The Hogwarts Collection- J.K. Rowling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While I am not a diehard Potterhead, I greatly loved the Harry Potter books as well as the movies. Rowling spun real magic with this world she created, and like millions of other fans, left me craving for more. Therefore, when she announced ‘The Cursed Child’, I waited with a huge anticipation. Notwithstanding the huge disappointment it eventually left me with, I still hoped she will give us something with a more substantial storyline (not continuation of Harry Potter though, it is well finished and shouldn’t be tampered with anymore, IMHO). That is why I found the “Pottermore Presents” collection, I had been keen to read these (I don’t follow Pottermore site, so had not read these earlier, and it appears that they had been posted there).
There are three short books in the series, which I finally read over last two days:
#1 Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies
#2 Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists
#3 Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide
It was interesting to read a bit of back history of some key characters such as Minerva McGonagall, Remus Lupin, Sybill Trelawney, Dolores Umbridge, and Horace Slughorn, and some of the story of Hogwarts and Azkaban. Of all of these, I found the story of Azkaban most interesting, since not much is revealed about it earlier, except that it is patrolled by dementors, while the (very) brief history of all the Ministers of Magic rather boring. I liked the one about Remus Lupin, since I was curious how he had come
to be infected by the werewolf, and how he had managed prior to coming
to Hogwarts. McGongall's story felt a bit of out of character.
BUT, I didn’t see what the hype was about; these are, after all, short stories extrapolating things that have been related in the original series. Moreover, publishing them as kindle books, when they had already been made available on Pottermore site free of cost earlier, just seems to be yet another instance of milking in on the hugely successful franchise. I just wish Rowling would write some new books or series set in the magical world, rather than extrapolating and exploiting the one masterpiece of hers.
BUT, I didn’t see what the hype was about; these are, after all, short stories extrapolating things that have been related in the original series. Moreover, publishing them as kindle books, when they had already been made available on Pottermore site free of cost earlier, just seems to be yet another instance of milking in on the hugely successful franchise. I just wish Rowling would write some new books or series set in the magical world, rather than extrapolating and exploiting the one masterpiece of hers.
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