captaind's Full Review: J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Sto...
Firstly, apologies to those who've had to rate this again - it was posted in the right place, but since the product details for it were mixed up, it looked like it was in the wrong place. So... here it is again!
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I finally did it – I gave in and read a Harry Potter book. Ever since they became an international sensation (helped no end by the movies, which I haven’t seen), I’ve been wondering just what it is that has made it so popular, not just with kids, but with adults. So I borrowed the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (known as “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” over the pond, but with no real differences) by J K Rowling, and found out for myself…
In case you’ve been living on the moon for the past few years, Harry Potter is a wizard – though he doesn’t know it at first. (He’s been raised by his Uncle and Aunt, who are “Muggles” – people with no wizard blood in them at all – and they, along with their awful son Dudley, treat Harry abominably.) At the age of 11 he receives an invitation to the school “Hogwarts”, which is (apparently) the best school for wizards and witches in the world. Harry learns about his past, where as a one year-old he achieved something that no other wizard, however powerful, had been able to do. Harry becomes friends at once with the Groundskeeper, Hagrid, a boy from a wizard family called Ron, and (eventually) a studious and bossy girl named Hermione. He also finds an arch-nemesis (well you’ve got to have one, haven’t you?!??) Apart from getting into no end of trouble, he learns the game of Quidditch, which involves flying around on broomsticks, trying to score goals, avoid getting bludgeoned off your stick by creatures who are game balls themselves, and trying to get hold of the Golden Snitch, which will all but guarantee you victory (it’s worth 150 points), and which signals the end of the game.
The teachers are an odd lot, and include the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledorn, wise and good, and Professor Snape, who for some reason seems to hate Harry from the very first time he meets him. There is also a great rivalry between the four school houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The latter house has produced more “Dark” wizards than any other house. One such Dark Wizard is trying to regain his power, though he has no body of his own. There is something hidden in Hogwarts school than he wants, though, and he will stop at nothing to get it…
Well, the plot is very similar to that in a million other fantasy novels (great Dark Lord loses power, can regain it if he obtains a particular artefact, etc), and the main baddy, Voldemort, reminded me quite a bit of Sauron from Lord of the Rings, being a malevolent evil force without body or shape, but with all of his malice still intact. The world Harry lives in is quite well developed – though some of it is set in the real world, the fantasy world of qizards and witches is portrayed in nice detail without getting bogged down. Rowling has a nice writing style that is very easy to read, though her characters lack a certain depth. The storyline here just about has enough twists and turns to stop it from being too predictable, and just when I thought it was quite obvious what was going to happen next, a plot twist that I never saw coming completely changed the whole perspective.
I found the book quite compulsive, and really couldn’t put it down. Despite this I felt that, for me, it wasn’t quite 5-star material – almost definitely for younger ones, but not for me. I think it was the lack of depth to the characters and the fact that each character had a definite purpose in relation to the story, and it was often plainly obvious what that purpose was going to be within a paragraph of them being introduced. Rowling’s writing is good, as I said, but perhaps lacks a little of the sparkle that is evident in the best of the Chronicle of Narnia series by CS Lewis. However, this is the first book in the Harry Potter series, so maybe the following books will have that certain something that this one misses.
One thing that Rowling does do really well is create characters that you really despise! Harry’s Muggles family members are quite repulsive, and you really do want bad things to happen to them! She also has a sharp awareness of how children really act / would act in a fantastical setting. With a little more character development and perhaps deviousness in her plot development, her books could rival my favourites in the Narnia series - The Silver Chair and Voyage of the Dawn Treader - and for me to say that is high praise indeed! (Comparisons with the Narnia books are not completely warranted as they are nowhere near as moralistic / Christianity-oriented, and are set completely on our world, but certain similarities did strike me.) Based on the evidence here I’m certainly planning to read the next books to find out…
Of course, some people would not want their children to read the Harry Potter books because they feel the magical content (set in the real world) may confuse youngsters or lead them on the wrong path. I totally respect their point of view and they should do whatever their conscience tells them. I’m reviewing this book purely on literary value and am not suggesting that people should or shouldn’t read it, this is just my opinion on the book. (Just in case I get accused of anything! :-D)
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizar...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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