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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
I have never read an e-book before (except J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter prequel, if that even counts), so I decided to try one! And this one seemed like a nice one to try!
I have to say, I was pretty much blown away. This is so well-written! It was just like it was written by J. K. Rowling. I felt so happy to be in the Harry Potter world once more. I like that you get to hear from our own beloved characters as well as getting to know new ones, so you really feel like it's the very same world!
I also liked the way James was ''in the shadow of his father'' as we really all expect him to be, but managed to go another route to being a hero in his own way, and therefore unique, but still like his father.
I don't really know what more to say, except that I love it a lot, and all Harry Potter fans should read this!
I have to say, I was pretty much blown away. This is so well-written! It was just like it was written by J. K. Rowling. I felt so happy to be in the Harry Potter world once more. I like that you get to hear from our own beloved characters as well as getting to know new ones, so you really feel like it's the very same world!
I also liked the way James was ''in the shadow of his father'' as we really all expect him to be, but managed to go another route to being a hero in his own way, and therefore unique, but still like his father.
I don't really know what more to say, except that I love it a lot, and all Harry Potter fans should read this!
It's not JK Rowling of course, but it was fun to read about Hogwarts again! This book was way too long. The adventure plot was fun though.
It's no J.K. Rowling, but if you separate it from the Harry Potter series and think of it on its own it's a great book!
Okay, lets start out this review with a little back history: I have read a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction. A LOT. So I like to think I know what is good and what is bad. The only thing that this book had for it was the fact that it was about James and not about Harry.
The author tried to continue what Rowling had started... but really, if you're going to do that, you need to stick to canon more than this. Okay, I can deal with you bringing in Americans... sort of. It doesn't really work for me, since it's really a British series, but I can accept it. After a while, though, all the anti-American (from the Brits) jokes just got old.
And then there was a lot of "Was Harry Potter really right with what he did?" type thing (seemed to me like the main focus of the story, actually) but it was SO overplayed as well. Especially bringing in the Slytherin's double nature in such a derogatory way. We know they are slimy, sneaky bastards, but really, they are people too. You can at least leave them some shreds of humanity.
Tiny details also bugged me... things that changed from canon that really should not have: James, as a first year, was rooming with his cousin Ted, a fifth year. The house elves were to be seen quite a lot more... especially doing things that they obviously don't do (clearing the tables after breakfast; we know that the dishes just "appear" and "disappear" and that there are 4 big tables down in the kitchens too...) Things like this really break or make a fanfic for me... it's the tiny details that make things great or not.
And this was not great. I'm sad to say, because I really love Harry Potter fanfiction. The characters were boring... the writing wasn't polished enough (although that's negligible with a fanfic usually) and the plot was just bad.
There is so much better unpublished fanfiction out there... I have to think of authors like Beren or Slashpervert, who, although their focus is on Harry / Draco relationships, really added something to the genre and built up more on Rowling's world, instead of changing it to their own world (like Lippert does).
Anyway, I couldn't finish this book... I read about 1/4th of it, and by that point it was just bad.
P.S. There is a Harry Potter Lexicon out there... just so you can research canon... and as a fanfiction writer you should use it.
2 stars due to writing about James and trying to carry the story 10 years into the future.
The author tried to continue what Rowling had started... but really, if you're going to do that, you need to stick to canon more than this. Okay, I can deal with you bringing in Americans... sort of. It doesn't really work for me, since it's really a British series, but I can accept it. After a while, though, all the anti-American (from the Brits) jokes just got old.
And then there was a lot of "Was Harry Potter really right with what he did?" type thing (seemed to me like the main focus of the story, actually) but it was SO overplayed as well. Especially bringing in the Slytherin's double nature in such a derogatory way. We know they are slimy, sneaky bastards, but really, they are people too. You can at least leave them some shreds of humanity.
Tiny details also bugged me... things that changed from canon that really should not have: James, as a first year, was rooming with his cousin Ted, a fifth year. The house elves were to be seen quite a lot more... especially doing things that they obviously don't do (clearing the tables after breakfast; we know that the dishes just "appear" and "disappear" and that there are 4 big tables down in the kitchens too...) Things like this really break or make a fanfic for me... it's the tiny details that make things great or not.
And this was not great. I'm sad to say, because I really love Harry Potter fanfiction. The characters were boring... the writing wasn't polished enough (although that's negligible with a fanfic usually) and the plot was just bad.
There is so much better unpublished fanfiction out there... I have to think of authors like Beren or Slashpervert, who, although their focus is on Harry / Draco relationships, really added something to the genre and built up more on Rowling's world, instead of changing it to their own world (like Lippert does).
Anyway, I couldn't finish this book... I read about 1/4th of it, and by that point it was just bad.
P.S. There is a Harry Potter Lexicon out there... just so you can research canon... and as a fanfiction writer you should use it.
2 stars due to writing about James and trying to carry the story 10 years into the future.
I liked this book way more than I had thought - it's easy to confuse with the cursed child but it actually happens before the cursed child takes place as 1) this was written before that and 2) this is about James potter - harry's first son - and the cursed child is about Albus - harry's second son.
You forget that it's not really by JKR at times and other times there are things that happen that I'm not so sure she would have included. The author explains a lot of things that JKR just didn't address - such as technology or how dissapparation works - which I'm not sure I enjoyed that much. The part w here Ben Franklin is a wizard was interesting...
I started to read the book in eBook version but then shortly switched to the audiobook. The narrator did a good job of different voices which is a nice change of pace from what I have been reading - very high production value compared to some older audiobooks.
I'll read the second book for sure, it's just a matter of when.
You forget that it's not really by JKR at times and other times there are things that happen that I'm not so sure she would have included. The author explains a lot of things that JKR just didn't address - such as technology or how dissapparation works - which I'm not sure I enjoyed that much. The part w here Ben Franklin is a wizard was interesting...
I started to read the book in eBook version but then shortly switched to the audiobook. The narrator did a good job of different voices which is a nice change of pace from what I have been reading - very high production value compared to some older audiobooks.
I'll read the second book for sure, it's just a matter of when.
If I could give this 2.5 stars, I would. It WAS good. However, it dragged at certain points and the throw in of Americanisms being said by non-American characters (I highly doubt any member of the British magical community would use the word 'semester', for example) threw me off a little. The whole inclusion of Merlin and that story also felt a little weird to me. But this is certainly worth a read for those who like HP fics (because that IS what this is) and want to keep the story going for a little bit longer. I'm not entirely sure if I'll be reading the sequels or the author's original works. Possibly at some point, but not for a while at least.
I loved this. G. Norman Lippert certainly doesn't get the recognition he deserves. So glad to see he wrote more books in the James Potter series! Excited to pick it back up.
You can't deny Lippert is a good writer, but there are errors, the scientific stuff is completely out of place in a magical series and the muggle thing is hardly believable. Despite this, it's a good and easy reading.