Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

February 13th, 2008

Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
J.K. Rowling
317 p.

Bloomsbury, 1999.

Back cover blurb:

Harry Potter is a wizard! Along with Ron and Hermione, his best friends, Harry is in his third years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Who knows what will happen this year? Read on to find out and immerse yourself in the magical world of Hogwarts…

Before I start saying anything decent, I must just profess my love for the back cover blurbs on the first three books. They are all so happy and trying to lure readers to pick up the books. Today, you could write “Harry Potter is kinda hip” and god-knows how many people would buy it anyway. Such is the charm of Harry Potter. This deep fascination and worldwide obsession with Harry Potter I find very interesting. But, of course, I appreciate the books as they are.

This is my favourite Harry Potter-book. It has got everything. With it my favourite characters (Lupin and Sirius) are introduced, the “real” plot is first nosed at (pun not intended). And Voldemort is not in it. Now, I don’t mind Voldemort - I think he’s a quite interesting character - but it feels so fresh to be rid of him for an entire book! If he had appeared in this book, my high esteem for these books would drop a bit. No one tries to resurrect themselves four time. Ain’t happenin’. With this book Harry is also starting to grow up. He is no longer just “yay for wizardry!”. He’s got funny jolts in his stomach and seems to have matured. Of course, he is miles from the Harry he’s become in the last book, but still! Harry Potter as a phenomena had also started to engrain itself in the society, and you were expected to have read the first two books, which means that not everything is explained yet again. That is one of the things that annoy me in the second book - everything is explained as if you haven’t read the first. Which is very practical if it’s been more than a year reading it, but if it is a day and a half, it isn’t quite as practical.

THIS BOOK IS BRILLIANT. That is all I want to say.

Entry Filed under: Children, English, Fantasy, Fiction