Month: August 2021

Harry Potter – the original seven volume series

Harry Potter – the original seven volume series

by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter 7 book covers

The original Harry Potter series included (1) The Sorcerer’s Stone, (2) The Chamber of Secrets, (3) The Prisoner of Azkaban, (4) The Goblet of Fire, (5) The Order of Phoenix, (6) The Half-Blood Prince, and (7) The Deathly Hallows.

The seven volumes of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling is very popular with kids. A wizard with no parents named Harry Potter is introduced to the Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry at the age of 11. There, he meets his forever loyal friends, Ron and Hermione.The books follow Harry and his friends on a journey to defeat the Dark Lord, Voldemort. The “8th book”, is a script of a play called The Cursed Child, which is about one of Harry’s children, Albus Severus Potter.

My favorite book out of all of them, would have to be the 6th one, The Half-Blood Prince. In this book, Harry discovers more of Snape’s secrets and learns to prevent Voldemort from entering his mind. Snape is my favorite character and this book is mainly focused on him. I like how Snape is very intelligent and gifted in the art of potion making, and beyond loyal to his true companions. As I learned more about Snape’s past, I learned that he was a tortured and lonely soul, which only gravitated me towards him more. 

Sadly, there was a book I did not enjoy as much as the others. The 3rd one, named The Prisoner of Azkaban. It is about Harry’s Godfather, Sirius Black, who was falsely accused of murder and betrayal, and sent to a prison called Azkaban. Many may argue that this was the best book, but I disagree. The whole plot is very confusing, because of everything that’s happening. Peter Pettigrew is actually a servant of Voldemort, Sirius is a dog, Lupin is a werewolf, and Hermione has a time turner to save a Hippogriff. 

Books tend to be much better than the movies, and I agree. The Harry Potter books have so much more details, uncover more secrets and have more characters than the movie, for the movies have a limited amount of time. No one wants to sit and watch a 6 hour movie just for one book. No thanks. 

Overall, I loved these books. I am a huge fan of Harry Potter myself, no matter if I disliked anything. I have already read the books twice and if I forget the books and need to start reading again, fresh in my mind, I would.

See my review of the Hogwarts Library series: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages

See my impression about the main character in the 8th book The Cursed Child here.

 

Posted by Hellen in Books, Movies, Reviews, 0 comments
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

by J. K. Rowling

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a part of the Hogwarts Library by J. K. Rowling. In this book, a fictional author Newt Scamander describes each and every creature that is considered a beast, or a non-human being with magical abilities. There are the commonly known unicorns, fairies, and centaurs, but there are also the less famous jabbers, demiguises, and erklings. 

What was most interesting to me is that this book overturned many common assumptions about magical creatures. Muggles, as non-magical beings are called, often display fairies as cute, minute human-like beings who possess magical powers and the ability to talk. However as I found out in the book, fairies are actually unintelligent beasts measuring 1-5 inches and are often used as a decoration. I enjoyed this book because J. K. Rowling put a different perspective on these mythical creatures whom we normally perceive as whimsical and wonderful.

There were many things I didn’t know, such as the fact that centaurs actually preferred to be called beasts, and that erklings are elfish creatures that eat children. J. K Rowling really expanded the world of Harry Potter by introducing us to more previously unknown things, which I thought was really creative and exciting.

In the original seven volumes of the Harry Potter series, Rowling mentioned many of the beasts by name. This book helps a lot because most of the time, J. K. Rowling did not go into much detail about the beasts in the original series, leaving die-hard Harry Potter fans wanting to know more.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Since I’m a big fan of Harry Potter, the setup that allowed me  to “loan” some books from the Hogwarts Library was particularly satisfying. Perhaps one day I can become an expert of magical things, too. 

Posted by Hellen in Books, Reviews, 0 comments