Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Fantasy, Fiction, Low Fantasy, Young Adults
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter, Book # 3
Bloomsbury
July 8th 1999
Hardcover
462
English
November 14, 2019 January 21, 2020
Harry Potter is lucky to reach the age of thirteen, since he has survived the murderous attacks of the feared Dark Lord on more than one occasion. His hopes for a quiet school term concentrating on Quidditch are dashed, though, when a maniacal mass-murderer escapes from Azkaban, pursued by the soul-sucking Dementors who guard the prison. It’s assumed that Hogwarts is the safest place for Harry to be. But is it his imagination that is making him feel eyes watching him in the dark, and should he be taking Professor Trelawney’s ghoulish predictions seriously?
About the book
Yes, at the end of last year I was in Harry Potter mood. Thanks to Kindle Unlimited, free for 3 months (thanks to my phone provider) I decided to finally read Harry Potter and see why all the buzz behind this series. I need to say that I didn’t like the first 2 books that much, but I loved the 3rd book.
I know that it isn’t a book for my age group, as I said in the previous reviews, so I know it isn’t for adults. But since I see adults that enjoy the series they grew up with and still love it in their adulthood and say that it’s the most beautiful series of all time, I wanted to know why.
So, we’re in the third year of the magic school and while the students have been home for the summer holidays a prisoner escaped from Azkaban and this prisoner seems connected to Harry Potter. In fact, it is known in the book that Sirius Black, the escaped man, was a friend of his parents and that he betrayed them by revealing their location to Voldemort. The whole book focuses on the capture of Black and the “crime novel reader” in me greatly appreciates this mystery. Even more than the previous two, maybe that’s why I liked this more of the two before.
The style is obviously simple, given the reading target, I don’t know the original script as I read it in Italian and I don’t want to read the books in English. Which is a shame because seeing the films in English (don’t ask me to see a translated film, the Italian translations aren’t worth it) I don’t understand who is who. I just have to understand the change of names.
And I must also say that there is less bullying here. Which is what bothered me in the first two. Yes there is still Snape who as a teacher is disgusting, he is hateful (but I believe he is created on purpose in this way to be unbearable) but at least Harry manages to respond and to assert himself a little more than in the first two books.
And I think Lupin is the most beautiful character in the series so far. His character is full of regret for what happened to Snape in the past, the fact that Sirius wanted to use him to kill Snape, but he feels so indebted to him despite not being his fault for what happened. And even though he is a hateful character, I like that Snape still prepares the potion for Lupin, perhaps forced by Dumbledore, it’s true, but still prepares it. Maybe it’s the only thing Snape does that I like.
Another fantastic character is Hagrid. Especially when he becomes a teacher and I can feel his happiness right from the written pages. Obviously nobody can stay happy for five minutes in this series and Draco has to be Draco again. I hope Malfoy Junior (but also senior) end badly at the end of the series.
Anyway I will read the other books for sure.
