Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 4 (Universes)

Hi all, and welcome to another installment of the Young Wizard/Harry Potter face off! Last post there was a brief overview of common themes within the series. Now we're going to examine the universes within the series.

Young Wizards

The Young Wizards' universe is basically our own. They follow the laws of physics, there are basic limits on what magic can and can't do, and a plausible subculture. Let's look at these separately:

Magic/Wizardry is using the correct language to convince the universe to do something specific. For example, walking through walls requires a spell that convinces the atoms in the wall and the atoms in your body to slide by each other peacefully during the time it takes for you to walk through the wall. Wizardry is a specific science where you describe how things are right now and how you want them to be in order to make things happen. There's even an entire language that describes everything perfectly (called the Speech) that the universe responds to in order to do the spell casting.

The basic limits of the wizard can and can't do are set down in the Wizard's Oath. They're not allowed to hurt, change, or destroy anything without good reason (or the Powers That Be take away their wizardry for abusing it). Wizards are also limited by the amount of power they have, the powers only give them so much extra power from the universe's energy supply to perform wizardry. Because of these limits wizards rarely do something big, like lifting up all of the Mediterranean Sea to defeat the Lone Power (like hydromage Angelina Pellegrino did  during her Ordeal as mentioned in A Wizard of Mars). There's also a hierarchy of wizards set up to advise  younger wizards and handle certain continents/planets/galaxies. Wizards without proper authority aren't allowed to do certain interventions without permission to ensure that unnecessary change doesn't happen. For example, when Dairine goes with a group of other wizards to fix the Sun they have to get permission from a higher-up (in this case it ended up being the Senior for that arm of the galaxy that gave permission). Also, wizards generally get their information from a sort of manual (a book, computer, ipod, cell phone, etc.), but some must memorize as much information as possible or they have a special connection to wizardry and can access it by listening to the "Silence," "Whispering," or the sea.

The subculture is also fairly plausible. Wizards interact with the rest of the world because they have to stay up to date with what problems they need to fix and pay their bills. Wizards practice in secret on Earth because society hasn't yet accepted things like wizardry and aliens. However, wizards around the universe generally practice in the open because they're regarded as a sort of law enforcement. Wizards can meet up and get feedback on problems or just hang out, too. Pretty much all wizards have to get normal jobs (the head wizard over Earth is a IT specialist and computer programmer) and need to complete some sort of schooling. Learning wizardry something that wizards must do on the side, rather than going to special schools to learn wizardry.

Harry Potter

The Harry Potter universe is set up very differently. First of all is the rejection of technology because magic and electricity interfere with each other. Also, the rules of magic are set up in a kind of "your power is limited by your mental strength" kind of way. Most different is the magical subculture.

I find this first one annoying. Magic and modern technology can't coexist very well, if at all. This is obviously to continue the traditional fantasy/medieval relationship, but the books are set in the 1990's so it get's a little annoying. According to Hermione in the fourth book "All those substitutes for magic Muggles use--electricity, computers, and radar, and all those things--they all go haywire around Hogwarts, there's too much magic in the air." My thoughts on this are that magic is most likely some sort of power that wizards are able to control that is similar to magnetism or electricity enough that it messes with electronics (kind of like dropping a magnet on a computer's hard drive).

Next, the rules of the magic. Most of these rules and limits appear to be based on wizard law and the mental stamina of the wizard themself. For example, certain curses and hexes are considered illegal and will land any caster of that spell in wizard jail. Top on the list are the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Avada Kedavra Curse. You can see an explanation of those curses that's much better than I could give here. There are also some very basic laws that limit the kind of magic that wizards can produce. For example, Hermione explains in book seven that no one can produce food out of thin air because "Food is the first of five Principle Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Tranfigur[ation]...It's impossible to make good food out of nothing! You can Summon it if you know where it is, you can transform it, you can increase the quantity if you've already got some". It appears that wizards can produce magic without wands, but the most refined magic is produced through channeling that power through a wand with a specific intent and incantation.

Now onto the wizard subculture. There are very few wizards in the world, and they tend to keep to themselves. Even Muggle-born wizards and witches seem to readily give up the Muggle world in favor of the wizarding world (exceptions include Fred and George doing card tricks for a muggle girl in book six and Hermione making Ron get a driver's license in the epilogue of book seven). Wizards have their own governments, but there's no mention of taxes. The only purpose the wizard government seems to have is to provide jobs, make legislation, and enforce the law. Wizards also have special schools to send children to to learn magic. Wizard families have the option to homeschool as well. The only jobs wizards seem to have are in the government or being shop owners. I can't figure out how exactly they get their money except through the enslavement of elves and goblins, but since Rowling didn't discuss wizard economics we really don't know. Most of the wizard/muggle interactions seems to be based on the common theme of bigotry that JK Rowling presents through out the series.

Overall, the Young Wizard universe is much more plausible and better constructed than the Harry Potter universe. I love how wizards have to actually get jobs instead of being the jobless vigilantes of the universe. The Harry Potter universe is decent in the context of a children's series, but it doesn't really hold up as a plausible universe. Young Wizards wins this round.

Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 3 (Themes)

Last week I talked about the basic stories of both series. Now we get to look at the fun stuff: themes, writing style, character analysis, the universes, and cover art (yes, I do think that covers are important). This week we'll look at themes.

Young Wizard Themes:

This installment has strong themes of redemption.

Diane Duane's wizard series is famous for dealing with difficult themes. Each book has its own particular themes, but recurring ones include death, friendship, responsibility, family, and the need for knowledge. I admire that Duane incorporates themes into her books that most people don't really like to talk about.

I thought about discussing themes from every single book, but do you know how long that would take? That's right, a long time. I decided to write about a small selection of my favorite books instead (1, 5, and 6). The first book deals particularly with good and evil. Through out Kit and Nita's entire Ordeal, they keep coming face-to-face with examples of how evil takes something mundane or beautiful and twists it. For example, in the world ruled by the Lone Power there's a carnivorous fire hydrant with a tongue like a chameleon. Then Duane places special emphasis one the difference between the feeling of the Book of Night With The Moon (created by the Powers that Be to describe everything perfectly in its entirety) and the Dark Book (the other Book's polar opposite, created by the Lone Power to twist everything). The Light Book feels like a well of goodness, but the Dark Book stings and sucks up all the light in the area.

In book 5, you may remember that the conflict is that Nita's mother is dying from a malignant brain tumor. The main themes of the book are grief, death of loved ones, and accepting what you really can't change. Each of the Callahans deal with their pain in different ways. Mr. and Mrs. Callhan suffer quietly and try to savor every moment. Dairine tries to help, but gets grounded by the Senior wizards in the area so she must suffer in silence. Nita gets approval to make a desperate attempt to eradicate the cancerous cells from her mother's body. For the next few days Nita throws herself into her work in order to cope. In the end, Nita is able to get rid of most of the cancer so that the doctors can remove the tumor with the least amount of trouble. However, Nita's mother still dies, because not all of the cancer has been destroyed. Her mother explains that it's better to have enough time to live out the rest of her life in love instead of trying to live forever. Nita finally accepts that she can't change the inevitable and decides to enjoy the six months she has left with her mother.


In book 6, Nita is trying to deal with the death of her mother and Kit is becoming distant from everyone. The basic themes include the importance of friends, you can't shut out the world forever, grief, and anger. Both Nita and Kit are hurting after the death of Nita's mother (Kit's hurting because Nita's shutting him out) and they're trying to help wizard-in-training Darryl (an autistic magical prodigy who can't seem to finish his Ordeal). Darryl shuts out the world because of his autism and because he sees the effects of the Lone Power in everyone. Nita and Kit must both accept that they still have responsibilities and need help before they can truly help Darryl with his problem, which is to accept the concept of "other" before he can be a wizard. Nita must also learn to control her anger at the injustice of losing her mother in order to truly be helpful instead of helpless. I think that book 6 is my favorite of the entire series because Duane so readily deals with themes like this while also bringing up the hopeful ideas, like love and friendship.




Harry Potter Themes

This one also deals with revenge and betrayal.

JK Rowling seems to deal exclusively with the themes friendship, love, fate versus choice, sacrifice, and death. The series also includes classic fantasy themes like black and white hero/villain relationships (think Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in A New Hope), quests, and magic. Each book in its own way has something to do do with every theme. Harry wouldn't be able to accomplish half the things that he does without friends and he wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for the power of love. Harry willingly sacrifices himself for his friends so that they don't have to suffer. He even goes to meet Voldemort in the end so that he himself would die and no more people would die. But I feel that one recurring theme is the difference between Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort lets fate make his decisions while Harry chooses his own path. Voldemort killed Harry's parents after hearing about a prophecy concerning him and an unnamed boy, that "neither can live while the other survives." Harry, on the other hand, is told by the Sorting Hat that he would do well in Slytherin but chooses not to go into Slytherin House.


I actually feel that there's not much to say about the themes in the Harry Potter books. Each book has the same themes, which isn't really surprising when you remember that it's a children's series. It invites jokes from just about everyone (like the part in A Very Potter Musical where Harry tells Ginny that his invisibility cloak "was left to me by my dad, my dad that's dead. My father is dead. I have a dead father."), but I think that it's good for a series like that to have the same themes in every book. However, it doesn't leave much room for talking about it.


Score:
Harry Potter: 2, Young Wizards: 3


Harry Potter is great for finding classic themes, but otherwise it kind of falls flat. Young Wizards has a huge scope of themes. I know that Harry Potter is a children's series and Young Wizards is young adult, but since Rowling turned the last two books in Harry Potter into young adult books I feel justified in my comparison.


Next week will be a character analysis.


Agree with my review? Disagree? Comment below!

Young Wizards vs. Harry Potter, Part 1 (The Premise)

Lately I have been re-reading my two favorite fantasy series: the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane and Harry Potter by JK Rowling. For the next series of posts I will be comparing the two series. I'm sure all of you know about Harry Potter, but I'm not very sure how many of you know about Young Wizards.

Introducing....Young Wizards by Diane Duane:

The first book in the series, So You Want To Be A Wizard, was published in the early 80s and the rest of the series have been published on and off every few years since then. The books mostly center on Nita Callahan and Kit Rodriguez. Nita's sister, Dairine Callahan, also has some point-of-view time in some of the books and can therefore be considered a major character after the third book, High Wizardry. Each book has its own identifiable conflict, rather than an overall conflict that gets solved bit by bit over the entire series (example: Fablehaven and Eragon). There is, however, one overall conflict that gets brought up over the entire series: the Lone Power is trying to kill the universe with entropy and the main characters must fight whatever manifestation of the Lone Power that pops up.

The series is great, because it has actual science (plus theoretical science, mathematics, and sci-fi geekery) as well as the traditional magic themes in a fantasy series. For example, in High Wizardry Dairine meets Doctor Who in an alien airport that works with high-tech science and magic. It has the traditional sci-fi "common tongue" deal, called the Speech (which describes everything in the universe perfectly). But what exactly is it about?

The series is about these kids that have been called by the Powers of the universe to be wizards. Wizards slow down entropy, fight the Lone Power (inventor of death; the bad kind, not the grateful release kind), and have a bunch of fun adventures trying to broaden everyone's understanding of the universe. Nita and Kit go to alternate universes, turn into whales, fight ancient manifestations of the Lone Power in Ireland, and go on vacation on exotic planets. Dairine even creates an entire race of silicone-based life forms. The most recent book out, A Wizard of Mars, is about what happened to life on Mars and what happens when it comes back. Another great thing, the series is still going (Diane Duane has plans for at least a twelfth installment). Duane is also working to update the technology in the earlier books and make the timeline between books more smooth. For example, Dairine gets a computer in the third book that made it painfully clear that the book was written in 1990.

Introducing...Harry Potter by JK Rowling:

The first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, in the series was published in the early-to-mid 90's. The books almost completely focus on Harry Potter (except in beginning chapters to act as prologues, then the point of view is from another character). Harry is helped by many other friends (adult and teen alike), but the two people that help him the most are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Each book has a specific conflict that ties into a major conflict, which is that evil wizard Voldemort is trying to take over the world.

The books are pretty great in the fact that they're focused on the teen/tween audience, but an adult can still read and enjoy the books. The fantasy aspect is very strong because the wizarding community separates itself from the non-magic community (the world at large, called Muggles). This means that it's all magic wands, flying broomsticks, and old castles. Harry was raised in a muggle household, so he's much more aware of math, science, and day-to-day life in the muggle world. This makes it slightly less annoying that most wizards don't even know what a gun or a light bulb is.

The series is about how Harry Potter has been raised by his horrible aunt and uncle, who hate and neglect him, but then finds out that he's a wizard. Harry then goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use magic, where he then meets and befriends Ron and Hermione. Each book presents a little mystery that the trio must solve in order to keep evil Lord Voldemort from coming back to power. Harry and his friends must find the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's stone, defeat a basilisk, compete in a magical tournament, and eventually fight Voldemort face-to-face. The series did end already (Deahtly Hallows came out in 2007 and the last movie came out on Blue-ray last November), but it's one of those series that you can go back to over and over. JK Rowling recently started an online game called Pottermore, where fans can go through the books in the series chapter by chapter and experience a virtual version of the wizarding world. Pottermore will also have a shop opening later this year (whenever they let more than beta testers in, which appears to be never) that will have the first ever Harry Potter e-books.

And the winner of this round is....


Both. I love both series for various reasons. Harry Potter was the very first chapter book I ever read. Young Wizards is one of the few series where I can actually relate to the characters, and the magic part makes sense (spells are ways that the wizards describe what they want to happen and then try to convince the universe to make happen). So for this round, The Premise, they both win. Next post I will discuss the two story arcs. See ya!

Editor's note: I added pictures, it just had to be done :)

Christmas Eve, The Hobbit, and Tea

It's Christmas Eve everybody! It's also the middle of Hanukkah everybody! I hope that all of you are safe and having lots of fun, what ever you're doing this weekend.

I know that this came out a couple of days ago, but I am so excited about the Hobbit trailer. If you haven't seen it already, you can view a really good version here. Why am I excited? First of all, The Hobbit is one of my most favorite books. I'm also excited because since the movie will be a two-part installment there's a high likelihood that there will actually a part of the movie with Beorn in it. All Hobbit adaptations that I have seen (okay, it was the cartoon, but still...) have neglected this character. It's pretty funny how Gandalf gets Beorn to let all fifteen of them to stay at his house for a couple of days, and he's not like Tom Bombadil (who can easily be neglected as a minor character). Beorn makes it possible for them to get into Mirkwood! Plus, along with seeing old faces like Ian Mckellan, Martin Freeman is playing Bilbo! Having seen him in many other roles, I feel that Freeman will be a fantastic Bilbo. Is anyone else excited yet? What if I said that Benedict Cumberbatch is voicing Smaug and the Necromancer (eg: Sauron)? Yup, another fantastic actor will be in The Hobbit and he will be voicing one of the best villains in literary history: Smaug.

Smaug is my favorite villain because he positively reeks of evilness and says one of my favorite speeches from The Hobbit, "Revenge! The King under the Mountain is dead and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons' sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish and none dare resist." He says more, but I really like that part because it's so full of gloating and yet also the best threat ever.

On a less "OMGIT'SMYFAVORITEBOOKEVERMADEINTOAMOVIEYAY!!!" note, I discovered a couple of yummy teas this past week. The first one is a zhena's gypsy tea brand. It's called Chocolate Chai Herbal Red Tea. It's got all of the fantastic notes from chai (warm, spicy, sweet), plus a light chocolate flavor at the end. It's also Fair Trade, high in antioxidants, and has zero caffeine according to the package. The chocolate flavor comes from carob, so I will trust that it's actually caffeine free. Another good tea that I have discovered a couple of days ago with my mom is from the Republic of Tea brand. It's from their Cuppa Chocolate Tea line, called Coconut Cocoa. It seriously tastes like a sweet and coconutty hot chocolate. The ingredients include carob, barley, chicory, dates, and coconut and chocolate. Super yummy, super sweet (but no added sugar), and it's low in caffeine (as in less caffeine than white tea). However, I would suggest leaving the tea bag in for a lot longer than normal tea for a fuller chocolate flavor if you like a very strong flavor in your drink. I don't think that it hurts the flavor like it does with normal tea (for example, green tea gets bitter if brewed too long). I hope that if you try them you'll enjoy those teas as much as I do.

Here are a couple of presents from me:
Ormie the Pig, if you like ridiculously funny animation, and true happiness from a cat's perspective, if you like cute stuff like that.
Merry Christmas! Have a great weekend everybody!

Hunger Games vs. Matched

I'm assuming that everyone knows about The Hunger Games movie coming out next March. However, how many of you guys have read Matched by Allie Condie or the recent sequel Crossed? If you haven't read any of these books, or you really dislike distopian fantasy, then you may want to come back next week for a different subject. But for the rest of you guys that are willing to stick it out with me, I decided to do a fun post comparing these two series.

                                                 
The Hunger Games
Setting: Post-apocalyptic North America
Government type: Corrupt Roman empire/Isle of Crete (A vast empire with a city as the central command point. To keep the Districts in line the government demands a tribute of youths and maidens every year to die a horrific death.)
Story: Enter Katniss Everdeen, a strong-willed young woman who's only goal in life is to survive. She's basically the head of her household, she looks down on her mother's debilitating bout of depression after her father's death and took over. When Katniss's younger sister, Prim, is chosen to take part in the Hunger Games, Katniss takes her place and is sent off to compete in the Games. Katniss decides on the strategy of feigning love for Peeta Melark, a fellow tribute from her town, and eventually falls for him enough to make sure that they both end up winning the game. During the Game is a bunch of blood and gore that I will not dwell on. After the Games (in the following books) Katniss is slowly taken over by post-traumatic stress disorder as she is used as a pawn in a rebellion against the Capitol. It's a very brief overview, but if you really want to know the entire story line I'm sure that there's a Wiki (or you could read the books).
My thoughts: I enjoyed reading The Hunger Games trilogy, but I do have some criticisms. First, Katniss has only one goal, which is survival. I recognize that she's a strong female lead, but come on. Katniss is essentially willing to let everyone die on her quest to survive. I know, she and Peeta make a scrapbook of everyone that died and "Remember Rue!" all of you fans cry. But Katniss is still pretty heartless in the sense that she operates on the pure animal instinct of survival of the fittest. Secondly, the violence. Yes, situations in which 12-17 year-olds are killing each other can't exactly be Disney material. But at some point I eventually started to say "gruesome death" and scanned to the end of the scene because I got so tired of it. I also wonder how the movie is going to be PG-13 (appropriate for children 13 and over) when the actual book probably would have been rated R (appropriate for adults only). Another problem that I had with the books is the simplistic writing style. I understand that Collins is coming from writing a book series for a 10-12 audience (Gregor the Overlander anyone?), but this is YA. You gotta up your game. I have a similar writing style issue with Twilight. But overall, this is a far better book than  The Giver and it is a fairly enjoyable read. I can see why there's so much hype about it.

Matched
Setting: Post-global warmed North America
Government type: Socialistic utopia (eg: the government knows exactly what's best for you and makes all of your decisions)
Story: The story starts with a vivid day dream of Cassia Reyes as she is riding the bus to her Matching Banquet. Condie  minces no words to really explain what The Society is about, but rather lets the reader understand along the way. The Matching Banquet is where 17-year-olds are shown for the first time whom they will marry. The Society determined that the best way to raise children is in a stable, two-parent environment. So if you choose to be matched the government chooses for you. Cassia gets told that she has been matched to her best friend, Xander. But the problem is that when she goes home to look at his information, another boy that she knows is shown to her on the computer for a brief moment (Ky). When Cassia's grandfather dies soon after (the government only allows you to live until you're eighty, then you just die), Cassia is given a piece of paper with poetry that the government disproves of. The rest of the book is about her journey discovering that she wants to make her own decisions, even if that means that she will be hurt along the way. In the second book, Cassia has fallen in love with Ky and has signed onto a suicide mission to find him. She is sure that he has been assigned to the mission because of a mistake that she made in the earlier book. Ky has discovered that because he's an Aberration (a person or a member of their family that cannot marry or have children because they or their parent broke a law), he is being sent out into the desert to be gunned down. The Society is slowly getting rid of Aberrations and Anomalies (I'm guessing from what I read in Crossed that they are people with genetic/mental diseases) to cleanse the Society of "unwanted" people. When Ky and Cassia finally find each other, they decide to join a rebellion in order to bring free choice back into the Society.
My thoughts: I really like the Matched books because they have an actual moral issue (Is it better to have freedom for all and be unequal, or to be equal and unable to choose your life?). I also like the visual writing. I know that this is a weird thing to say, but Condie really paints pictures in your mind when you read. However, I do have some issues with her books as well. First, the love triangle. I abhor love triangles. They're so annoying. I get that the first book uses the love triangle to represent the fact that Cassia chooses Ky (free agency) over Xander (comfort) as a symbol of her moral dilemma, but still. Secondly, I was totally confused by Anomalies and Aberrations. From what I gathered reading the second book, I think that Aberrations are dissenters and their families, but I would really like to have a clear "this is this, that is that, fish is not pie."

So overall, Hunger Games is good if you like action and Matched is good if you like moral dilemmas. My personal favorite is Matched, but I love both series. As a side note for Matched fans, there has been confirmation of a movie! Yay! If you feel that either series is better, please comment which one and why. Or maybe you disagree with my reviews, tell me why (I promise to read every comment)!

Thanks so much for reading, more to come next week.