A review by prashiie
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

“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.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings