When the Harry Potter books came out, what I enjoyed about them the most was that the characters had to learn and study magic, even to do something simple like levitate a feather. The children come into their abilities at age eleven, but they can't automatically use magic to accomplish whatever they want.
It was completely different from the characters I grew up watching on TV, primarily Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina found out she was a witch when she turned 16. Yes, she had to learn certain things about magic, but most of the time she could point her finger, think of what she wanted to happen, and it would happen. Just like that. She studies for her witch license, but it's a part-time thing.
Compare that to the world of Harry Potter, where children spend seven years in full-time magic classes learning charms, potions, transfiguration, and a dozen other topics. Most magic requires a wand and a Latin spell, and the more advanced work also requires disciplined concentration.
I appreciate magic as a story element in the Harry Potter books because the characters earn their skills. But for Sabrina, magic felt easy, and the complications came from non-magic sources such as friends, high school social norms, and her own desires.
It was completely different from the characters I grew up watching on TV, primarily Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina found out she was a witch when she turned 16. Yes, she had to learn certain things about magic, but most of the time she could point her finger, think of what she wanted to happen, and it would happen. Just like that. She studies for her witch license, but it's a part-time thing.
Compare that to the world of Harry Potter, where children spend seven years in full-time magic classes learning charms, potions, transfiguration, and a dozen other topics. Most magic requires a wand and a Latin spell, and the more advanced work also requires disciplined concentration.
I appreciate magic as a story element in the Harry Potter books because the characters earn their skills. But for Sabrina, magic felt easy, and the complications came from non-magic sources such as friends, high school social norms, and her own desires.
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