Could've been a sub thread but there's a whole different genre, US fiction, that we're talking about here. Probably more variety here as it changed more across generations. I was the target audience for HP but no dice there, enjoyed His Dark Materials though.

Anyone remember an author called Tim Bowler? His books were Shadows, Midget, Dragons Rock among others. They may make painful reading now but they were responsible for getting back into reading after my post-Dahl malaise.