I haven't read this book for about 14 years, give or take. Like most people my age, this series was the first thing to really hook me. I had read things previous to this but this series just captured my young imagination like nothing else before it. I thought this review would be a couple of lines at most before I sat down with it again but reading it now with a more critical mind, I do have issues. 
 First off, the prose are a little hokey at times. It's fine for the most part but occasionally sentences just do not flow right making it pretty jarring. It is a debut novel though so I can forgive that. The way it was written made it very clear that I was reading a children's book. Everything with the Dursleys felt like a Roald Dhal novel and when we were dealing with the mystery of the Philosophers stone it reminded me of The Secret Seven. When Dumbledore was introduced it was very obvious he was the friendly good guy and ol' Voldemort was super evil because he decided to be evil. I'm pretty sure the later books do become a little darker and adult and I'm not saying it being a children's book is a bad thing, it was just kind of a surprise as stupid as that sounds. 
 When I was young this was my least favourite book, mainly because I felt the stuff before getting to Hogwarts was really slow. Now I found it rushed. Things needed to slow down a little, there was so much info that Harry just takes without any problem. He is pretty accepting of becoming a wizard and doesn't really question much. I love world building and I kind of wanted to know a lot more about this world, but then, this is a children's book and the target audience isn't someone with a map of Westeros hanging on their wall. Still, some scenes really lacked detail. The crossing of the Hogwarts Lake was a couple of sentences but it should have been a big grandiose event. We learn next to nothing about magic and we see little of what goes on in the classrooms. 
 The Dursleys are utter cunts and as an adult I'm suppressed no one called CPS on em'. In fact, Dumbledore is a bit of a shit for sending him there in the first place. I know there was some convoluted reason later down the line that involved love or something but really, he could have given him a better home that would have been equally as safe. 
 Harry is pretty bland. There are no deamons to wrestle even though he has had an abusive upbringing. Ron, I like Ron. Hermione should have been the protagonist. Hagrid makes me want to cuddle. Malfoy is boring bad guy. Snape starts off the same but I like they we do get hints of a deeper character there. I'm trying to judge this book on THIS book, not what I know going forward but I am finding that hard at times. 
 Nit picking time. I can't remember when the whole "Mudblood" thing happens (second book? Third?) but fuck you pretentious narcissistic wizard cocks. You don't get to talk about Muggles the way you do and refuse to cure world hunger and cancer, all because you don't want to be bothered by them. When Hagrid met the Dursleys he has such disdain in his voice for Muggles it's shocking. Wizards are pretty racist. 
 Wait, first years got through a series of spells created by some of the finest people in the wizarding world? 
 Hagrid is a mad man. No one in the right mind would invite 11 year olds over for tea on a regular basis. 11 year olds suck. 
 I will probably talk more at length about this as the series progresses but the magic system seems to have no drawbacks. That's kinda' stupid. 
 So we are gonna' send a load of underage wizards and their families, a lot of them having no idea that magic existed, to a public train station filled with Muggles and give no instructions on how to proceed. We will also keep the muggle staff so when an idiot 11 year old asks how to get to wizard school he will look stupid. 
 Forbidden Forest for detention, 3 headed dog behind a door a first year can unlock but in book 3 (?) Harry needs permission from his parents to go to the sweet shop. 
 And that's about all I have. It was still very good. I'm not the target audience for this anymore but I can still enjoy it for what it is: a fun, imaginative escapist fantasy for prepubescents and early teens. It brought back a lot of good memories and I'm excited to get further into this series.