I wasn't impressed with the first book because I felt Diana Wynne Jones did the "British magical schooling" thing much better. I cannot recall what made me decide to read the second book, but I started to like the series, and really liked the themes, and the way that the series "grew up" a little more with each successive book. The third and fourth books were the best, IMHO. The last three books were far too long, and slow, and unfocused. They really needed a good editor to tighten them up. The last book, I have a love-hate relationship with; there were some things I loved, and others I hated; some things that fit the themes of the series and you could see had been set up long ago, and others that came out of left field and didn't make sense at all.
I'm glad I read them as they came out, so that I could read them un-spoiled and get the full impact of the twists and turns of the overall plot.
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I wasn't impressed with the first book because I felt Diana Wynne Jones did the "British magical schooling" thing much better. I cannot recall what made me decide to read the second book, but I started to like the series, and really liked the themes, and the way that the series "grew up" a little more with each successive book. The third and fourth books were the best, IMHO. The last three books were far too long, and slow, and unfocused. They really needed a good editor to tighten them up. The last book, I have a love-hate relationship with; there were some things I loved, and others I hated; some things that fit the themes of the series and you could see had been set up long ago, and others that came out of left field and didn't make sense at all.
I'm glad I read them as they came out, so that I could read them un-spoiled and get the full impact of the twists and turns of the overall plot.