Simply Magical! (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Audio CD))

Member Name: thehonesttruth

Product:	Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Audio CD)
Date:	21/09/09 (26 review reads)
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Sometimes even the best laid plans can go a little awry . After the struggles to make ends meet last christmas, I came up with an absoulely foolproof plan - I would think well in advance what people might like, add these items to my Amazon wishlist so I wouldn't forget, and then pay for them using the Amazon vouchers I earn through dooyoo . I'd order all the items nice and early, leaving myself plenty of time to wrap them! In this way, I'd avoid crowded shopping centres, last minute panics, and the general disorganised chaos and impending financial ruin that Christmas has come to be in my household.

Now, the wishlist idea was brilliant - i'd often read reviews here of things family members might like, and add them to the list to remind me to buy them later . It was through reading reviews of Harry Potter audio books that I decided they would be the perfect present for my mum - She, like me, is a Harry Potter fan , and she always listens to audio books before going to bed . I knew she didn't have any of the Harry Potter ones though .

Paying with Amazon vouchers was also a genius idea! Where it failed was the notion of ordering nice and early - this audio book arrived a couple of weeks ago, and, good as gold, I squirrelled it away in the super secret present hiding place to be wrapped up later .

And then took it out a few days later when boredom, a lack of anything decent to watch on television and a lack of boyfriend to talk to that night (he was gallivanting about at a wedding) got the better of me and convinced me that this would be just the very product for cheering me up.

Now, I'm sure most of you know who Harry Potter is - for those who don't, he's an 11 year old orphan whose parents died (so he's told) in a car accident . He lives with his aunt, uncle, and bullying cousin, in a dusty cupboard under the stairs .

However,all is not as it appears, and he soon discovers that he is no ordinary teenage boy, but a wizard . He's not even an ordinary wizard - he's a hero, after the curse that killed his parents bounced off him and put paid to one of the darkest wizards of all time - Lord Voldemort

His life changes as he goes off to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - here he makes friends for the first time, and learns just what it means to be a wizard . However, there seems to be something else going on, and soon Harry realises that he and his friends are the only ones who can put paid to Voldemorts plans of returning, and ensure the continued safety of wizards and muggles alike.

So, I lay in bed, with the CD's playing through my computer, my ears soothed by the rich velvet voice of - Stephen Fry! I adore Stephen Fry, I always have done, although I did wonder how he's do with reading what is essentially a childrens book . I haven't heard him do anything for children before, although I've been informed that he is the voice on Pocoyo, a kids TV series .

He does brilliantly - he manages to build up the right athmosphere of tension, danger, and fun that each scene requires , and like any good reader, he voices each character differently . Whilst this brings up the obvious worry of pre-pubescent teenage boys sounding suspiciously low voiced, and girls sounding just a touch masculine, and everyone sounding incredibly well spoken, this really wasn't an issue too much. Yes, it was a little noticable, but Fry came up with some great distinctions between the voices of various characters, and vocal mannerisms, and I became utterly engrossed in the story in just a few minutes.

He is a natural story teller - as well as a great level of expression of feelig and emotion, and excellent skill at building up the appropriate level of tension using well placed vocal inflections, his voice is just incredibly soothing, making listening an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable, dare I even say magical experience!

Of course, none of this would be possible without the skill of J.K Rowling in writing the book in the first place - and it really is a brilliant book, certainly worth reading , with richly detailed descriptions, incredibly distinct characters, and lots of great dialogue. One of the things about Rowlings work I have always loved is the way details that seem hugely insignificant in the early stages of the book suddenly take on a role of major importance at the end . It is this knack of making every little incident mean something in the greater scheme of things that makes her
books so very enjoyable.

This 7 cd set, with a total time of 8 hours and 25 minutes, cost me £15.59 on Amazon . This I feel is very reasonable, especially as I listened to one cd a night before bed, giving me over a weeks worth of listening pleasure. It did help relax me and make me feel ready for sleep, but didn't actually lull me into sleep as some other audio books have done!

I imagine this would also be useful for long journeys to keep children (and adults) entertained, and of course for people who have trouble reading .

I think this is brilliant, and good value. I'm going to have to buy another copy for my mum at some point, and I'm certainly going to get all the other books in the series on audio CD also, and can't wait to listen to them all .

I can't recommend this highly enough - simply magical!

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