titan45's Full Review: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter Books
Anyone who knows what books are knows about kid wizard Harry Potter and his huge following. Granted, the whole thing has become more of a fad than a reading experience (you didn't see Frodo's Journal or Old Forest Sing-Alongs come with Lord of the Rings), but many people seem to have shunned these books for the mere fact that they are extremely popular. While the whole merchandising and liscence milking of the Harry Potter series is sure to die down soon, I believe that these books will still be children's classics for years to come, and will definitely spark the interest of many others along the years.
The boxed set of Harry Potter includes the first four Harry Potter books, each representing a year of Harry's life beginning at age 11. The great thing about these four books together is that each, while maintaining a similiar style to the last book, each has underneath, a slowly progressing storyline that finally surfaces in book 3 (Prisoner of Azkaban) and expands heavily in book 4 (Goblet of Fire). The first two books serve as introductions to the magical world, containing adventures and misadventures of Harry Potter and his friends Ron and Hermione, but books 3 and 4 contain a more urgent tone, and at the end of book 4 you will definitely have a feeling something big is going to happen.
Now first off, I want to hit the issue of "is this for kids or is that for kids?". All four books of Harry Potter are all appropriate for children, in my opinion. While the content in each book does get darker, I don't see anything amazingly terrible about any of the four books. There is violence, and yes people die, but if you let that keep you from giving the books to your kids, then it's a big mistake. Chances are if the kid can read the book, he/she's probably old enough or smart enough to understand what is going on.
Before I get into the in-depth coverage on each book, I would also like to stress how I like Rowling's imagination combined with obvious influences from J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, among other authors. Many people don't seem to like this type of derivative work, but I believe the blend is excellent. And after all, what fantasy author can't be influenced by these great writers? Platform 9 and 3/4 in Harry Potter is an exact parallel to C.S. Lewis's magical cupboard in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Whomping Willow and nature in Potter's world in general is Tolkien all the way. Of course, Rowlings also adds alot of her own imagination, and the whole thing is truly amazing. The imagination put into it is awesome. Pictures move about freely, staircases change when they want to, and strange stuff happens in the wizard world of Harry Potter's. These subtle details really make the book so much more interesting. From Every Flavor Beans, to Chocolate Frogs, the whole premise of a magical world is truly enchanted by Rowling's imagination combined with derivative from Tolkien, Lewis, Dahl, whoever.
The writing style of Rowling's is excellent. Her writing is descriptive in ways, yet very quick to the point, and very fast paced. Her ability to create mystery within each book is also awesome, and it's impossible to guess "whodunnit" until the end of the book. She's no Agatha Christie, but still each book has a great tying mystery. The characterization is also quite nice. As we see Harry grow up in each book, we get a clear picture of his, and his friends changing attitudes. If you read Book 1 and skip to Book 4 straight after, you will see a very different Harry Potter. While many other characters are 1-dimensional, Rowling's uses this to keep them mysterious at times, which pans out nicely. While her style is not perfect, it still is a great style. Her books move fast, but contain descriptiveness and imagination, as well as strong characters. They will keep you glued for hours on end. Oh yeah, and quidditch will too.
What I'm trying to say is, if you consider yourself a better reader than everyone else, check out Harry Potter. Many have skipped it because it has either received too much acclaim or because it seems too childish. Harry Potter is a fun fantasy book that is a great read, no matter how many times.
The Books
Book/Year 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Harry Potter is a young 11-year-old boy living with his terrible Aunt and Uncle, the Dursleys. His parents were killed in a car crash, and now he spends his time sitting under the closet under the stairs with no friends. On the date of his 11th birthday, though, strange things begin to happen. Mail starts pouring in heavily, until Harry is confronted by a huge giant named Hagrid, who tells Harry he isn't who he thinks he is. Revealing Harry's past, Harry finds out that he himself is really a wizard, and a legend at that. When he was only an infant, his parents were killed by a dark wizard named Lord Voldemort, who had a huge following. When he attacked Harry, Harry miraculously survived, and Voldemort's spell backfired, almost killing him and ending his reign of terror. Hagrid was the man who dropped off Harry at his closest relatives, the Dursleys.
Harry then receives an invitation to join the wizarding world and attend London's school for wizards and witches, Hogwarts. Being enchanted by this new world around him, Harry unexpectedly receives fame and attention everywhere he goes, although he wants none of it. Upon going to Hogwarts, Harry meets two kids, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all who become fast friends. He also meets his soon to be enemy, Draco Malfoy, whose family is involved in dark magic. Harry finds out everything about his amazing school. There are four teams in which each person is divided into (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin). Each person can win or lose points for their team, and at the end of the year the team with the most points receives a special trophy. Harry also learns about the amazing sport of Quidditch, a basketball like sport played on brooms, and he finds he is also quite good at it.
Things begin to go bad, though, as Harry finds a teacher who loathes him, Professor Snape. They soon suspect him of trying to kill Harry during a quidditch match, and from Hagrid find a mystery that may tie all of this together: the mystery of the Sorcerer's Stone.
The Review [4.5/5]
The first book of the Harry Potter series, this is the slowest book (even though it's not really slow at all), but also the most descriptive, showing Harry's world in full extent. I don't think it's the best in the series, but does an amazing job of showing the many things in the wizarding world. The book also has the most characterization as well, but is also short and very quick as a read.
The whole mystery element is excellent, alot better than it sounds in my overview of it. The search to find out what the Sorcerer's Stone is and why someone would want it make up for a big part of Rowling's mysteries and themes: research is the key to solving any mystery. Hermione is the researcher of the trio, and throughout each book her research helps the kids find out what is going on.
The world of Harry Potter's is most alive in this book, compared to all the other books. While the other books mention or show new wizarding things in the magical world, none of the books indulge in the magic as much as the first book. The first book really interests and excites you with all these new things brought to your attention. And if haven't heard anyone who has read the book mention Quidditch, then they must not have totally read the book.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone does an excellent job of establishing Harry's world, and indirectly establishing Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the collection. Finally, this is probably the most fun you're going to have talking about school, since Harry Potter's adventures all revolve in a huge school.
Book/Year 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter is now back over the summer in his terrible closet under the stairs at the Dursley's house, and has received no word from the magical world until a little elf called Dobby pays him a visit. Dobby tells Harry Potter not to return to Hogwarts, because something horrible is going to happen there, and he doesn't want Potter to be hurt. Harry finds out that Dobby has been concealing his friend's letters, and has been trying everything to keep Harry from going to Hogwarts.
Not about to heed his warnings, Harry is saved from the Dursley's house by Ron, George, and Fred Weasley, who are flying a Ford Anglia. Going to Ron's home, he enjoys the rest of the summer there, where he meets the Weasley family (including Ginny, the youngest of the kids), until he goes to pick up his books from his second year at Hogwarts School. There, he meets Gilderoy Lockheart, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher at Hogwarts, and a celebrity of a wizard. He also runs into Draco Malfoy, along with his canniving father, Lucius Malfoy, who has some less than kind words for the Weasleys and Harry Potter.
Harry does indeed finally return to Hogwarts, although he uses the flying Ford since the portal to the magic world at the train station somehow closes up. After being thoroughly scolded, Harry meets with some new Hogwarts first years, and old friends as well. Trouble seems far away, that is, until Harry begins to hear a voice muttering "kill! kill! kill!". He then stumbles upon a cat nailed to a wall, and words written in it's blood: The Chamber of the Secrets has been Opened, and the Heir has Arrived". Strange attacks in which kids are petrified, frozen in time, start growing, as the Hogwarts staff debates whether they should close the school.
Harry finds out that the Chamber of Secrets was a chamber created by Salazar Slytherin, one of the main creators of Hogwarts, a man who believed only wizards of pure blood (born from a wizard and a witch) should be allowed to attend Hogwarts. Since no one agreed, he left, but created a Chamber of Secrets which contained a creature that would kill all "mudbloods", or wizards who didn't have pure wizard blood. Only the heir to Slytherin could open the Chamber, though.
As people begin to suspect Harry of these awful attacks, Harry, Ron and Hermione must struggle against the odds and once again put their lives at risk to uncover the location of this fabled Chamber, clean their reputations, and also find out who the heir of Slytherin really is.
Review [4.5/5]
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, while following the same pattern and formula as the first book, is in many ways superior to the first book, but at times inferior. The book is alot faster, yet longer than the first book, and the mystery element is just as good, if not better in this book. Also, alot of J.K. Rowling's foreshadowing begins within this book. Certain events at the end of the Chamber of Secrets are very important later on in the series.
In the first book, the story focused more on Ron, Harry, and Hermione. The Chamber of Secrets shows alot more of their characters, but also focuses on the other Hogwart's students, as outside students are introduced to represent the other students in the school. The distrust towards Harry shows how fear has taken over the school. This is also a good example of another of Rowling's themes: fear is sometimes the only thing that makes one person stronger than another.
The Chamber of Secrets, though, does have some very random moments, such as the Ford Anglia saving the kids at the last moment, but most of these "random" happenings are given good explanations at the end. They also are used to represent morals such as loyalty among other things.
One very important thing the Chamber of Secrets does is that it gives us a much deeper look into the character of Lord Voldemort, and probably looks at him more than the other three books do. We see how Voldemort parallels Hitler in many ways, as while he wants to purge the wizard world of all mudbloods and such, we find out the he himself is not a pure blooded wizard. This look into Voldemort not only foreshadows certain events, but also creates a very complex character, while in the first book we just saw him as being of pure evil, but without any true reasons other than that he killed people.
While the Chamber of Secrets stays safe within the Harry Potter formula, and is in many ways similiar to the first book, it really begins moving the underlying storyline ahead, the confrontation of good vs. evil. Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets is deeper than it's predecessor, and while not perfect, is just as engrossing and fun.
Book/Year 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry is once again back with the Dursleys, spending yet another boring summer. But, things begin to heat up when the Dursleys bring their equally awful sister to the house. As she pokes fun at Harry and berates his dead parents, Harry explodes, causing her to expand, and threatens Uncle Vernon as he leaves the Dursleys house. Harry catches a special wizard runaway bus, as he heads to a well-known wizard bar, The Leaky Cauldron.
Harry meets up with the head of the Ministry of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who surprisingly greets him happily and asks him to stay under his safety for the night (Harry was afraid he would be expelled from Hogwarts for using magic outside of the wizarding world). After the long night, Harry goes shopping for his new school materials, and meets up with Ron and Hermione. All three stay at Ron's house over the summer, until they finally head off to Hogwarts.
Harry soon finds out that an escaped convict called Sirius Black is on the loose, and that he was one of Voldemort's right-hand men before the Dark Wizard's fall. Harry doesn't really care much, but he soon finds out more dark secrets about Sirius Black. Black used to be a close friend of James Potter (Harry's dad), and held the Potter family's deepest secrets. But, he betrayed them and led Voldemort to the family, causing the death of Harry's parents. Overcome with anger, Harry wants to meet and kill Sirius Black.
But, while signs show up of him entering Hogwarts, no one is able to find him. Dementors, the hooded guardians of the famous wizard prison Azkaban (think of it as the wizard's Alcatraz), enter the school waiting to capture Black if he should arrive. Unfortunately, these dementors have a terrible effect over Harry, giving a sickening feeling of depression. They even cause Harry to lose his first Quidditch match ever! Harry meets with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher (a running joke in the series is that none of the the teachers in this position are able to stay for over a year at Hogwarts), Professor R.J. Lupin, who teaches him a countercurse to combat the Dementors.
As Sirius edges ever so close to Harry, they will soon find out that alliances are hard to come by. People they think are friends are actually enemies, enemies may be friends, and above all there may be a traitor in the midst.
Review [4.5/5]
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we see the story which was being toyed with in Chamber of Secrets begin to develop. The Prisoner of Azkaban sets the stage for ultimately what Goblet of Fire finally shows. We meet up with many new characters, including Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and the demementors, who play a big role in this book, and may play a big role later on. The dementors represent depression in Rowling's books, and they also have a kiss which sucks the soul out of people. Worst of all, they are natural allies of Voldemort, something that will come into play in Goblet of Fire.
As you have guessed, alot of foreshadowing is again used in the prisoner of Azkaban. Many things are referred to. The Prisoner of Azkaban not only foreshadows, but it also takes a step away from the pattern of the first two Harry Potter books. There is no "mystery", as in there no secret artifact or chamber. This book's mystery deals more with alliances and betrayals, and with the true identities of certain people in Harry's world. Also, there is no climactic battle at the end of the book...only an ominous feeling.
The Prisoner of Azkaban, while being somewhat dark and brooding, is also surprisingly funny with Professor Trelawney's bad predictions of Harry, and other antics the kids pull off. Azkaban also hints at Harry's teenage years. In this book, he is 13, and begins to grow rebellious, especially as we see him threaten Uncle Vernon for the first time. That brought quite a smile to my face.
One flawed thing about Azkaban, though, is that certain parts seems somewhat contrived. While, as I stated, there is no climactic battle, there is a whole area which is hard to describe. I'll say that it involves time-travel, which always creates plot holes, and Azkaban is no exception. While the Chamber of Secrets also had a little time travel bit, Harry didn't affect the things going on, while in this book he does. While there aren't gaping plot holes here, little holes appear due to the whole time travel bit, which I didn't like too much. Just another complaint, though.
The Prisoner of Azkaban is over 500 pages long, and examines alot of new characters that will be essential to the plot later on in the series. But, don't let this fool you into thinking that the book is boring. Azkaban includes a lot of action, including amazing qudditch matches, funny and interesting creatures, and Hagrid as a Hogwarts teacher, for the first time ever. This is one of the better books of the series, and alot deeper than the first two books.
Book/Year 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry is nearing his 14th birthday, and what better way to celebrate than at the Quidditch World Cup? Going with Ron and Hermione, Harry eagerly anticipates the matches as wizards and witches from all over the world come to support their teams. But, trouble begins as Harry's wand goes missing during a match, and a dark mark, the symbol of Lord Voldemort, is cast into the sky. Panic ensues, as Harry sees a little house-elf called Blinky holding Harry's wand.
After the incident is cleared up by the Ministry of Magic, everything goes back to normal. Harry returns to Hogwarts after the summer, and things go as he thought it would. There is yet again another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Mad-Eye Moody, who is also a world renowned auror, and has caught many followers of Voldemort, unfortunately one of those being his own son. The kids soon begin to grow fond of Moody, and he begins a quick friendship with Harry.
Harry, though, is very depressed to find out that Quidditch has been cancelled for the year. But, an age old tournament known as the Tri-Wizard Tournament has resurfaced to take it's place. This famous tournament uses 3 wizards from distinct schools to face 3 tough challenges. The winner gets 1,000 galleons (gold pieces) and a trophy, but only wizards over a certain age can enter. Harry, unfortunately, is not old enough. The contestants are each picked by a special object known as the Goblet of Fire. It spits out three names. From the Hogwarts School, Cedric Diggory (the boy who beat Harry in Quidditch during the third book), from Beauxbatons, Fleur Delaceur, a beautiful witch, and finally from Durmstrang, Viktor Krum, a very famous Quidditch player who played in the World Cup that year. But, the Goblet spits out a fourth name, that of Harry Potter. Moody gets suspicious and points out that someone may have rigged the contest, but Harry is forced to enter since he was picked.
As the tournament begins, Harry will find out that the tri-wizard tournament may be the least of his worries. He begins to have dark dreams about a strange being planning to capture and kill him, and he will soon find out that these dreams may in fact be true...
Review [5/5]
Without a doubt the best book in the series, Goblet of Fire does suffer from one mistake, but is 730 pages of pure fun. The books begins with a dark dream, although most of the book focuses on the tri-wizard tournament. This sets more of an adventure feeling to the book than before, but a sense of urgency quickly develops towards the end of the book.
In Goblet of Fire we are introduced first off, to the extent of the wizarding world. In the first three books, they were shielded from view, giving us reason to believe Hogwarts was the only school for wizards and witches. Now we find out that there are schools, as well as magical people everywhere in the world, and this is another object Rowling's is probably foreshadowing.
The Goblet of Fire's ending is both the strongest and weakest part of the book though. While it is very intense, and leaves an almost Lord of the Rings like feeling to it, too much information is spilled out about Harry's parents, Voldemort, and more at the end of this book. In the other three books, the information that we wanted slowly crept up on us, but in this book it kind of just spills over at the end. Still, Goblet of Fire is extremely engrossing, and considering that it is 700 pages, it will definitely keep you occupied for at least a week. The mystery is replaced here by anticipation and pure excitement.
Also, much of the book shows alot of people as past followers of Voldemort, including some teachers at Hogwarts! This shows you the extent of his following and the power that he commands, and another foreshadowing tool used by Rowling.
Also, for the first time in the Potter series, romance is actually brought up. Surprisingly enough, it isn't cheesy and is quite funny and realistic at times. Harry's crush on a girl named Cho Chang and Ron's seemingly careless stance on the subject are quite funny as well.
The three challenges and such represent Rowling's link to mythology. Everyone knows what things like mazes represent, and an even stronger connection to ancient mythology is made here, making the book feel both original and familiar at the same time.
The Goblet of Fire, by the end, will have you wishing for the 5th Harry Potter book, which keeps getting tossed around. The end really has an ominous feel to it, and you realize that the books after the fourth will have much darker tone, as basically danger lurks near. Goblet of Fire is an excellent close to the box set, although it's not really a closer at all.
I definitely reccomend picking these books up in any way, shape or form, because they are excellent fantasy novels. I really do think that they are original, somewhat deep, very engrossing, and completely amazing books. Being a fan of writers like Roald Dahl and C.S. Lewis, I can tell you that these books will appeal to almost anyone who can appreciate a good imagination teemed with a great storyline. If you hold a grudge against it because it's somewhat of a fad, then you're missing out on a great read. Mystery, action, suspense, and more are all abound, and all you need to do is get off the couch and read!
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