At their most basic, both series follow simple, overused plot lines. Twilight: A love triangle. Where isn’t there one? Harry Potter: A young boy finds out he’s special and must save the world from a dark force, with a bearded old mentor to help him. Lord of the Rings and Star Wars sound familiar? Even Percy Jackson and the Olympians follows this plotline in a way.

The critical difference between the two books is sub-plots. Twilight has very few. The only sub-plots are the vampires back stories, which have little relevance to the plot. Rosalie’s dad owned a bank and she had an abusive boyfriend. This has nothing to do with the plot of Eclipse, and there is no overall plot for the series that it is important for. Harry Potter is overflowing with them: the Marauders, Dumbledore’s past, Grindelwald and his plot to take over the world, Neville, Severus Snape and many, many, more, the majority of which pertain to the large, overall plot of the story.

HP is definitely about more than vengeance. But I feel like forbidden love is the most overdone concept of all. But when you get down to it, noting is truly original anymore. Everything by now has been done at least once--especially if you are looking at only the broad themes such as forbidden love, vengeance, growing up, etc.