Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

By J.K. Rowling.

Synopsis:
Harry Potter, whose parents died when he was a baby, lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin. They keep him locked in the cupboard and are generally evil. Harry is very miserable, until he discovers that he's really a wizard, and is taken away to Hogwarts, a school of magic. But it's not all fun, as Voldemort, the evil magician who killed Harry's parents, is trying to get back his powers, taken from him when he failed to kill baby Harry...

Review:
It's not too bad. After all the hype, it stands up pretty well. More entertaining than the majority of kids' books, and feels more complete than most, as well.

The way magical powers are dealt with isn't very interesting or original - you just wave your wand and say the appropriate magic words - which is a shame, especially as the performing of spells is never gone into in any great detail. Although the story is told from Harry's point of view, and he is our innocent, ignorant portal into the world of magic, there is never even a description of how it feels to be able to cast spells. Similarly, Harry's owl is somewhat glossed over, she just shows up when he needs to send a letter, and doesn't seem to require much care. Fair enough, Hogwarts would probably have facilities to take care of the students' familiars (which are never called familiars...), but they are never investigated. Personally I think the owls represent mobile phones - a status symbol and communications device in one.

The story itself concerns Lord Voldemort, an evil wizard who held the magical world in terror until his attempted murder of Harry robbed him of his powers and almost killed him. Now he's trying to find the philosopher's stone in order to become immortal. I understand the American version of the movie, and therefore presumably the book as well, was retitled '...the Sorcerer's Stone.' I'm not sure why. The only explanation that occurs, except for sheer bloody-mindedness, is that Americans don't know about alchemy. Which seems unlikely... (If anyone has any additional information, please feel free to enlighten me)

The characters themselves are all fairly likeable. Except for the bad guys, who are fairly detestable. One thing that did annoy me a bit (and I'm aware it's just a children's book, but still...) was that, although it wasn't the obvious bad guy who turned out to be the bad bad guy, who you were supposed to like and who you were supposed to hate was made completely clear with no room for doubt.

Going back to the movie, briefly, I haven't seen it, but owing to the unfortunate necessity of living in the real world, I haven't been able to escape it entirely, and consequently Snape was always Alan Rickman. And therefore difficult to hate.

I liked this book, although it didn't make me want to be a wizard (or a witch, or a warlock... the magical titles are used a little freely, and never with any definitions...). It's too much like school.

(See also the Harry Potter rant in the Misc section)