The literary magic of Harry Potter

There's a reason the Harry Potter books are so universally read and loved. That these books and Jo Rowling specifically turned out to be so successful is not chance or coincidence.

It is because the books work on almost every level of literary entertainment.

Each book expands the magical universe the story is set in. The characters learn new spells, come across new aspects of the world like creatures or magic, and discover more of the lore of the world. The whimsy of the world is one of the initial books' main attractions. It was the magical society, with as much detail as Rowling put into every page and scene, that we read for at first. It was happy, whirling, whimsical. Simply put, just a fun world to be in. Not a lot of depth---there are about a million criticisms we can level at this world---but a lot of breadth, and for children or the mass market, that is more important. And each book successfully makes the world bigger, more real, more enchanting. And as time and the books went on, the childish aspects of it fell away, and we began to find the world to be much darker and serious than Sorcerer's Stone let on---horcruxes, unforgivable curses, etc.

Each book expanded the cast of characters, and gave the ones we already knew further depth as we learned more about them. The characters, at first portrayed with much the same whimsy as the world, were the reason we loved the book. Everyone Harry met had their own unique personality, and nearly all were sympathetic, understandable, and even mysterious. As the books went on, our appreciation for them deepened, and they began to matter much, much more than the world. Forget about Every-Flavor Beans; the characters turned into the real story. They became the reason we loved to be in that world as the whimsy faded into the background.

Each book contained at least one significant mystery, and it's mystery that draws most readers on. There are questions that need answering, and Rowling always followed through (except maybe in Order of the Phoenix) with a fantastic twist or two that made us want to reread the book and spot all the clues she left for us. Prisoner of Azkaban is the best of the mysteries because of how much that big revelation means in the end, but every twist or revelation was at least satisfying, and often mind-blowing, and the secrets of what turn out to be the most significant characters kept us guessing until the final few chapters of the whole saga (I'm looking at you, Snape). Though every book answered the questions that it posed in its beginning, there were always those larger questions that loomed over the whole saga, whose answers came at perfectly parsed out moments. We never knew too little, nor too much at any given time.

Each book advanced the overarching story in significant and meaningful ways. Looking back, the first three books, which seem like just ordinary sequels in a series, were there entirely to set up the real story that emerged at the end of Goblet of Fire. The story at the heart of the Harry Potter saga is, frankly, Harry Potter himself, and he grows in each book, learns more about himself, his role, his abilities, his legacy, his family, his purpose. It is the story of how he becomes a man, and overcomes the evil and pain that persistently tries to destroy him and every other good thing in his world. It is a classic tale of good versus evil, and every successive book builds on what came before to present that age-old battle in fuller and more comprehensive terms.

The brilliance of all this is how all of these layers are wrapped up into the same story, the same remarkably character-driven story that takes place almost entirely in one setting (until Deathly Hallows, of course, but most of the answers in that book weren't given until Harry was back at Hogwarts). That is a remarkable achievement, and I think readers take it for granted. Each book succeeds in delivering characters, world, plot, and story in rich ways, fulfilling the needs and desires of a wide variety of readers who are attracted to different types of stories. It is a universally loved saga because it appeals to multiple audiences and satisfies multiple tastes.