Notorious mass murderer Sirius Black has escaped from the most heavily guarded wizarding prison, Azkaban. Known to be a strong supporter of You-Know-Who, he's on his way to Hogwarts to get rid of the Boy-Who-Lived once and for all. But never mind Black, Harry's got his own problems just dealing with the dementors who are the appointed school "guardians" until Black has been caught. And why does Malfoy keep showing up, taunting Harry about Black and revenge?

This is, hands down, my favorite book of the entire series. I think this is really when the series starts to take a turn for the more mature audience. I think we start to see a much darker side to many characters, Harry included - from his childish, petty desire to leaving Neville waiting for him in the library while he snuck out of the castle to the deep, burning desire to kill he begins to feel when he learns the lesser known story of Sirius Black's betrayal.

Now that I'm reading this as an adult, I begin to see some of the moral themes Rowling has skillfully put into these books. Prominent in PoA is the theme of hate. She uses Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape to get her point across. Malfoy has a hatred of Harry, driven primarily by his upbringing and jealousy, and he hurts Harry in the worst way possible, through his friends. After an "attack" by Hagrid's hippogriff, Malfoy has his father declare the animal put down. Having my own pet, this would be a devastating announcement. Malfoy knows that the hippogriff didn't do anything dangerous, but he knows taking the life of this animal who means so much to Hagrid will hurt Harry.

Spoilers:

Severus Snape, an old school mate of Sirius Black, hates Black. He wants him to receive the worse punishment possible, regardless of the fact there is strong evidence Sirius is innocent. He refuses to even consider the possibility of there being another side to the story.

End Spoilers:

I think both Malfoy and Snape's hatred make them the most despicable characters in the entire book. Rowling makes both of them look utterly foolish in the moments they are consumed by their hatred, and she shows how much you can hurt someone and how lives can be ruined through hatred.

The ending, of course, is a tragedy. Everyone wants Harry to get away from the Dursleys and he comes so close in this book that you can see the hope in his eyes. About ten years later, I still get slightly teary-eyed at the end of this book.

I strongly encourage anyone who has not read these books and has any sort of fondness towards youth fiction to read this series. The story telling is delightful and the adventure will leave you breathless.

EDIT: Another user pointed this out to me and I thought it was such a great point that I had to amend my review to put it in. Snape's hate of Sirius does come from somewhere. While at school, Sirius, James Potter, and two of their friends were horrible to Snape (and this is shown in much greater detail in later books). One particular prank almost resulted in Snape losing his life. Though Sirius, James, and Snape were just kids, these incidents left their marks. It left Snape so scarred inside that he abuses his position as teacher in order to make Harry, James's son, as miserable as possible, placing the sins of the father upon the shoulders of the son.

In addition to that, Malfoy is a product of his environment, same as everyone else. He's been brought up in a world where money can get him everything and because of that, he can get away with anything, including murder. This would be primarily the fault of his own father. But then again, wouldn't Lucius's behavior be the result of how he was raised? The chain could continue in this fashion and in the end, everyone would be innocent because everyone was just raised wrong. Malfoy is only thirteen in this book. It's hard to say whether he's old enough to be held accountable for his actions or whether he's still too young to know how much he's hurting other people.

I think this book forces us to look at the way we treat other people (as mentioned above, even Harry becomes petty in his treatment of Neville), but it also asks us to take a look at ourselves. We start as the product of our environment, but at some point we have to start taking responsibilities for our own actions. Snape had a horrible childhood, but he has to also step outside of that and grow up. He's not a child, but the grudge he's held all these years make him act like one. It's another reason I love this book: it makes us question the dividing line between innocent childhood and the responsibility of becoming an adult. Where does one end and the other begin? ( )

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling's famous fantasy series which took the world by storm...including myself. This installment was the novel of the series which really made Harry Potter recognised, it was after the release of the Prisoner of Azkaban that the film adaptations of the Harry Potter series first hit the screens.

The events of the Prisoner of Azkaban is set between the events of The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire. After suviving the attacks of the Basilisk and Tom Riddle's diary, Harry and his friends are about to begin their third year at Hogwarts. The school is guarded by fearsome creatures...creatures which Harry fears most...but they are the only ones which are able to keep him safe from what is to come...
The Dementors are evil creatures, they siphon every place they inhabit with of all happiness, strength an dwarmth, leaving behind nothing but sadness, fear and coldness...but they this is the only way the wizarding world can survive, prevent there only hope from destruction...the only way Harry Potter can be saved from Lord Voldemort's most powerful, most honourable servant...

This was maybe my most favourite of the Harry Potter series next to the Order of the Phoenix. the legendary werewolf makes an appearance in this series, new creatures, new characters and a thicker sheet of darkness has begun to gather upon the series. Usually you'd have thought that fans would be bored of the same setting after three books, but Hogwarts never seems to get tiresome. Enough said, Harry Potter is great, the best, most famous series in all existance at the current time. There's no question about it :D ( )

This is the third book in the Harry Potter series. The book picks back up with Harry Potter (a wizard) and his wizard friends in their adventures.The book focuses on an escape from a prison near the school. ( )

This is where I gave up on the Harry Potter craze. Not for me. Too cutesy. Meh. ( )

Awesome! I know it's cliche but the books are so much better than the movies! ( )

This was actually the first book I read from the Harry Potter series. As a result, this is my favorite book in the series. It is very funny at points, and the story is very exciting. ( )

It's the third year and there's a killer on the lose. Harry's godfather Sires Black. Every one thinks that Sires is the raesone why the Potters are dead. Help harry figure out if Sires is inisent or gillty. ( )

You know, these Potter books are growing on me. Remarkably more show than tell as I get further in, and they are becoming more interesting. Maybe I didn't give JK enough credit - maybe it's intentional that the writing style becomes progressively more grown-up through the series....? ( )

For me, as for many others, this was my favorite in the series until Half-Blood Prince came out. It's just a fantastic, gripping storyline. Prisoner of Azkaban is also the point at which the series starts getting very serious and some of the characters that we had come to love begin to show character flaws, giving the whole story more depth. ( )

Like every book in the J.K. Rowling series, this book was amazing. It was very descriptive and suspenseful. I have read the fifth, sixth, and seventh book but by reading this answered alot of my questions. I look forward to reading "The Goblet of Fire". ( )

I have to say upfront that this is easily my favourite of the Harry Potter books, so this review is likely to be extremely biased but I shall try to remain objective! Harry is in his third year at Hogwarts, and the big news is the escape of Sirius Black from Azkaban prison, a dangerous and deadly wizard. Harry learns that, for some reason, Sirius is after him. Due to the increased security at Hogwarts, Dumbledore has reluctantly allowed the Dementors - ghostly cloaked beings that suck the happiness from a person's soul and eventually drive them mad - to guard the castle. The book uncovers the mystery of who Black is and why he is so keen to find Harry at Hogwarts, while also dealing with the regular shenanigans of a Hogwarts school year.

This book is where Rowling tightens up her act, in my opinion. The plot is excellently written with not too many of the loopholes that characterised the earlier two books. The use of the Time Turner was not too much of a McGuffin, especially since Hermione had been using it already during the school year. It was sleek and not too long, a fault of her later books. I enjoy reading Harry Potter books, but the later books definitely suffer from being longer than a few hundred pages. Here Rowling is forced to be efficient with her story, and it is all the more effective for it.

By now the wizarding world is firmly established, but Rowling still manages to spice up the book with many lovely little details. We hear more about the lessons taken by the children, and some new classes are introduced, such as Care of Magical Creatures and Divination. Some of the little details are my very favourite moments in the book, such as when Hermione achieves over three hundred percent in her Muggle Studies class. I also love the throwaway line from during Ron and Harry's Charms exam: "Hermione had been right; Professor Flitwick did indeed test them on Cheering Charms. Harry slightly overdid his out of nerves and Ron, who was partnering him, ended up in fits of hysterical laughter and had to be led away to a quiet room for an hour before he was ready to perfom the Charm himself." This always makes me giggle.

The village of Hogsmeade is another charming addition to Hogwarts, what with the sweet shop and the pub serving Butterbeer (which sounds delicious!). I do wonder at the fact that Hogsmeade has never been mentioned in two previous books though! Sometimes Rowling decides to add in features that have never cropped up previously and it can be a little jarring.

And she does love the big reveal! Here we have Sirius and Lupin going over the events of twelve years ago AND covering some of their school days, including why Snape hates them so, in a long dialogue-heavy section. I feel that this could have been spread out across the book in a better way, so that it didn't come across as much as an explanation to bring us (the reader) up to speed.

There were some wonderful new characters, such as Professor Lupin - I have always wished that he could have continued as the Defence of the Dark Arts teacher. However, I did not like Professor Trelawny much at all - the scenes in her classroom were dull and dragged for me.

Finally, I would comment on the fact that Rowling cannot seem to write an exciting Quidditch match - they all seem to be Lee Jordan commenting on players throwing the ball to each other, and then Harry catches the Snitch in some weird and wonderful way. Mind, I don't think it would be easy to write an interesting football or rugby match into a novel either - they are just too dynamic for the written word.

These are very minor niggles. In my view this is a richly entertaining and imaginative story, in which the main characters really develop. I appreciated the strong plotline. I cannot wait to read the next one! ( )

Prachtig verhaal. Niet geschikt voor kinder onder de 8 jaar.

OT: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ( )

Another great read by Ms. Rowling. A lot darker than the first two. Still can't see how this book is written for kids. Too scary, in my opinion! ( )

I confess to this weakness. The world isn't as enthralling as Oz but I "lived" in Oz when I was a child. ( )

I swear that these books get better. I am truly enjoying Rowling's writing and detailed observations of imaginary/magical items. The characters are getting more developed, too, which, of course, adds more dimension to who they are and their role within the story.

I had one issue with one of the chapters. I felt it was rushed. I feel as though Rowling, though very good at telling a story and explaining things as they happen, is still wet behind the ears when it comes to suspense. So, during a scene (chapter) in which there is a chase, I found myself shaking my head at the near stupidity of the clauses. But, hey, other than that, a smashing read. ( )

a great mystery about a criminal lurking around hogwarts. ( )

I'm ready for the repetition of information from previous books to stop, but the stories do keep improving. The Lupin/Black storyline is one of my favorites so far, as is Hermione's Time-Turner. ( )

This is another dangerous adventure where Harry finds his name in the legendary goblet of fire.

I can connect this with my brother. Sometimes i blame him for things he didn't do. ( )

Each of book in the series gets darker. What can you expect from a series that deals with magic power and death. It is full of adult themes presented in a way children can enjoy. My inner child loves it and I could not put it down and the story progressed. ( )

The books are getting better as we move through the series. However, had I not seen the movies ahead of time, I'm not sure this would have grabbed me as much. I'm still not seeing a ton of differences between the movies and the books. In Prisoner of Azkaban, unless I'm completely forgetting something, the major difference seems to be more one of emphasis. The movie emphasized some things more than the book did. What I thought was a major point from seeing the movies was just glossed over in the book making it seem more like window dressing, so I'll be interested to see if it comes into play more deeply later. I still rate it pretty high because it was an easy, quick read and I did enjoy it, but as of now, contrary to how I am typically, I'm enjoying the movies better. ( )

Ik heb de hele serie gelezen, herlezen, in het Engels gelezen, als luisterboek gehoord en tenslotte als film gezien. Ik zou ze bij veel tijd zo weer allemaal willen lezen. Wiebe Buddingh' vertaalt heel erg goed, maar het Engels is echt nog beter. ( )

Slowly but surely, the Harry Potter books are improving. Book three brings the promise of werewolves, murderers and the sinister dementors (unfortunately these are blatent rip-offs of the Ring Wraiths in LOTR). Finally Rowliing seems to grasp that a decent fantasy actually needs a plot. Overall- not bad JK. You may actually be learning. ( )

All around solid. ( )

I like it... ( )