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Harry Potter Series Box Set

(Harry Potter #1-7)

J.K. Rowling

4.72 · Rating details · 259,232 ratings · 7,502 reviews

Over 4000 pages of Harry Potter and his world, including all 7 books.

All seven eBooks in the multi-award winning, internationally bestselling Harry Potter series, available as one download with stunning cover art by Olly Moss. Enjoy the stories that have captured the imagination of millions worldwide.

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Hardcover, 4100 pages

Published October 1st 2007 by Arthur A. Levine Books

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Start your review of Harry Potter Series Box Set (Harry Potter, #1-7)

May 22, 2010 Manny rated it it was ok

Shelves: science-fiction, mentions-twilight, pooh-dante, the-goodreads-experience, children

I had removed this review, which violates Article 2 of the Terms of Use:

You agree not to post User Content that: (i) may create a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury, emotional distress, death, disability, disfigurement, or physical or mental illness to you, to any other person, or to any animal.

Looking at the comment thread, it is abundantly clear that the review not only may, but indeed has caused emotional distress to several Potter fans. I would like to offer my apologies to these unfortunate people, who had every right to expect better service from Goodreads.

But, despite the above, I have decided on mature consideration that I will attempt an experiment: I am reinstating the original review, hiding the dangerous and inflammatory content inside a spoiler tag. If you are a person easily offended by negative comments about Harry Potter and still decide to click it, then you have only yourself to blame. You have been warned.

(view spoiler)[I got into an argument the other day with an articulate 17 year old Harry Potter fan - let's call him D - who wanted to know why I was being so nasty in my review of Deathly Hallows. What was wrong with it? I offered various structural criticisms: the ending is abrupt and unconvincing, the subplot with the Horcruxes has not been adequately foreshadowed in the earlier volumes, and the book as a whole is overlong and boring. D expressed surprise that I could call Deathly Hallows boring, when I'd given five stars to Madame Bovary and Animal Farm, both of which he considered far duller. The discussion continued for some time. In the end, I said I would write a review summarising my objections to the series as a whole. Here it is.

As I said to D, it's not the books or the author. The early Potter books are cute and entertaining, and J.K. Rowling seems like a nice person - if someone's going to scoop the literary Powerball jackpot, why not her? What I very strongly object to is the way the books have been marketed. About 10 years ago, it seems to me, some clever people figured out a new marketing strategy, which they first applied to Potter; when that came to an end, the same methods were used for Twilight. Both series have enjoyed a level of success which is utterly disproportionate to their quality, and which is also unprecedented in literary history. Twilight clearly follows Potter; I've had several discussions about what preceded Potter, and the answer, everyone seems to agree, is that there was no earlier success story of this kind. Before Potter, there was no YA series of dubious merit that absolutely everyone read.

I think it's uncontroversial that Potter, in terms of literary quality, is better than Twilight, but Twilight has been even more successful. At one point, the four volumes occupied the top four spots in the New York Times bestseller list. On Goodreads, nearly half of the top 50 reviews are of Twilight books. This is an absurd and unnatural state of affairs. Even though Twilight may not be quite as bad as is sometimes made out - I'm one of many people who have tried to defend it - there's no way it deserves this level of attention.

So why is everyone reading it, and why, before that, was everyone reading Potter? As I said, I think it's primarily about the marketing, though I wish I was more sure about the details. Here, at any rate, are some thoughts. First, the publishers are aggressively using economies of scale and deals with third parties. They print very large numbers of copies, and they work together with movie studios, game companies and merchandisers to cross-promote them. I think it's particularly important that a large proportion of the books are sold, not at bookstores, but at normal supermarkets. It's well known that the cover price is usually marked down to the point where the supermarket is not in fact making any profit; they have discovered that they can successfully treat it as a loss leader. This is causing great pain to independent bookstores. Some of them, I have read, have adopted the desperate expedient of buying copies at supermarkets and then reselling them.

Second, let's look at the content and style. Even though Potter and Twilight are fairly different in some ways, they also have many strong similarities. Above all, they are extremely easy to read, at every level. The vocabulary is unchallenging; the sentences are short and simple; most characters are one-dimensional stereotypes; the story is uncomplicatedly plot-driven; there are few references to other works of literature. You can read these books if you're tired, if you're sleepy, if you have poor reading skills, if you've never read anything else. They consequently have a very large potential audience.

Third, they describe a comforting, emasculated world in which most of the things that make our own world so difficult and unpleasant have been removed. Most strikingly, there is no sex; in Harry Potter, which is supposed to be about fairly normal teens, no one masturbates, no girls get pregnant, none of them are labelled sluts because they've had sex with more than one boy (sometimes one is enough, for that matter), no one gets their heart broken and drops out of school or starts taking drugs as a result, no one is stuck in a dead-end relationship that they wish they could escape from, but can't. The worst thing that happens in either series is the sequence in New Moon where Edward temporarily leaves Bella. Meyer notoriously doesn't describe Bella's feelings at all, but just leaves several pages blank. Once, in fact not so long ago, most adults would have been embarrassed to be seen reading YA literature of this kind; to start with, the comforting word "YA" hadn't been invented yet, and they would have been reading children's books. Somehow, there's been a shift in standards. You look around you on a bus to see what people are reading, and you can be pretty sure you'll see at least a couple of people over 20 engrossed in Potter or Twilight. It's odd that this has happened, and I wish I understood why.

In conclusion, I couldn't help being struck by the two books D chose to contrast against Potter. D, Madame Bovary is going to outlast both of these authors because Emma is a real person who experiences the crazy and contradictory emotions that real people experience when they are very unhappy, and as a result she behaves in a crazy and contradictory way; also, Flaubert, unlike Rowling and Meyer, took a great deal of trouble over his prose, and created some of the most beautiful and ironic passages in world literature. There aren't many books I'd call masterpieces, but this is one of them. And finally, Animal Farm is indeed an allegory of the Russian Revolution. More importantly, though, it's about how smart, unscrupulous people manipulate trusting, weak people. Tens of millions of people are reading Potter and Twilight, not because the books are well-written or interesting, but because the readers have been manipulated into buying them by the Napoleons and Squealers of this world. That's what I'm objecting to. Think about it for a moment.
(hide spoiler)] ...more

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Aug 31, 2008 Annalisa rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: classics, setting, young-adult, favorites, character, middle-grade, fantasy

I know I have specific reviews for each of the books, but I just wanted to add a general review, especially for those wondering what people, especially adults, see in Harry Potter. When my brother was in junior high, he lent me his copies of books 1-4. Maybe it was because I was seeing the story through his eyes or that I wasn't expecting much from children's literature but I was surprised to find how entertaining and well written these books were. They had that "it" factor where you can't put i ...more

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Mar 20, 2016 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, 5-star-reads, children-of-all-ages

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why the Harry Potter series is so damn good. I love it. And it’s had an incredible amount of success. Why? What makes it so damn special? Well for me, the answer is simple. It’s so great because J.K Rowling knows exactly how to speak to her reader.

She begins her story by showing the reader an incredibly boring world; it’s reality: it’s mundane, grey, tasteless and monotonous. So, in essence, it’s everyday life. It’s just the crap that every kid has to deal I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why the Harry Potter series is so damn good. I love it. And it’s had an incredible amount of success. Why? What makes it so damn special? Well for me, the answer is simple. It’s so great because J.K Rowling knows exactly how to speak to her reader.

She begins her story by showing the reader an incredibly boring world; it’s reality: it’s mundane, grey, tasteless and monotonous. So, in essence, it’s everyday life. It’s just the crap that every kid has to deal with, and adults too. Well, maybe to an extreme with the abuse and coldness that Harry receives, but you get my point. Life sucks for him. But then she reveals what every child longs for; she reveals a world of mystery reeling with the fantastic and wondrous things she writes. Under the normal boring world there is hidden a better world, a more exciting world: a world of magic. Thus, Rowling turns off the realism and starts writing fantasy, and this is where she completely grabbed me.

description

Harry receives an invitation to a school of magic, a world of wonder, and to quote Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonker, “a world of pure imagination.” Despite his rough upbringing, nasty experience with several bullies, his awful tutelage in potions class, and living in constant fear of an evil sorcerer who wishes to murder Harry and all his friends, he actually has a brilliant time at Hogwarts. He makes wonderful friends and learns much about life along the way. By the end he understands the power of love, the true meaning of sacrifice, and the follies of judging someone on face value.

description

I didn’t read this when I was a child. I read these books two years ago in my very late teens. I considered myself an adult. I considered myself mature. When I read these I came to the realisation that that’s not necessarily a good thing. Childhood is the time when once is most free, and perhaps when the imagination is at its peak. These books brought backs lots of memories, memories of being at school and imagining a better world. As a child I longed for adventure. Being the fantasy geek that I was (and am) I wished for Narnia and Middle Earth. I wished for something more than the drudgery of everyday life. So I was a weird kid. I was a day-dreaming introvert, I probably still am. Well, my point is, these books reminded me of my inner child, and the wonders that run through fantasy and children’s literature.

I could go on to talk about the awesome magic system, the perfectly written characters and the brilliance of the plots of each individual book, but to do so would be to do an injustice to the wonder of the writing. I’m going to be posting individual reviews for each book in the series at some point soon to explain more in depth things, and exactly what I like about each book. But, for now, I just kind of wanted to say that this series is awesome. So yeah, I think I’ve done that.

My review has somehow turned into a semi-autobiographical piece. Not sure how that happened, but I guess with some books, the books that move you and affect you deeply, you can’t describe without talking about yourself. Some books stay with you, some books even haunt you, and some books become a part of you. Damn, that was deep, though it’s true. Only a real book lover would get this. A great book is like a great piece of music; you hear it in your dreams and carry it with you as you walk: it becomes a part of you. And my inner child will always be inattentive to the real world and dreaming of a faraway place like Hogwarts. So, like I said at the beginning, J.K Rowling knows exactly how to speak to her reader. This gif says it all to me:

description

...more

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Dec 15, 2017 Tina ➹ the girl who lives in Fandoms rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: re-read, favorite, fav-of-fav, 5-stars, nostalgia, reviews, fav-heroine, all-time-fav, fav-villain, series

Complete 5 Golden Stars
& Thousands magical more!

for this Masterpiece!
Epic
& Magical

I'm really honored to read that!
I really love every single pages!
HP made me a BookDragon!
& I should've shown my Love

a must read for everyone who loves Magic, regardless of their age. <3
& never gets old. <3
huge fantastic world, full detailed, we have a wizarding communitiy, magical school & lessons, ministry & even a popular magical sport! worldwide magical society in secrecy, under muggle's nose! XD
this story & th ...more

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Jun 08, 2009 Madeline rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites, kids-and-young-adult, fantasy

I've resisted writing reviews for these books for a while now, because it sort of seems like a pointless effort. Everyone knows these books, and there doesn't seem to be anything more to say about them. But then I figured, why not add my two cents? So here we go:

I am a member of what I'll call "the Harry Potter generation" - ie, I was a kid when these books first came out, and I've literally grown up with the series. My best friend in elementary school gave me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Sto ...more

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May 05, 2014 Alejandro rated it really liked it

Shelves: novel, time-travel, magic, military, politics, horror, favorites, paranormal, romance

Aparecium!

How to choose a single book in the Harry Potter saga? How to choose a part of something that needs each part to generate the expected impact? I was precisely trying to choose one book to use as example in my "favorites" virtual shelf but I realize that not matter which book would I chose, it would feel "incomplete". So I think that the better way is to add this complete edition including the seven novels to use it in my "favorites" virtual shelf.

The rating to the collection is basi ...more

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Jul 10, 2011 Diane ϟ [ Lestrange ] rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-to-movie, 2011-reads, audiobooks, young-adult, favorites, reviews, surely-i-ll-never-forget-book, fantasy, wish-list

A truly seven masterful works of fiction..

Some Harry Potter Facts:

...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Sophia. rated it it was amazing

Shelves: magnificent, classics, life-lessons, changed-my-life, death, wish-i-could-be-in-the-book

No books have influenced me the way the Harry Potter series has. It shaped me as a child, as a teenager, as a young adult. It shaped me as an individual.

I don't know why. I don't know what magic they hold that makes me overlook every flaw they might have, I don't know why it was these books specifically. I can't explain it.

All I know is that these books came into my life and lit up my soul in a way that I never knew was possible. Years and years later, I still re-read them and sink into that w No books have influenced me the way the Harry Potter series has. It shaped me as a child, as a teenager, as a young adult. It shaped me as an individual.

I don't know why. I don't know what magic they hold that makes me overlook every flaw they might have, I don't know why it was these books specifically. I can't explain it.

All I know is that these books came into my life and lit up my soul in a way that I never knew was possible. Years and years later, I still re-read them and sink into that world and I just feel so alive. Hogwarts is my childhood, it is my shelter, it is my home... and it is so much more.

Its influence goes beyond the page and I carry it like an amulet in my daily life. The way I perceive and question the outside world is intrinsically linked to the series: I sort the people I meet according to the Houses I think they belong in, I feel more pride at the idea of being a Gryffindor than I do for any other organization in the real world, and my fear of death has greatly dimmed - which, honestly, is an accomplishment I didn't think a book could ever achieve.

If you've never read them, I feel sorry for you. I really do. My heart actually sinks in my chest a little every time I hear that because... you're missing out on so many great things, and goddammit, just exactly what are you waiting for? What are you possibly doing with your life that could justify postponing for so many years the best reading experience you could ever possibly have!? They are the best series of the century, it's not like they're a secret! EVERYONE knows! There's a reason its impact was so phenomenal on the world!...

SIGH. I always get so worked up trying to convince people to LET the magic IN.

Anyways. So it seemed incredible and wrong that I only had a rating, and no review for these books, not when they're so important to me.

Also, if you're still not convinced of how much of a hopeless groupie I am, one time I got really drunk on red wine and I ended up sobbing (LEGIT sobbing) because I actually ached from not being at Hogwarts.

There's my 5 star rating if I've ever seen one. ...more

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May 29, 2009 Rachel rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Those willing to enter the deep places of their imagination

Recommended to Rachel by: Series Loyalty

Shelves: 1-favorites

I am an absolute Harry Potter fan. I picked up the series when I was in college and was blown away by this mesmerizing and page-turning "children's book". J.K. Rowling is an absolute genius. I've always had an active imagination, and this world was so easy to enter. In fact, the world Rowling creates in Harry Potter is so real that I often find myself - and this is scary to admit - believing I can do magic. (Seriously, I once tried the Accio spell on my cell phone and was annoyed when I realized ...more

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Oct 11, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it really liked it

Shelves: 21th-century, fantasy

Complete Harry Potter Boxed Set = Harry Potter Boxset (Harry Potter #1-7), J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter is a series of fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the life of a young wizard, Harry Potter, and his friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The main story arc concerns Harry's struggle against Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard who intends to become immortal, overthrow the wizard governin ...more

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Jan 02, 2015 Penny rated it it was amazing

Shelves: k-read-kids, possible-reread, favorites, tv, reviewed, f-read-fantasy, y-read-young-adults-fantasy

EPIC

I feel the need to say THANK YOU. Thank you very much for giving the world this wonderful story.

THANK YOU

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Dec 22, 2008 Eric rated it it was amazing

Shelves: all-time-favorites, worldbuilding, children-s

This is a review for the HP series as a whole, not this particular boxset.

Overall, I loved the series. The biggest thing for me was the world Rowling created and all the imagination that went into it. Strip away the world and you've got a fairly good storyline/mystery and some good characters. But it is the fantasy world that elevates this series for me. I remember reading the first book and thinking, "Rowling presents a new invention on almost every page!" Imagine how long a list would be of al This is a review for the HP series as a whole, not this particular boxset.

Overall, I loved the series. The biggest thing for me was the world Rowling created and all the imagination that went into it. Strip away the world and you've got a fairly good storyline/mystery and some good characters. But it is the fantasy world that elevates this series for me. I remember reading the first book and thinking, "Rowling presents a new invention on almost every page!" Imagine how long a list would be of all the imaginative elements she used in this series. Many things she created; others she borrowed or developed. Quidditch, womping willows, pensieves, Marauder's Maps, multiflavored beans, living paintings, howlers.... As for creatures, she's got most of the Monster Manual covered. All of this, for me, was the magic of this series.

There's been a lot of talk about Rowling's writing ability. By making one little distinction, I think the answer is much clearer. As a prose writer, she is average or better. As a storyteller, she is excellent. I think her prose does a fine job. It makes the world and the characters vivid in the reader's mind. But Rowling's storytelling is above my own reproach. I can't cast a stone until I've written something that spawns millions of discussions and hundreds of commentaries and "What Will Happen Next?" books.

Why was/is Harry Potter a phenomenon? First, these are excellent books. But this isn't the whole reason why the series was a phenomenon--there are other excellent books out there which get only a fraction of the amount of attention. I think one big reason is because it is a seven-book series. Where were all the midnight release parties for book 2? book 3? The momentum started to pick up when book 4 came out. Then it snowballed until book 7. If this was a three-book series it would have been big, but no phenomenon.

Another reason for the phenomenon was its broad appeal--kids, teens, adults, fantasy-lovers and non fantasy-lovers. In contrast, the Wheel of Time series is also excellent and a long, momentum-building series, but its appeal is significantly narrower.

Favorite of the series: The Goblet of Fire. ...more

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Jan 28, 2008 Sara rated it it was amazing

I wish it wasn't over! I love Harry Potter. ...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Shayne rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: EVERYONE!!!

Recommended to Shayne by: Rane Magnayon

Shelves: favorites

I AM A POTTERHEAD.
So for me, these would be the best books ever!!!

No matter how other "cool" people would say that I am a geek and even too old for those books, who cares, I'm even proud of it!
haters gonna hate

I know I have just read this series when I was in high school, and I just borrowed my classmate's books then, yet I am still proud to say that IT DEFINITELY CHANGED MY LIFE.

Ever since I was in elementary school, I have always loved reading, and yet at some point, and I forgot how, I suddenly stopped. And when I got hold of these books from my friend, I knew I held something special and different. After reading all of the 7 books my friend lent me, I was smitten. I didn't stop to think twice and bought a box set of these books at one of the book fairs in our school because I said to myself: I've got to own all of these books! I remembered asking my parents for the money to buy that box set as my Christmas gift, even though it was only the month of August back then. Sorry, I just had to have them! :)) And thank goodness I did, because I became a part of a phenomenon, the Harry Potter Generation!

I can't even find the words to justify why I love Harry Potter because there's just so many reasons. For one, I love Hogwarts and this whole magical world that JK Rowling has so graciously brought upon all of us who has read this series. Second, the way Rowling told us a story so easy to relate with and love, and which had made me laughing, crying, scared, and smile by the end of each book! Lastly, all those innumerable amount of quotes, experiences, and lessons that I have learned out of this book. I have learned the value of unconditional love through Harry's parents and actually a lot of other characters also; the power of true friendship through Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and even the Order; the value of family through the Weasley's; and the yearning for forgiveness, courage, wisdom, and happiness amidst all the chaos that may have been happening in our lives. In short, it was a fantastic and magical escape from this maddening world we're living in.

I know I am no writer that could convince everyone of how amazing the harry potter books are, in the end it still is up to the reader. But let me tell you this, give it a chance, and I promise you it'll give more than what you're expecting. By the end of those 7 books, I didn't feel like I've finished another story, it felt like a chapter of my life has also ended and that I had to say goodbye to a new-found special friend. I've experienced a whole lot more than a "book and movie hangover". I literally cried after reading the last book and watching the final movie. Yes, I was that kind of shattered. So thank goodness JK Rowling's left us with words that I hold dear in my heart and I know I would remember whenever I miss Harry Potter...

Because once a Potterhead, ALWAYS a Potterhead.

...more

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Sep 23, 2007 Christopher rated it it was amazing

Right before the last installment came out, I went to the public library and checked out the first book in the series, and didn't stop until I had closed the final one. It took me about two and a half months, but I read the whole series from start to finish.

Say what you will about the story, the characters, the writing, but from my experience in child care over the last five years, I can assure you that it is not all too common to see a child toting a book under their arm, waiting for three minu ...more

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Feb 27, 2016 Anuradha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: badass-women, ghosts, travel, drama-drama-drama, it-s-a-kind-of-magic, thrillllllls-and-chillllllls, laughed-till-i-cried, men-i-fell-in-love-with, smells-like-teen-spirit, el-clasico

ICSE Board schools in India to include Harry Potter as a part of their English syllabus. Take me back to school, please!!! *fangirling hard*

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Nov 24, 2011 Bookworm rated it it was amazing

You know those annoying kids who go to the movies to watch any Harry Potter movie at the earliest hour possible, dressed in hogwarts robes, speaking with a British accent and claiming to be in Gryffindor? Or those kids who immediately jump into a conversation involving Harry Potter and inform everyone of all they know on the topic? Yeah, well. I'm one of them. ...more

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Feb 21, 2009 JoAnne Johnson rated it it was amazing

I wanna go to Hogwarts!

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Jul 07, 2015 Nan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: desert-island-books, my-precioussssssss, ya, fantasy, tbr-again-and-again-and-forever

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - ☑ ✶✶✶✶☆
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - ☑ ✶✶✶✶☆
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - ☑ ✶✶✶✶✶
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - ☑ ✶✶✶✶☆
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - ☑ ✶✶✶✶✶
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - ☑ ✶✶✶✶✶
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - ☑ ✶✶✶✶✶ ...more

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Sep 01, 2020 JJ rated it really liked it

Shelves: finished-series, jk-rowling

One of my favorite series ever.

Book rankings:

Goblet of Fire (4.6 stars)
Deathly Hallows (4.55 stars)
---
Half-Blood Prince (4.4 stars)
Order of Phoenix (4.35 stars)
Prisoner of Azkaban (4.3 stars)
---
Chamber of Secrets (4.2 stars)
Philosopher's Stone (4.1 stars)
Cursed Child (3.45 stars)

Movie rankings: (to come when I re-watch the movies)

Remember that this is just my subjective rating. Feel free to comment. ...more

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Dec 13, 2016 shady boots rated it it was amazing

Recommended to shady boots by: Literally the entire world

Welp. I did it. I finally diddly-dun-did it. I caved. I got a hold of the complete audiobook set read by the lovely Stephen Fry and dove right in. (Sidebar, I haven't had the slightest desire to actually read these past several months; audiobooks have become my solace lately.)

As someone who only saw the movies--never having grown up with the books since I wasn't a reader as a kid--I was surprised how very few differences there were between the books and movies. The books felt like much more in-d ...more

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Dec 09, 2010 Ksenia Klykova rated it it was amazing

Recommends it for: Basically to anyone. If you still think that HP is a book only for kids/teenagers...think again ;)

Shelves: literature

There are countless reviews about the HP book out there, so I'll try to be brief. After all, who hasn't read at least some of the books or seen the movies?

I began to read the books after watching the first movie because I loved it..and well, why deny it? Because everybody else was doing so. But I was ten years old and I had nothing to compare it with. After reading Harry Potter, I realized how different they are. The movies are OK, entertaining but nothing more. They lack the magic of the books. ...more

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Sep 13, 2008 Bev rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-with-luke, all-time-favorites

I have read the books AND listened to them on CD. Here's the story of how I became a fan of HP:

I am an avid reader and years ago, when the Harry Potter books first came to the U.S. and caused such a sensation, I resisted reading them. I'm not a big fan of fantasy lit, so I thought that reading about wizards and such was not for me. It was as a mother of two cranky children that I ended up trying the books, and I am SO glad that I did not end up missing out on this brilliant and wonderful series ...more

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Feb 10, 2016 Angela marked it as deals · review of another edition

10 February 2016: $14.99 on Kindle ...more

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Sep 29, 2012 Settare (on hiatus) rated it really liked it

It's time for a disclaimer. It's 2020, and many Harry Potter fans are disappointed with Ms. Rowling, so much so that they're starting to resent the books themselves.
So I want to say that for me personally, what Rowling shares on social media and how fans react to it haven't changed my love for the books. The controversies have of course made me go back and reflect on all the imperfections, problems, and ridiculous bits in the books (because they do exist) but they haven't made me cancel the boo It's time for a disclaimer. It's 2020, and many Harry Potter fans are disappointed with Ms. Rowling, so much so that they're starting to resent the books themselves.
So I want to say that for me personally, what Rowling shares on social media and how fans react to it haven't changed my love for the books. The controversies have of course made me go back and reflect on all the imperfections, problems, and ridiculous bits in the books (because they do exist) but they haven't made me cancel the books altogether. I also want to clarify that I don't agree with everything Rowling randomly feels the need to say on Twitter.
I have a soft spot for Harry Potter books. To be fair, these books are not overtly problematic or racist or anything, but they're not really inclusive either. They were written in the 90s, when critical discourse about inclusion and diversity wasn't a mainstream demand as it is now. The general British audience didn't passionately demand visibility for ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ in media and literature. And that's totally fine. But after the franchise became an international success and stayed popular in the 2000s and 2010s, things started to get complicated. Ms. Rowling was facing a new wave of fans and children who wanted visibility, inclusion, and diversity among the characters. But instead of acknowledging the fact that the Harry Potter universe is not as diverse as Gen Z fans would like it to be and moving on, Rowling tried to force diversity on characters, and she tried to pretend that she'd meant to make them that way. She failed. Because these books aren't diverse. Dumbledore wasn't meant to be gay. Hermione wasn't initially written as black. And that's fine, the characters as they were written were totally fine, so 'pushing it' and pretending you "meant" to write them as gay or ethnic minority is just not a cool thing to do.

Personally, I don't have a fixed opinion on the “separating the art from the artist” debate. Sometimes I do that and sometimes I don't. For the Harry Potter books, I think the books, the fandom, the universe, everything goes beyond the author herself, and I don't feel the need for Rowling's views to align with mine to keep loving the books. The books are what they are and the author can't add to them or take away from them anymore.
The bottom line is: I still love the books. But five-star ratings for the books do not mean endorsement of the worldviews of the author.

P.S: I have individual reviews for each Harry Potter book if anyone's interested in checking them out. ...more

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Apr 22, 2017 ❧A Bookish Berkeley Girl❧ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Anybody who needs to play hooky from adulthood.

Shelves: magical-reads

An Adult Perspective....and why?

I heard of a secret place that I can hide out for a while....

Shhhh....it's a secret on how to get there, but they say go to the train station, and....?

So off I go to play hooky from real life adulthood. I am reading Harry Potter for my first time ever as an adult!

And so it begins *opening page 1*

The read, an adult perspective (peaking over the age of 40), my view book by book

Please Beware Small Spoilers Below For....

The Philosopher's Stone:Rough start? T ...more

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Aug 16, 2014 Konstantina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: extraordinary-books

Harry Potter and his friends is a series so special to me. J.K. Rowling created a whole new magical world, very detailed and ingenious, which kept going for seven books with the same quality.
There are so many ineteresting characters beyond the main ones, who are brilliant. Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall and many others are interesting, loveable and so real in their vulnerability .
The plot is intelligent, but to my opinion more ipressive were two features. J.K. Rowling uses symbol Harry Potter and his friends is a series so special to me. J.K. Rowling created a whole new magical world, very detailed and ingenious, which kept going for seven books with the same quality.
There are so many ineteresting characters beyond the main ones, who are brilliant. Luna Lovegood, Remus Lupin, Minerva McGonagall and many others are interesting, loveable and so real in their vulnerability .
The plot is intelligent, but to my opinion more ipressive were two features. J.K. Rowling uses symbols in order to picture many psychological aspects of human nature. For example the Dementors who suck every positive feeling represent depression and the Patronus Charm, our positive thoughts which function as a shield against bad thoughts.
Secondly,another element is that the writer has an incredible knowledge of the chlidren's and teen's nature (well, i must admit she knows how adults tend to think as well). She represents accurately the development of the characters, their mood swings, how they grow-up and become almost adults, and all these feelings like love, friendship, jealousy, the feeling of failure and abandonment, thoughts about right and wrong and all the contradictions that may arise even in the strongest friendship.
J.K.Rowling reached the child's inner world without being didactic and on the same time she managed to show that there is always a light in every hadrship.
The finale was superb, the contradiction between Snape (such a special character...) and Dumbledor, made the reader think a lot about good and evil. I know that many readers wanted a death, so that the story could appear more convincing, but i think that would be too "easy". Personally, i felt rather strange about Dumbledor.
Although i read the books in a older age than most fans, i was completely enchanted, became friend with the characters and waited eagerly for the next book. I felt sorry when the series was completed but i admit that it was the right thing.
Lastly, we should never forget that J.K.Rowling introduced many children into the magical world of books and that is the greatest achievement for a writer!

Η σειρά Χάρι Πότερ είναι για μένα από τα πιο ξεχωριστά βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει. Η ιστορία του ήρωα και των φίλων του είναι μαγευτική, σε μεταφέρει σε έναν άλλον κόσμο γεμάτο εκπλήξεις και ευρηματικότητα.
Η Ρόουλινγκ κατάφερε κάτι πολύ δύσκολο. Κράτησε την ποιότητα της ιστορίας της και το ενδιαφέρον του αναγνώστη και στα 7 βιβλία δημιουργώντας έναν μύθο. Σε καμία περίπτωση δεν θεώρησα ότι ξεχείλωσε την πλοκή ή ότι με κούρασε. Οι χαρακτήρες είναι ενδιαφέροντες, ολοκληρωμένοι και δεν περιορίζονται στους βασικούς ήρωες. Συναντάμε πλήθος ατόμων με εξίσου ενδιαφέροντα στοιχεία, που προκαλούν συγκίνηση.
Πέρα πάντως, από την εξέλιξη της περιπέτειας, αυτά που με εντυπωσίασαν περισσότερο είναι δύο στοιχεία. Πρώτα, ότι χρησιμοποιεί διάφορους συμβολισμούς για να παρουσιάσει τις ψυχικές εκφάνσεις της ανθρώπινης φύσης. Ένα παράδειγμα είναι οι Παράφρονες που ρουφάνε κάθε θετικό συναίσθημα συμβολίζοντας την κατάθλιψη, αλλά και ο Προστάτης που είναι οι θετικές μας σκέψεις που ανακαλούμε για να αντιμετωπίσουμε τις άσχημες σκέψεις. Και δεύτερο, ότι η συγγραφέας είναι βαθιά γνώστης της παιδικής και εφηβικής ψυχής. Ο τρόπος που παρουσιάζει την εξέλιξη των πρωταγωνιστών, οι εναλλαγές διάθεσης, η πορεία τους προς την ωριμότητα, αλλά και όλα αυτά τα συναισθήματα που απασχολούν τα παιδιά της ηλικίας τους, όπως η αγάπη, η φιλία, το αίσθημα της αποτυχίας, το πώς νιώθει κάποιος όταν όλοι του γυρίζουν την πλάτη, η ζήλια, το δίκαιο, το άδικο, οι αντιπαραθέσεις μέσα σε μια φιλία και άλλα πολλά, είναι απαράμιλλος. Έχει τύχει να συζητήσω με γονείς που αγόρασαν τα βιβλία για μικρά παιδιά νομίζοντας ότι είναι πολύ παιδικά και απογοητεύτηκαν θεωρώντας τα δύσκολα. Κατά τη γνώμη μου, δεν είναι για πολύ μικρές ηλικίες.
Ουσιαστικά η συγγραφέας, δίχως βέβαια να γίνεται ποτέ διδακτική, καταφέρνει να αγγίξει την παιδική ψυχή και να αφήσει μέσα της κάτι θετικό, να δείξει ότι παρ΄όλες τις δυσκολίες, υπάρχει φως. Αυτά τα στοιχεία έδωσαν βάθος στην ιστορία της, που ξεφεύγει από μια απλή ιστορία φαντασίας.
Μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ και η ανατροπή που έγινε στο τέλος. Η αντιπαράθεση των δύο χαρακτήρων, του Σνέηπ (ο οποίος στο τέλος μας συγκίνησε όσο δεν πήγαινε) και του Ντάμπλντορ ήταν εξαιρετική. Μείναμε άναυδοι και μπήκαμε σε σκέψεις για το καλό και το κακό. Δεν υπήρχε τίποτα προβλέψιμο, ας "γκρινιάζουν" κάποιοι φαν ότι έπρεπε να... είχαν πεθάνει περισσότεροι βασικοί χαρακτήρες για να γίνει η ιστορία πιο πειστική.
Προσωπικά, αν και διάβασα τα βιβλία της σχετικά μεγάλη (όπως και οι φίλοι μου) μαγεύτηκα από τον Χάρι Πότερ, περίμενα με ανυπομονησία πότε θα βγει το επόμενο, έγινα φίλη με τους χαρακτήρες και φυσικά υπήρξαν στιγμές που δάκρυσα με τις εξελίξεις. Στεναχωρήθηκα όταν ολοκληρώθηκε η σειρά, όμως καταλαβαίνω ότι δεν θα είχε νόημα να το τραβήξει κι άλλο.
Κάτι επίσης, πολύ σημαντικό είναι, ότι η Τζ. Κ. Ρόουλινγκ έκανε πάρα πολλά παιδιά που δεν διάβαζαν βιβλία να διαβάσουν και αυτό είναι το μεγαλύτερο επίτευγμα για έναν συγγραφέα.

Ένα άρθρο μου για τη Τζ. Κ. Ρόουλινγκ για το Book-Tour
http://www.booktourmagazine.com/news/...
...more

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Dec 29, 2007 Faith Quick rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-books

I LOVE ALL OF THESE BOOKS! i was brought into the harry potter world after the second book came out. i enjoyed every book each in it's own way. i loved the first book because it helped me believe in magic again like i did when i was little. i liked the second book because i got to see hermoine grow as a stronger witch. i loved the third one because harry started to really step into his role and there was so much happening. it was an exciting book.i was introduced to dementors, azkaban, escaped c ...more

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Mar 03, 2018 Saga rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, heartbroken, favorites-2018, funny, happy-cry, completed-series, cried

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO WRITE A REVIEW ON THE BEST SERIES EVER WRITTEN?

Characters I Loved: Snape, Fred & George, Harry, Lily & James, Ginny, Hermione, Tonks, DOBBY, Kreacher, Neville, Minerva Macgonagall, Draco

Characters I wish I knew more about: James Potter, Lily Potter, Sirius Black, Regulus Black, Merope Gaunt, Morfin Gaunt, Kreacher and THE MARAUDERS

...more

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Sep 04, 2009 Lisa (not getting friends updates) Vegan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: childrens, readbooks-female-author-or-illust, novel, fiction, speculative-fiction, young-adult, favorites, zz-5star, school-story, orphaned-and-quasi-orphaned-kids

this “review” is simply notes to myself, not much of interest to anyone but me, and not containing much in the way of spoilers given how cryptic the notes are, but just in case:

(view spoiler) ...more

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About J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

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See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she ch See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. ...more