Potter!

Hello, my lovely readers.

It's been a while, but I am back. Forgive me for being gone as long as I have been, I was busy getting an Optometry degree, and training to become officially qualified, but that's all done now, and I finally have the time to get back to my reading (and writing).

God, I have missed it.

My first blog post back, I am here to speak about my initiation ritual into fiction: Harry Potter. Up until before I read the Harry Potter series, my reading mainly consisted of my childhood favourites, as mentioned in my previous blog posts, and Wattpad stories. But at that point, I was very excited to get back into the addictive worlds of fiction. I just didn't know where to start.

Also, believe it or not, I had not seen any Harry Potter movie until I was about 16-17 years old. My cousin insisted that I watch them, and she came over for three consecutive weekends to ensure that I did.

Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed the movies, and decided I would give the books a try.

I find myself to be quite fortunate to have experienced the Wizarding World in this way - the movies first, and then the books. Truth be told, if I read the books before watching the movies, the movies would have been such a disappointment. Don't get me wrong I completely understand that in general, books are filled with so much description, different scenes with the characters, and world building. Incorporating all of these into a movie will have you sat watching hours and hours worth of footage. I mean, I can't say I would mind, but I see how that would pose a problem.

Watching the movies before reading the books, allowed me to be thrilled in watching the films for the first time, and then being even more thrilled at the utterly magical experience in the books.

Harry Potter honestly feels like a rite of passage for a British bookworm, like myself. And it is worth every second spent curled up in the corner of the living room.

Everything, from the characters, to the setting, to the action - all of it, written so well, it truly is a magical experience to read. The characters have so much individuality, each of them have a drive, each of them have their own backstory, so intricately written. I also love the way the story and writing progresses as you go from book to book, it feels like you're literally growing up with the characters.

And again, the villain is just insane, purely for the sake of being insane. These days, a lot of fictional villains are being given a backstory, so we can understand how their trauma turned them into villains. I personally, find it refreshing to have a villain who is a villain, just because. Because he's hungry for power, or because he is misguided, or prejudiced. The whole "I has a hard life and now I am evil because of it", not really my favourite cup of tea.

All in all, this series is a must read - as in you must read it immediately if you haven't.

Personally my favourite was/is Prisoner of Azkaban. What is everyone else's favourite?

See you soon,

PeridotAuthor