Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling
Genre: YA Fantasy
Blurb (on back of book):
Harry Potter's life is miserable. His parents are dead and he's stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he's a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
After a lifetime of bottling up his magical powers, Harry finally feels like a normal kid. But even within the Wizarding community, he is special. He is the boy who lived: the only person to have ever survived a killing curse inflicted by the evil Lord Voldemort, who launched a brutal takeover of the Wizarding world, only to vanish after failing to kill Harry.
Though Harry's first year at Hogwarts is the best of his life, not everything is perfect. There is a dangerous secret object hidden within the castle walls, and Harry believes it's his responsibility to prevent it from falling into evil hands. But doing so will bring him into contact with forces more terrifying than he ever could have imagined.
Full of sympathetic characters, wildly imaginative situations, and countless exciting details, the first installment in the series assembles an unforgettable magical world and sets the stage for many high-stakes adventures to come.
MY OPINION: ****
I first read this book in fourth grade and I vividly remembering loving it. I never had an obsessive Harry Potter phase like most of my friends had but I can name a very large majority of the most obscure characters and facts and have watched each of the movies countless times. I decided that it was time to start rereading this iconic series because I had forgotten everything that happened in the book.
I loved the imagery in this book. Maybe it's because I've seen the movies so many times but I really felt like I was living in their world for the duration of the novel. I could see the moving staircases at Hogwarts, see the streets of Diagon Alley, imagine the Quidditch field. I could depict easily Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Dumbledore, Quirrell, Snape, and the rest of the characters. The writing and descriptions are beautifully done and are simplistic enough that they don't bore the reader halfway through.
The climax felt a little weak in this book. It all ended in a matter of 30 pages and it wasn't the most artfully written. I would have liked to have seen a bigger ending with more gusto and drama than what we received. The rest of the book seemed painfully slow at times and I think it could have skipped past a lot of the fluff and slowed down at the end scene.
I personally found Harry to be quite rude and close-minded at times and was surprised at that. I would have expected him to be nicer towards others but maybe it's just a natural expectation from me for the main characters.
I loved Hermione Granger. Her wit and intellect made her easily one of the best characters, especially her humorous and irrational fears of being expelled from Hogwarts (a fate worse than death, really).
Draco Malfoy is too iconic and I'm sorry to say that I adored his character. I always root for the "bad guys" especially Draco, especially since I know of his character development by the end. He might be an impudent little bastard but I love everything about him. I'm also a hardcore shipper of Draco and Harry because there was SO much potential there. Even Tom Felton (the actor who played Draco in the films) has said that there was definitely a possibility for Drarry. I wouldn't have been mad about Dramione either.
Ron was the humorous sidekick we all needed and I actually ended up liking him a lot more than I thought I would. The same goes for Neville Longbottom, the poor blundering boy who managed to prove himself and cement his place in Gryffindor.
The "discrimination" between houses sort of annoyed me. It was always Gryffindor versus Slytherin with barely any mention of the other two houses (my Ravenclaw heart is quite offended). They made Slytherin out to be the bad guys the entire time, just because there were wizards who went bad from that house. Gryffindor of course was the golden house that everyone aspired to be in. I would have liked to have seen less oppressiveness and judgement between houses.
Being that this is Harry Potter, there is so much more to be said but alas, I will let the other 100,000 reviews say what else needs to be said.
I would recommend this book to all readers because it's one that you can't help but read at least once.
Main Character: Harry
Sidekick(s): Hermione, Ron, Neville, Hagrid, Dumbledore, etc
Villain(s): Voldemort, Draco, etc
Fantasy Elements: This book is the pinnacle of fantasy.
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