After reading the entire Harry Potter series with my daughter, my thoughts are:
- It is about 700% longer than it needs to be.
- Way too many crucial plot devices to track (horcruxes, wands, hallows, destroyers of horcruxes). Each one subtracts from our level of interest in the others. Whatever happened to "One ring to rule them all"?
- If you are going to write seven books in a series, you better make the whole world - and potentially other worlds - your palette. These books almost exclusively take place at Hogwarts and a few other settings in England. Several thousand pages is more than enough space to go into great detail about a many places.[/li][/list]
That being said, they were not written for me, but for kids. So what do I know? Ask them. My daughter loved them.
