Bekta itibaren Priluki, Yaroslavskaya oblast', Rusko, 152651 itibaren Priluki, Yaroslavskaya oblast', Rusko, 152651

I often forget how charmed I was by the first installment. In truth, it rescued me from a period of deep spiritual malaise. No, really. I think that, aside from the effort Rowling has expended to build characters about whom we care ferociously (however infuriating their adolescent tantrums can sometimes be), the quality that drew me in most was that wondrous sense of simply sidestepping limitation-- discovering an utterly real, but absolutely Other context for our longings and our hopes. The cynical will scoff, but I think this kind of mythbuilding is not only seductive, but incredibly important. What we cannot imagine, we are doomed to act out, as the old man said. In any case, the first installment is actually the sharpest in its supply of sharp, surprising details, and one of the most effortlessly pleasurable of the lot.