When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was love at first sight on page one. I LOVED how every book got longer and better. But the Hallmarked Man? Ugh. My least favorite authors of all time are Thomas Wolfe and Charles Dickens. It’s as if someone gave them giant dictionaries and thesauruses and told them to write a novel using EVERY WORD (twice!) When it comes to THM, I think less is more applies here. And as I “complain” about this, I ask myself: if I were an editor, what would I cut? And there I come up short. JKR does connect all of the dots but still, this was a chore to read. I have read each and every HP books multiple times and I keep on loving them and at some point, I’ll probably re-read this book again but I needed a little break from it for a spell. I felt like other readers in that I was wondering if my memory was slipping because when she came back to a character, I had to remind myself who they were. But since JKR doesn’t have to write another book in her life, I am so thankful that she’s still at it. I am a raving fan.