general

Truly, this has to be one of the best, if not the best analysis of the Harry Potter series. As a Potterholic, I was looking for a book that definatively got at the heart of Potter's popularity using logical and supported literary analysis, and Granger's book fulfills that.

John Granger looks at both the series as a whole, as well as book by book, the symbolism involved as an entity unto itself, and makes sound predictions for books 5-7 based on his analysis. The Christian themes that pervade Rowling's books are explained phenomenally well, and Granger puts, for example, information regarding Inkling literature and the Christian medieval morality plays (two important aspects of Harry Potter) into layman's tems, so that even those readers not familiar with those particular characteristics are not lost.

It is a remarkable book, and I have read it several times as I prepare for the release of Book 5. You will not be disappointed with The Hidden Key to Harry Potter. It is by far, the best way to unlock the secrets that make Rowling's books such a magical series.

Granger provides some excellent insight and delivers it with a good sense of humor. He is to be commended for focusing on the books themselves (books 1 - 4) rather than on prediction making or the over-documented "Harry Potter Social Phenomenon." His 'Harry Potter 101' chapter and his analysis of the themes of Death and of Choice are excellent.

Unfortunately, his very personal and emphatic religious interpretation of the series does limit the universality of his analysis. If you find daily living to be rife with Christian symbol you'll probably enjoy this book as much as many other Amazon reviewers have. If not, you may be frustrated by its limitations.

Much of the symbolic interpretation and character name derivations are simply unsupportable and there's a marked tendency to view the Potterverse in shades of pure black and white. A deep connection between J.K. Rowling and the Inkling authors is assumed rather than successfully argued. Confusion between Shakespeare's Hal and Hotspur is a particular embarrassment.

Rigid point of view not withstanding Granger has invested some very serious thought in this Harry Potter review. For the non-Christian reader some parts will be a slog but the open-minded reader of any faith (or none) will come away with some valuable insight.

Firstly The hidden key to Harry Potter is a good book to buy, for understanding of the whole series. Unfortunately, the book was published before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published, and since that book is about to be re-published in paperback it goes that much of the information in John Granger's book could be updated. And of course, Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, the 6th volume of the series of seven books, has already been started.

The book is dotted with tables that illustrate eloquently what the author is talking about, but while I was re-reading the book recently, it was all I could do (like not having a biro handy at the time) to stop myself adding another column or row to these tables for relevance to OOTP. I felt like drawing over the book with my opinions of how relevant each remark was to the 5th book of the series.

To do the book justice, I think many of the observations about the whole series are spot-on. John Granger makes some very astute observations. He foresees, for example, Percy Weasley's estrangement from his family in book 5, and much else besides. But it would be unreasonable to expect the author to upgrade the book to a second edition on the strength of the accuracy of observations about the contents of the already published and read Order of the Phoenix. There is another in the series imminent which would leave even the completed 2nd edition out of date.

Therefore I suggest that people who buy the book for all the value it represents in analysis, should not expect to keep the book unused on the bookshelf for later donation to a library. Instead, buy the book in the full knowledge that the buyer will write over it, add to anything not included, adjust to the buyer's readings of later books, rewrite the book on the buyer's own terms, and generally have fun with it.

Good luck.