I really didn’t think the first Harry Potter book could get more magical, but Jim Kay proved me wrong. This is an amazing edition. The artwork is breath-taking. There are so many wonderful illustrations in this book.

While there are quite a few pages that do not have illustrations (or just have ink sploshes on them; cool in their own right), the full-page illustrations and the quality of the art more than make up for this, in my opinion. The artwork varies from portraits to scenery to textbook pages and are all glorious. My personal favorites were the Quidditch pitch, the Forbidden Forest, and the Mirror of Erised. I also loved how color is utilized on some of the pages instead of a separate illustration, such as the purple flames acting as a background to the text describing Snape’s protection of the Stone. I love the way the art and words work together.

The illustrations also stick closely to the actual text and enhance the story.

I am blown away by this book. It was so wonderful to read the story again alongside the gorgeous new pictures. I will definitely be getting the second illustrated edition.