Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 2 (The Stories)

Last week we were introduced to the premises of the two series, now we will look at the story arcs of the series. Sorry if the descriptions come off as really vague, but I try to honor the integrity of the series by not reprinting the entire series on my blog.

Young Wizards

This was the first book in the series that I read

Readers are first introduced to Nita Callahan (in book one, So You Want To Be A Wizard) as she's running away from a group of bullies. Nita is able to avoid them by running into the library. While waiting for them to leave, Nita peruses the children's stacks where her hand is caught on a book called So You Want To Be A Wizard. When she takes it home she discovers that it's a manual for actual wizards. After taking the Wizard's Oath, Nita is thrown into her Ordeal (a test to see if a prospective wizard is ready for real wizard work) with new friend Kit Rodriguez. After meeting and losing friends along the way, Nita and Kit come out victorious from their Ordeal.

That summer, the Callahans decide to splurge on a vacation on Long Island and take Kit along with them. Nita and Kit meet a fellow wizard, who happens to be a whale. The whale, S'reee, is in charge of a major spell that will stop tremors in the ocean and re-trap an incarnation of the Lone Power in the bottom of the ocean. Eventually, the wizards succeed and Nita finally reveals to her parents that she and kit are wizards.

In the next book (High Wizardry, which I assume is later that summer) Nita's little sister, Dairine, takes the Wizard's Oath and gets her own manual in the form of a computer. Dairine is thrust into her Ordeal immediately and travels almost to the end of the universe to accomplish her task. Nita and Kit go after her and  find Dairine after she's created a silicone-based species. They then battle the Lone Power and that sliver of It accepts redemption, slowing entropy considerably.

In the next book (A Wizard Abroad), Nita's parents are worried that she's spending too much time with Kit and pack her off to spend the last month of summer vacation in Ireland. There, Nita must battle the Lone Power in It's attempt to bring Ireland back to its mythical roots. With their inevitable success, Nita goes home and starts school. But soon another problem starts. In A Wizard's Dilemma, Nita's mother develops a deadly brain tumor and Nita takes it upon herself to cure her mother. Nita learns about how universes can be manipulated (from the major Universe we live in to the miniature universe that encompasses each living being). Kit finds out his dog can create new universes, and finally Nita is able to give her mother 6 more months instead of 2 weeks.

In A Wizard Alone, Nita's mother has died and the Callahans are in mourning. Nita tries to fill the void her mother left behind while also trying to figure out the mysterious messages she's receiving from a young wizard in trouble. Kit is also on his own, while trying to find a boy with autism in the middle of his Ordeal. Eventually Nita and Kit both help the boy, because his entire Ordeal was to understand that he must step out of his comfort zone and accept help from others. After all of this turmoil, Dairine signs Nita up for an exchange program (in A Wizard's Holiday) on another planet with Kit. While Dairine must deal with extra-terrestrial wizards and a sun in turmoil, Nita and Kit have to help a seemingly perfect planet with some strange problem. The problems continue in Wizards at War because entropy has sped up so much that wizardry itself is disappearing. Nita, Kit, Dairine and their friends must find and wake up a certain sliver of the Lone Power that could stop all of this. After much hardship and sacrifice the universe is saved, there's a new Power (what the Lone Power was before It fell), and entropy is beginning to slow down.

In the latest installment (A Wizard of Mars), Kit has become increasingly obsessed with Mars. Nita is developing her ability to see the future. Dairine is learning the wizardry associated with stars. After Kit is abducted by a part of himself that's a Martian wizard (there's this weird reincarnation thing that I'm not going to get into here going on), Nita and various other friends must save Kit and stop a Martian invasion. There's an epic battle between Nita and a Martian princess (no, not Princess Helium) at the end. In the end, it turns out that the Martian people were even aliens to Mars. There was never intelligent life on Mars. But Nita and Kit's relationship is strengthened. The next book will be called Games Wizards Play.

Harry Potter

This was the very first chapter book I ever read.

Readers are first introduced to the mysterious circumstances leading to the orphan Harry Potter being raised by his next-of-kin, the Dursleys. The Dursleys regularly make Harry feel terrible. He lives under the stairs in a closet, he gets his cousin's old clothes, and is constantly treated like a disgusting bug that no ones likes. After some mysterious circumstances involving disappearing glass in the snake exhibit in the zoo, letters from no one , and Uncle Vernon trying to avoid someone he's terrified of, Harry finds out that he's a wizard. Not only that, Harry is famous for surviving a killing curse as a baby that rebounded onto his attacker. Harry is then swept away to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn the essentials for living in the wizarding world.

In the The Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, Harry learns that Voldemort (the evil wizard that plagued the world until his death with the rebounding curse) is trying to come back by make the elixir of life from the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. Harry and his new friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, find the stone and are able to defeat Voldemort. But trouble looms over the school the next year. Over the summer, Harry is almost stopped by an elf (Dobby) when it's time to go to school because there's great danger ahead. When Harry does get to school, students start getting attacked. Some monster or person is petrifying students. Harry and his friends determine that it's the monster of Slytherin and spend a bunch of the year trying to figure out who's behind the attacks. When Ron's little sister is abducted, Harry goes to save her and finds out that it's Voldemort himself again trying to come back. Harry battles a giant basilisk and is finally able to defeat both it and Voldemort.

In the Prisoner of Azkaban, it's Harry's third year at school, but deranged murdered Sirius Black is after Harry. Harry soon learns that Black was his father's best friend, and becomes determined to find Black to avenge the death of his parents and the part that Black played in it. But in the end it turns out that it was another friend of Harry's father, Peter Pettigrew, that betrayed the Potters. Pettigrew escapes, and Harry becomes friends with Black. In his fourth year at Hogwarts (The Goblet of Fire) Harry is somehow entered into a wizarding school contest that he's too young for. Harry must overcome several deadly rounds of the contest, and finally makes it to the final round. But it was all a trap, a secret enemy and spy lured Harry into the contest in order to bring Voldemort back to life. Voldemort successfully regenerated and Harry narrowly escapes.

Unfortunately, no one believes Harry. In the Order of the Phoenix Harry is trying to convince the wizarding world that Voldemort is really back. He becomes involved with a secret organization that is opposed to Voldemort (the Order of the Phoenix) and starts to try and find out what Voldemort is up to. In the end, Harry finds out that Voldemort is trying to find a prophesy about the two of them. Harry defeats Voldemort's plan and the wizarding world finally accepts that he's back. The next year, in The Half-Blood Prince, everyone's on edge. Voldemort is operating out in the open. Dumbledore, Harry's mentor, helps Harry learn about Voldemort while Harry tries to get by in the harder school curriculum. Harry soon discovers a textbook that helps him with his difficult class (from the Half-Blood Prince) and is able to focus on murder attempts at the school. Soon, Harry learns that Voldemort came back to life because he ripped up his soul into bits and pieces and tied them to physical objects (called horcruxes). Dumbledore and Harry have an unsuccessful attempt at getting one of those objects, and Dumbledore dies. After the funeral, Harry vows that he wont go back to school, but instead will hunt down horcruxes until he can completely kill Voldemort.

In the final book, The Deathly Hallows, Harry is dealing with the death of Dumbledore while also being on the run from Voldemort. Harry, Ron, and Hermione find the remaining horcruxes and destroy them. Harry also becomes intrigued by the Deathly Hallows, which are objects that enable the owner power over death. Voldemort chases Harry back to Hogwarts, where the final battle begins. Harry goes to Voldemort in order to willingly die, because he's the final horcrux. Harry and Voldemort have a final duel and Voldemort's killing curse is rebounded on him again, Voldemort dies. Although many people died, the world is finally safe.


Score:
Harry Potter: 2, Young Wizards: 2

Both stories are such classics and appeal to a wide variety of audiences, I can't decide on a winner for this round. Next week, Themes.