Ah, I grew up with the books, and the first one actually inspired me to learn to read, but that was just an entry to reading for me so by the time the 5th book came out I'd read a bunch of Brian Jacques, some Enid Blyton, Susan Cooper, Hardy Boys, Le Guin, Swallows and Amazons, all the stuff Jowling drew inspiration from and some stuff that drew inspiration from the same sources as she did, and it heavily overshadowed her work both in quality of writing and quality of the actual fantasy they presented. Before the last books were out I'd discovered Pratchett and Robert Rankin, and gotten into the weird and subversive side of fantasy, so in comparison the Potter books were just completely flat and predictable.
I do wonder if being British (and particularly going to a private high school) made it less fantastical to me. Apart from being a boarding school, Hogwarts itself didn't feel hugely magical. The whole house system is completely normal, all our schools do that. Trecking around a massive old building via convoluted routes that constantly seem to change if you've not been there before is completly normal, a bunch of out schools do that. Having massive grounds with a forest and lake isn't so common, but I was at a private school with grounds big enough for some woods and a pond, so it wasn't that far fetched, and I'd later go to a university with a forest and lake. To me it was just a normal school plus magic, so nonmagical children exploring the irl lake district in a nonmagical sailboat actually presented more of a fantasy to me.
Same thing about the first book being the reason I learned how to read lol. I didn't want to wait for other people to read it to me anymore. But the setting probably has a lot to do with it. As an American who went to small schools, even the idea of grounds was cool and exciting. Houses were new and, I thought for many years, not a thing in the real world. All that paired with magic and brooms and the idea of an entire unexplored world sitting under our noses hooked me hard as a kid. I don't even really like low fantasy as a general rule, but this was one of the only exceptions to that. The other was the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, but that entire magic system was based on puns and only dipped into the real world rarely so I give it a pass.
Ah, I grew up with the books, and the first one actually inspired me to learn to read, but that was just an entry to reading for me so by the time the 5th book came out I'd read a bunch of Brian Jacques, some Enid Blyton, Susan Cooper, Hardy Boys, Le Guin, Swallows and Amazons, all the stuff Jowling drew inspiration from and some stuff that drew inspiration from the same sources as she did, and it heavily overshadowed her work both in quality of writing and quality of the actual fantasy they presented. Before the last books were out I'd discovered Pratchett and Robert Rankin, and gotten into the weird and subversive side of fantasy, so in comparison the Potter books were just completely flat and predictable.
I do wonder if being British (and particularly going to a private high school) made it less fantastical to me. Apart from being a boarding school, Hogwarts itself didn't feel hugely magical. The whole house system is completely normal, all our schools do that. Trecking around a massive old building via convoluted routes that constantly seem to change if you've not been there before is completly normal, a bunch of out schools do that. Having massive grounds with a forest and lake isn't so common, but I was at a private school with grounds big enough for some woods and a pond, so it wasn't that far fetched, and I'd later go to a university with a forest and lake. To me it was just a normal school plus magic, so nonmagical children exploring the irl lake district in a nonmagical sailboat actually presented more of a fantasy to me.
Same thing about the first book being the reason I learned how to read lol. I didn't want to wait for other people to read it to me anymore. But the setting probably has a lot to do with it. As an American who went to small schools, even the idea of grounds was cool and exciting. Houses were new and, I thought for many years, not a thing in the real world. All that paired with magic and brooms and the idea of an entire unexplored world sitting under our noses hooked me hard as a kid. I don't even really like low fantasy as a general rule, but this was one of the only exceptions to that. The other was the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, but that entire magic system was based on puns and only dipped into the real world rarely so I give it a pass.