I am 20 years old and I just read Harry Potter for the first time

By Alyssa Williams

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It is true! believe it or not, prior to writing this, I never read a book or watched a movie from the Harry Potter Franchise. Shocker, I know. When it comes up in conversations, I always get gasps and shocked looks from friends at this unbelievable revelation.

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To be honest, I was not planning to ever read or watch anything in the franchise, I was perfectly content not knowing anything. I was just never interested in the books when I was younger, and my favourite book genre changed as I got older. However, for my 20th birthday, a dear friend of mine had bought me the first book of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Ravenclaw edition because according to a Harry Potter sorter hat quiz that is “my house”. She and all my other friends who are big Harry Potter fans insisted that I read it before my next birthday. So, the moral of the story is that peer pressure is effective.

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This book is a fantasy novel written by author J. K. Rowling and is the first novel within the Harry Potter series. In the book, we are introduced to Harry Potter a young boy who discovers that both he and his parents are wizards on his eleventh birthday. Harry receives an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on his eleventh birthday and accepts. Hogwarts is divided into four unique houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin each house with their own unique traits and each student is sorted into one of these houses.  Harry makes close friends at Hogwarts and together they overcome challenges during their time at Hogwarts.

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I liked the first book of the series, it was descriptive and had a good plot. I also found the character interactions and descriptions to be very interesting and consistent throughout the entire book as well. However, I will say that I would have preferred this book if I was younger only because then I would be able to better relate to the character. When I was the same age as the characters within the book, I was more into classical novels rather than fantasy, but I think I would have enjoyed this book too.

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However, I now understand the strength of the Pottermore fandom. Those who have grown up reading these books and or watching these movies. Even though I prefer reading books to watching movies in most cases.

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I think over the next couple years I will probably work my way through the series as I am now interested in what happens next and I also want to know more about “my house”, Ravenclaw. Overall, I am very glad that my friends encouraged me to start the Harry Potter series (no matter how late I was) and I look forward to reading more to find out what happens next.  

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