I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter series for the first time since middle school. Now, as a twenty-something adult with a lot more reading experience under my belt, something that I really am enjoying is seeing J.K. Rowling’s writing style clearly change and evolve as the books go on. I did some research on why this happened, and some people theorize that she had the intention of creating a couple children-focused books to make a generation fall in love with her story, and as they grew up, she wrote to appeal to their newfound maturity. Others believe that once she was writing *The Goblet of Fire,* she simply had full creative control as Harry Potter was a fully-fledged franchise at that point. What are other series that go through any sort of style change, almost effortlessly?
by thefiledoesntexist
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I think of Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. He wrote the first book, Eragon, at age 15 and it was published at 18. The final book in the series was published 8 years later, so he had plenty of time to grow and learn which is reflected in his writing.
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Earliest parts of The Gunslinger (Book 1) were published in 1978, The Dark Tower (Book 7) was published in 2004, The Wind Through the Keyhole (Book 4.5) was published in 2012. That’s a span of ~34 years.
I felt the same thing when reading the HP series, but I took it as a way for JK Rowling to express the age of the main characters. For instances, in the first book Harry is just 11 years old, hence the book being so child-like written. As they grow, the narrative style grows with them. If you’d like to see another book that it’s written kind of the same way you have I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings, the Maya Angelou’s memoir.
Rick Riordan definitely gained confidence as he wrote, and even the final book of the first Percy Jackson series shows tremendous growth since The Lightning Thief.
Rick Yancey’s Monstrumologist series he’s probably the one that I think shows the most change. The first book is a straight up horror novel, one of the most frightening I’ve ever read. In the second book you can see him moving away from the horror to something much more internal and beautifully written. He changes gears in the third book, Isle of Blood, to a horror story rooted in the beauty of his prose and a slow unfolding of the narrative. The final book is a world away from the first, in only a good sense.
Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books. Multiple series set in the same world, and while I love all of them you can really see growth between each series. The characters grow in depth and realism, the world gets richer, and the plots feel more grounded even when magic and gods are involved.
I have to agree that one of the amazing things about the Harry Potter series is how it “advances” over the 8 books. Not only Rowling’s ability as a writer, but the plot and language also seem to become subtly more challenging with each book, almost as if she’s adapting to the increasing abilities of her readers (and the Hogwarts kids themselves) as they grow and mature. This wasn’t as obvious to me when I read the English editions, but now that I’m working through the Japanese editions (lifelong goal, long story), and find the language becoming incrementally more challenging with each book (now on #4), it convinces me even more just how brilliant these books are. Not perfect, of course, but I definitely recommend the series to parents who want a series their kids can grow with, and language learners who want something that will keep pace with their studies.
Wish I could think of another series that does the same thing …
Discworld. The first two rincewind books are a little rough before it hits its stride
The Throne of Glass series is great for that!
You can see it go from a 0 out of 10 to a 2 out of 10!
TLDR: Don’t read of Throne of Glass
You can see this in all long running series. Lois McMaster Bujold started the Vorkorsagian Saga in 1986. The last book was in 2018. These books changed a lot over the decades. Even jumping from Shards of Honor (1986) to Barrayar (1991) which is the second half of the tale shows a lot of growth.
Cirque Du Freak is a perfect example of this. The author started writing the books at a young age and grew up as he was writing them. The first book is honestly nearly unreadable in parts it’s so bad. Every chapter ends on a dramatic cliffhanger for no reason. The subsequent books are way increasingly better, and his other series’ are also good.
Dresden files is great example.