On finishing the Harry Potter series

I finished the Harry Potter series

So, I’m not going to do a review of the Deathly Hallows, because I don’t feel like it.

I’ve been crying for over an hour after… well.. you can guess what. I’ve been hating this character for such a long time, and guess what - I was wrong. We all have been wrong, I guess.

I loved this series. I loved the strict you-can’t-tell-right-from-wrong thing with Dumbledore, Snape, Sirius and even Peter Pettigrew. The only not-ambiguous character is Voldemort - he is the very only one that doesn’t have a good side to him. He’s just plain evil. But the others who I have thought to be good were actually not too good.

I loved the allegory to the Nazi regime with the Ministry of Magic discriminating against Muggle-born wizards. I think that, too, is the reason why Voldemort is the only character that has only negative traits to him. He is Hitler. He’s the one obsessed by power and goes beyond measure to obtain it.

The one thing I can say is that now I cannot decide whether I want a deathly-hallows tattoo or a doe made of the word ‘always’.

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6)

Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - JK Rowling

I actually finished this book yesterday, but I didn’t feel like reviewing it just then. I don’t want to spoiler those who have not yet read it, but I was crying. I kept crying until I closed the book.
I can say that - with the Philosopher’s Stone and all being a fairly thin book - I needed only about a day more to read this one than I did when reading the Philosopher’s Stone. That adds up to three days.

I was indulged from the moment I laid my eyes upon the first page. JK Rowling had some serious plot twists planned, I knew, and I was eager to know what would happen. I’d seen the film, alright, but that was about a year ago. And it was definitely worth it.

The tension in this book doesn’t seem to come to a halt - I already explained why I didn’t like the Order of the Phoenix as much as the other books because it had some slower passages that were hard to get through at some point, but the Half-Blood-Prince just blew it. Once again the sub-plots were intertwined neatly into the story and were - although they seemed rather stupid (like Hagrid crying over the loss of his gigantic spider in the forbidden forest) - an important piece to the whole of the story. And I can definitely say now that the Half-Blood Prince is my second favourite book at this point.

(originally posted May 2016)

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5)

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

To be honest - I don’t really get why this is most readers’ favourite book in all the Harry Potter series. Throughout the first part, I’ve been tempted to say that this one was probably the most slow and hard-to-read. Seriously?! We’re almost 250 pages in and they hadn’t even reached Hogwarts yet!
Later on, I was able to get myself to read this book pretty quickly. I just couldn’t get it out of my hands and out of my mind, I found it very interesting, but there are still questions. I could interpret them as cliffhangers for the next two books yet to come, but I’m sure by then I will have forgotten what that was all about. With my finals coming up in two months I’m going to have a hard time reading the remaining books.

Nevertheless, this is yet another magnificent book in the Harry Potter series, but from what I have heard on booktube and other sites, I thought it would be a little more… exciting. Yep, I think that’s the right word.

(originally posted February 2016)

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - JK Rowling

Sorry, guys! It’s been a while! I finished this book about a week ago, I think, while I was in the middle of taking exams in school and now that I’m on holidays for the next two weeks, I have got too many things on my mind to be reading this month! First, there’s preparation for NaNoWriMo (if you don’t know NaNoWriMo, check it out here!), a trip to Prague and so on.. but, we’ll see!

This novel is the fourth one in the Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling. I’ve heard so many people on Booktube saying this was their favourite book of all in the series, but I have to disagree. This one’s about double in size of the previous three books and I thought them to be much better. Although I still loved the writing style, JK Rowling tends to foreshadow a lot and then there’s scenes I didn’t think to be necessary.. but that’s just my opinion.

(originally posted October 2015)

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling

This is the third book in the Harry Potter series. I have to admit this is the first time I read this series, and sadly, I have watched all the films first.

This book differs (slightly more than the other two that I have read) from the films - but the book was definitely better. Only when in the movie Peter Pettigrew is mentioned on the map I thought this was a great thing to add. But still, I loved this book. JK Rowling’s writing style is just beyond compare - and the story that seems to build up in this Volume 3 is the result of a plotting genius at work. I love how she shows Severus Snape as the antagonist throughout the whole series (up to now), and I’m really hoping to get to the part when he gets even more antagonistic later on. I’m also very fond of the characteristics - I love that she gave Hagrid his own style of talking and pronouncing - when Hagrid talks, I can hear him in my head and it’s just so vivid! Love it! The plot twist was awesome on this one. I was really flashed by the film when I first saw it a few months ago and I think that was the point that made me want to read the whole series.

And I am looking forward to reading the other books in the series! But for now, I’m going to stick with something else because I don’t want to lose interest on the series if I read all the books in a row (which is likely to happen, I’m afraid).

So, for the end of this month, I think I’m going to read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This is a very personal thing for me to read, but I’ll tell you in my review of that particular book ;)

(originally posted September 2015)

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter #2)

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets - JK Rowling

It’s been a while, folks! I finished reading this book about three days ago - and I had such a bad book hangover afterwards!

Not long ago, I read The Philosopher’s Stone as well, and I have to say I liked this one better than the first in the series. The friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione has intensified, and you can actually see that in the second book.

I know, most people wouldn’t mark this book as the best in the whole series, but for now, I’d mark it down as my favourite.

JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter #1)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone - JK Rowling [UK Paperback]

This is an update on my TBR-List for September 2015. It’s September 2nd and I finished the first Harry Potter book in the series! I have to admit, I read it for the first time in my life, but I’ve watched all the movies just two months ago, so I had a really hard time to rationalize.

I loved this book! It took me nearly a day to read it, I just couldn’t put it down! I loved the style of writing right from the start, although I think it could have needed some extra editing here and there, but I’m always picky with my books, so please don’t judge me.

The film is nothing compared to this book, by the way. I couldn’t think of a Young Adult book (and a Coming Of Age story, not to forget) that the reader could adapt to better than this one, although Harry Potter’s life is so different from ours.
If you haven’t read it (like me, just a day ago), you should definitely give it a go! It’s definitely worth it!

(originally posted September 2015)