Harry Potter and the PHILOSOPHER'S Stone (Pgs. 0 - 130)

About that title… It's philosopher's stone. What in the world is a sorcerer's stone? Why was this changed? Why is this a thing? Did the publishers think that no one would get it? Honestly, what was the logic behind this? That's a rant for another time. Not now.

I must confess that I never read the Harry Potter series as a kid. I wasn't abroad the train of the obsession of Harry Potter, and although I enjoyed the movies, I couldn't tell you what the first few were about today. It was that long ago, and thus reading this book now is like getting a new experience… or close to one, at least.

It only hit me, as I was reading, the surface of the cool stuff present in the universe of Harry Potter. The nomenclature is very inspired, though at times significantly less than clever. As a fan of fantasy and one with a great appreciation for the likes of J. R. Tolkien's efforts in creating an entire language all its own, seeing things like the "Put-Outer" do nothing but put a foul taste in my mouth. I understand that it is a Young Adult novel, but seriously? In a world with so many cool inspirations and naming conventions, the first magical item the reader hears about is the "Put-Outer"?

What could a an evil, inhuman wizard look like?

Complaints aside, starting off the novel with the celebration of some (at this point) unknown evil sorcerer's death is one way to get a reader's interest going. Had I not known about Voldemort and his role in the events to come, this would have interested me greatly. The idea of some vile wizard whose only discernible motive seems to be to gain power doesn't really make for a good, morally questionable and well-written antagonist, but it does invoke a certain drive in the reader to want to learn more about how such a villain could be thwarted. When Hagrid talks about the rumors about the cause of Voldemort's disappearance, he says,

"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die." -Pg. 57

That plays up a villain. That creates mystery. That makes the reader wonder just how powerful the guy was, if he had apparently gained enough power to lose the title of being human at all. And the book is barely 3 chapters in at this point. That is good writing. And speaking of good writing, given my knowledge of the later events in Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling does an excellent job of foreshadowing. Her planning is evident when Harry chooses his wand.

Slightly disappointing in all honesty.

"It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother --why, its brother gave you that scar." -Ollivander, Pg. 85

The fact that Harry has a wand that is connected to Voldemort's is clear foreshadowing of a connection between the two. This is all only the start of the cool things I could talk about in just the first half of the book. 

Image Sources: 

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http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a3/Lordvoldemort.jpg