Hoping For More: Harry Potter Book #1

Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone)
Author: J. K. Rowling
Series: Harry Potter #1
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Page Count: 224 Pages
Pub. Date: Mass Market Paperback, published in 2004 by Raincoast Books, originally published in June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London.
Rating: 4/5

Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate, you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand, and jellybeans that come in every flavor, including strawberry, curry, grass, and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! This is exactly what happens to young Harry Potter in J.K. Rowling's enchanting, funny debut novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. In the non-magical human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is renowned as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite different from his aunt, uncle, and spoiled, pig-like cousin Dudley.

~My Review~

I don't see the need for much of a breakdown of the story here, as it seems the whole word knows all about Harry Potter, the legendary wizard that never knew what he could do. The school for witches and wizards where students learn all about magic and how to play Quidditch - a combination of ordinary sports played in the air on broomsticks with 4 balls and 2 goals.

I have been avoiding this bandwagon for years but decided I should give the series a fair shot before the last film is out. I feel like I may have liked it better had I read it when it came out, before all the hype and while I was significantly younger. That said, the characters were fun and the story intriguing. I wasn't expecting the end and I want to read the next book so overall I would say it was a good read, just not as mind-blowing as people have made it out to be.