My first book of 2013 didn't take long to finish, though to be fair I "cheated" and started it yesterday. Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone is immensely popular, so I don't feel a detailed review is necessary. I daresay everyone knows the story- an orphaned boy, living with cruel relatives, finds out he's a wizard and is sent to Hogwarts, a school for such folk. This book tells the story of his first year there.
How was it? Well, I really liked it. It is children's literature, so it doesn't have that "epic" aspect to it like, say, A Game of Thrones, but it is really good. I couldn't help but notice material that must have influenced Rowling- I saw echoes of Star Wars (the concept of "no light or dark, just power" is almost verbatim Sith) and Lord of the Rings (the antagonist, Voldemort, cannot yet take physical form, and is questing to do so- sound familiar?) in there- and that's fine and good. I enjoyed the humor throughout, which contrasted nicely with the suspense elements. I'm told the series gets better and better- good stuff.
The danger with any series of such extreme popularity is expectation- mine was set sky-high- and it mostly delivered. I was a tad disappointed early on by the lack of wisdom- it seemed only an adventure tale- but there were a few nuggets of gold as the story progressed. I'll end with my favorite such line, from Dumbledore: "the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."
Rating: A
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