Year 1. Harry Potter is small and skinny, with a shock of black hair that never lies flat and a lightening-shaped scar cutting across his forehead. He lives with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon and their son, Dudley. Harry hates the Dursleys and they treat him like muck on their shoes. Harry sleeps in a cupboard under the stairs, he has never celebrated a birthday, and he has never gotten new clothes in his life. When Harry receives a letter, his first ever, the Dursleys act like it is a bomb. Soon, more and more letters arrive and although Uncle Vernon does all he can to destroy them, the family is finally forced to flee a house piled high with letters addressed Harry, who has yet to read one and has no idea who they are from. On a barren, windswept island in the middle of nowhere, where Uncle Vernon feels sure they are safe, a giant of a man visits Harry in the middle of the night and Harry finally gets to read his letter - he has been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Harry is a wizard, and he finally learns about his past - who his parents were, how they died, and that he, Harry, is famous in the wizarding world for something that happened when he was barely a year old. ( )

Could any book possibly live up to the kind of hype that Harry Potter has acquired? Probably not. This one certainly didn't.

The opening chapters, regarding Hary's pre-Hogwarts life, were interesting enough... But by the time we get to the school, the book has fallen squarely into the trap of telling rather than showing. Knowing the doorstops yet to come in this series I can't believe I'm suggesting this book should have been longer, given a bit more room to breathe, but perhaps that would have allieviated this problem. It's as if, in a rush to get all the cool ideas down on paper, JK didn't give them the space they deserve and just wanted to get to the end of the book to get it finished.

Peppered with fantasy cliches and absurd games, I'm afraid it doesn't really compare favourably to Roald Dahl, whatever the Sunday Times says. ( )

(Update 2/26/09) I just re-read this one in an attempt to make it through the whole series this time. (Gasp! I know!) I have to say I enjoyed it much more the second time around. Maybe I just had to let the hype settle down a bit before I could really enjoy them. ( )

IT WAS AWEFUL ( )

This is the charming book that started the whole Harry Potter craze. It's childish (it was written for children after all) but has enough interesting characters and situation to keep the attention of the more mature. ( )