The other day a student asked me for my opinion on the Harry Potter books. When I replied enthusiastically and positively, he looked dismayed and informed me that “those books are satanic and they teach kids about witchcraft.” I disagreed, of course, and asked him if he has read the series – of course he has not. That’s pretty typical, unfortunately – people form opinions about a book without actually reading it.

Have you ever avoided a book because you were pretty sure you would disapprove of the contents? I don’t like the horror genre (in books or films), so I steer clear of that section (even the covers sometimes give me the creeps!), with few exceptions. That’s just a matter of personal preference, though. I don’t like to put scary thoughts in my head. I don’t think these books should be banned, however.

Unlike the Harry Potter universe, where the characters celebrated Christmas, this book keeps “creatures” out of the Christian holidays. (I have read to page 224 – through Chapter 17.) Diana, the lead witch, is a pagan, and she establishes ancient rules prohibiting creatures from participating in human religion and politics. I think this choice makes more sense, but some readers might disapprove of the choice.

Fiction is a bit tricky for me to blog about because I don’t want to give away too much of the story, but I still want to talk to you about the books. I will say that so far we have learned about the discrimination between the different types of non-humans, and that Harkness folds this into the dialogue without taking it over the top. Also, in her universe, creatures live in the human realm (unlike in H.P. where they have their own cities). As such, they regularly interact with humans – presumably they can even marry humans, but not other creatures (?) – and spend their lives hiding in plain sight, known to one another by various supernatural means (for witches, they feel different physical sensations based on what creature is looking at them – vampire stares feel cold, etc.).

Our lead characters are in academia. [SPOILER ALERT] The vampire studies DNA in an attempt to discover why members of his kind appear to be headed for extinction (along with the other creatures). There was a bit of DNA talk in Twilight, but I found it ridiculous; Harkness does a far better job, and when I read the scene in the lab, I actually felt dismayed that I will likely have to wait a couple of years for this story to be resolved. I read more slowly when I am really enjoying a work of fiction – I don’t want it to end! – and I find myself doing that already with this book and I’m not even half way though. AND there are two more books planned. I also try to avoid starting a book series unless it is complete – Harry Potter was a rare exception.