felicityking

I don't know what happened between CoS and PoA, but JKR's writing improves by leaps and bounds. It's her first sophisticated book. Also, it's the first one where the mythology that comes into play in the later books really is laid down.

Yes, yes, I know the horcrux and the start of Voldemort's back-story is in CoS, but that book suffers from "sequelitus." Retread the first book's story while just slightly changing around the elements to make it seem new and constantly remind you of what happened in the last film. I enjoy CoS: it's zany and the new elements are good, but JKR wastes half the book saying "oh, in case you forgot what happened LAST book, let me remind you....long-ass reminder....back to CoS." I'm glad her editor told her to shut it for PoA.

She still does it from time to time with PoA, but it's like she had an "oh snap!" moment. "I've only got 4 more books left to write! I guess I'll trust my readers to have good memories and I'll just focus on the plot instead of reminding them of stuff that happened in previous books."

And that "oh snap!" improves this book immensely because even though she's stuffing in the plot (to make up for the fact that she didn't introduce any of it in CoS), she still gets writes it in such a way that's effective.

I say this is her first mature book because it deals with themes the first two books don't: depression and also the concepts of guilt and innocence (and also what makes a person look either/or). The second book is obsessed with driving home the message "Harry's still a normal boy despite his celebrity. He hasn't brought into the fakery of it like Gilderoy has." (which is ridiculous because we that from the first book). This one just lays all that aside and just focuses on things that aren't often written about in children's books.

I really loved reading the back-story of the Marauder's Map this time. I confess I've seen the film more often than I read the book. I remember when the film came out I was mad that backstory was dropped, but on reread, I don't think it was needed. I'm also glad the film let Hermione be more pro-active in helping Harry.

I just finished my reread of the book today. This is a poor review but it's just stream-of-consciousness. Nothing academic.

I'm looking forward to rereading GoF but am already not anxious about that horribly long Quidditch World Cup chapter (oh, I hated that chapter, hated it the first time I read the book. It just dragged on forever!) nor the retread of "Harry isn't a show-off despite his celebrity!" (But after GoF, everything is smooth sailing, bookwise.) (Call me a traitor but even back when GoF came out, I thought JKR could have been more inventive than having Harry in the middle of the tournament. Except for Moody and Voldemort coming back and the start of Hermione's social activism, I've always thought the book a complete waste. One could skip it and go straight to OoTP and not miss too much.)

(Yes, I probably sound like I hate the HP books ever time I write a review. I don't. But I think she's overly praised by fans. She's decent, but she's not the Second Literary Coming.)