A Review of Pottermore

A long time ago, I believe it was nearly six months, Potterheads around the world tried desperately to gain access to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's newest project: a website known as Pottermore. One million people would get into a beta version of the site, and it would open to the public in October.

The public release hasn't happened yet.

Thanks to a friend, I was one of those lucky million people to get an early Pottermore account. But if you're one of those who hasn't gotten in yet, you're really not missing much.

In case you don't know, Pottermore is a website in which you go through each chapter of the books (though I think only the first book has been opened so far) and see a scene from each chapter. You can read material about the characters, places, animals, etc. as well as some material J.K. Rowling wrote but didn't publish.

There are some exciting things on Pottermore, such as potion making and the recently opened wizard dueling. I haven't done much potion brewing yet, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to cast spells, but they both seem very interesting. Reading the new, more in-depth material by Ms. Rowling herself that wasn't published in the books is also pretty cool. I enjoyed choosing a wand and getting Sorted near the beginning of the Pottermore experience as well.

However, other than the activities mentioned in the previous paragraph, Pottermore doesn't seem to be as interactive as I expected it would be. There isn't much to do in the chapters other than look at the scene and pick up objects whose purpose isn't really clear.

Also, as I said earlier, Pottermore has not been released to people other than beta users, even though it was supposed to be out in October. I'm sure there is a perfectly good reason for this, such as that the glitches on the site were more numerous or more difficult to fix than expected, but it doesn't seem fair to the fans that have been waiting for months now for access.

Hopefully there is still more to come from Pottermore. It sounded like a great idea when it was first mentioned, and I'm hoping that more will be added to the site. Overall, I think Pottermore is a site worth checking out (when you are able to), but there could be more done with it to make it a more interactive and exciting experience.

What are your thoughts on Pottermore? If you're a beta user, what do you think of the site? And if you're not, does this opinion piece make you feel better about not having an account yet? Post comments and let me know!