Customer Reviews

Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is a must have for every Harry Potter fan who has an intuitive feeling that there's more to these books than meets the eye.

Author Nancy Solon Villaluz has done a tremendous amount of research, reading every Rowling interview, listening to every podcast and radio interview, and by using Rowling own words and hints, has uncovered secrets and patterns that help the reader to understand what Rowling really wanted to do with these books.

But besides all of the research, Villaluz shows herself to be extremely well read, quoting everything from Dickens, to Monty Python, to John the Baptist, to Dante, to Thomas Aquinas, to Michael O'Brien. She's also very familiar with the other Inkling's books, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and can compare and contrast the three with ease.

I found this Sleeping Dragons book, written as a journey in a creatively non-fiction way, to be a confirmation of what I'd only half understood about the Harry Potter series before. I found myself smiling, laughing, and agreeing through virtually every point made.

I believe that if you have an interest in Harry Potter's deeper meaning, if you are concerned about your children reading Harry Potter because of what might or might not be in the series, if you've tried to prove to friends or relatives that Harry Potter is OK, but without really having evidence in hand to prove it: you do now. This is the book. This book has all the evidence.

Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons? by Nancy Solon Villaluz is a thoroughly researched in-depth analysis of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. In this book the works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien are compared favorably with the novels of Rowling. The author hails Jo Rowling as a modern-day "Inkling" writer, and I wholeheartedly agree, having done a mountain of research on that particular subject myself. This book is the first I have read that examines the influence of Elizabeth Goudge's The Little White Horse on Rowling's Harry Potter Septology. It also contains a very detailed list of Rowling quotes pertaining to her religious beliefs, and what her intentions were in writing the Potter series. A surprisingly long listing of references to Christianity in the Potter novels is also of interest in this first volume of an intended three-part series by Villaluz. This book was written in a very creative style, almost like an adventure novel, although it is a scholarly work. The illustrations by the author's husband, Ramir P. M. Villaluz, are a delight, and I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the deeper meaning and hidden symbolism of the Harry Potter novels, especially if you are familiar with the excellent books and lectures on Harry Potter by John Granger.

By the end of this book, Harry Potter fans will be hooked by the unprecedented, excellent education that this book provides on Ms. Rowling, herself. I sure was. Likewise, Harry Potter foes will surely be left with their jaws hanging down to the floor.

This book provides the most comprehensive look at Rowling's intentions and her hidden Harry Potter secrets that I've ever read, and I've read them all. The unique narrative style sets this Potter analysis apart from the pack: so does the incredible amount of research (Just chapter 4 alone makes this book worth the price of admission... wow!), and so do the tantalizing facts that gives us a fresh, long-overdue look into Rowling's deeper story. The research is very thorough, yet entertaining, and the ideas are not only mind blowing, but very wisely reasoned out and supported by little known facts that are brought to light brilliantly.

Notably, this is the only Potter analysis I've seen ever planned as a complete trilogy; it has a flawlessly beautiful layout; cool modern font usage, and each chapter begins with its own Potter-worthy original illustration. And it's in hardcover yet! Overall, this book is a highly impressive presentation worthy of the Harry Potter series.

This book now sits next to my 7 Harry Potter books as a valuable reference that I peek into frequently. I'm excitedly waiting for the second installment.

Whew....this book, was, in the nicest words, interesting. As a stereotypical poor college kid I figured that this would be $20 well spent. I was really hoping that I would be reading a book that tells us more about the Harry Potter series (Simple things, like why is Harry named Harry? typical stuff), unfortunately I ended up with some book that was over-analyzing (only religiously) every single little word written by JK Rowling. Even excluding the weird way it was written, I could not bring myself to finish it. The first chapter or so was interesting, explaining the meaning behind 'sleeping dragons' and such. After that, the rest of the chapters were extremely repetitive. I felt like the author was trying to prove something out of nothing. (In my opinion, the word 'God' once in a book does not make the book an allegory for the author's religion) After reading what seemed like the same chapter over and over and over and over and over and over and over, I just had to let go. I highly recommend NOT buying this book. If you still are interested, get it at the library.

There is a lot of good information in this book. It really is a "deep" study of the Christian meaning in the Harry Potter septology. However, it seemed like she thought she was writing to kids. "Now follow me through this door, and let's see what's hiding in here for us to discover." It got annoying.

Bravo!!! Nancy Solon Villaluz has done what someone should have done a long time ago, and done it exceptionally well. If you've ever read the Harry Potter stories and loved them, you must read this book. It doesn't bore us with things we already know or rattle off trivia. Instead, it's a serious (but mysterious and very entertaining) read for us "N.E.W.T.-level" Potter fans. Just when I thought Harry Potter was over, it turns out that I'd only scratched the surface.

Even if you have never read the Harry Potter stories because of opponents like Laura Mallory and her "get satanic Harry out of our schools" campaign, read this book for yourself first! All the facts are here. Those critics have been scoring goals for the wrong team and didn't know it. I bet that Mrs. Villaluz's landmark work will begin the slow turning of that massive tide. Kudos to both Mrs. Villaluz and to J.K. Rowling for their achievements in this area despite great opposition from many adversaries.

I admit that this book left me just a tiny bit unsure in the very beginning, but by the time I finished it I totally understood why the author started off rather gently. It's almost like she was "whistling through the graveyard" knowing that her pockets were full of "dynamite" research all along. Like Dumbledore who starts out with his "Nitwit, Oddment, Blubber, Tweak" speech in the first Potter installment, Mrs. Villaluz's knowledge and wisdom is also much, much deeper than she initially lets on.

I was taken by surprise by the water-tight case for the "deeper level" story that J.K. Rowling very purposely included (by her own admission), but which Rowling also left us free to ignore (and which most of us did). I am now grinning with glee at the thought of giving a copy of "Does Harry Potter Tickle Sleeping Dragons?" to a few of my Harry-hating friends.

I'll be referencing this book again and again.
Highly recommended!

I bought this book on the recommendation of a friend and found it to be a real page-turner. Since I have an open mind, I was able to discover and weigh the remarkable evidence that the author has presented in a most engaging fashion. Now I must say that I had only read the Harry Potter books only once each, but still felt I had pretty good understanding of them. And I do. But now a whole new world of Potter has been opened up to me and I find it not only intriguing, but astounding. It all makes much more sense now that many years of clues and interviews can at last be put together to reveal the surprising tapestry.

Will you appreciate this book? I can just say that if you reject that the Harry Potter books are as "moral" as J.K. Rowling always said they were, you might not enjoy this book and the challenges that it poses to a lot of conventional thinking. (Some may find the truth hurts.) But if you are willing to believe that J.K. Rowling is not some wishy-washy liar and that she accomplished exactly what she set out to do, then get ready for a real "wow" factor as this book opens your eyes.

I would give this truly unique and groundbreaking book more than 5 stars if Amazon's system allowed it and I can't wait for the second installment of this trilogy.

While the book has been exhaustively researched using JKR's books & interviews, villakuz has a coule of flaws - she writes in a format I found extremely patronizing - like she's going to take us on a 3rd grade trip & explain the whole world to us gawking naive, totally uninitiated readers. She creates her own fantasy universe populated with what she feels JKR's fantasy world would be like & tells us to pack a backpack with her version of cautions & warnings about the cottages & such on the way, which are stocked with JKR's written works & those of other authors who influenced her. Vilalluz has a fascination w/equating JKR with being a staunch practising Christian, which she has gone on record as saying she is not. JKR has said she believes in God, but not religion & still struggles with doubt. She is honest about this, yet Villaluz insists on repeatedly characerizing her as "Christian Jo" & tauting the "Christian" morals in Jo's books. If Villaluz is staunchly christian & sees JKR's books this way - fine - but she should admit that these are HER own feelings & not try to use JKR as an excuse! I'm reading thru the entire book ONLY because it IS exhaustively researched & contains a lot of JKR's intereviews which I haven't seen & gives insights into JKR's beliefs & intentions thru quotes. Villaluz did a lot of work that she saves the rest of Potterverse from doing! But I have learned to skip over the parts where she rants about "Christian Jo", sleeping dragons who don't wish us to unlock JKR's "secret" meanings in her books & what to put in our backpacks for the special journey only Villaluz seems to believe she can take us on.

I applaud her research & thank her most emphatically for using real quotes, but her insights into JKR's beliefs & motives are really her own impressions which she doesn't appear to have the courage to admit to & I don't need some condescending author telling me how to go on my "journey" thru JKR's mind. It's got pluses & minuses & you have to take them both to get the value of the book. Oh - one other thing & this is definitely not exclusive of villaluz - whatever JKR's religious or spirirtual beliefs - the values she outlines over & over in Harry Potter are NOT just Christian beliefs! I am so sick & tired of so-called Christians acting like they have a monoply on the Divine. Harry Potter empahsizes MORAL values common to EVERY religion known to man & it's time we stopped playing that pseudo holier than thou game. Morals don't belong to Christians, they belong to everybody. Think about that the next time you want to stop Muslims from healing from 911 because their countrymen are the ones being bombed daily & yes all this IS related, because the way we think is the way we behave & the way we treat others - & that's no fiction! S.P. Thomas.

Whew. Where do I begin? I got this book for my brother for Christmas. He read 3/4 of it before giving up. He enjoyed everything written NOT by the author...aka the quotes from Lewis and Tolkien ect. He said that the author is very strange...in her own weird and wacky world. Don't bother with this unless you want to enter a mind you are dying to escape from. Bummer since he was looking forward to anything Harry Potter related. Maybe next time.

This book isn't poorly researched although I would wish for a more detailed bibliography. I also think the writing could have used better editing. My personal annoyance is with the variation in fonts and type sizes. I'm sure this was used as a "cute" way to draw attention but it started to bother me after the first few chapters. The author has the right and the pleasure of writing and designing her book as she wishes, but I wish it was written just a bit more clearly. I also wish I had read more of the reader reviews before purchasing it.