Reviews with content warning for Classism - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

“Call him Voldemort, Harry. Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.”

A fun book that not only provides us with a mystery, but also gives a proper introduction to the magic world and we're learning a lot about it alongside Harry Potter. The mystery itself is not very surprising, especially when you've seen the movie. But even if you hadn't, there were many hints in the story that pointed in the right direction. I was not shocked to find out that

Quirrell

was the villain. But let's not forget that this book was written for children and looking from that angle, I have to say that it's very well written. It didn't feel childish at all.

We first meet the Dursleys and they are so horrible! Unfortunately Harry had to live with them as his parents both died. They provide him with the bare minimum and seeing how they treat Harry just made my blood boil. It's great that he has the chance to go to Hogwarts where he becomes friends with Ron, Hermione and Hagrid. Ron and Hermione are both very pleasant characters. I laughed out loud at some of the things Ron said. Hagrid is very sweet and has a big heart but he can't really keep secrets.

In general, it was a fun book to read, but there are still some things that I found peculiar. Here it goes:

If Muggles don't know anything about the magic world, how would a Muggle child find Diagon Alley to buy everything he/she needs for school?
Harry Potter is so famous and everyone knows that he's the only one Voldemort couldn't harm. So who in their right mind would decide on detention in the Forbidden Forest so that they can find whatever is hunting and hurting unicorns? Even the centaur they meet says this forest is a bad place to be, especially for Harry Potter.
The teachers and the headmaster are supposed to keep the children safe, but the only one who actively looks out for Harry is
Professor Snape
. You'd expect Dumbledore to do a better job since he is the headmaster but he’s only there to save Harry at the end of the book. He kept a better eye on the Stone than he did on his students. So I'm not sure if I like Dumbledore. He can prove himself to me in the next few books.

Special house edition (Slytherin):
Loved the sprayed edges and the extra information about Slytherin! Though, I think it is more valuable for Harry Potter fans and less so for people like me who are reading it for the first time. The extras in this book give more insight into the series as a whole as opposed to only the first book and I still have a long way to go so not everything made sense to me. For example,

they mention Draco becoming a Death Eater (what the heck is that…?) in his sixth year at Hogwarts iirc

. I guess this will be important later on, but I have no idea what this is about. It could even be a spoiler.

Content Warnings

iammmartina_'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

moreau's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

stephen fry has such a lovely voice im gonna pretend he wrote this, the way he says icecream and malfoy😩 the centaurs are fucked up and i want a smeltings stick sooo bad

Content Warnings

insanebookperson's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

bookishlybecca's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

First Read-through: July 2023
I own several different editions of the Harry Potter series at this point, but I've not yet read my copies of the 20th Anniversary House Editions, so I decided that was something I wanted to do this year. The extra house-related content is a fun addition (and makes me want to collect all four editions of each book in the series...), but the obvious standout to me for this set is the overall book design and the illustrations done by Levi Pinfold.

Specific Details I Noticed:

I love how each book's pages are sprayed with its corresponding house's scarf design!
The dust jacket of each book is very unique to this particular set and I love the inclusion of the house crest done by Levi, in particular. (I don't fully understand the crest's meaning or symbolism, but it's still very interesting and cool to look at. ;P) The use of raised text on the front of the jacket is a nice touch as well.
The "naked book" itself is even high quality - with its thatched texture & gold-foiled text on its spine.
The new map done by Levi, found at the beginning of the book, is another of my favourite additions to this set. It's surprisingly detailed and intricate. I also really appreciate the realisticness of Levi's illustrations - specifically when it comes to the houses’ mascots. The portraits of each house's founder and head of house are just plain stunning as well!
With this being the first book in the series (and our introduction to the Wizarding World as a whole), the extra content included in this book is quite basic and already known by many HP fans (myself included). There is information on each house itself, of course, plus specific blurbs on the house founders, relics, ghosts, alumni, common rooms, and each of the heads of houses. The fact sheets for each of the mentioned characters were especially fun to read through.

You can read more of my thoughts (about the story itself) in my review of the illustrated edition, which can be found here: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/28a8c489-828c-48dc-a944-b4bdc89e7c60

Content Warnings

bi_n_large's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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