I was so excited to purchase this, despite the price I knew it would look amazing in our Lego room and thought it would be an excellent build for my husband and I, However, like so many others I have had missing pieces starting from bag 2! Luckily I had the missing pieces in my spares bag but that’s not the point, It’s over £400! The one thing that my husband and I are getting quite frustrated with is the instruction book, most big builds like this will have highlighted areas showing you where to put pieces, however, even though this is a huge build and has four instruction books it doesn’t have this. There are many tiny pieces and we’ve found ourselves squinting trying to find where they go as you get one arrow showing where one piece goes, the rest you have to keep looking at the book and what you’ve done to figure it out. It has kind of taken the fun out of building something so big as we waste so much time trying to find where these small bits go. It would be so much better if they added this to the instructions! With the missing pieces issue on top of this I found myself putting it away as I’d had enough of doing it. I would usually spend hours on a build but found myself frustrated and wanting to return it. So far on bag 8 and had around 8 missing pieces can’t say I’m looking forward to the other 29 bags. I’m almost regretting this purchase but hope the end result will make up for it.

Really nice look, good size and right level of challenge - more of this style, size (microbuild) and price for 18+ please LEGO.

BUT:

1. the structural aspect of the build is very unstable, never come across anything like it in LEGO sets - the way the base is built, it does not line up well, and this insecure foundation obviously has knock-on effects. In addition the towers topple and the great hall roof falls to bits with the slightest touch. There are also too many other precarious parts - the viaduct for example needs a much better design.
2. more printed pieces for a bit more interest would be nice
3. the ship and flying carriage do not fit at all with the style or scale of the build. I just didn’t bother as they spoil the look, and replaced the whomping willow with my own version
4. missing pieces, some of which I could make up from my own stock of bricks but some I will have to order
5. I also modded the greenhouses - they don’t look right as per original but need a bit of colour (browns and greens) to give the idea of soil and plants
6. would have been nice to have more tiles as the final finish for the grounds.

So, a few careless aspects that detract from what as said at the start is overall a nice looking set, a nice challenge and a good size (we don’t all have £££ or space for the giant builds).

3.5 star but rounded up to 4 as the finished article does look very pretty.

This lego set rocks. I am a big Harry Potter fan and I love everything about the set. Getting rid of the only negative is really the price is quite high, but this is expected with Lego being a high price hobby, but the amount of pieces and size of the overall set make up for this in my opinion. The play features are non existent, but that is expected. You are buying this set to display something amazing and this set more than delivers. There are so many little references and little key aspects that I just love. The little rocks that it sits on, the bridges that intertwine everything, the rotating staircases and you get exclusive minifgures with the houses founders and a ton of microfigures to enhance the scenes even more. This set rules and is proudly displayed in my collection in it's on thrown. Even if you are not the biggest Harry Potter fan, it still is a pretty dope castle. I can not recommend this set enough, and I ensure you that you will like it.

Frontside is very nice. The great hall looks great from both sides. There are some very nice details and gadgets in it. The instructions are clear. The set was complete. But, some lesser things. Some of the rooms are not filled with nice details but just some blocks which represents nothing recognizable. And some of the rooms could be a little bigger to give more depth. The small bridge makes no sense, goes from nowhere to nowhere. The big bridge does not align well, I checked multiple times, it is a design mistake. It makes a small angle for which special pieces are used. Hagrids hut, where is Hagrid? And not so nice. Stickers used are very nice, I hope they stick for lifetime. All in all it has a beautifull front side, nice to build, some nive details but also some missers.