Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

by J.K. Rowling

This is the next title in the "Harry Potter" series. Harry Potter is a wizard. He is in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It's always a relief after summer with the Dursleys, however, Harry doesn't realise that this year will be just as eventful as the last two! The atmosphere at Hogwarts is tense. There's an escaped mass murderer on the loose, even the Muggles have been warned. The sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school and Harry, Ron and Hermione rapidly discover why all witches and wizards live in fear of being sent to Azkaban. Lessons, however, must go on and there are lots of new subjects in third year - Care of Magical Creatures and Divination among others. Plus the delights of Hogsmeade, the only village in the UK entirely populated by the magical community. The Author: Jo Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her daughter Jessie. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was her first novel. She came up with the idea for Harry Potter when she was on a train. She is currently working on the fourth out of a potential series of seven Harry Potter books.

• ISBN10: 043965548X
• ISBN13: 9780439655484
• Publish Date: 1 May 2004 (first published 28 June 1999)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Scholastic US
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 547
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

I love this book. Either by audio or hardcopy, I think I visit it at least once a year. As such, it’ll probably be reviewed many times. Every read is different, after all.

The third year is when the trio start to come into their own and become more complex as characters. Harry is re-affronted with his parents’ deaths in a new and raw way, Ron begins to fight for his own happiness – whether that’s in defense of his pets or himself – and Hermione’s reaction to Harry’s Firebolt and Divination shows her less tolerant side. We also get the introduction of the Marauders – Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, and Prongs – whom I love. I believe that Lupin is the strongest DADA teacher presented in the whole series. We have a new villain (refreshing!) and we start to see some layers peeled off Severus Snape. Overall, great character development in this book.

I’ve always found the beauty of the Potterverse to be its near plausibility. The magic is subtle enough that it doesn’t overrule the story. This year, you get the addition of Hogsmeade, which is a little wizarding town with a pub and a candy shoppe and a joke shop and feels quite possible. Even a post office! Hands down, my favorite scene for showing the beauty and the subtlety of the Hogwarts grounds is near the very end of the book, where the trio is relaxing by the lake in the summer sun. It’s all perfectly normal until the Giant Squid lifts his tentacles lazily. It’s a subtle nuance that reminds us that this world is so much like ours that we want to be there, too… only it’s magic.

I find the lack of Voldemort in this story to be a refreshing change of pace from the plotlines we’ve seen in the first two books where the trio goes through all these tribulations and at the end, Dumbledore basically says, “Voldemort is up to his old tricks and hanging out at Hogwarts again!” I love what we learn here about Harry’s past, and how we’re delving into different aspects of the world more thoroughly (Ministry proceedings, magical creatures, and the last time Voldemort rose). Information from this book helps form the rest of the story far more than its predecessors. To be frank… it’s about to start getting real.

I continue to really enjoy Rowling’s writing style, and again, I think her technique is stronger here than it’s been in her previous two books. The trio are definitely starting to grow up, but subtlely. She continues to present just the right amount of details to spur the imagination, and bury subtleties in the story that aren’t noticed until they’re important much later.

Jim Dale, additionally, continues to be a treat. The more time he spends with the characters, the better his voices become. Hermione, who vexed me in book one, is barely noticeable now. Additionally, his voices for Lupin, Sirius, and Pettigrew were spot on. Love it.

This book remains my favorite in the Harry Potter series, and definitely makes it to my Top 25… Top 5, if I’m honest. Aside from the nostalgia factor of growing up with these characters, the writing really holds its own, even as I get older. It’s such fun to go back and read this book again and again, and to share it with other. Every time, there are places where I chuckle or think: “Oh! I don’t remember that! That’s wonderful!” so even on the re-reads, this book still holds magic for me.

(( x-posted to LibraryThing & my literary blog.))

[Rinn]

Re-read many times, most recently January 2017.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

Of the first three Harry Potter books, Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favourite; it's much darker and more exciting than the first two, in my opinion. I have always loved finding out about the truth about Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, and then Harry and Hermione's adventures trying to save Sirius and Buckbeak with the Time-Turner.

I have always found the Dementors terrifying, and Harry hearing his parents die each time he's near one (or a Boggart shaped one) is just so upsetting. However, this time round, it was more of a case of my memories being more dark and exciting than the actual book. I don't know if it's my age or that I'm more widely read now, but Prisoner of Azkaban just didn't quite reach the levels of excitement I expected it to.

Don't get me wrong, it was still completely wonderful, but the anticipation for certain events was more exciting than reading those events. I think part of this is due to the movie; we see a whole lot more of Lupin as a werewolf in the movie, and I see very little of him in that state in the book. And when the Dementors attacked Sirius, Harry and Hermione, I remember that being absolutely horrifying, but it wasn't as nearly as scary this time round. And had me wondering if maybe I should have left the re-reading?

I will continue on this re-read, and I'm sure I'll re-read them again in the future, but maybe as I get older and change, my reading of the books and my experience of reading them will also change... and I'm now worried that maybe I won't love them as much with each re-read. There's a huge part of me that completely refuses to believe it - no way will I ever fall out of love for these books that have meant so much to me, and were an integral part of my teen years. But I still worry.

What do you think? Do you thinking getting older and experiencing more can affect how you read a book when re-reading? And do you think that affect, over time, could lead to losing the love you originally felt for that book?

Also, in my re-read post for Philosopher's Stone, I questioned what year Fred and George were in, but in Prisoner of Azkaban, this is all cleared up. It says they'll be starting their fifth year - while being the third book, Harry, Ron and Hermione are in their third, so Fred and George are two years older than them, and so would have started playing Quidditch in their second year. All sorted, I was mistaken, no plot hole here!

I'm still deciding whether I'll jump right on to Goblet of Fire or read something else, but either way, I am super excited for the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament!

[inlibrisveritas]

My third re-read of this one, there are so many things I forgot about
-
1999
2004
June, 2016

[thepunktheory]

Book vs. Movie:
I completely devoured this book. Impossible to put down. J. K. Rowling delivered a more than thrilling piece of writing. The story is so clever and I am deeply impressed how many little aspects add up to one bigger point. No chance to see it coming, you'll spend long parts of the book holding your breath, anxious to find out what happens next. I love the character developement and how complex every person and every story line is. The Prisoner of Azkaban is darker than the first two books, and for me this is a perfect fit. As Harry grows up, the story grows with him.
This is the first movie not directed by Chris Columbus but by Alfonso Cuarón and you can clearly tell that the film has a different vibe.
To be honest, this was my least favourite movie so far. Many aspect from the book have been left out and the movie lacks a lot of background information. Especially towards the end of the film, many things were brought up without giving them time to unfold or explaining them properly. Therefore, not only the story appears a little flat, also the characters are shallow. I missed a lot of the character developement from book, it just wasn't really transported into the film.
Furthermore, the first parts of the movie didn't do the darker atmosphere justice. The incident with the floating aunt was a bit to exaggerated for my liking. And professor Trelawney simply annoyed me. As teacher for Deviation she was depicted as a bit strange in the book. In the novel she wants to surround herself with a mystical atmosphere and her subject itself is not taken seriously by most people (including teachers). But in the movie this women is outright nuts. This character is over the top and just didn't fit in with what I expected.
However, in general the actors did an amazing job and I need to highlight once more how brilliant the cast is.

All in all I have to say that the third movie lacks many aspect of the book and therefore failed to impress me. With so much depth missing the movie is okay, but if you read the book you will be really disappointed. The film just doesn't have the same intensity.
A little tip: watch the movie before you read the book. This way the film is far more enjoyable and the book will still surprise you.

[adastra]

Still one of my absolute favorites of the series!

[bumblingbookworm]

This review was originally posted on The Bumbling Bookworm

WHEN I First Read

Like Chamber of Secrets, I read this in early 2001 after begging my parents to buy it for me. They didn't know what they started when the bought me Philosopher's Stone for Christmas the year before!

Check out the rest of my review here!

[Mercy]

Este libro es tan asdfghjklñ ♥ lo amé de principio a fin :')

[celinenyx]

My favorite HP-book of all. It has so much hope at the end of it. Sirius is my favorite side character of the series.

Definitely one of my faves in the series. Going through it a second time is just as good as the first.