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Summary: Best of all... IT'S NOT POKEMON!
Review: My son, age 7, has Asperger's, a mild form of autism. Usually that means a short attention span except in areas he finds fascinating. Until now, alas, that area has been Pokemon.Last Christmas, at the recommendation of a Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant I met on the net, I started reading the first book in the series to him at night. It was a longshot, but what was there to lose? To my amazement, not only did I thoroughly enjoy the story myself, but my son was enthralled! Each of the books, as well as having humor and plot, has a number of mysteries. Not only did my son recognize that there were mysteries, he was able in some cases to work out the clues and predict what was going to happen next. The books have built his attention span, his logical reasonings, his conversational skills, and most importantly made him happy. JK Rowling's book has literally made my son a better person. How often can you say that about a book? We've since read all four books in the series, and he wants to read them again. (I'm trying to get him started on the Narnia Chronicles instead.) Now here's the most shocking part. The Harry Potter movie will be coming out this November. He says he doesn't want to see it. He has rather vivid imagery of what the Hogwart characters all look and sound like, and from the previews, he's concerned that the film won't match his imagination. Good for you, son!
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Summary: 14 year old fan...
Review: J.K. Rowling is an outstanding author! She makes this magical world seem very life-like and real. By adding just enough detail and description, it is hard to believe that Hogwarts isn't real! I also love this book for the storyline and how, even though many questions are answered from previous books, there are still many questions left to keep us hanging and to concoct theories with. So, in turn, I highly, highly, HIGHLY, recommend this book, and all Harry Potter books to you, and may you become an obsessed fan like me!
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Summary: Riveting.
Review: Me and my family thought that this book was the absolute best. I would reccomend it to everyone, it is hilarious! Please, Ms. Rowling, do more Harry Potter books soon. I'll probably be about three when you finish the series, so then I can fully enjoy them, and so can my friends.
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Summary: Top Stuff
Review: This is the best book I have ever read. If you want a present of something for a 11 and older child, this is the thing. You feel as though you are Harry and you go to Hogwarts. They are easily the best sets of books I have ever read.
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Summary: Terrific Book
Review: I found this book to be one of my favorite's in the Harry Potter series. The day I got it I began reading it, and I didn't put it down until I was finished. J.K. Rowling is an amazing writer, and I hope she continues to write more books after the Harry Potter series is over.
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Summary: Not the highest form of literature.
Review: Sure, the books are an OK read, but they lack both the intelligence, and the basic literary foundations to become anything more than brain candy. The books are both filled with cliches, one dimensional characters, (hermione, Ron, and Harry, to name a few) and laughable, inane villains, who are both stupid, and the 'diet pepsi' of evil. This book does not deserve the recognition that it has recieved. It is a waste of time to read, and does not impart the reader with anything worthwhile. .... (oh, and BTW, I am in the target age range for the 'harry potter' books.)
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Summary: Book 4 - The secret of Harry Potter¿s success.
Review: As a fantasy story-teller about the world of magic, J.K. Rowling has enjoyed remarkable success. The adventures of Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts, the school where young wizards learn the skills of magic, are highly imaginative and thoroughly enjoyable. It is no wonder that this series has captured the imagination of children and given pleasure even to adults. Many of Rowling's concepts are strongly reminiscent of the brilliant children's fantasy fiction by Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, and she likely has been influenced by their work. But Rowling clearly has a style of her own, and in this fourth book of the Harry Potter series, has confirmed her reputation as a story-teller for children. This novel has all the ingredients of a good children's novel - suspense, imagination, and excitement. The remarkable popularity of the Harry Potter series has led to its author J.K. Rowling being frequently mentioned in the same breath as the fantasy greats J.J.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Yet this is not entirely deserved, because the works of Tolkien and Lewis go far beyond the level of story, imparting great truths about human nature and theology on a deeper level. Rowling's books do not have this deeper level, but are simply imaginative books that entertain. That is not to say that Rowling's novels are not good. They clearly are. The incredible sales record of the Harry Potter series tells its own story of success. The Harry Potter series has been much criticized for the extent to which magic has been incorporated into the story-line, and the increasing interest in the dark side of magic has left people wondering whether Rowling is leaving the door open to the occult. Rowling herself has publicly denied any personal interest in the occult, and explicitly repudiated being an advocate of the occult or intending to attract children to it. Most of the magic she describes is clearly fantastic and bears little relation to the magic of the occult. Yet it must be conceded that there is a growing contemporary revival of the occult, and that occultic themes and ideas are hardly absent from Harry Potter's world, but rather play a key role in it. When accompanied with an increasingly dark and macabre tone, this element did make me seriously question whether the Harry Potter books are suitable for children. But in the end it is not the magic of Harry Potter that has made it so successful. The real reason is that readers can identify with its characters. Although Rowling describes a fantasy world that exists only in her imagination and ours, it is clear that this fantasy world is largely a mirror image of our own 20th/21st century Western world. What makes this series so successful, is that we recognize ourselves in the novel - our system of education (Hogwarts), our ideology of human rights (Hermione's fight for the elves), our worship of team sports (the quiddich world cup), our love for competition (the tri-wizard contest), our political world (ministry of magic), our media (interviews with the Daily Prophet), our concern with health and beauty, our fascination with love and guy-girl relationships, and our love of feasting and food (The Yule Ball). Unlike Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Lewis' "Narnia Chronicles" which are more demanding and deep because they bear little resemblance to our world, Rowling's world of "Harry Potter" bears a great deal of resemblance to our contemporary godless world and its idols. Although "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is outwardly about a fantasy world, beneath the fantastic trimmings it is essentially about our own world. And that is why we love it.
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Summary: I would give it a gazillion stars but it wouldn't let me
Review: Three words....I LOVE POTTER! These are THE best books EVER written. I can't emphasise enough how good a book these all are. JK Rowling ROCKS!
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Summary: The Harry Potter book series
Review: There is nothing beond my liking than reading a good book. Harry Potter does not fit a good book. The Harry Potter books are indescribable. There is no other way to put it. The essence of the books pulls you through an adventure with danger and excitment. The books enchant your mind and soul, building up a mountain of love and joy. The author helps us relate to old memories, reaching back in time to remembering our choldhood. You remember enemies, friends, and in the end, just someone who will always reach out a helping hand. The books show Harry having hard times,his parents dying,living with muggles,etc. Still showing the hatred of this book, she still shows the good times, just being able to sit down and share memories with friends. I think we can all relate to the Harry Potter books as our own child self inside our heart. I also believe that Harry Potter is not just someone else, but ourselves in disguise, trying to find the right path down which we all shall head. As far as Harry Potter goes, there is nothong more irresistable and refreshing as reading one of J.K. Rowling's books.
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Summary: Very Surprising
Review: I loved this book!... This series was just what I needed! J.K.Rowling introduses new things in the wizarding world(snufflers and tents that have many rooms in it). The book keeps popping up with hints of something important but it is impossible to pay attion to every detail. The defence against the dark arts teacher is very interesting and weird,(how long can J.K.Rowling keep making up new and interesting people)? I spent a waste of time reading one star reviews. Not one of them said something that is relistic or supportive of what they try to say. 1. Harry potter is sudenly intersested in girls. That is not entirely correct. Harry has a crush on a Cho Chang. Part of that could be dew to puberty. 2. Harry has no depth(as well as other charaters). I will have to admit that I don't connect with the charaters but thay are very rich in persanalty. Snape flexing his hands every time he looks at harry as if wanting to strangle him, is an example. 3. It is boring and predicatble. WARNING DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK Can these people honestly say they knew or suspected Crouch's son was alive??? Of course not! He died ater being in prison for a year.Can people say they knew Snape and Karkarof are death eaters??? Of course not! By the way I don't think Karkarof is going to live to see 2 more christmass. I enjoyed this book and hope I can meet someone who does not like this book so I can see if they can support themselves.Harry touching the right thing only at the grandiose climax of the final task of the triwizard tournament was kind of having the bad guys unnecesarily putting all odds against themselves for such a long period of time. Though they eventually succeeded these supossedly cunning dark minds would get quite low scores in low-risk planning. This said, well this 4th book has definitely many things that deserve the greatest compliments as you can surely see in probably all reviews. The most intelligent scenario Rowling has conceived so far in these 4 books in my opinion is when Harry is under his invisibility cloak trapped in the stairs in front of Snape and Filch and Moody helps him and finds out about the marauders map. Only close to the end of the book you realize why this moment when Moody is looking at the map in front of Harry was such a critical one, what was at stake, what was really going on there. Really amazingly clever. By the way I would bet this map idea of Rowling was probably indirectly inspired by certain computer games, and I also think the magic diary in the second book was probably indirectly inspired by palm computers. Just guesses anyway. A final comment about the alleged discrepancy in the order in which Harry's parents died. That could be explained quite reasonably well, though in a tricky way. We all know Harry survived the killing curse all together. The "Aveda Kedavra" curse can therefore be beaten. Now, what happens when it is not beaten? It seems reasonable to think it may not cause technically instantaneous death. Voldemort reportedly attacked Harry's father first and then Harry's mother. It's plausible to think Harry's father may have survived a few seconds after receiving the fatal curse. (Who knows, before actually dying because of the Voldemort's curse he probably even witnessed Voldemort's downfall when attempting to kill his son after having killed his wife). Well, no doubt fascinating imagination and lessons Rowling has displayed and shared in these Harry Potter books. Thanks for that. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
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