Reading Pullman’s ”His Dark Materials” for the kid now and it strikes me how much better it is than Harry Potter. Everything is better than HP. Reinforces my pet theory that Rowling’s runaway success built on writing essentially ready-made fanfic precisely during the big rise of internet fandoms.

Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising” is also better than Harry Potter, and Rowling literally lifted some stuff from Cooper’s books, knowingly or not. Funnily, it even feels less dated. It’s 30 years since I read it, but I dare guess Ibbotson’s “Platform 13” also beats Potter.