On Monday, I posted the following question on the FictionRow page on Facebook (which you are still more than welcome to answer):

Pottermore: Did you devour the content or do you plan to savor the experience?

I decided to post this question after I saw the following complaint on Hypable.com, a website that I frequent and rather like.

We’re slightly concerned about how quickly fans can get through it (especially considering we’ll have to wait until next year for Chamber of Secrets), but it’s sure to be an interesting read.

Certainly, this is a complaint directed more towards Pottermore in general, that users can go through the first year in such a short time, and not a complaint towards the fans who choose to go quickly through it, rather than go through slowly while rereading Sorcerer’s Stone. However, even if this quotation doesn’t that explicitly, I’ve seen tweets from some fans who are “peeved” (see what I did there?) that several Pottermore users are going through it in a day, or less than a day in some cases, such as those who completed it in four hours.

Some of my own friends on Pottermore are experiencing it with the first philosophy in mind and some the latter. Some of you may be thinking at this point, why wouldn’t you take your time and enjoy the experience? Wouldn’t the induction of Pottermore be a perfect reason to reread Sorcerer’s Stone? Why would you even consider “devouring” the content over “savoring” it? “Devouring”… that word gives such a connotation of eating ravenously and not caring about enjoying your food, whereas “savoring” gives the polar opposite connotation.

But is “devouring” the metaphorical food that is Pottermore such a terrible travesty, really?

Ask yourselves this question: why do people “devour” food? Because they are hungry. J.K. Rowling said herself in her initial Pottermore announcement that she was grateful for such a “diverse and loyal readership”. Some fans choose to take their time, and that’s fine. Others choose to “devour the content” because they are so hungry for more. I proudly proscribe to the latter philosophy, as others have done too. That doesn’t make us any less loyal to the series. It simply makes us diverse–one of two different types of fans belonging to the overall fandom.

I actually had originally promised myself in the beginning that I would reread Sorcerer’s Stone alongside this experience, as so many others told me they were planning to do. However, once I received that welcome messages from Pottermore, despite that I had several other things I could have done on Monday, I dropped everything for Pottermore. I didn’t have my copy of Sorcerer’s Stone with me at the time, but I was so hungry with excitement, that I just couldn’t wait. I wanted to get a wand, but more importantly, I wanted to know, once and for all, if I had chosen the correct house. I wasn’t content to stop there and start over when I had the book beside me. I had read enough incredible new exclusive content written by J.K. Rowling that I ravenously needed to keep going to find out more.

Before I knew it, the end of the day had come, and I was done with the end-of-the-year feast.

Honestly, I wasn’t disappointed by my sheer lack of will power to take my time and hold to my self-promise. On the contrary, I was satisfied by the experience, though not entirely with every aspect, but that is no fault of mine for going through it “too fast”. My disappointments with Pottermore were partially noted in a prior post giving my initial thoughts about Pottermore after spending a few hours inside. This prior post also introduced the same question that I referenced at the start of this post. But, after asking this question, I closed with a follow-up question:

Ask yourself this when you answer the question: when you read the books for the first time, did you find yourself taking your time with them, or reading as quickly as possible to find out what happens?

I may be wrong, but I can probably correctly assume that the majority of Harry Potter fans didn’t take their time. Instead, the first read-through was probably a very quick one, because they wanted to find out what happens in the end. I myself am one of those fans. I read Deathly Hallows in 19 hours. I got it at midnight. I didn’t stop to sleep. I brought it with me to the dinner table. I brought it with me, er, everywhere else I needed to go. I didn’t stop until I was done. Granted, 19 hours isn’t some Guinness world speed-reading record for that number of pages, I’m sure, but it’s fast enough to say that I definitely didn’t take my time. But now that I’ve finished that book, and the whole series, I can take my time when I reread that book, any book of the series, and yes, I can now take my time rereading the exclusive content introduced in Pottermore.

It is my belief that true fans “devour” ravenously to find out what happens or find out new information. Then, when done, they are free to “savor” the experience a second, third, or several more times. And that, my fellow fans, is precisely what I plan to do. In Pottermore, I have so many more spells to practice and to use during dueling with a number of friends, so many potions to attempt (and fail) to make, and so many more items to find that I couldn’t find the first time through. (Apparently there are eleven Wizard Cards hidden throughout. I’ve only found four.)

I also have many pages of new content that I now have the opportunity to savor, as I reread Sorcerer’s Stone alongside this incredible Pottermore experience.

I have lots more that I want to write about: wands, houses, what Pottermore means for the future of the video game franchise, and more, so please follow @fictionrow or like /fictionrow to get updates. Remember, you can still voice your opinion about this question: “devour or savor” either in the comments below or by answering the question I posted on the Facebook page, or by doing both. Thanks!