How many kindly elderly gentlemen with long white hair and rather formidable magic skills have we met? Rowling is writing nothing original here, in terms of plot.

The reason I was so taken by this lovely debut novel is because of the 'surroundings' to the plot. Rowling’s world of Hogwarts and her fantastic little twists to our familiar world are simply superb. From chocolate frogs that can actually jump to portraits from which the subjects sometimes leave — every little detail of the world is delightful!

Rowling also writes with great humour and an appreciation for the minds of children, and an understanding of what would appeal to them. My favourite moment in this respect is when Harry and Ron are being held by the Devil's Weed and Hermione is fretting about not having wood for a fire when Ron yells "Have you gone mad? Are you a witch or not?" The relationship between the three main characters is written beautifully, from the way they defend each other to the bickering that breaks out amongst them.

In fact, all of the characters are very solid — it is easy to see this when people who have read the series pick out different favourites! I enjoyed the sarcasm and quiet menace of Snape, and was keen to find out more about the reasons why he hates Harry so much. McGonagall reminds me of my old English teacher (stern, but with a heart of gold underneath).

The writing is reminiscent of both Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. From the former, Rowling cherrypicks ideas from her various school stories (e.g. Malory Towers — castle-like school on a cliff, with four Houses, travel by train to get there). From the latter, she uses the sheer inventiveness and wit of taking common items or ideas and turning them on their heads. I have no objections to the hint of plagiarism since I love both authors and hence have taken this series to my heart as well.

Harry Potter is extremely good fun and a great way to encourage younger readers. Highly recommended.
—Amanda Rutter

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry has had a miserable summer. None of his friends have written to him and he wonders whether Hogwarts and the world of wizardry that he discovered the year before is just a dream. Four weeks before he is due to return to school he has a visit from Dobby the House Elf who warns him not to return to Hogwarts. And so we embark on another year at Hogwarts and another mystery — this time involving the Chamber of Secrets.

I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, but not quite as much as I enjoyed the first book, mostly because of the clumsy recapping. The worst instance was when Colin and Harry are walking to the Quidditch pitch and Harry has to explain how it all works — it isn't completely unforgiveable since Colin has only just started at Hogwarts, but I felt it was superfluous nonetheless, and this was not the only instance.

My other complaint was Gilderoy Lockhart — a very tiresome character who boasts constantly about his achievements. I can see how some people might regard him as humourous but I begrudged any of his 'screentime' and wished he hadn't been introduced.

In this book the fright factor is increased. There is a spine chilling scene in the Forbidden Forest, especially if you are not that fond of spiders, and I still have nerves when Harry faces off against Tom Riddle. Some younger readers might well be scared.

Once again, the characters are fleshed out fantastically, even minor characters such as Lee Jordan (who commentates the Quidditch matches in a very entertaining manner). All of them are extremely memorable and, even in just this second book of the series, very familiar to the reader. It is a tribute to Rowling's writing of these characters that I never mix up my Professor Sprout with my Professor Flitwick — each of the people who roam the wizarding world have their own characteristics and personalities.

The little details also charmed me. I love the fact that the students have to turn in essays of a certain length in inches on their rolled parchment, rather than word count or pages. I enjoy the Dickensian element of the story — the quills, the clothes, and the robes. The descriptions of the feasts are unbelievable — they make you wish you could be transported to eat there.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is not my favourite Harry Potter book, but it is still a great read! —Amanda Rutter

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is easily my favourite of the Harry Potter books. Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts, and the big news is the escape of dangerous and deadly wizard Sirius Black from Azkaban prison. Harry learns that, for some reason, Sirius is after him. To increase security at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has reluctantly allowed the Dementors — ghostly cloaked beings that suck the happiness from a person's soul and eventually drive them mad — to guard the castle. The book uncovers the mystery of who Black is and why he is so keen to find Harry at Hogwarts, while also dealing with the regular shenanigans of a Hogwarts school year.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is where J.K. Rowling tightens up her act. The plot is excellently written with not too many of the loopholes that characterised the first two books. The use of the Time Turner is not too much of a McGuffin, since Hermione had already been using it during the school year. The book is sleek and not too long. I enjoy reading the Harry Potter books, but the later books definitely suffer from being longer than a few hundred pages. Here Rowling is forced to be efficient with her story, and it is all the more effective for it.

By now the wizarding world is firmly established, but Rowling still manages to spice up the book with many lovely little details. We hear more about the lessons taken by the children, and some new classes are introduced, such as Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Some of the little details are my very favourite moments in the book, such as when Hermione achieves over three hundred percent in her Muggle Studies class. I also love the throwaway line from during Ron and Harry's Charms exam:

Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perfom the Charm himself.
This always makes me giggle.

The village of Hogsmeade is another charming addition to Hogwarts, what with the sweet shop and the pub serving Butterbeer (which sounds delicious!). I do wonder at the fact that Hogsmeade has never been mentioned in two previous books though! Sometimes Rowling decides to add in features that have never cropped up previously and it can be a little jarring.

And she does love the big reveal! Here we have Sirius and Lupin going over the events of twelve years ago AND covering some of their school days, including why Snape hates them so, in a long dialogue-heavy section. I feel that this could have been spread out across the book in a better way, so that it didn't come across as much as an explanation to bring the reader up to speed.

There are some wonderful new characters, such as Professor Lupin. I have always wished that he could have continued as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. However, I did not like Professor Trelawney much at all. The scenes in her classroom were dull and dragged for me.

Finally, I would comment on the fact that Rowling cannot seem to write an exciting Quidditch match — they all seem to be Lee Jordan commenting on players throwing the ball to each other, and then Harry catches the Snitch in some weird and wonderful way. Mind, I don't think it would be easy to write an interesting football or rugby match into a novel either; they are just too dynamic for the written word.

These are very minor niggles. In my view this is a richly entertaining and imaginative story, in which the main characters really develop. I appreciated the strong plotline. I couldn’t wait to read the next one!
—Amanda Rutter

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The one where Harry takes part in the Tri-wizard Tournament. The one where hormones start flying. The one where Voldemort grows ever stronger. The one where J. K. Rowling decided everyone needed more doorstops...

I want it said right from the beginning of this review that I adore the Harry Potter series in its entirety, but I do feel that some books are stronger than others. And this is one of the weakest in the series in my opinion.

For some reason, Rowling decided that she could no longer write her story in a few hundred pages. Instead, we're presented with a positive brick of a book that stretches on for many hundreds more than I felt it should be. If all of the books had been written with the tight plotting and efficient writing of the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I would have been immensely happy. However, in Goblet of Fire, there are long periods of "filler" and subplots that seem to go nowhere.

I couldn't believe that the whole section concerning the Quidditch World cup took a couple of hundred pages to go through. There were a lot of "and then... " teenage-diary moments. "And then Harry and Ron went upstairs. And then they went to sleep. And then they were woken up. And then they walked up the hill to the Portkey. And then they found their place in the campsite." A lot of these details could have been glossed over and shown to us through better writing.

It took another hundred or so before the Tri-wizard Tournament was introduced! I know that Rowling was building in certain events whose importance was only revealed later on, but none of it was done in the same accomplished manner she achieved in the previous novel.

We were also subjected to two of her most common flaws. The first of these is introducing new items into the wizarding world to suit where the plot is going — here, we have two new wizarding schools in the form of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons; Portkeys; and Veritaserum. I just felt that, if I had been in Harry's position, either I would have asked whether Hogwarts was the only wizarding school or Hermione would have volunteered the information at an earlier stage. But Rowling needed to have other competitors for the Tournament, and so into the book they came. Portkeys were introduced at the beginning of the book so that Harry could be whisked away using one of them at the end. It is disappointing to see such a high-profile author use such a lazy method.

Her second massive flaw is giant dialogue-heavy sections where she, again, tells rather than shows. Here we have three! Firstly, Rowling uses Sirius to info-dump heavily about Voldemort and his Death Eaters (another phrase that we have never heard before this book). Then she "introduces" the Pensieve (although I am more forgiving of this since they do not seem very common in the world of wizards) to info-dump about the trials of the Death Eaters and shows the fate of Barty Crouch's son. And finally we have a long dialogue section with Barty Crouch Jr. where he is under the influence of Veritaserum (mentioned as a throwaway line by Snape so that it can be used later in the book!) and explains his actions over the course of the novel. This, again, is incredibly lazy and leads to sections of information overload.

As I have said, I feel that the novel could have been shorter and snappier. We could easily have lost the whole Liberation of the House Elves subplot involving Hermione; it didn't really progress at all. The lessons describing the Blast-Ended Skrewts were tiresome and boring, something I never expected from sequences with Hagrid. Although I could see the role that Rita Skeeter’s newspaper stories played in the plot, I felt too much page space was given to her.

This review is starting to sound rather scathing, but I genuinely liked the book other than those issues I have raised above. There is the usual charm and warmth you gain from reading a Harry Potter book. Seeing the pupils from the different schools and the wizards at the Quidditch World Cup adds a new depth to the world.

The end play with Voldemort is thrilling and extremely dark. I loved the tasks in the Tri-Wizard tournament.

Dumbledore really grows as a character in this book. I especially appreciated the lines where Dumbledore explodes into Moody's office and Harry can finally see why he is the only wizard that Voldemort fears. He is stern and immensely powerful — this is very strong writing. Snape also gains valuable "screentime" and the start of his ambiguous relationship with both sides of the wizarding battle is explored.

There are moments of comic delight in the book, principally because of the increasing hormones evident in Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione are the main source of this, and it is a delight to see that their bickering is starting to reveal true feelings.

To sum up: the Harry Potter series is a tour de force and a marvel to read, but sometimes you have to slog a little, and this book is one of the slogs. It has moments of brilliance as usual, but also contains some rather laboured writing and wouldn't have suffered from being a couple of hundred pages shorter.
—Amanda Rutter

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was extremely gripping and exciting, with a great deal of plot progression. Here, Harry is dealing with the aftermath of the return of Lord Voldemort, and coping with the fact that he is kept very much in the dark about what is happening. While at the Dursleys’ over the summer, he has been relying on the Muggle news to see whether Voldemort has started the expected killing spree and reign of terror. When Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors, Harry is forced to do magic outside of Hogwarts — something expressly forbidden — and is summoned to a hearing. This is where he begins to learn that times are changing: his relationship with Dumbledore is strained and distant; the Minister of Magic refuses to believe that Voldemort is back; and a truly chilling new character (Dolores Umbridge) takes on the role of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.

Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts is dark, dark, DARK! He is reviled by many of his previously friendly classmates for telling stories to gain attention; he starts having dreams that leads him to believe that he is feeling Voldemort’s emotions (including his glee as he commits murder); and he suffers a massive setback in his Quidditch career.

A lot of characters really develop through this book and it is fantastic to read more in-depth plotlines for Ron, Fred and George, Ginny and Snape amongst others. Here we have, for example, an extremely illuminating glimpse into one of the reasons why Snape hates Harry so intensely. Ginny becomes a feisty and very effective witch, while the Weasley boys provide much of the comic relief. I was rather pleased to see Ron step out of Harry's shadow in a subplot about him joining the Quidditch team. Neville Longbottom, also, is treated well in this book and we finally learn more about him.

Two new characters really steal the show though. One of these is the dreamy Luna Lovegood, who is piercingly honest at times, but also believes in fairytale creatures and outlandish tabloid stories. The other is the aforementioned Umbridge. For once Harry is struggling against an antagonist who is not part of Voldemort's group of Death Eaters. Umbridge is cruel, vindictive, and truly repulsive to read about. You feel like cheering when George and Fred take her on! There are some sickening moments in the story where Harry and Umbridge have quiet scenes together, such as his string of detentions at the start of the school year — these made me shudder.

Obviously there are faults with the book. This is the one where Harry develops teenage angst. For a long period at the beginning of the book he is sulky, sullen and often shouts in CAPITALS to make his point. I guess he is quite accurately written in terms of becoming a teenager, but it becomes tiresome very quickly.

The subplot with Harry and Cho's 'romance' goes nowhere fast, and fizzles out rapidly when J.K. Rowling decides who she would most like to see Harry with — a relationship that has been signposted since the second book, but is none the less welcome for starting to take shape.

The beginning of the book is slow and dragging, up to and including where Harry meets the Order in Sirius' house. Lots of names are thrown in quickly and some of the characters suffer from not being fleshed out at all.

Unlike my issues with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, these are really minor quibbles. Considering that Rowling is now dealing with a large ensemble cast, each of them seemed to get enough 'screentime' in this book. It was an extremely long book to read, but here I savoured each page rather than skipping through filler as I did with Goblet of Fire. Even the owls Hedwig and Pigwidgeon are given enough character for us to grow ever-more fond of them.

The DA lessons were incredibly funny and heartening to read about in the midst of all the gloom. Rowling also writes very effectively about the heavy workload of the students as they study for their OWLs (I love that OWLs and NEWTs correspond to our GCSEs and A Levels). It is also fun watching the three leads start to think about life after Hogwarts.

I think the real high point of this book is the fact that Rowling no longer feels the need to explain every little detail of the past four books. It is as though she now assumes that those picking up the book have already devoured the previous novels in the HP series, and so she steams straight into the plot. And the plot leads us on a rollercoaster ride that culminates in the most dramatic climax yet (although Rowling still can't resist the big reveal between Harry and Dumbledore — however, here I can forgive her much since Dumbledore's quiet and dignified explanation had me close to tears).

As I have commented on in prior reviews it is the little details of the wizarding world that, I believe, makes these books so beloved. One great example is that the students have to write a certain amount of feet or inches of parchment for essays rather than using a page or word count.

Finally, I leave you with a quote that had me giggling from Ron's description of his practical Divination examination:

He (Ron) had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realise he had been describing his examiner's reflection.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a great addition to the Harry Potter series.
—Amanda Rutter

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The last time I sat with my nose in a book for the whole day and read from cover to cover was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Today, twelve hours from when I started (minus the occasional food/water/bathroom break) I've finished the sixth Harry Potter book. I closed the book, cleaned off glasses covered in tears, and headed straight for my computer.

It's hard to express in words the sheer power of the emotions expressed in this and every other Harry Potter book. If you were one of those people who saw, from the beginning, that these were not books to be so lightly dismissed as children's books, then you were right. Very rarely does a writer capture the joys and agonies of life in the way that Rowling does. From book one the Harry Potter series has been a stunning example of how cruelty, selfishness, and greed can tear lives completely asunder — and how love and friendship — and time — can mend some of those wounds. Half-Blood Prince takes this to a new level.

I won't spoil anything that happens in the story, as that is not my way. I will tell you to brace yourself for laughter and tears along the way. There are moments of great happiness in this book; romances sprout left and right that will have Harry Potter fanfiction writers celebrating, gloating, and arguing all in the same breath. And there are moments of deep, touching sorrow. Rowling's characters are so vivid and alive that it is a very easy thing, to feel their pain and their joy.

I will state again that these, and most especially this, are not children's books! Not for the sake of any literary argument, either, do I say this. While it is not my habit of sheltering children, I would still recommend that parents of younger kids read the book before giving it to their children.

I would not want to be J.K. Rowling right now. She has so many things left to explain that book 7 will have to be quite extraordinary. I have all faith in her. She does not back down, will not compromise, and is telling the story she set out tell, regardless of what anyone else has to say. If you were disappointed in this story, then you will undoubtedly be so in the next one. As to my personal opinion of this, I won't say, as it is not in my habit to criticize people for their likes or dislikes.

I will say only this: if you close your heart and mind to the tale of Harry Potter, the people he loves, and the world he fights to protect, the only one losing will be you. —Beth Johnson

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: The best one yet!

I don't want to spoil the plot, as there are many twists lurking within this book, so I'll just say this: This is the best one yet.

Books 1 and 2 were occasionally intense, but mostly I liked them because they were hilarious. Book 3 was the one that really sucked me in, with its tightly woven, ever-twisting plot. Book 4 sprawled a bit too much but brought lots of romance and character development. Book 5, too, meandered far too much and lacked the comic relief that lightened earlier books, but resonated with deep tragedy.

Here, J.K. Rowling presents a Book 6 that is as tight as Book 3, has as much romance and character development as Book 4, involves a tragedy as profound as that of book 5 (or maybe more so, as I'm not convinced that the character who died in book 5 is really dead), and is sprinkled throughout by moments as funny as the best ones from books 1 and 2.

She has set up so much interesting stuff, I have no idea how she's going to fit it all into one final book.

Overall: Whoa. —Kelly Lasiter

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

There’s good news, middling news, and bad news in the final Potter installment, a book that replicates in many ways the unevenness of the series as a whole. First the good news. The main character, which has always been the book’s strength, continues in that vein through most of the book. Harry’s oh-so-realistic ongoing grief at his parents’ deaths, his sometimes-bends-but-never-breaks bond with Hermione and Ron, his coming-of-age process through idol-worship then respect then disillusionment then adult understanding with Dumbledore, his sense of a greater good — all of these aspects that have made Harry Potter one of the more compelling figures in modern fiction are here in full force. Along with the character of Harry himself, the triangular relationship with Ron and Hermione has also been a consistent highlight in the series, and this too continues here, though here it has its rough moments that feel a bit forced, as if Rowling felt the need to show the relationship in danger of fraying so as to make us appreciate it all the more when it does not. Personally, I found the “bend” moment hard to believe and could have done without it. With or, better yet, without it, though, it’s hard not to be moved by Rowling’s presentation of the bond between these three.

The middling news involves the plot itself. The Potter books have always, I thought, been uneven in this area. The first two solid if not inspired, the third the strongest, the fourth too episodic, and the fifth and sixth with strong plots at the core but diluted by overwriting.

The good news on the plot is that there are, as there always have been, several very moving scenes. There are also a few good action scenes, though action scenes have never been Rowling’s strong point and they aren’t here as well with a few exceptions. The biggest  problem with the plot is that it doesn’t actually start to take off, doesn’t become compelling, until one is already a third of the way  through it. That’s a lot to slog through to get to the good parts, though of course nobody is going to put the book down at this point. The problems with the first few hundred pages are rife. First, there is a great sense of disconnect as the reader moves between a sense of urgency and violence. On the one hand, Voldemort and his death Eaters are infiltrating the Ministry and Hogwarts, killing muggles  and muggle-borns right and left, torturing others while the Order of the Phoenix is marshaling its forces, going into all-out battle, and yes, dying.  On the other hand, we’re treated to an oddly desultory wedding scene as days trundle by in preparation for domestic bliss. The two just don’t seem to make sense side-by-side. There are also several major plot holes which I won’t go into to avoid spoilers, but at which any discerning reader will find themselves saying “but what about...” or “but wouldn’t they...” again and again.

Coincidences also stack up too neatly to move the plot along. Even worse then the ongoing coincidences though, are the plot points that are necessary to the Deathly Hallows that seem to have been pulled from nowhere. We get lots of exposition and explanation, but  for many of these it’s just too hard not to think that we should have heard a lot of this before. For instance, in all the many, many, many pages of quidditch detail we get (way too much) in earlier books, it turns out there is something we somehow haven’t learned that just happens to play an important role in this book. And it’s just one such example of too many such examples. It gives the book a sense of arbitrariness that spoils the reading somewhat, though again, mostly in the first third or so of the book.

There are a few other problem areas. Time moves on in awkward chunks in the first third. The final third, which is especially strong, has its pleasures diluted somewhat by some very clunky exposition, something that has unfortunately been a pattern of earlier books. Perhaps Rowling felt too tied to the formula she’s set for herself. Some of the characters were disappointing — Hermione seems to lack some of her strength we’ve seen growing in her, Ginny was too absent, and some characters (no names due to spoilers) have major changes in attitude that happen far, far too quickly and easily, literally in a matter of a few lines. The book, as all of them since book three have done, suffers from being overly long. One of the reasons book three was so strong was it was the tightest of the series. Hallows could easily lose 200 or 300 pages and be all the stronger for it.

Many have remarked on how the tone of the books has darkened as the series has continued, and this book certainly continues that trend, with more deaths in the first few chapters than perhaps all the  others combined. While I thought we’ve been set up well for this trend, it seemed a huge leap in intensity and frequency. And the  deaths, until toward the end, were jarring on the one hand due to the new frequency and nonchalance, but also seemed too abstract, as if they were mere props so we “know” what a bad guy Voldemort is. He’s always been a somewhat amorphous villain, one of the weaknesses of the series, and that continues here as well. He’s given newfound powers, and a newfound freedom to kill and torture, but he still never feels alive as a character. He’s there because he needs to be there, Harry needs an adversary and what’s a fantasy epic without a Dark Lord, but he’s more of a symbol of a dark lord than one that really makes you feel his evil. It’s hard to discuss much more of either strength or weakness without giving away too much of the plot.

So how does Hallows stack up as the finale? To be honest, the first near-300 pages were incredibly disappointing. I despaired of finding anything enjoyable, being too bothered by awkward plotting, bad plot holes, forced characterization, arbitrary revelation of knowledge, convenient coincidences, and poor writing. But the change at around 300 was pronounced. The book became much more focused in terms of plot, time narrowed and no longer moved along at a strikingly non-urgent pace, the bond between the three main characters came more into play, and we rediscovered the Harry Potter character that has carried so much of the series. From 300 to close to the end was the book we’d all been waiting for and it carried me along in its plot and moved me thanks to its characters. It redeemed the first few hundred pages and then some. Unfortunately, it didn’t maintain that level of quality all the way to the very end, as it stumbled somewhat to the close with, as mentioned, some very lengthy and awkward exposition (not once but twice) and then an epilogue that had its moments but felt too much like trying to wrap up lots of ends and that had as well some moments where things seemed like they hadn’t changed enough (and if that’s too vague, well, what do you expect — we’re talking about the epilogue after all).

In the end, there’s a great 300-page book in The Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, you have to read a few hundred pages to get to it. The book’s strengths do in the end outweigh its weaknesses, or at the least, by the time you get to the latter third you’ve forgotten the  weaknesses. It’s a fitting end to the series, and in its unevenness, a microcosm of the series as a whole. That said, it’s with a bittersweet sense of completion that one closes the book — a fitting and appropriate end, but an end all the same.
—Bill Capossere