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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

(Harry Potter #3)

J.K. Rowling,

Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)

4.58 · Rating details · 3,487,897 ratings · 68,699 reviews

For use in schools and libraries only. During his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter must confront the devious and dangerous wizard responsible for his parents' deaths. ...more

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Mass Market Paperback, 435 pages

Published May 1st 2004 by Scholastic Inc. (first published June 8th 1999)

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· 3,487,897 ratings · 68,699 reviews

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Sep 12, 2011 Inge rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, all-time-favourites, young-adult, villain-antihero-love, faeries-fae-elves, fantasy

This is a Weasley appreciation post.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

...more

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Apr 24, 2020 Cindy rated it really liked it

I am both pleasantly surprised and mad that I ended up enjoying this audiobook and getting invested in Sirius Black. The story really improved when we discovered more about the background story of events that happened before Harry's generation. I enjoyed learning more about the adult characters and being surprised at the plot developments. ...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Zoë rated it it was amazing

“Don't let the muggles get you down.”
Yup yup yup I love this book. ...more

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Aug 01, 2013 Jayson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: author-british, format-illustrated, subject-boarding-school, genre-juvenile-fantasy, read-in-2009, 400-499-pp, genre-young-adult

(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: Separating itself from its forebears, it's a story of greater complexity, darker tones, and a vastly expanded mythology. ...more

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Jul 05, 2014 Wil Wheaton rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

I'm beginning to wonder if there will ever be a Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher who is just a teacher. ...more

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Feb 03, 2018 ❀ Lily ❀ added it

This one is definitely my favourite of the 3 i've read so far.. :)

(Watch my review here): https://youtu.be/gFZ99uPXiIU ...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies rated it it was amazing

I last read this book when I was 14 years old, given that I'm almost 32 now, I have a whole new perspective on it. Despite the fact that I gave this book 5 stars previously, I have to admit that it didn't grow on me until this, my second read.

Confession time: I didn't like Remus or Sirius.

*Khanh ducks as rotten fruit and eggs are thrown her way*

OK, OK, I'M SORRY! I've since changed my mind! Notice that I used the past tense.

Obviously, there will be spoilers for the book below, for the 1.5 of yo ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Jayson rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: author-british, genre-juvenile-fantasy, subject-boarding-school, genre-young-adult, audiobook-audible, read-in-2020

(A) 85% | Extraordinary
Notes: A flavorful foreboding, it plies expanded bandwidth, like ripened fruit, and more acute: a sweet and spicy sandwich.

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Dec 22, 2014 Hannah Azerang rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: owned

I have so much more love for this one re-reading it as an adult.

Five stars of course.

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Apr 02, 2015 Kai Spellmeier added it · review of another edition

Shelves: finished-series

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

See the irony there?

Trans lives matter. Donate now:

Mermaids UK

The Trevor Project

Black Visions Collective ...more

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Feb 21, 2011 Katerina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy

It's a rainy Sunday. It's colder than it should be this time of the year, so I'm drinking a delicious cup of coffee and I'm browsing my Goodreads shelves only to realise that I haven't written a Harry Potter review. Not a single one. So, I decided to start with the first Harry Potter book I ever read, the one that took me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and made me believe that magic is something tangible.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

I was 16 years old, It's a rainy Sunday. It's colder than it should be this time of the year, so I'm drinking a delicious cup of coffee and I'm browsing my Goodreads shelves only to realise that I haven't written a Harry Potter review. Not a single one. So, I decided to start with the first Harry Potter book I ever read, the one that took me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and made me believe that magic is something tangible.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

I was 16 years old, and I had just started my english classes in order to pass my Proficiency examinations. My teacher told me that the best way to delve into a foreign language and familiarize with it is to read books written in it, so she gave me the third instalment of Harry Potter. (Little did she know that she unleashed a beast who now reads almost exclusively in english). Before I tell you about my experience, I need to make a confession. It was my choice to stay away from J.K. Rowling's books until that moment. I wanted to swim against the current, and I thought that Harry Potter was too "mainstream" for my taste. And the foolish little me was proud of this decision. But when my teacher gave me this old, used copy, something inside me cracked. I knew the basics about the story, about the orphan kid who goes to a school for wizards and fights the ugly, evil dude who doesn't have a nose. But page by page, I came to understand with awe that the wizard who finds trouble even when he doesn't want to offers more than that; he opened a portal to a world where I longed to be fervently. I stayed up late at night, with a faint light just enough to make out the sentences, and I cheered for Gryffindor's Quidditch team, I flied with Firebolt and I kept wondering what my patronus would be (according to Pottermore it's a brown mastiff, which is oddly fitting). I casted spells (but never Avada Kedavra, you shouldn't play with this shit) and tasted butterbeer in Hogsmeade, and just like that, my life had changed irrevocably. I was a Potterhead. And I was proud of that. (my mum wasn't though, especially when I asked for a wand).

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

There is a reason why J.K. Rowling is the fairy god-mother to millions of children (and adults) worldwide. Friendship, love, hope, they're present in her books even in the most desperate times, when Evil seems undefeatable, when no escape is visible. She encourages and empowers, shows that everything is possible, that strength and courage can be found within, when you have someone to hold your hand. Harry was a kid who was deprived of love yet he was capable of loving, it took him years but he finally found a place to belong, to feel safe and cared. Ron, with his witty lines and his constant presence, Hermione, my personal favorite, with her intelligence and compassion, they managed to enchant my prejudiced heart, and even now, years later, I'm still under their spell. I think I will always be.

“Don't let the muggles get you down.”

I'm still waiting for my Hogwarts letter, and secretly hope that Dobby is the one to blame. I still caress with affection the spines of my Harry Potter books (meanwhile I bought them all and finished the entire series in a week and a half) and laugh at Harry Potter jokes. And I know, and it's imprinted in my soul, that I'll never be a muggle again.

...more

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Jul 06, 2018 Nilufer Ozmekik rated it it was amazing

This home prison a.k.a voluntarily quarantine making cookies and throwing them into trash days( I never say I’m a good cook and each day I’m getting worse!) giving me nostalgic vibes. It’s like living never ending mercury retrograde! You don’t want to start a new thing, you have to go back to your past or you have to deal with your unfinished businesses.

Of course this is not a book from my TBR or DNF list. I’ve read it very same day it has been released: 16 freaking years ago when I was still This home prison a.k.a voluntarily quarantine making cookies and throwing them into trash days( I never say I’m a good cook and each day I’m getting worse!) giving me nostalgic vibes. It’s like living never ending mercury retrograde! You don’t want to start a new thing, you have to go back to your past or you have to deal with your unfinished businesses.

Of course this is not a book from my TBR or DNF list. I’ve read it very same day it has been released: 16 freaking years ago when I was still hot, dump, in my silly 20’s . The year I finished it, I flipped my bird to my managers at the workplace and quitted for chasing my writing dreams. (It was not entertaining, sunshine and rainbow story, there is so much rebellion, pain, fight, humiliation but freedom never comes without dues to pay!) And after devouring this book in one day( because I locked myself at my childhood room. Yes, I was single! It was easier to isolate yourself!) and I decided that’s my all time favorite Harry Potter book (I know there were more to come but my life was changing and my three musketeers’ lives were also going different directions. They were finally growing up, just like me!)

Sirius Black has a special place in my heart and at the beginning he escaped from Azkaban and we think he was after Harry to kill him. This book faces Harry’s past trauma about his family, his guilt feelings, night terror, his self insecurities and sometimes we think his inner demons were more terrifying than the outside world’s vicious, dangerous avengers coming after him.
And at the end, Harry and Sirius’s special relationship always melts my heart and fills my eyes in tears. I always find this is one of the most meaningful and genuine relationships JKR formed between two characters.

And we also see the growing pains of two main characters: Ron always loyal, likable, witty and Hermione is passionate, intelligent but also kind-hearted.
Maybe this is the best part of their story because after this book, everything gets bleaker, darker and more violent! My dear three musketeers’ lives will never be the same.

I read this book 16 years by locking myself in my room and as a de je vu or reenactment of my younger and dumber self, I reread my favorite HP book. I smiled, entertained, cried, jumped, horrified again! And I felt good and gave my five gazillion stars over and over again!

In these days, the best thing you gotta do: sticking with the things that makes you happy and rekindle your past experiments by making a visit to your memory lane with a great book!
That’s what I did and it worked so well with me! ...more

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Jul 04, 2017 Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

As it seems my Harry Potter reviews don’t always start with a Dumbledore quote but always end up being “My thoughts about this book” reviews as well. For a series like HP that’s been read by so many people this might be the best solution though. And because the books get longer and longer and because I don’t share my friend Jayson’s amazing and remarkable ability to describe a book in one significa ...more

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Dec 26, 2020 Tharindu Dissanayake rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites-fiction

"Oy! Presents!"

I'm flabbergasted, again. This one deviates from what it had been for the first two books - by a mile!. Just when I thought the second one was more detailed compared to the first. Prisoner of Azkaban is much more complex, having a lengthier plot, more descriptive characters and environs, but still not lacking in any way. It makes the first two feel like short stories. I'm going to stop saying this is 'The Best' until I'm done with the series, for, right now it feels like it'll kee ...more

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Nov 24, 2016 Luca Ambrosino rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

ENGLISH (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) / ITALIANO

«Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard»

Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban prison is on every wizard's lips. Not even the dreaded guards of the prison, the Dementors, managed to keep in a cage the wicked wiz

ENGLISH (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) / ITALIANO

«Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard»

Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban prison is on every wizard's lips. Not even the dreaded guards of the prison, the Dementors, managed to keep in a cage the wicked wizard, who probably want to meet again his master, Voldemort. But to do that, firstly he must kill Harry Potter, the only one capable to stand up to Voldemort... Meanwhile, the new school year is about to start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry, Ron and hermione will become acquainted with two new professors...

Compared to the previous, the third volume of the series is the one that is richer in twists and turns. I'm reading the saga of Harry Potter to my daughter, when in the evening she goes to bed, and in this "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" a little tragedy happened. When we got to "The kiss of the dementor" chapter, just hearing the title my daughter (6 years old) was so upset by what it might happen that she required that I read that chapter alone, and just then telling her what was going on by omitting the scary details. Apart from this hiccup, the reading was neat and clean. It is evident that the playful and carefree tones of the first two adventures give way to dark colors. After all harry is growing up, and its way of seeing things is supposed to change as well. Rowling takes us in the maturation process of the most famous little wizard of the world using the same plot device of the previous volumes: the teachings of Headmaster Dumbledore, the clashes with Malfoy, the bickering with Hermione, the conflicts with Professor Snape. I do not know if in the near future I will continue to read to my daughter the Harry Potter saga, or if I will wait she grows enough to read it alone to avoid upsetting her again. Never mind. I will go on because now it is not possible for me to stop reading, with the pleasant awareness that there is no healthier addiction of this one. "Get high" yourself too.

Vote: 10

description

«Harry Potter era un ragazzo insolito sotto molti punti di vista. Prima di tutto, odiava le vacanze estive più di qualunque altro periodo dell'anno. Poi voleva davvero fare i compiti, ma era costretto a studiare di nascosto, nel cuore della notte. E per giunta era un mago»

La fuga di Sirius Black dalla prigione di Azkaban è sulla bocca di tutti i maghi. Nemmeno i temuti guardiani del carcere, i Dissennatori, sono riusciti a tenere in gabbia il malvagio stregone, che si dice voglia riunirsi al suo padrone, Voldemort. Per farlo però dovrà prima eliminare Harry Potter, l'unico che fino ad ora è stato in grado di tenere testa a Voldemort... Nel frattempo, alla scuola di magia e stregoneria di Hogwarts sta per cominciare il nuovo anno scolastico, ed Harry, Ron ed Hermione faranno la conoscenza di due nuovi professori...

Rispetto ai due precedenti, il terzo volume della serie è quello più ricco di colpi di scena, e di conseguenza quello con il ritmo più serrato. Sto leggendo la saga di Harry Potter a mia figlia quando la sera va a letto, ed in questo "Harry Potter e il Prigioniero di Azkaban" è successa una piccola tragedia. Arrivati al capitolo "il bacio del dissennatore", al solo sentire il titolo mia figlia (6 anni) è rimasta così turbata da quello che sarebbe potuto accadere che ha preteso che lo leggessi io da solo, e che le raccontassi quello che succedeva omettendo i particolari spaventosi. A parte questo intoppo, la lettura è continuata liscia. E' evidente che i toni giocosi e spensierati delle prime due avventure lasciano il posto a sfumature a tratti cupe e goticheggianti. D'altronde Harry sta crescendo, e si suppone che cambi anche il suo modo di vedere le cose. La Rowling ci accompagna nel processo di maturazione del maghetto più famoso del mondo utilizzando gli stessi espedienti narrativi usati negli altri volumi: gli insegnamenti di Silente, gli scontri con Malfoy, i battibecchi con Hermione, i conflitti con Piton. Non so se nell'immediato futuro continuerò a leggere a mia figlia la saga di Harry Potter, o se aspetterò che cresca abbastanza da essere in grado di leggerseli da sola per evitare adesso di turbarla. Non importa. Io andrò avanti perchè per me non è più possibile fermarmi, con la piacevole consapevolezza che non esiste dipendenza più salutare di questa. "Drogatevi" anche voi.

Voto: 10

...more

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Nov 30, 2017 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, childrens, fantasy-all

I'm just going to add a few gifs and pictures from my book. Harry Potter books will always be 5 star no matter how many times they are read. (Hermione forever!)

I fell in love with S. Black in this book and I never looked back.

I'm going to add some pictures from my book, although now, I wish I would have added more but it is what it is. . . maybe later

I love these big illustrated coffee table editions of the books. It makes re-reading them an extremely fun experience. I just wish she would put t ...more

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Nov 02, 2013 chloe rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audiobooks, 2019-reads, 5-stars, 2018-reads, re-reads, 2017-reads

*5th read: July - August 2019- Audiobook*
5 stars

*4th read: June 2018 - Audiobook*
5 stars
Stephen Fry is incredible.

*3rd read: 2017*
5 stars
DON'T LET THE MUGGLES GET YOU DOWN! ...more

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Sep 29, 2013 Danielle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-to-read-with-kids

Welcome back to my re-read of the superb series “Harry Potter”. 🤓⚡️My journey this time around is a hybrid of reading the books, listening to a fun (adult) podcast and watching the movies. ❤️📚🎧🎬

⚠️Spoiler Warning: stop reading now, if you’re unfamiliar with the world of Hogwarts.⚠️
Personal Opinion Note: I’m terribly sad for you, if you’ve never read the books (or at least watched the movies). 😉📚🎧🎬

These books are only gonna get longer- so, rather than re-capping, I’m just going to note my favorit ...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Navessa rated it it was amazing

Still five stars. Love this so much. Can't review. Couldn't even take notes. Watched the movie immediately after finishing. Need next book. Wish I lived in this world. Damn you, Rowling.

Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest ...more

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Jun 19, 2010 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, childrens-young-readers, british, fantasy, 20th-century

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3), J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the third in the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.

The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Har ...more

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Aug 03, 2018 Chelsea Humphrey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle-deals, favorites, bookstagram-made-me-do-it

Next up in our Harry Potter re-read! So excited to finally tackle the illustrated version of this one.

*********************

I guess you can tell from my rating that this wasn't my all-time favorite HP installment, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember thinking that the movie was about a 3/5 star rating for me when I first saw it, but now that I've experienced the novel version, I can see how the ending in the book is so much more detailed and excellent than how they chose to portray the e ...more

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Oct 31, 2017 Tina ➹ the girl who lives in Fandoms rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: golden-stars, wow-end, 2000-2010, review-pride, disappointment, fav-side-chrctr, most-anticipated, cover, middle-grade, re-read

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"
description

true
maybe
if you count fangirling as one

4.5 Golden stars

93%

For some reason, I never really liked Prisoner of Azkaban when I was younger, I thought it as a sidejob, after Chamber of Secrets & that big Revelation, I waited for more (& there was a little amount of waiting before the book been translated, so maybe that might be a reason too, a kind of mild disappointment & no book after that.), so I thought it was, not as important as the last book... but ...more

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Feb 21, 2016 Brina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: coming-of-age, magic, witches, j-k-rowling, rereads, all-time-favorites, mystery, england

Time. The things we could accomplish if we had extra time on our hands. Just this week I mentioned to people that I have been running on fumes with all the things I had to get done. If only I had a few extra hours in my week to take a nap or rest with a book. Thankfully, we have a leap year, providing our busy lives with a full extra day to get those things done that may have been pushed to the back burner. Whether it’s catching up on sleep, reading, or chores, a leap year creates the impression Time. The things we could accomplish if we had extra time on our hands. Just this week I mentioned to people that I have been running on fumes with all the things I had to get done. If only I had a few extra hours in my week to take a nap or rest with a book. Thankfully, we have a leap year, providing our busy lives with a full extra day to get those things done that may have been pushed to the back burner. Whether it’s catching up on sleep, reading, or chores, a leap year creates the impression that there is indeed an extra day to accomplish those things that may have been pushed to the wayside. Despite this, adults rarely have the time to go back and savor favorite books, but, in 2020 a group of us in Retro Chapter Chicks have decided to take the time to reread Harry Potter in all its glory. I find it appropriate that on a day where we can enjoy extra time, that I curled up with my favorite book in the series, one that indeed tests the limit of place and time.

A mass murderer has escaped from prison. The news is so important that it even made the Muggle news. Even Muggles who detest magic like the Dursleys are on high alert. For Harry Potter, a wizard about to enter his third year at Hogwarts, it is just another summer vacation. Although famous and living up to his name during his first two years at school, at the Dursleys he is treated like less than human. His living conditions have advanced from a cupboard under the stairs to a room with bars on the window and a flap on the door for which to receive stone cold meals. Even though Aunt Petunia is Harry’s blood relative, she also treats him like vermin. Things couldn’t get any worse until Uncle Vernon’s sister Marge arrives for a weeklong visit, and she believes that Harry is worthless and ungrateful to his family. What Marge fails to realize is that this so called family wishes that Harry did not exist. Harry’s true family is thicker than blood and bound by magic: his Hogwarts family. Each summer, life at Dursleys grows unbearable and Marge’s treatment of Harry puts things over the top. In a fit of teenage emotions, Harry causes Marge to blow up, and then he leaves the Dursleys home, for what he thinks is hopefully for good this time.

Normally use of magic outside of school is grounds for expulsion from school, but, with a murderer named Sirius Black on the loose, the Minister of Magic himself has bent the rules in Harry’s favor. Minister Cornelius Fudge believes that Black is a dark wizard and servant of Lord Voldemort, and, in his eyes, the safest place for Harry is at Hogwarts under the watchful eyes of Albus Dumbledore. Harry gets a reprieve and is allowed to spend three weeks of his summer vacation away from the Dursleys and will indeed get to return to Hogwarts to continue his magical education. With the addition of Black to the storyline, the stories only get darker. Readers find out that he is the first ever prisoner to escape from Azkaban prison located in the middle of the sea and guarded by dementors, creatures so foul that they suck the happy memories from all those around them. Fudge is convinced that Black is after Harry and has stationed dementors outside of Hogwarts, much to Dumbledore’s chagrin. As long as Dumbledore is headmaster, dementors will not be allowed inside the castle because he foresees that these horrid creatures are allied with Voldemort. Black was able to outsmart them, and all of England is on high alert. It is against this backdrop and protection that Harry returns to Hogwarts.

Third year students have more responsibilities and more freedoms. They are allowed to visit the village of Hogsmeade provided a parent or guardian signed a form; the Dursleys did not. Yet, they also have enough magical training to sign up for extra classes. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine enroll in Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, taught by none other than Hagrid. Hermoine also begins the study of Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Muggle Studies. Harry and Ron do not understand how anyone, even one as smart as Hermoine, could take that many classes. Some are at the same time as others, which makes it humanly impossible for her to attend two classes at once. The dialogue between Ron and Hermoine involving her class schedule speaks to growing relationship between the two, a relationship which neither is mature enough to recognize. Meanwhile, class work has gotten harder. Professor Snape loathes Harry more than ever, and the new Defense of the Dark Arts professor Lupin is an old friend of Harry’s father. Hagrid, while the nicest person around and Harry’s protector, is threatened by the Malfoys yet again, this time after Draco is scratched by a hippogriff named Buckbeak because he refused to pay attention in class. Buckbeak is threatened with execution, adding to the animosity between Harry and Draco, and only Hermoine, on top of her grueling class schedule, finds the time to assist Hagrid in his defense. All these storylines would make for an exciting tale, but inserting Lupin and Black and Harry’s anti-dementor training make this book the turning point in the entire series.

The story progresses, and animals play a key role in plot development: Ron’s rat, Hermoine’s cat, and a large black dog. The three are infinitely linked to one another. Rowling reveals that Black was the Potters’ secret keeper and only him revealing their whereabouts would expose their location to Voldemort. He was supposedly in jail for murdering twelve innocent people plus a tag along named Peter Pettigrew. He is also Harry’s godfather. This information has Harry’s growing teenaged emotions on high. He is more determined than ever to defeat Voldemort and his legion of dark creatures and takes necessary precautions to guard himself against the darkness. Although teenaged pranks occur in this book, my favorite scenes are between Harry and Lupin and Black. Being able to interact with one of his parents’ closest friends, one really feels for Harry as an orphan and sees that he truly belongs in the wizarding world and not at the Dursleys. As Rowling will reveal much, much later, Dumbledore has his reasons for placing Harry there, but with each book it gets harder and harder for him to return, even if the presence of these Muggles is key to the plot line.

Time, of course, plays a key role in the plot as well. Hermoine reveals that she has been using a time turner to get to her classes all year but promised not to tell anyone. Sirius turns out to be none other than the dog who has made an appearance throughout the book. He is innocent, yet the only people who believe him are Harry, Ron, Hermoine, and Professor Dumbledore. Lupin is indeed his closest friend and also a werewolf, and it is Pettigrew who is the servant of Lord Voldemort. This, Dumbledore explains to Harry, is magic at its deepest, most impenetrable moments and, in my opinion, the essence of the entire series. As Dumbledore points out time and again, it is one’s choices that determine one’s fate, not their abilities. For a few glorious moments Harry believes that he can live with Sirius and escape the Dursleys once and for all; it is the most touching moment, and the scene in the movie where the two of them are staring at Hogwarts castle has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. Yet, this moment is indeed fleeting. The Ministry of Magic still believes that Sirius is a dark wizard and he is forced to flee on Buckbeak the innocent Hippogriff. Readers know that this moment is indeed fleeting because Harry and Sirius will eventually be reunited but for only a short amount of time. It makes for a necessary storyline later on but one that gets harder and harder to stomach with each passing reading. Pretending that I do not know what comes next; however, knowing that Sirius and Lupin reappear in future books is what has always had me excited at the end of this book, a crossroads between the end of Harry’s adolescence and the darker times that lurk on the horizon.

Time. J.K. Rowling has shown us what can happen if well meaning witches and wizards are given just a few hours extra in their days. Most adults with busy lives wish they were afforded the opportunity to relive hours and minutes in order to accomplish even the most mundane tasks. The climax of this book has revealed how precious time is and to take advantage of what time we do have in order to live life to the fullest. This year’s leap day provided me with the opportunity to reread favorite books and get some much needed rest that I needed after a busy week. Even in this busy life that I lead, I have found the time to visit Harry Potter’s magical world yet again. As the plot moves deeper into Harry’s teenaged years, and, he and his friends are about to embark on fighting the forces of evil, it is obvious that they have left their childhood behind. It is the moments that mark the end of this book combined with the extra time afforded to us this year that show us just how precious the time we have is to us all.

5+ stars
All time favorite book ...more

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Jan 31, 2008 Chris rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, harry-potter

Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of weeks, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as Crookshanks fan fiction.

Crookshanks swished his tail back and forth as he crept up the stairs to the boys' bedrooms. He knew the rat wasn't what it was pretending to Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of weeks, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as Crookshanks fan fiction.

Crookshanks swished his tail back and forth as he crept up the stairs to the boys' bedrooms. He knew the rat wasn't what it was pretending to be, but all of his attempts to alert the humans to this fact had failed. "I don't know why I even bother," he muttered to himself. "I could get along fine without any of them. Let the rat do whatever it is it's trying to do. So long as Girl keeps feeding me and scratching my belly, I'll - hello, what's this?"

He could smell the rat. Its scent was like nothing Crookshanks had ever smelled, and for all his time living in a magical pet shop, he'd smelled a lot. The rat did smell like a rat, yes, but there was also something else. Something... human. It was just like that big black dog he'd met on the grounds the other day. Every instinct in him had screamed to run away, but there was that smell. And even Crookshanks knew what they said about cats and curiosity. The dog had turned out to be more than just a dog, and it had convinced Crookshanks to help it. First order of business: retrieve a certain rat from the bedroom of the Red-Haired Boy.

The Boy wasn't in, but the rat was. Crookshanks circled the bed a few times. This time, maybe, he would be able to get the damn thing. He tensed for a moment and then leapt onto the bed.

By luck or skill, he was nearly on top of the thing when he landed. "A-HA!" he yowled. "Gotcha!" He pinned the rat under his sizable paw. "Where you gonna run to now, ratty?" he asked, sneering as best he could.

The rat writhed in his grip. "Please," it said. "Just let me go. You don't know what will happen if you eat me, it would be a terrible mistake!"

"A mistake, eh?" the cat said. "We'll see about that. I have a great big doggie friend who's just aching to get his jaws around you...."

He barely had time to finish his sentence when the rat went mad. It squealed and bit and slashed with its paws. And then, against all of Crookshanks' previous experience - it grew! It nearly threw the cat off the bed as it became much more massive - its legs lengthened and its arms stretched until it had reached a human size and shape. Crookshanks goggled. Of all the things he'd expected from this rat, this wasn't it. The human grabbed at him, but Crookshanks was too fast. He jumped off the bed and shimmied under the wardrobe, where he could see but not be seen.

The human looked around, breathing heavily. He was pale and thin, and still looked ratty. "Think, Peter, think," he said. "Gotta get out of here, but..." He stopped, glanced at the wardrobe, and grimaced. "You may just have given me my way out, cat," he said. And then he bit the ball of his hand.

Blood dripped out, leaving spreading red blotches on the sheets. "They'll think it was you," he said. "They'll leave me for dead and I'll be free to rejoin my Lord." He looked at the recently repaired curtains on Ron's bed. "It's not safe here anymore." He sucked at the wound to stop the bloodflow and then went to the window. Perched on the windowsill, he looked over at Crookshanks' hiding place. "If I were human," he said, "the fall would kill me. But as a rat...." His body rippled and twisted and shrank, and then there was an old grey rat on the sill. Crookshanks was pretty sure it winked at him before leaping off.

After a minute or two, Crookshanks wriggled out from under the wardrobe, his thoughts dark. The Red-Haired Boy was going to be angry, and so was the Girl. But more importantly, the Dog was going to be furious. It was barely holding on to its sanity as it was. Crookshanks shook his head. This was going to get worse before it would get better... ...more

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Apr 07, 2014 Claudia Ramírez rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, perfection, 5-star, 2014, hilarious-humor

Can I give it 10 stars???

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Mar 23, 2022 Lisa of Troy rated it liked it

Sirius Black, a prisoner at Azkaban, has escaped and is out on the loose. How will Harry survive?

I will likely rewrite this review at some point in the future as I have a serious cold and feel like I am on my deathbed. I need to layoff the Greek mythology because I might have muttered that I was the goddess of animals in a state of delirium. Anyways, Harry Potter.

What I enjoyed about Harry Potter #1 was his wonderment and amazement. He is grateful that he isn’t going to be stuck with the Dursley ...more

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Feb 09, 2018 Grace (BURTSBOOKS) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, reviewed

I don't know what to say other than I love this book. I loved learning more about Harry's parents. I loved Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and everyone else. I loved the storyline and how every single seemingly pointless detail somehow ended up meaning something to the bigger story and how I was left completely in shock. I loved the introduction of divination and I loved Sirius. I love love love this series. Superb storytelling. I AM IN LOVE😍 ...more

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Apr 06, 2014 Sean Barrs rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-reads, children-of-all-ages, fantasy

This is my favourite book in the Harry Potter series!

It marks a distinct change in tone and a maturation of the writing. As the characters grew older, the challenges they faced became more dark and intense. The plot became murkier especially in regard to Sirius and his involvement (or lack thereof) in the murders of Potter’s parents. It all just got so much better. I think this is a large part of Rowling’s success. She could have fell into a trap and continuously wrote books like the first two, ...more

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Feb 24, 2022 Bryce Rocks My Socks rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

not gay enough

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Feb 07, 2019 Julie G rated it it was amazing

Shelves: grab-your-broom, in-the-middle, favorite-books, the-british-invasion, a-boy-s-life

Okay, I will admit it here, publicly, for the very first time: I've got a mad crush on Remus Lupin.

How could I not have fallen hard for a man who, by day, has the vibe of a young Pablo Neruda, and by night strips down naked and takes on werewolf form?

I mean, can you imagine having sex with this man?

Well, I have. Several times. And, as a woman who read the entire Harry Potter series as an adult, rather than a child, I could not get over my joy when the series shifted from the wonderful, but some ...more

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About J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling

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See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she ch See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. ...more

Other books in the series

Harry Potter (7 books)

Books by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter, #2)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, #5)

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“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” — 37727 likes

“Mr. Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.
Mr. Prongs agrees with Mr. Moony, and would like to add that Professor Snape is an ugly git.
Mr. Padfoot would like to register his astonishment that an idiot like that ever became a professor.
Mr. Wormtail bids Professor Snape good day, and advises him to wash his hair, the slimeball.” — 10557 likes

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