The Half Blood Prince

I agree with you, but add the qualifier "They are written for kids". If you read any of the HP series you've got to accept that you are not going to be blown away by the plot or complex interaction between characters. When I read any of the books I tend to regress to a more child-like state in my mind so I won't be disappointed (kind of like when I read the Da Vinci code) and let the 'ripping good yarns' pull me along. Slightly OT: has anyone read the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Phillip Pullman - now that's subversive!

I agree, I enjoyed Pullman's stuff more than the Potter series. I also suspect that (as I think Andya has pointed out) this is because the concepts and stories were more adult. Although I do see what Crash means about the characters, I think this is true whenever you have a book that tries to describe a 'Foreign' world in such depth - Dune, Lord of the Rings etc. But it was the uniqueness of Pullman's world that really hooked be, with things like the armoured bears and Daemons. I quite liked the ending, but I won't make any other comments in case I spoil it for anyone. Ah!That means you've still got the over-long (and generally unispiring) Order of the Phoenix to get through. Stick with it though, I thought this last one was back to form, and very entertaining.

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Si hoc signum legere potes, operis boni in rebus Latinis alacribus et fructuosis potiri potes!

Yeah. I've wondered about that too. I'm also intrigued why more of fuss hasn't been made by some on the Christian Right who seem to be working themselves up about the evil witchcraft and satanism in JK Rowlings stuff.Again, I don't want to leave spoliers but:

1. Pullman makes no secret of his atheism
2. The books are not entirely complimentary about organised religion
3. God and the Metatron!!!!