i read that shit around 10th grade because it became fucking impossible to navigate anything in english class, since every other discussion related back to them because that was the only thing these cretins had ever read in their life or something.

they're fucking awful hack work.

the "plot" is razor thin and meanders most of the time, most of the length is filler, all the lessons beyond useless vagueries like "do the right thing" are awful things to impart to children, the worldbuilding is slapdash, the magic system tries to split the difference between whimsical and well-defined and is competent at neither, and the hero simply fails upward to the conclusion of his arc.

i said all of this back then and everyone to a person dismissed me as a "contrarian" and continued marvelling at the brilliance of this monumentally terrible book series.

if you love your kids you'll give them something better to read than fucking harry potter.