Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As I continue my introductory journey through Harry Potter, I continue to be appreciative of the compelling writing and excellent characters. It is also very revealing to me of what interests me most in books, which is character development and relationships, much more than plot, so I am not very excited by the constant peril of the books. I also find, so far at least, that the plots follow a pretty consistent formula: Harry's miserable summer with the Dursleys, adventures in Daigon Alley, adventures getting to Hogwarts, introduction to this year's classes, struggles with teachers, a few Quidditch matches, and then DANGER, with a wink-wink from Dumbledore, who always seems to actually know what's going on but leaves it to Harry and his friends to take care of it.

On that note, I think it's interesting to examine Dumbledore from the perspective of an educator. As an adult reading these books, it has sort of bothered me that Dumbledore leaves his students to take on these potentially deadly situations, especially when it seems like he knows what's going on. But when I think about it more, I know that as an educator myself, I'm often trying to give my students the space to try things out and learn for themselves without my always stepping in to fix things. That's a perspective I want to keep in mind as I continue with the series.

I was never a big fan of Prisoner of Azkaban, and seems that hasn't changed. Hermione's and Lupin's secrets amused me a lot the first time though. Man does that scene inside the hideout take a long ass time. lol Not to mention by now the “new teacher enters hogwarts -> teacher is very much connected to what's happening in the book -> conflict is resolved -> teacher leaves hogwarts” formula is overused by now.

I was gonna actually read the entire series, but after experimenting the audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry for the first time, I really wanna stick with audiobook format for now! He's so energetic and really makes the characters come to life. Definitely the best audiobook I've come across yet.

God, I'm excited for Goblet of Fire. It's my 2nd fav book.

Anecdotally, this seems to be a lot of people's favorite of the first three books, if not of the entire series. Rereading them now it's definitely my least favorite of the three so far (though still great).

It feels like there's only a little bit of information dolled out throughout the first three quarters of the book, so then when the climax happens there are pages and pages of exposition just for it to make sense. It's wild!

It's still fun though and some great characters are introduced. Dot's response when I asked for her review: “Good job for making this book”.

This book felt like it went on forever. One of the disadvantages of an e-book I suppose. You can see percentage left, but that doesn't really give you a true picture of what is left. It wasn't that I didn't like the book (I did) but it felt like I was with Harry and his friends for far too much of the year. :) Anyways, good story. A bit slow at first, but the end was definitely worth it. Loved how much of Harry's parents and their lives were tied in with people watching out for him.

I kinda skimmed this book (oops) because there were so MANY plotholes... Literally a drop of that truth potion could have solved the entire plot of this book, all the problems in it but whateverrr...
I did love the characters though and am excited for the rest of the story, now that we are nearing the more dark storylines.

After a bit of wavering about in the first two books, in The Prisoner of Azkaban we are presented with a novel that feels fully developed. In retrospect, The Philosopher's Stone and The Chamber of Secrets seem like practice runs for JKR in which she hones her craft, builds and furnishes her wizarding universe, and cements the quirks and traits of her characters' personalities. With all that out of the way, our patience is rewarded with a gripping, clever story that doesn't rely on a clumsy Dumbledore related deus ex machina to bring it to a conclusion. Huzzah!

My eldest tells me that this is her least favourite of the books, and I suspect the reasons for that lie in the difference between reading it as an adult and reading it as a child. This is undoubtedly my favourite of the series so far but I can imagine a youngster could find it quite boring without the relentless, quickly paced twists and turns found in the previous books. This is a tale to be slowly unraveled, and although it doesn't have the charm of The Chamber of Secrets there is a lot to love about this book. Fred and George's relentless pranking of poor, overly-earnest Percy had me laughing out loud as I read, and I sincerely hope we get to see more of gentle Professor Lupin. The Marauder's Map was a stroke of genius, and the reveal of the origin of the names and their accompanying backstory gave me the warm fuzzies.

With my ratings steadily creeping up, I have high hopes for the next few books. Four stars.

This is my favourite book in the series. Unlike later books it is very concise, and there is still an innocence to the story. After Azkaban, the series is less appropriate for younger children as the plot darkens significantly. The characters are still young, and the writing reflects this fact. Obviously I find value in the later novels, but there is a charm to this novel shared with the first two alone. There is a relatively happy ending, but also dramatic twists that set the stage for future novels.