2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
[I think I have finally outgrown this series and fandom, and I can no longer in good conscience support it, thanks to She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. My once-love of the franchise has turned sour; I am disenchanted, disinterested, and I can't look at it fondly anymore. I will always have the memories, but not the books.]
Final Score: 4/5
2020 Edit: Without a doubt the best in the series so far. The films seriously don't do these books justice. Amidst all the magic, mystery, danger, charm and fun, this instalment is all about friendship and its complications and challenges. We delve even further into Harry's parents' past. Plus foreshadowing.
It is brilliant. I am falling in love all over again, and it has nothing to do with nostalgia. I am so glad I got to visit the 'Harry Potter' world at the Universal parks years ago when I did.
Final Score: 5/5
Original Review:
Harry Potter Reviews
Book 3: 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'
Here is where things get darker and stranger, and that's saying something. Harry Potter is now a teenager, and with that comes the difficulties of adolescence. He is still just discovering the details of his past, and seeing the adults around him in a new and complicated light.
After a hilariously disastrous phone call from Ron Weasley to Harry's uncle Vernon Dursley, and after accidentally blowing up his monster of a Muggle aunt, Marge, Harry runs away from home. He arrives at The Leaky Cauldron via the Knight Bus. More danger now lurks, as news of an escaped wizard convict Sirius Black - said to have been one of Lord Voldemort's allies - travels fast and forebodingly. And on the Hogwarts Express, horrifying cloaked creatures known as Dementors show up, sucking the hope and happiness out of their victims. They are the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban, and they now wander outside the Hogwarts castle to keep the potential threat of Black away. A new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Remus Lupin, is also introduced, and unlike the previous DADA teachers he is beloved by nearly all of his students, including Harry, who learns to cast a Patronus Charm from him. But like practically every adult of authority in the 'Harry Potter' universe, Lupin has a dark secret and a troubled past.
Harry also finds out that he is at the heart of the hunt for Sirius Black, and his deceased parents' background at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is revealed.
It's hard not to see J.K. Rowling's enthusiasm in writing 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', which is just as sprightly and fun as in her last two novels, despite the darker tone and less jokes (did I mention how devilishly funny the previous instalments are? I'd like to further emphasise that here). The twists and turns get even twistier and more maze-like than the gnawed Whomping Willow branches and tunnels.
In the reader's third visit to the wizarding world, we learn about Divination classes (taught by the unpredictable Professor Sybill Trelawney), Boggarts (that only show up as people's worst fears), 'The Monster Book of Monsters', Buckbeak the Hippogriff, the Shrieking Shack, the delightful village Hogsmeade, the Marauder's Map (once used by Hogwarts students called Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs), and time travel. Plus the return of the ferocious Whomping Willow, and the shrewdness of Hermione Granger's cat Crookshanks. The third book in the series also marks the first appearance of Cho Chang, Harry's first crush.
One of the most interesting new features in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban' is the Dementors. Like the Boggarts, they live off of misery, pain and hopelessness; some of the worst aspects of human nature and evil. They are used as punishment for Azkaban's prisoners. It is said that J.K. Rowling created these mysterious and ungodly beings out of her own experience with depression, and it shows through her descriptions of them and how they affect Harry. The Dementors make him faintly remember his mother Lily dying to protect him. Fortunately, since the 'Harry Potter' series is all about hope, love and battling hardships, there are ways of tackling this type of depressive foe; whether it be as simple as eating chocolate, or as painstakingly trying as summoning your own Patronus from your wand.
(I wish I could know what animal my Patronus would be.)
Apart from the Ensemble Darkhorse that is Sirius Black, a new character worth talking about is Remus Lupin. He is one of the few positive and sane adults to help Harry in his life, and is as warm and knowledgeable as Dumbledore. However, Lupin is cursed with a secret which will prevent him from teaching at Hogwarts, despite being very good at his job and a favourite among his students. I don't think I need to worry about spoiling anything in this review, since pretty much everybody knows about 'Harry Potter' and this book already. Lupin is a werewolf, which is why he disappears whenever there's a full moon every month, for he is dangerous without his Wolfsbane Potion. He was bitten when he was very young, and it is an incurable curse. This reflects the ableism that is current in the real world, where people who are differently-abled than what is considered normal are stigmatised and are frowned upon for being given certain jobs; like being a children's television presenter when having half an arm, for example (this actually happened). Remus Lupin still has friends even when they know he is a werewolf, and that just shows how special friendships are and why they are worth fighting for. I'm not completely on board with supernatural powers in fiction being used as metaphors for real life prejudice issues - as they rarely actually succeed in getting their point across and could still easily fall into white supremacy cliches. However, I think that in the case of Remus Lupin - an unfortunate man who nonetheless gets through life to the best of his abilities - this works on many a level. I truly felt sorry for him when he had to resign from his job at the end of the book.
This time, Harry and Hermoine get to shine together, like Harry and Ron did in 'The Chamber of Secrets'. I feel like I love Hermione more and more in each sequel. Her determination, resourcefulness, and her many surprises are at their strongest yet in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban'. Aside from apparently being able to teleport to two places at once, she hits Draco Malfoy! Her loneliness and isolation are also accentuated further as she overworks to study everything Hogwarts has to offer (including Muggle Studies, when she's Muggle-born), at the expense of her friendship with Harry and Ron, and this aspect of the novel is very touching. Hermione is, in my opinion, at her best in 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', even though her disbelief in Divination and in Professor Trelawney's predictions are themselves disbelieving. I mean, she's a witch who studies in a world filled with trolls and elves and Dementors and Invisibility Cloaks and need I go on???
(Though this won't be the most baffling of Hermione's Arbitrary Skepticisms, as we'll soon see...)
Oh and even noting one or two good deeds, Snape is still a bastard and a bully.
Anyway, that's all I've got to say about 'The Prisoner of Azkaban', the book. It intensifies the darker side to Harry Potter's story, but Ms Rowling doesn't sacrifice her gift of immense imaginative storytelling for angsty melodrama. Only drama of the well-written kind is at work here.
The plot moves faster than a Firebolt broomstick, and the characters, their dialogue and conversations with one another are enjoyable to read. I love it.
As for the motion picture...well, a lot of people think it's the best 'Harry Potter' adaptation, but I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that the main three characters are wearing jeans instead of their uniforms and robes on Hogwarts grounds. Or that Harry, with no explanation given, somehow knows that the stag Patronus that saves him from Dementors in the Forbidden Forest is his dead father's. (It's here where I think the films' writers started to get a bit lazy and assumed the viewers had already read the books and so they didn't have to explain what needs to be explained in the context of the film). Or how it accentuated Ron's apparent cowardice and uselessness (the "comedic" moments are very awkward and cringey) and gave his finest moment - when he says to Black, "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!" while standing on a broken leg (page 249) - to Hermione. But the movie does give us the funniest lines in the whole film series: "The spiders want me to tap dance! I don't wanna tap dance, Harry!" "Yeah, you tell them, Ron." Absolutely priceless.
Things get darker and more dangerous still. For Harry's fourth adventure at Hogwarts sees the return of Lord Voldemort in the flesh, and the loss of the boy wizard's innocence.
Harry Potter Book 3:
Final Score: 5/5
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