Re:Harry Potters for nerds
Hey, some good points there which I hadn’t picked up on. Mind you, the struggle between good and bad is a theme that runs through many books (especially children’s books since adults do so love to serve morality plays up to them).
There’s a similar theme in the ‘Dark is Rising’ books by Susan Cooper, I don’t know if you’ve read them (Yes, more kids books, I know, but very good none the less). In these, the two sides are actually referred to as ‘The Dark’ and ‘The Light’. The main character is a boy who on his twelth birthday comes into his power as an ‘Old one’ and joins the battle. Also very similar to Star Wars except that the book predated Star Wars by 4 years.
I have to admit that when I read the Harry Potter books, Roald Dahl was the first author I thought of when it came to drawing a similarity. Very funny, but very hard hitting stories when you consider that they are aimed at children.
So to sum up, yes, you’ve made some very good points, but I personally would only go so far as to say there are similarities. I wouldn’t actually call them ‘rip offs’ of either Star Wars or Roald Dahl. 🙂