Festa #3.1 – Book Worm/Sequel Saga – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997)

Welcome to another festa where we explore the vast and magical world of the Harry Potter Universe! This is going to be a throwback to the first novel into the main series of Harry Potter Books ! With that welcome to another edition of The Book Worm / Sequel Saga!!

Now this is a throwback/review of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone novel. There’s lots of posts on the Harry Potter universe up on the blog, celebrating this special anniversary of the series, which you can check out on the main post on The Harry Potter Universe !

Cover page of the novel that I own (there were many editions and re-prints)

Title : Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (AKA Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)

Author : J K Rowling

Country of origin : United Kingdom

Language : English

Type : Series (Book 1 of 7)

Publisher : Bloomsbury

Published : 26 June 1997

Pages : 223

Genre : Fantasy, Magic, Mystery, Wizardry and Witchcraft

Adaptations : Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001 film)

The novel recounts the story of a 11 year old Harry Potter who is unhappily living with his Aunt and her family, the Dursleys.

On his eleventh birthday, he gets a visit from Rubeus Hagrid (which his Uncle tries his best to stop), gamekeeper at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to inform of him of his admission into the school to begin his education to become a wizard.

As he joins the world of Wizards and Witches he comes to realise he may be one of the most famous wizards known as he survived an attack from Voldemort, a dangerous dark wizard, as a baby leaving Voldemort dead.

The novel then follows Harry’s exploration into his first year at Hogwarts, new friends, learning magic and more mysteries about his origins, his parents and of course – Voldemort.

As a child my first exploration into Harry Potter were the movies – the books were something I managed to get a hold off much later. nevertheless I was able to enjoy the book thoroughly! More on the book versus movie and other things can be read from the main post that I have linked at the top!

This first book is an intro for us (and Harry) into the magical world of Wizards and Witches, muggles and magic. The book is recounted in second person where the author stands as the narrator for the entire thing, which may be good because a first person context would have been quite confusing as an intro into a vast world of magic.

The entire novel is quite simply worded and feels to me like the mind of a child whose about the same age of Harry. The books quite small compared to its successor and may not be talked about as much when we take the series as a whole considering all the events that happened after. But this book lays down a delicate and enjoyable foundation on which the whole take is built. Compared to the build up of the story, the ending may have been slightly more rushed but it’s not really a complaint to be honest.

A charm I have always felt in this and it’s successors is that in reality Harry Potter is quite a dark and grim tale under the mask of a more simple and child like writing style. But at the same time the books always contain a very heartfelt story of love, compassion and friendship. J K Rowling’s writing style is really enjoyable for me to the extent that I felt I was a fellow student at Hogwarts with Harry too! My favourite portion of the book would definitely be the portion with the Mirror of Erised – it actually holds a meaning that’s quite deep and profound past the explanation that Dumbledore gives Harry.

These are my thoughts on the book! What are yours? Let me know in the comments! For more posts on the Harry Potter universe, please do check out the link at the top! Thank you for reading!