Spoiler notice: The first part avoids the central mystery. A clearly marked section below discusses the culprit and the ending of Storm Front.
It took me weeks to finish Storm Front. That feels like an odd thing to say about a book featuring a wizard who gets hit with a baseball bat, visits a vampire and cannot even have a date without a demon turning up. There was plenty here that made me laugh, and the final stretch was genuinely fun. But getting there was a slog.
Previously on iSoul: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — The Magic Grows Up — the full-cast audiobook brought out the story’s humour, relationships and gathering darkness before the final journey.
Seven books later, I’ve finally finished Harry Potter.
Listening to the full-cast audiobook of Deathly Hallows made the end of the journey feel very different from the wonder of Philosopher’s Stone. The ordinary school days, lessons, feasts and Quidditch matches are mostly gone. Harry, Ron and Hermione are no longer children discovering magic. They’re trying to finish the task Dumbledore left behind while the world they know falls apart around them.
Major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, with references to later Harry Potter instalments, follow.
Previous: Order of the Phoenix Is About the Life Around the Story
I’ve finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I’m not ready to rank it. It’s still lingering in my head.
I fell in love with the original sense of magic: discovering Hogwarts, meeting its ghosts, learning about strange lessons and hidden passages, and watching three children find their place in an extraordinary world. I still love the smaller details — Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday Party, Peeves creating chaos, Filch secretly trying to learn magic, and all those little corners of Hogwarts the films never had time to explore.
Previous: Goblet of Fire Is Where Harry Potter’s World Opens Up
The life around the main story # Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix follows Harry through his fifth year at Hogwarts after Voldemort’s return. Much of the wizarding world does not want to believe him. The Ministry begins interfering heavily with Hogwarts, Harry becomes increasingly isolated and angry, and the school year turns into a mixture of exams, politics, friendships, rumours, punishment and resistance. At the same time, strange dreams and visions seem to connect him more closely to Voldemort.
Major spoilers for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire follow.
Previous: It Only Took Me Twenty-Odd Years to Listen to Harry Potter
I have finished the full-cast audiobook of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and this might be the book where I finally understood how much the films had to leave behind.
I knew the main story, of course. The Triwizard Tournament, the graveyard, Voldemort’s return: none of that was new to me. What surprised me was how much life exists between those events. There are more conversations, more side stories and much more time inside Harry’s head. Hogwarts feels busy in a way it rarely does on screen.