Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

In a Nutshell:
In a continuation of the previous instalment Harry Potter and his friends set off on a quest to locate and destroy Lord Voldemorte's Horcruxes. At the same time they are all intrigued by the Deathly Hallows, a super-brilliant wand, a resurrection stone and a fabulous invisibility cloak. At the same time as trying to maybe find those three things they also need to try not to be caught by Voldemorte's posse... as they've taken over the ministry and Harry is first on Lord Voldemorte's hit list. What ensues is a lot of popping in and around dramatic landscapes, arguments, a humungous battle as Harry Potter and friends must defend Hogwarts from the oncoming war.

The Audiobook:
Oh Jim Dale... you served me well. You were really brilliant, and if I ever meet you I will applaud right in front of you... on my own, like a cheesy 80s movie. He was awesome. Very good. As good as man with a deep voice can be. I absolutely loved his narration pretty much all the way through. I made a few comments regarding his lady voices - but well, that can't be helped can it?

The Story:
Wow, what an epic piece of fiction. It was great. I enjoyed it immensely. 
The writing was fabulous although at times it did feel a little drawn out, but I totally forgave Rowling just because it was so awesome.
I am glad it ended as it did. It couldn't have ended any other way (I'm not talking about the epilogue by the way). The story was a true coming of age story with the final battle being that fateful moment where they all had to become adults. 
I was quite surprised about how the final battle compared with the movie... and even the death of Lord Voldemorte. It seemed like a total anti-climax compared to the epic movie fight scenes. 
The thing I found hardest and found it a little too much... was the fact that pretty much everybody kinda died. I know there are thoughts a plenty as to why Rowling did this, but I just thought it was just too much. It's like nearly everybody who came from his father's generation i.e. his father's friends all just died. Maybe I'm just a big wimp... but it was overwhelming.

My final thoughts on Harry Potter will be coming up soon! Don't hold your breath though, as it won't be coming up in three minutes, you may have to wait a little longer than that!

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In a Nutshell:
A retired potions professor has been asked back to Hogwarts. A professor who knows the horrifying truth about Lord Voldemorte and his powers - and Dumbledore is desperate to find out what that truth is. Harry Potter begins to excel in potions as he's found an old potions book written by the mysterious Half-Blood Prince. A few scenes of bickering, kissing, love, despair, frustration and devastation, surprises and shocks and well, that pretty sums up this instalment of the Harry Potter series and I would definitely not want to ruin it for those of you who have not read the book!

The Audiobook:
Jim Dale is the brilliant narrator of the whole series. I will most definitely make time to listen to Stephen Fry's narration too - but I'm not sure it'll be as awesome as Jim Dale's performance (sorry Stephen Fry, I love you!).

The Story:
Not too much happens in this one to be honest. It can be summed up quite quickly. It was beautifully written, but we basically see the introduction of the horcruxes, how Lord Voldemorte managed to survive the backfired spell and come back from the dead, we see professor Snape finally the teacher of defence against the dark arts. This book is significantly darker than the rest of the previous novels - and some of the characters are a little annoying. But generally speaking it is a good one, it's just a little longer than I feel it needed to be.

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

In a Nutshell:
Harry Potter begins the story by almost having his wand taken away by the Ministry of Magic for using magic in front of a muggle. With the Ministry of Magic trying to take control of Hogwarts, and the psychotic Professor Dolores Umbridge being hired as the new defence against the dark arts teacher - Harry Potter has to contend with the ever stronger Voldemorte and the hardest part... puberty!

The Audiobook:
As you guys very well know that Jim Dale is the narrator of the Harry Potter series I'm listening to; and you know what? His Professor Umbridge is eerie. Oh my goodness me, at times I was just finding it all so chilling, especially when listening to it when trying to sleep!

The Story:
This was most certainly the hardest Harry Potter to get in to so far. In fact, I almost gave up because I found it so slow. Harry Potter spends the first 300 pages being whiny, self-indulgent, hormonal and annoying. I would have expected just a tiny bit more maturity (as he's experienced so much of the magical world) towards the changes that come with teenagehood. Maybe I'm not being very understanding, but really? 300 pages of whining!

Anyway, it gets better in the last 300 pages - and Harry Potter snaps out of it and just gets on! 
Of course, Harry faces a major loss in this book - but he manages to try to work through it without winging about it chapter upon chapter!

I really enjoyed the movie adaptation of this book and think they did an excellent job of putting it in to film.

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In a Nutshell:
Harry Potter is mysteriously entered in to a Tri-Wizard Tournament by an unknown person. He's under-age  terrified and has the whole school suspicious. He is required to pass three tasks competing with students from other wizarding schools to try to win the cup. The only problem is this... there is a traitor at Hogwarts who is determined to deliver Harry Potter to the ever stronger Lord Voldemorte. 

The Audiobook:
Jim Dale is brilliant at commanding all the different voices in this novel. I'm always amazed that he doesn't get mixed up or forget who is supposed to have what voice. What more, this book features new voices such as Madame Maxine, Igor Karkaroff and Viktor Krum, who have international voices! As usual it is the female characters that suffer the most, as Dale just isn't that good at them... but he's a man, with a deep voice... I'll excuse him just this once!

The Story:
I have to say that this one is quite easily my favourite so far. Rowling is completely in her stride and her writing is exemplary in this instalment (of course I've not finished the others yet, but I'll update you later!). I had a sense in this book that Rowling, from the beginning, had a very succinct plan, and that she knew exactly what was going to happen and when (which I haven't always got a sense of in her other books. Although she did seem in control in The Chamber of Secrets).
I was so very impressed with The Goblet of Fire, and funnily enough it was my least favourite movie of the whole series!  

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

In a Nutshell
A criminal has escaped from the notorious wizard prison Azkaban and has set his sights on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
Under the watchful eyes of Professor Lupin, McGonagall and Dumbledore, Harry potter must negotiate his way through threats such as Dementors, bullies, exams and of course the criminal Sirius Black who cannot wait to have his revenge. Harry Potter knows that his past and future are linked with Sirius Black - he just doesn't know how. 

Audiobook
As you know, Jim Dale is narrating the series and he does a stunning job! His Sirius and Lupin are great.... especially Lupin.

The Story
I think that so far, this book in the series has to be one of my favourites (although, having completed The Goblet of Fire that is my favourite at present). Quite honestly, it is only now that I feel that I have fallen in love with J K Rowling's imagination, and really appreciate the world that she's created. 

I quite simply loved the idea of the Dementors, the inclusion of werewolves and of course the magical creature the Hippogriff. Everything just seemed as it should be. There wasn't a part of this book that I felt that Rowling just threw in for good measure. 

The idea of Azkaban was what I enjoyed the most about the story as it highlighted that even in the world of magic, there was still room for responsibility and punishment for offenders. 
I also quite enjoyed the film too!

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

In a Nutshell:

Harry Potter and his friends unite again in the second year of school to fight against an unseen monster who is Petrifying students at Hogwarts. With a magical soul-possessed diary as their initial guide, they do their best to uncover the what the Chamber of Secrets is, and how to prevent students coming to harm. 

The Audiobook:

Jim Dale is narrating the whole of my Harry Potter audiobook set. He's awesome as I've said in  previous reviews. He reads at a pretty reasonable pace and so if you're wanting a quick read I recommend actually reading the books. I'm sure that I will end up rereading these novels in paperback, just to get a feel of them without (the pretty epic) Dale's voice.

The Story:

Funnily enough, The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire were my least favourite Harry Potter movies. I just found the stories a little half-baked and rushed, but, in all honesty the books were great, and totally redeemed the novels. 

I loved the pace of Rowling's narrative of The Chamber of Secrets, and the suspense and mystery she unfolds was not unlike reading a crime novel. Unlike in later books it was very nice to see her writing at her best in this book... she wrote like she knew all the details, rather than creating details as she goes along. I've noticed that there are many people who did not enjoy this book because of the plot, but I enjoyed the plot too, not just her writing.

Hermione is a lot less annoying in this novel... so, ten points for Rowling.

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Speed Review - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

As mentioned in a previous post, this is my first time through the legendary Harry Potter series. I'll be writing up mini, speed-reviews until I complete the whole bunch - and then I'll offer up a mega-review of them all. 

In a nutshell:
Rowling spends this book introducing us to her boy wonder, Harry Potter (a.k.a 'The Boy who Lived') and his quirky chums Hermione Granger and Ron Weasely as they battle trolls and the semi-resurrected Lord Voldemort. 

The Audiobook:
The audiobook set I have is read by the very awesome Jim Dale. Dale is a master of many voices and his Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore and Hagrid are brilliant. Unfortunately though, his other female voices have much to be desired.

The Story:
I really enjoyed the story although I did find it quite painful to start off with. I just found the vocabulary, similes and metaphors to all be pretty standard and repetitive, which became quite difficult to listen to. But, regardless of all that, I was surprised that I enjoyed the plot and characters as much as I did, as I really did not enjoy the movie as much. Ah well, never judge a book by its movie.


So that's it for now. 'Stay tuned' for more Harry Potter speed reviews!

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