4.Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling 《哈里.波特》——J.K.罗琳

When considering a ranking of the greatest fantasy series of all time, the question of Harry Potter is a thorny one. There's inevitably a backlash when something is as popular as Rowling's work, and add to that the fact that the series is ostensibly meant for children and you have a case that naturally inspires a lot of debate. I'm not sure I believe Rowling did anything particularly new with Harry Potter, but a work doesn't necessarily have to be innovative for it to be great. Nearly every fantasy series owes a debt to Tolkien for instance, but that doesn't mean Tolkien has written the only work of fantasy that matters. Rowling didn't really come up with anything new, but her execution was peerless, and the connection she made with tens of millions of readers is laudable. People will be reading Harry Potter for decades to come, and I'm not sure a better introduction to fantasy could be found.

当考虑评选史上最伟大的魔幻作品时，《哈利波特》这个问题就有点棘手。当一件东西像罗琳的书一样受欢迎时，必然就会有很大争议，再加上这部作品表面上看是儿童作品，这不由自主就会引起很多争论。我并不认为罗琳在《哈利波特》上有什么特别创新，但一部作品并不一定要有创新才好看。就像所有的魔幻系列都要感谢托尔金一样，但这并不意味着托尔金写的就是魔幻作品的范本。罗琳并没有加什么新的东西进去，但她的技巧是无以伦比的，同时其与数百万读者的互动交流也是令人赞叹的。人们在接下来的数十年中都会读《哈利波特》，我并不确定会有更好的对于魔幻作品的诠释。