No. of pages: 223
Rating: 8/10
Series: Harry Potter (Book 1)
Synopsis: Say you've spent the first 10 years of your life sleeping under the stairs of a family who loathes you. Then, in an absurd, magical twist of fate you find yourself surrounded by wizards, a caged snowy owl, a phoenix-feather wand and jellybeans that come in every flavour, including strawberry, curry, grass and sardine. Not only that, but you discover that you are a wizard yourself! In the non-magical human world--the world of "Muggles"--Harry is a nobody, treated like dirt by the aunt and uncle who begrudgingly inherited him when his parents were killed by the evil Voldemort. But in the world of wizards, small, skinny Harry is renowned as a survivor of the wizard who tried to kill him. He is left only with a lightning-bolt scar on his forehead, curiously refined sensibilities and a host of mysterious powers to remind him that he's quite, yes, altogether different from his aunt, uncle, and spoilt, pig-like cousin Dudley.
Review: As this is a re-read, I've only given this book a 4/5 because I know there are others in the series I prefer, but this is still a fab beginning to a great series. I forgot just how short this book is, and so the action ending is wrapped up pretty quick, using most of the book to introduce Harry to the world of magic and Hogwarts. It was enjoyable to start over and get to know all the characters again, although Dumbledore still remains my favourite. I think it's been about 8 or 9 years since I first picked this book up, and I do still love the series as much as I did in my teens, so now I'm eager to move on to the rest of the books in the series.
