Aaarrgh!!! Harry Potter!
(devoted fans should close their eyes, ears and minds now....)
As far as I'm concerned, that whole bunch of characters should be wiped out ASAP, be it by Voldemorth or bookburning in the streets... whichever way is quicker in getting the task done has got my vote of confidence.
I honestly think that the only fairly interesting and rounded character of the series has been Snape. Everybody else comes off as a bunch of onedimensional zombies, dishing out tired lines and acting like sheep, Voldemorth included.
I seem to recall that I thought the first and the second book of the series decent enough jobs.
Since then.... aarrrgh. All downhill; supposing that I haven't simply lost patience with this series over time. Part of me wants to read those first ones again, just to see if they were really half decent at all, or if I just managed to kid myself I was eating tubed astronauts food, while scooping up the litterary equivalent of mayonaise.
I find myself following the series now as an explorer into just how crummily written a bestseller can be.
We really seem to be headed where no man has gone before!