It's really quite difficult to rate this objectively... 
 I mentioned it before, but this is my first time reading these books. (I also never got around to watching the films, so that's still on the list...) I have, however, been fairly involved in the Harry Potter fandom for some time. Don't ask how that happened. It just did. 
 The end result of all this is that I'm quite familiar with the content of the books. That familiarity is in some ways beneficial, now that i'm reading them, because I'm picking up on all the little hints and bits of foreshadowing that will be important later on, but it's also a bit frustrating because it makes it very difficult to review like I normally would. 
 In any case, I did enjoy this. JKR has a fantastic sense of humor, and a very relatable writing style. The plot is interspersed with enough episodic escapades to keep the attention of younger readers--I can definitely see why the series was so popular so quickly. 
 I will say that most of the "educators" in this book have no business being anywhere near children, and the school is a bit of a madhouse. Dumbledore, especially, kind of creeps me out. 
 I look forward to reading the rest of the books.