I’ve just posted a review of 2007’s biggest book phenomenon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, over at Catholicfiction.net. It’s a thorough (read: lengthy) account of my mixed reaction to the final volume of the epic fantasy series. If you want the short version, it’s this: Rowling’s handling of the Snape subplot sucked.

Tags: book reviews, Catholic fiction, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, novels, Snape

Up until the last disappointing installment, Clan Murphy has been pretty staunch Harry Potter supporters. The movie versions have been entertaining but uneven, and not least because of the woeful, woeful miscasting of Michael Gambon as Dumbledore. The guy can be fantastic (check out his good ol’ boy Big Tobacco CEO in The Insider), but [...]

Tags: Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Patrick McGoohan

It appears there are petitions circulating, on and off the net, to beg J.K.Rowling not to make Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the last book in the series, or at least the last book in the world she’s created.
I have mixed feelings. I don’t want the series to end any more than any other [...]

Tags: books, Harry Potter

The UK Telegraph has a fun article on the Harry Potter phenomenon, and why it is that these books have taken such hold of our imaginations.
Here’s a quick excerpt:

So how do they stack up as literary artefacts? The answer is, well enough. There’s not much to say about Rowling, sentence to sentence. She doesn’t drop [...]

Tags: authors, books, Harry Potter

In our last episode, we concluded our sundry Snape theories. Now to another significant mystery in the Harry Potter books: the matter of Horcruxes.
We know that Horcruxes are objects (or perhaps creatures) in which an evil wizard has placed a piece of his soul in order to extend his life unnaturally. This evil magic apparently [...]

Tags: book reviews, books, Harry Potter