REVIEW: JK Rowling’s Hogwarts Short Stories

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies by J. K. Rowling
Genres: Fiction

After completing the reading of Harry Potter Series earlier this year after feeling a nostalgic buzz when the new play The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling got released in paperback in July. Yes I confess of not reading the first three parts of the series before and yes I call myself a reader. However, one thing I realised is that Prisoner of Azkaban is my second favoruite Potter book now. So, just to get another glimpse of that Potter buzz, earlier this week I bought three ebooks which are published by Pottermore Limited, tagline: digital heart of the Wizarding World, two months ago. The set includes the following titles:

• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies
• Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists
• Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide

This post includes reviews of all three books. Let’s start.

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies

These stories of heroism, hardship and dangerous hobbies profile two of the Harry Potter stories’ most courageous and iconic characters: Minerva McGonagall and Remus Lupin. Rowling describes these characters from their birth till the last occurrence of both characters in Harry Potter timeline. You will be fascinated by how her imagination mingles with reality as gives us a peek behind the curtains and into her Wizardly world. The tales each behold information before JK Rowling provides us with more background knowledge on each professor. The list includes from the micro details such as their hobbies, their wands are constructed of, their parents, their love life etc. The other characters include Silvanus Kettleburn and Sybill Trelawney. Interesting facts as Rowling discuss how she came across the names: Minerva and Sybill.

After reading these book, I feel it could have been a bit longer. Some more characters and the stories of their individual lives, more peeking inside Rowling’s head, that would be great. Maybe in the next release there would be more about characters such as Sirius Black and Severus Snape.

Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists

This book contains thorough details about the least likable character or the most hated one: Professor Dolores Umbridge and how she came to be so ruthless. That’s all I am going to say about her. Period.

It include other stories of power and politics. Some lists that describe the Ministers of Magic and history of prison of Azkaban. One interesting story I found in this book is about Horace Slughorn who taught Tom Riddle aka Voldemort about the Hocruxes.

Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide

This book discusses the wizarding school: Hogwarts in detail. Starting from the platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross station in London, how and why of the Hogwarts Express, the formation on four houses of Hogwarts, the concept of sorting hat, how the concept of sorting dwelled her mind and the various technique she thought of adapting to sort to first year students at Hogwarts, the chambers, etc. This book helps you to get more acquainted with Hogwarts and the secrets that castle holds.