"Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows", by J.K. Rowling

 Have you ever read a series that reeled you in from book one and did not release you until you had read the very last word of the final book?

This is what I experienced with the Harry Potter series.

Avidly, I read my way through books one, two, three, four, five, and six. The books seemed to grow with the character. As Harry became older and discovered more of the often dangerous world around him, the books became darker and more intense.

Each one pulled back a layer of the many mysteries surrounding the person of Harry Potter, and in each one I got to know Harry better and like him even more. 

At last, partly reluctant, mostly excited, I started book seven, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

I was reluctant because I did not want the series to end. I did not want to finish the book and realize that no more would follow it.

I was excited because yet another chapter in the life of Harry Potter was unfolding. I sensed the imminent climax, the feeling that everything I had read in the other 6 books, everything that had occurred in the life of Harry Potter heretofore, was about to culminate in something big…

But even these premonitions could not have prepared me for the rising action and climactic end of the Harry Potter series.

To tell you even a little of what happened would give away too much.

The book made me laugh. It made me cry. It made me bite my knuckles in barely containable excitement.

All in all, “Harry Potter” is a series that I know I will be re-reading many times in the future.

Admittedly, it’s not for everyone. (After all, if we all liked the same books the world would be a pretty boring place.)

But if you are a fantasy fan who is looking for an engrossing, magical series with colorful characters that you can relate to and who become real to you, “Harry Potter” might just be for you.

Book Review of "The Faerie Door" by B.E. Maxwell

From the moment I picked it up I was enthralled by this novel. It tells the story of Victoria Deveny and Elliot Good, two children living in two separate time periods. Victoria, a girl living in late 18^th century England, is staying at her uncle’s house for the summer. Her bold and adventurous ways lead her to discover a magical ring.

The novel soon switches to the perspective of Elliot Good, a boy in 1966. A series of magical events direct him to explore an old Victorian house where he finds his own magical ring. After that, the pace of the plotline quickens. By some extraordinary magic Elliot and Victoria’s paths converge and they find themselves in the enchanted land of the Faeries. There they are sent by the Faerie Queen on separate quests into separate realms, both quests equally perilous. Victoria and Elliot must rely on the magic of their Faerie friends and their rings to protect them, but the great evils they face may be too vast even for the Faerie Queen.

B.E. Maxwell’s style of writing is compelling and unique. It reminds me of someone telling a tale to enthralled listeners by the fire, or a scribe recounting a magical history that really occurred. He uses plenty of words I had not come across before, or if I had I had completely forgotten them. As I read I kept an index card and a pen nearby so I could jot down words to look up in the dictionary. His vivid descriptions transported me not only to another time but to other worlds: worlds that abound with faeries, ogres, dragons and magic! I could hardly put the book down. However, I recommend this novel for young adult readers and not to children.

Inspirations 4 Writing

I was greatly inspired by B.E. Maxwell’s knack of  describing magical things and places as if they were real and he had seen them. He made you feel as if you were there, experiencing the wonders of an enchanted land. I hope you also are inspired in your own writing to imagine something so vividly and then describe it so well that the reader can picture it clearly in his mind’s eye.