I’ve had this same question for a long time and put some thought into it.
Everything you mentioned of course, addicting writing, vivid places, good characters - but the big two for me are (imho) that it’s ‘believable fantasy’ and that she aged it up so well.
Unlike some other notable fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Redwall, Wheel of Time, etc - Harry Potter was set in our world, just hidden out of view. I think kids could much more easily believe that Hogwarts could be out there somewhere, that they could get a letter one day and go to magic school. For all the fantasy elements, it has some realism that feels truly authentic, which is why I think they pull off Harry Potter World in Universal so well too… it feels magical but also like you’re really there.
Then, where kids normally grow out of a series, or are too young for it originally, HP captured them young and the books aged up in maturity to adulthood… and many were doing at a similar age of Harry, Ron and Hermione, making them even more relatable. The grow-up aspect of them made them appealing to all age groups, which I think was the final piece needed to make it such a huge phenomenon.
Like others have said, I’ve seen better writing, better magic systems, better characters, across other books… but I can still always go back and easily drop into the world of HP and Hogwarts… it’s always been a mental break, cozy getaway. Just my humble opinion, but hope this perspective helps.
I’ve had this same question for a long time and put some thought into it.
Everything you mentioned of course, addicting writing, vivid places, good characters - but the big two for me are (imho) that it’s ‘believable fantasy’ and that she aged it up so well.
Unlike some other notable fantasy, Lord of the Rings, Redwall, Wheel of Time, etc - Harry Potter was set in our world, just hidden out of view. I think kids could much more easily believe that Hogwarts could be out there somewhere, that they could get a letter one day and go to magic school. For all the fantasy elements, it has some realism that feels truly authentic, which is why I think they pull off Harry Potter World in Universal so well too… it feels magical but also like you’re really there.
Then, where kids normally grow out of a series, or are too young for it originally, HP captured them young and the books aged up in maturity to adulthood… and many were doing at a similar age of Harry, Ron and Hermione, making them even more relatable. The grow-up aspect of them made them appealing to all age groups, which I think was the final piece needed to make it such a huge phenomenon.
Like others have said, I’ve seen better writing, better magic systems, better characters, across other books… but I can still always go back and easily drop into the world of HP and Hogwarts… it’s always been a mental break, cozy getaway. Just my humble opinion, but hope this perspective helps.