I've now accomplished the belated feat of having successfully completed three of the seven Harry Potter books, and I'm still not positive what I think about the series so far... 
 On the one hand, the storyline is interesting. I can see where readers in mass quantities would find appeal with the poor, dorky, every-man type protagonist who finds himself in a fantastical world of magic where he never ceases to accomplish impossibly huge and heroic deeds. Rowling does a nice job creating relateable characters in a magnificent world that is sure to capture the attention of even those who would not otherwise typically be found caught with a book -- especially a book of around 700 pages. 
 On the other hand, though, the author absolutely drove me NUTS in book 3 with the lazy use of the completely awkward, unbelievably revealing "info dump" conversations. "Psssttt -- want to know all of my deepest, darkest evil secrets that I would certainly never actually stand here and present in this clunky dialogue? Keep listening, because I will certainly try to climax this story in the most unnatural way possible, if only you give me a chance!" 
 Beyond that, my only other complaint is that things are starting to feel a little redundant almost. I get it -- most of the Muggles aren't as fabulous as the great and wonderful magical folks, and Harry Potter is the greatest, grandest hero of the world who can defeat all levels of magic, even the bad guys who pretend to be good and the good guys who pretend to be bad. 
 Oh yeah, one more gripe. Let's just say Voldemort's name. No more he-who-can't-be-named over and over and over again. We get that he's scary. Move on. 
 Let me not leave the impression that everything is negative here -- that is surely not the case. The ending was amazingly ADORABLE (the P.S. on the letter? My favorite part of the book -- hands down!) And, even if some of the "twists" were predictable, it was still a genuinely intriguing story. 
 I've been told that things really start getting darker and more complex beginning with book 4, so I'm patiently keeping a semi-open mind as I begin The Goblet of Fire. (Although, I'm only on the first chapter and I'm already trudging through another awkward info-dump dialogue! But I have nearly 700 pages to go -- I'm sure things will look up from here, right?)