Review: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Book Summary from Amazon: “For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.  Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, ‘He’s at Hogwarts…he’s at Hogwarts.’ Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst.”

RATING *5/5 STARS*

If I wasn’t obsessed with this series before, I definitely am now!  I wouldn’t say this is my favorite book in the series.  The Chamber of Secrets holds that place currently.  However, The Prisoner of Azkaban was a great read.

In terms of plot, this book didn’t keep me as interested as the first two did.  It wasn’t until the ending that I was on the edge of my seat.  What The Prisoner of Azkaban lacked in plot for me was made up with the psychological aspects.

We are shown the darker side of Harry in this book.  Up until this point, he has always seemed to me as though he never thought of harming another individual.  I appreciated seeing the darker side of him.  Although, I am happy with how he handled the Sirius Black situation.

Building off my last point, now that we were more introduced to Harry’s thought process in The Prisoner of Azkaban, I hope there is more action in the fourth book.

I have a few things to say about the movie version of The Prisoner of Azkaban.  I wasn’t pleased with the movie at all.  It was lacking a lot of the back story contained in the book.  Not to mention, there was a lot more deviation from the book than there was in the first two.  Lastly, the directors (or whoever is in charge of the movie content)  did, in my opinion, a poor job of explaining several key elements to the plot, such as the Marauder’s Mape.  Maybe it’s just me, but I hope not!

I look forward to reading the next book.  If you’ve read The Prisoner of Azkaban or have any other thoughts, drop me a comment.

Amazon Link: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban