Series: Harry Potter #1
Published by Scholastic Press (6.26.1997)
Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 310 pages
Source: I own it
Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy. He lives with his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley, who are mean to him and make him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. (Dudley, however, has two bedrooms, one to sleep in and one for all his toys and games.)
Then Harry starts receiving mysterious letters and his life is changed forever. He is whisked away by a beetle-eyed giant of a man and enrolled at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The reason: Harry Potter is a wizard! The first book in the "Harry Potter" series makes the perfect introduction to the world of Hogwarts.
My thoughts
ABOUT TIME, RIGHT?! *coughs* Yeah, it took me long enough, I know. Honestly though, I’d seen all of the movies, so I knew the gist of it (yes, I know, books always have more detail than the movies), so I had no desire to read them. I’ve been meaning to forever, I just…couldn’t bring myself to. Until finally, I drew it from my TBR jar!
I’m going to be honest, I had actually tried reading this a couple years ago – I read like 5 pages and never picked it back up. I think it may have been a mood thing. But this time, I didn’t have any problems!
I was worried that it was going to read more like Middle Grade and be juvenile. It really wasn’t that bad! The book was almost exactly like the movie – there were a few very small differences, like the detail in Harry’s home life, and ok yeah I would have liked to have seen more of the centaurs like the book; but other than that it was basically the same. I was impressed, actually, how close the movie stuck to the book. (Which I suppose isn’t that hard, it’s only a little over 300 pages…)
I really enjoyed reading this. I always loved the first two movies – it’s from the 3rd on that I started losing interest. I’m actually really excited to read the books and get more detail of that world. That was my favorite part about it – the world! It’s seriously amazing, and it’s one that you can get lost in. There’s something so magical about Hogwarts and the wizarding world. Something that really struck me about it is how it gets under your skin. Once I started the series, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I watched the movie after finishing the book, then read the second book almost right away and watched that movie, and had to order the third immediately after that because I didn’t have it! (And am currently waiting for the 3rd movie to come in from the library.)
So now I can stop getting harassed by bookworms everywhere who were appalled that I’d never read Harry Potter ;D I’m quite excited to continue the series!
Overall Assessment
Plot: 4.5/5
Premise: 5/5
Writing style: 4/5
Originality: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
World-building: 4/5
Pace: 4.5/5
Feels: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
LOL! This was a fun review to read! Don’t feel bad about just now reading Harry Potter; it took me years after the first book debuted before I started reading them! I recently posted about my real feelings about HP on my blog! Happy reading! :)
Haha, yes, about time. :P I actually loved the movies/books more as they went on! :P The last one is my favorite!
I’M SO HAPPY :D
I’m so glad you finally read these books they are The Best! I have to agree that the third movie isn’t the best, so I get why you lost interest there, but I loved that book far more than the movie. It’s one of my favourites actually.
Yay! I’m so happy you read this (and enjoyed this). When I reread the series in college, I remembered thinking that this one was a little more middle grade than I had realized, but the series continued to grow in maturity and complexity as you go along. As cute as this book is, it gets SO MUCH BETTER!!
FINALLY!
I feel like a lot of people do rereads for Harry Potter, I know my coworker reads the series every year. I’m afraid to because I was 12 when I first picked up the series.
I probably will though. I need to go through that heartbreak again.
Anyway, I’m happy you’ve finally read (and enjoyed) HP Jessi!
Yay! It IS about time! Book one is probably the most ‘juvenile’ of the series. From here, each book gets longer and includes SO much detail that the movies leave out. Enjoy! !
The first book is definitely the one most similar to the series. As the books got thicker, they had to leave more out, so those books will contain a lot more “new” stuff. The fifth book is the longest of the series (in addition to having more pages, they also made the font smaller), but it’s also the shortest movie. So that’s probably the one that will feel the most different from the movie. It also probably goes without saying that they feel progressively less “kid-like” as you go on.
The part that I’ve always been the most irritated that they left out of the movies comes in the third book though. The second thing left out of the movies that always annoyed me the most was Peeves. I get why they did it, and I also get that a lot of people might have seen that as a good thing. I really love Peeves though, especially in the second and seventh books.
I just read the series for the first time Summer 2014! I was the person who said HP was overrated…until I read the series. And LOVED the series. It’s amazing, and keeps getting better!
So glad you liked it! The first two movies actually stick fairly close to the books, but you’ll probably notice a lot more divergence in the later ones. Hope you’re going to like those too! I grew up with them and somehow in my mind they’re just on another level compared to every other series haha.