Hello! Welcome back to There’s Always Time for a Book. This review has taken a while to write (as usual) because I decided to read Harry Potter. Now, anyone who’s read them will know that once you start you can’t stop, and so I thought instead of reviewing them one by one I would just lump them all together like this. Harry Potter books are so well known that most of you probably won’t need a review because you’ll have read them, however I felt it wrong to not add them to my list because they are just blooming marvellous. I’ve lumped together books 1-4 because 5,6 and 7 were just far too big to add in. Below the review there is a list of the names of the books, in case you’ve watched but not read them.
Blurb: You all know this bit, don’t you?
I give the first and third books 4/5 for how put-down-able they were and 3/5 for the second and fourth. The first, of course, is addictive and Rowling has managed to fit an incredibly detailed and gripping story into very few pages. The third is similar, and the story keeps you captivated right to the end. I gave the second and fourth books 3/5 because they are both my least favourite. I don’t know why, but the story of the second book has just never really interested me and although I enjoyed reading it, it was rather out of love for Harry than for the story itself. The fourth book is similar, except it’s far longer. There are so many themes going on in the fourth book so many people may have found it equally as gripping as the first, however I felt that it was a bit of a filler book, just making a story around the introduction of the main plot (Mr Voldy).
Harry Potter gets 100000000000000/5 for originality so this section doesn’t really apply.
In terms of characters, all four get 5/5. Rowling has written such a vast array of different characters in these four books, all of whom you grow to love (yes, even Filch). It’s impossible not to picture Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Rickman when you read their characters if you’ve seen the films, but if you read them first then I’m sure you’d agree that those are the exact images of the characters in the books anyway. It’s incredible how clearly you can see the faces of the Harry Potter gang, and you instantly wish you could be the fourth member of the Harry, Ron and Hermione group. I have to say that my personal favourite was Rowling’s description of Ludo Bagman, who sadly doesn’t feature in the films, as I thought he was so clearly based on Boris Johnson that I couldn’t get the image of Boris waving around a wand out of my head for a long time.
Overall, I give these four books 4/5. It is just personal preference that I’m not a fan of the stories of the second and fourth, and I’m sure many of you see these as your favourites. It’s weird because the third film is actually my least favourite but I loved the book…
If you haven’t read Harry Potter but have seen the films, all I can say to you is YOU HAVE NOT EXPERIENCED HARRY POTTER AT ITS BEST! There is nothing better than the books no matter how well done the films are. Thank you for reading, and my next review will be a Christmassy book called Mistletoe and Murder (leave gap for an ‘ooooooooo’ noise from reader).
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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