Rating: 
Summary: Extraordinary......
Review: Well, here i am, a young African-American man, 23 yrs old to be exact, usually a fan of writers such as Stephen King, Ralph Ellison, Ray Bradbury, Alice Walker, J.R.R Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Christopher Priest, Grant Morrisson,the like....and then one day, four yrs ago, along marches a middle aged British woman, a victim of less than privilaged surroundings, with the idea of a young wizard upon her brain, fully developed and ready to burst into the folds of millions of imaginations across the globe. I'd put reading these books off for the better part of three yrs, and when an associate of mine brought the first novel to me a few days ago, telling me that i must read it, that i had to read the magic that was Pottermania, well, i was all set to put it off for another three yrs....you see,everytime a new novel, which happens to be by one of my very favorite authors, as have been listed above, comes out, i usually desert the thought of reading anything else, for that time. Then, between reading a fantastic Bradbury collection of short stories, and a forray into the supernatural written by the enchanting Neil Gaiman, i picked this book up, just wanting to read the synopsis....that went from the first page to the third page, to the one hundredth page....one hundred pages in one sitting!!!! Now, i have done this before, nothing unusaul for me,but with high fantasy, well, i've never been a huge fan of it...which is what made reading this book such an experience. Harry Potter, such a brilliant character..the way most of us have felt at one time or the next...Hermione & Ron, the best friends that any kid could ever hope to have, Mrs. Magonigal(did i spell that right?) Proffessors Snape, Messers Quirrell, Hooch, Dumbledore, Hagrid, all supreme creations.....Voldemort, worthy of Stephen King's scope of evil!!! J.K Rowling has instantly made me a fan. I finished the first book just last night, followed by the first movie, both of which were exceptional. I started the very next book last night,on the toilet no less, also, and already, it looks as though this one will go by in a flash, as did the first one. ..., i read the first one nearly all the way through all in one day. The characterization, the plot, the story elements, the enviornment, all of these things pulled me right into the tale, as they were most assuredly meant to be, i assume. Creative uses for magic, were it to exist(and how do we know that it doesn't?), believable situations, given the tale, and the furthering of several storys all at once, as a whole. If i enjoy the next book as much as i loved the first one, then God, strap me in, and hold me to my seat of imagination, 'cause this is the beginning of something big!!! I applaud Rowling.
All Things Serve The Beam.......
Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a book!
Review: Well, I certainly enjoy listening to my daughter (13) go on and on about these books! And when i bought them, i was afriad she wouldn't read them! But every night i would find her in her room reading them. And she wouldn't look up! I find myself reading them these days. I'm on the beginning of the third book and i cant WAIT to see what happens to Harry next! Believe me, these are a MUST read!
Rating:
Summary: Woderful book
Review: Well, I daresay that this the most EXCITING book I have read in my life. If you don't read it, you must be silly.
Rating: 
Summary: Lives up to hype? Impossible!
Review: Well, I finally broke down and read the Harry Potter books. I consider myself a discerning reader, especially in the areas of fantasy and science fiction (because that's basically all I read when I was in junior high). I've read Tolkien. I've read Shakespeare. I've read Orwell. I've read Card. And now, I've read Rowling.I finished the first one, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, in one night. That alone says something -- Rowling is a gifted storyteller. Granted, part of this is that they're short and easy, but she really does do a magnificent job of playing with the fantastic elements of the story. Many characters are one dimensional, a few plot elements are a little weak, and some parts I found myself wanting to skip, but in general this book is superb. I give it four stars for Rowling's fun, meaningful, and all around good piece of literature. Yeah, it's not The Lord of the Rings, but who really wants carbon copies of Tolkien? There are enough of those. Harry Potter's world is his own.
Rating:
Summary: Mmmhh, very suspicious
Review: Well, I have read a lot of Harry Potter stuff in internet, among the first three books, so I am doubtfully...DO THERTE ISNT ANYBODY IN THIS WORLD WHO HAVE NOTICED DE SUSPICIOUS SIMILITUDE BEETWEEN HARRY POTTER AN THE TV SHOW BASED ON THE BOKKS OF JILL MURPHY, THE WORST WITCH!!!!!You know, It have been quite a dissapointing time for me when I saw the show for first time, and I noticed the bunch of similitudes. Anyway, the book is great, and I strongly recomend it to all the people who wanna read an interesting, humorous and well writted book. Thanks, and e-mail me!!
Rating: 
Summary: Slow Start, Improves Immensely; I'll Buy More
Review: Well, i just finished the first "Harry Potter" book. I find it interesting that, among all of the honours it's won, listed on the back cover, there is no mention of the Newbery Medal or Newbery Honorable Mention status -- they ARE still awarding the Newbery for outstanding children's/YA fiction, aren't they? I was a bit worried at first, actually holding the book in my hand and reading the blurbs, to find it compared by more than one blurb to the children's books of Roald Dahl (e.g., "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or "James and the Giant Peach"). I happens that i abhominate the children's books of Roald Dahl. And, at first, it looked as if the blurbs were right -- it was just as twee and arch and coy as Dahl and came across as just as aware of its own cleverness. ((In Dahl's case this reads like a smarmy condecension to the Dear Little Kiddies' Limited Comprehension; in the case of this book it seemed like a First-Time Author trying to be Clever because That's What Kiddies Like...)) And the opening pages, in which she demonstrated her arch inventiveness with such strokes as "Muggles" to mean non-magician humans, and described Harry's home life with his uncle and aunt and cousin in such over-the-top whimsical terms that i almost got seasick reading them, almost put me off the book entirely. But i persevered and finally got to Chapter Four, in which Harry finds out just who and what he is and his dead parents were and receives his invitation to attend Hogwarts School, the premier school of magic in the World. From there on it's a pretty straightforward Term story, except that the main subject at THIS school is Magic. Harry makes friends, makes enemies, becomes a star on his House's Quidditch team and deduces that one of the Masters is Up To No Good and Must Be Thwarted. I sort of wonder if the author didn't experience the Mimieux Effect -- i read that when George Pal began filming "The Time Machine", Yvette Mimieux was ((actually)) slightly underage and had never acted in movies before. By the time they finished making the film, they had to go back and reshoot several of her early scenes, because she'd learnt so much about acting in the course of the shoot -- since i understand she is a young single mother who began writing this on scraps of paper in London(?) coffeehouses. However, Harry and his friends are fun in the Term sequences, and the quest he and two others undertake is sufficiently interesting that it carried me straight along to the end and left me deciding i WILL read the next one -- even if the quest's working-out DID remind me of quest-fantasy computer game... For those who have read the books of DIana Wynne Jones -- particularly the "Chrestomanci" books, which have similar themes to the "Harry Potter" books, the comparison between Jones and Rowling is natural; i would definitely recommend Jones's books to anyone who has enjoyed the "Harry Potter" volumes. A point of irritation is that the American publisher apparently feels that those of us in the USA are not sufficiently intelligent or well-educated to understand some things, and has made changes in the text for the US edition -- up to and including changing the title; the "real" title is "...and the Philosopher's Stone". I strongly suspect that there have been changes in the text as well in this book and in "Chamber of Secrets"... i haven't read the other two to check yet.
Rating:
Summary: Not just a kiddy's book.
Review: Well, I liked this alot. My copy is the Deluxe hardback of 'The Philosopher's Stone' with the velvet pagestrap. I prefer it to the cartoonish American copy with the illustrations. Too many people tell me that they do not want to read the Harry Potter books because they are overhyped. Well, they are. But they are not oversold. It's such a relief to see a children's book with such imagination and invention. Most of them seem to insult their intelligence or have dated characters. But the Harry Potter series takes place in it own universe with it own laws. I found this first novel to have a better mystery and set of circumstances than 'The Chamber of Secrets'. Some of the characters here did not seem to have a decent amount of space in the sequel. I haven't read 'Prisoner of Azkaban' yet but I hope that Hagrid, Dumbledore and even the Dursleys (comic relief) get a bit more room. If you're afraid that you won't enjoy the Harry Potter series because you are totally unfamiliar with them and feel kind of behind the rest of the fans then I must assure you that this novel is a gradual and enjoyable initiation. It's not a birth of fire, trust me. Everything is easy to get to grips with and sets up the characters for deeper story developments. If you want an introduction to this universe then 'The Philosopher's Stone' is a great start. Some say that you can read the Harry Potter books individually but I can't see the sense in this. Buy this 'un. You'll very much enjoy it and want more.
Rating:
Summary: Pure Genius!
Review: Well, I think it's well past time the world's seen a children's book like this one. Captivating, magical, exciting, suspenseful, amusing and interesting are just a small handful of the astonishingly large number of positive adjectives that can be used to describe Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
Unknown before the release of this now universally acknowledged modern-day literary masterpiece, author J.K. Rowling engraved the name of her title character in stone after the book hit stores. After even a few pages it will seem impossible to forget poor Harry Potter, the neglected nephew of tubby Vernon Dursley and his shrill wife Petunia. Rowling wittily plunges readers into a thrilling fantasyland where simple Harry, who is mistreated and made fun of in the "muggle" world, learns he is not only a talented and promising wizard but a celebrity.
But Stardom is not all fun and games. Not only does wizarding work prove hard, but Harry soon learns, like any icon, there are those who adore him and those who don't. Sinister Draco Malfoy, a spoiled boy in Harry's class delights in making Harry feel stupid and tormenting his new found friend, Ron. And suspicious Professor Snape openly hates Harry with apparent passion.
But this turns out to be the least of Harry's problems. It soon becomes shatteringly evident that someone else dislikes Harry. Someone far more powerful and dangerous who has been holding a malicious grudge for ten years, and is finally ready to settle the score.
As humble Harry Potter becomes every reader's vision of a true hero Rowling's audience realizes that the 'Sorcerer's Stone' is not just an interesting children's book, but a stroke of genius. J.K. Rowling is probably the best author in decades and (in my opinion) one of the best children's writer of all time.
Readers will fall in love with this quirky, young wizard and his courageous friends. I have yet to meet anyone who has read this whole book and didn't love it. It's amazing, it's just amazing.
Rating:
Summary: More Addictive than Coffee
Review: Well, I was a bit skeptical when I received this book for christmas from my parents. I'm an 18 year old literature major after all, what would I want with a series of childrens's books? However, after reading the first chapter, I was completely hooked (and have spent the beginning of this semester in collge trying to convince my english professor to allow us to study the harry potter series). Frankly, I was astounded at the reviews suggesting the "evil" nature of Harry Potter, and thought that it must be mentioned that these books also teach outstanding lessons concerning friendship, love, and "doing the right thing." I loved all three of these books, and can't wait for the next.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa! So many reviews! Well, I'm one more Harry Potter fan
Review: Well, I was bowled over to see that more than 2,000 people have reviewed the Harry Potter books for Amazon.com. Whew! Impressive! As a teacher, a parent and an avid reader, let me add my YES, I LOVED THE FIRST BOOK AND THE SECOND BOOK and I'm about to buy the rest of the Harry Potter books. Congratulations, Ms. Rowling, for these enjoyable books and thanks! If you're looking for some fun, buy these books for yourself...and then pass them on to your children, friends, students or library... I'm sure the library will appreciate an extra copy!
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