HP Rant

Anyone who mentions Harry Potter around me should know that I have a problem with said book. The main reason being that it basically stole the main character from my favourite author of all time, Neil Gaiman. Of course, Neil has never pressed charges and it is skeptical that J.K Rowling would ever pick up The Books of Magic, a DC comic but the case remains. I am going to list the similarities here

1. Both main characters are British and boys
2. Both main characters start out as 12 years old
3. Both main characters wear glasses that at some point in time are broken and still worn
4. Both main characters have messy dark hair
5. Both main characters have had a parent die
6. Both main characters are fated to save the world from certain doom
7. Both main characters have white owls
8. Both main characters did not know they were wizards until shadowy individuals told them so
9. Both main characters meet many well known people/creatures from mythology (*cough* Neil does it better *cough* and also in his mythology that includes DC mythology)
10. Both main characters almost die multiple times
12. both stories kind of go through the same amount of time, Books of Magic only going for 6 years (kinda)

etc etc

If you think that's bad, just look at the chick who sued J.K for plagerism. N.K Stouffer coined the term "muggle" and her main characters name was LARRY POTTER, who also has dark hair and glasses. However, N.K's story has diddly squat to do with magic. That's not the only book either that bears startling similarities to HP. Even Troll, a low budget film from the 80's main character's name is Harry Potter. SERIOUSLY? I wouldn't even be that miffed because, lets face it, there's no such thing is a new idea but all the other books DO IT BETTER WITH HALF THE RECOGNITION. I mean The Books of Magic is fantastic and it actually properly uses mythology. Neil Gaiman would never mistake a Basilisk with a BLOODY GIANT SNAKE. For all of you who don't know, a Basilisk is a combination of a chicken and a lizard that turns people into stone. Snake is not involved. This is just one of the many slights put into the Harry Potter books. It's as if she skimmed through an encyclopedia of myth and pulled out things at random. This pisses me off. In conclusion if you want a brilliant story about boy wizards read these, all of which were written before Harry Potter:

1. books of magic
2. wizard of earthsea
3. The chronicles of prydain
4. The Dark is rising
5. Wizards Hall
6. Enders game
7. Spellcasting Series
8. The Secret of Platform 3
9. the worst witch (not technically a BOY wizard)
10. Charmed life (this one has TWO children)
11. Discworld (okay technically not about a boy wizard, but it is along the same line)
12. The once and future king (both Neil and J.K have cited this as an influence)
13. The Chronicals of narnia (again not exactly boy wizards)
14. The lord of the rings (see above note)

there are many more books out there in this genre, but these are the ones that most closely resemble Harry Potter.

-Willow Tsukino