Author: JK Rowling
I'm not going to list out the characters like I usually do. There are too many. And also, it's called the Philosopher's Stone. You already changed the name of football, Americans. You're not changing this too.
I was initially going to do all seven books in one review, but then decided that I'm going to re-read all of them and do them individually. So here we go.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first book, written by JK Rowling, of what is pretty much the greatest story ever told. Bar none.
Harry Potter shook the world, and continues to. And it wasn't just because of flashy wizard stuff or anything as such. This story is so powerful, and so diverse, that you really start to wonder how one person alone thought of all of this.
We start though, at the start. We know nothing. Harry Potter is but a common name, a common, malnourished, mistreated, isolated eleven year old grasping for a sight of answers, happiness and love. Little does he know who he really is, and what kind of impact he would have on the world. When his life is bombarded with letters addressed to him wherever he went though, things changed completely.
Let me get into the tone of this book. Reading back on it now, it's so light. It's so simple, so wondrous. The story is told in a way that aggravates the child in you taking in all these beautiful things, from flying broomsticks, to goblins, to three headed dogs, to bogey flavoured jelly beans. That's one thing I really like about this book. It was written in third person, but from beginning to end, the narration, perspective and mood all felt like you were Harry.
That is one thing I wanted to talk about. The third person viewpoint. I've always thought that these books would be so much better with Harry narrating from a first person view, but upon reading through this as a more matured person, I realised why this is better. This isn't Harry's story. I mean, it is, but it actually is JK Rowling's, and I think it's great that this is in third person. Whenever I read them now, I feel like she is telling the story, as her own. That's perfect.
With this narrative, the humour is brilliant. Subtle, but brilliant. I particularly wanted to share this, which made me let out a little giggle while reading it (I read it in my class, so I'm sure I startled a few people when I let out a squeaky, out of context noise).
Now, the story for this book itself is great. Not for the entire series, just this one book. It follows Professor Snape, mostly. Not going to get into that too much though, because I'll likely spoil something.
Character interactions are particular good in this book, or I should say all of them. Rowling captures the magic within that, pun intended.
One last thing to talk about. Magic. Not that magic. The magic that Harry Potter is. That's what it truly is. I'm not just saying this because I love these books, but I've never held a book that I've not wanted to let go of as much as a Harry Potter book. Why? Because of everything about it. Rowling made an entire world of her own, and entire, fleshed out, complex and astoundingly beautiful masterpiece that nothing can compare to. And she didn't have to share a single picture. Everything was built in words, and still is being built. You can look at what the movies have visually presented, or what the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has to offer, but nothing is quite like leaving it to your imagination. The real magic of these books comes hidden in every page, every drop of ink. It's the beauty of it.
I'm going to give every Harry Potter book the same rating, partly because I can't make myself give them anything else, and mostly because they deserve it.
On a scale where M is the lowest, and R is the highest possible rating, with the highlighted letter being the rating:
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