Now, while this first book alone might be rightly criticized for a few specific shortcomings and I might have rated it four stars if that was the only thing I were judging... this Illustrated Edition is just stunning, absolutely gorgeous. The price point at which it is currently being sold is a great deal for what may as well be a combination of novel and Potter-themed Jim Kay artbook: the complete, unabridged text (which, except for the change of "Philosopher's Stone" to "Sorcerer's Stone," also presents American buyers with what is so far their only official means of purchasing the original British text without import or e-platform region-trickery) shares its page space here with a wealth of stunning illustrations; characters, scenes, locations, and imagery throughout the books faithfully brought to visual life with no loyalty paid by the illustrator whatsoever toward the established movie-based appearances of people, places, or characters, favoring instead fresh interpretations of the descriptions given of characters within the text itself. It is worth mentioning that though the illustrated Hagrid very closely resembles his film counterpart, his film counterpart already resembled his book description and Mary GrandPré's illustrations of him to a T as it was. Other characters such as Harry's friends or Severus Snape are far further from their film counterparts while still retaining loyalty to their book descriptions.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that I thought Snape's appearance in the books couldn't be faithfully visualized in any way apart from the costume and hair stylings of Alan Rickman's portrayal until this book's ever-so-creepy version proved me wrong; and as for our young heroes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione, their illustrations pay more dues to their book-counterpart physical shortcomings than they film actors could be expected to, with Ron appearing much more freckly and gangly, and Hermione's bushy hair and larger-than-average teeth featuring more prominently (these were, after all, features of hers that were called into the direct spotlight when she found herself going to lengths to manage them in Goblet of Fire); similarly Dudley and the Dursleys are displayed with more focus on their amusing and sometimes morbid physical descriptions (Dudley's comparison to a "beach ball" as an infant is at once funnier and easier to take seriously as a problem when it's accompanied by pictures of a baby who has been allowed to grow THIS overweight).
Other specific locations, objects, or setpieces are also shown here in stunning detail, with perhaps the only thing missing being a full and unimpeded view in the artwork of the villain unmasked. It is quite a dark image, though, and perhaps Jim Kay made the decision that the artwork should be kept to a low maximum of unsettling visuals in these early novels to respect the intended uphill tonal slope that the books ascended as they went. It is a pity, though; I'd looked forward to seeing that scene with a more book-loyal version of Voldemort implemented than the one in the film (book Voldemort, after all, is very close to the one portrayed in the second half of the film series; he does not have a properly human-looking face like the version shown in the first movie does), but we must satisfy ourselves with a teasing image of one of Voldemort's slitted, red snake-eyes peeking out through a plot spoiler.
The frequency of illustrations will not disappoint. They occur every few pages at a minimum, often dominating entire pages or sharing page space in artful ways with the text formatting (this, I think, is the reason that the American version does not change the British text). The illustrations range from reasonably detailed and well-drawn to the kind of painstakingly beautiful work I'd like very much to frame massive prints of an create a personal art gallery for in my home. And no page in this book is ever left complete white, with even page-space not used by illustrations given an aesthetically-plasing background texture, the quality of the paper remaining sufficiently heavy-duty throughout, so that it is not unlike reading a copy of the Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons Player's Manual visually. The dust jacket bears the beautiful cover art of the Hogwarts Express puffing out smoke before a crowded train platform and the book itself a sturdy, red-bound volume with only shiny gold printing on the spine of the title, publisher, author, and illustrator to mar the outside with potential scratchables; the inner covers sport a detailed black-and-white view of the Hogwarts Castle exterior.
It should be noted that this is quite a large book and I mean that in the most practical sense that it is physically taller and wider than all previous editions of Harry Potter that I know of. I've included a picture for size comparison with a hardback copy of Order of the Phoenix and a paperback copy of Sorcerer's Stone, both my own American printings. The book it also quite heavy. Between its weight, form factor, and the likelihood that one does NOT wish to damage this book, it is recommended for reading only at a table in one's room, and not outdoors, at the dinner table, or in any other situation where it might fall prey to either arm fatigue or an unfortunate spill. Treat this book with care, because it is a true collector's treat and deserves to remain on one's shelf for many years to come: it is the most luxurious way of reading this book that exists to date, and will remain so perhaps until such a time as a true Easton Press-tier, leather-bound edition of the franchise is produced, which may, for all I know, simply be an even more expensive version of this Illustrated Edition series when it does finally come to exist.
The only other negative to mention is that since this is the British version of the text, the line about a black boy (taller than Ron) named Dean Thomas joining the Gryffindor table during the Sorting Ceremony has been omitted, a curious editing choice on the part of the British publishers that stands as the only instance where the U.S. text kept something that was changed in the original. Lest you get the wrong idea, this was probably a case of Bloomsbury trying to shave a few words off the total length of the book; Scholastic, masters of low-quality binding techniques passed down in their family for generations, were far more concerned with formatting pages to have fewer words and wider spacing to keep from scaring off children from reading it, and thus did not care about word count: a decision they perhaps came to regret when Order of the Phoenix made their formatting choices impractical. This is, by and large, the main reason why the American versions of the Harry Potter novels have so many more pages per book than their British counterparts.
As of this writing, only the first two books in the series have been published as Illustrated Editions, with Book Three due for release in late 2018, almost two years yet to come. After thumbing through the pages and pages of fantastic art this edition is filled with, I can say with confidence that the wait between books for Illustrated Editions will be as well and truly worth it as when crowds of eager readers gathered outside of bookstores for release parties during Harry Potter's heyday ten years ago.
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