Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling

Reviewed by Keegan Greenacre

I really enjoyed reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It was a great read and I couldn’t put it down once I had started reading it. I noticed that this book went into some dark topics as the story progressed and it really shows how the books are evolving and changing with the characters. The topics were about Harry’s parents dying and the people who are trying to hurt him. Even though the book has changed in some ways it is still very similar to the first two books the overall story hasn’t strayed far from the original concept.

I enjoyed the change in the maturity of this book because it means that teens and adults can enjoy the books because it is aging along with the readers. It also allows for the book to transition into other topics that are for older audiences. The book follows a linear story, the plot is that the criminal Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban. Azkaban is the strongest wizard prison that exists it is used to hold the most wanted wizard criminals. The reason that Sirius Black is wanted is that it is believed that he killed Peter Pettigrew and some muggles. He was accused of a crime that he didn’t commit and was trying to find his godson Harry Potter to prove himself as innocent.

Throughout the book, the main characters also learn lots of new things about each other and become stronger because of this. I was also surprised by the new teacher that was introduced and the plot twist that happens at the end including this new teacher. They also learn new magic that saves Harry’s life later in the book. I can’t wait to find out how they will end up using this new magic in the next books.

There are a few things that I don’t really like about this book. The things that I don’t like are rather minor but at the same time really hurt the story as a whole. For example, Harry is warned and refuses to just listen to what people say. Countless times he has been warned not to go out without someone to protect him. Of course, he ends up doing it anyway and then he gets in big trouble which then leads to him get these books characters just lose all common sense when they are reacting to these situations. They do stupid things that a normal person wouldn’t do and it just sometimes makes you want to facepalm. I get wanting to show how the characters would act but in most cases, the way they react is very cliche and they make the stupidest decision possible. I don’t know if the author is writing them that way because that’s how the character would act. Or if it is just a poor example of the author being rushed to finish the book.

I’m also not sure as to why in this book she decided to have unnecessary drama that didn’t progress the story at all. There were so many times where characters would be fighting with each other and I feel like it was just put into the book to fill the pages. Throughout the story, it was mentioned multiple times that one of the characters dislikes the other’s pet. Which did actually turn out to be an important thing in the story but as you are reading the story it just gets stupidly annoying constantly reading the same complaints about the pets.

The book was rather boring at the start but if you can power through the start it gets much better. I also felt that it took a lot of rereading at some points to understand what had just happened or what event was going to happen soon. The way she made these hints meant that if you weren’t paying attention you would just miss important information and get completely lost in the story. Like the fact that Professor Lupin was a werewolf, there were so many hints dropped throughout the story which would have told you that something was off about him. But if you missed any of these hints you wouldn’t have any clue that Lupin was actually a werewolf. It was also hinted quite a few times that Hermione had something magical that allowed her to be in two places at once. This plays a massive part at the end of the story because it is the whole reason they are able to save their own lives when they are attacked at the whomping willow.

My favorite quote that resonated with me from this book was, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” I chose this quote because it’s very true even in the darkest of times you can find happiness if you can find the light. Light in most cases would be a person who you can talk to or anything that can help you when life gets you down and you feel like all hope is lost. I know of many people who have had terrible periods of their life that have been turned completely around and changed just because they found their ‘light’. Finding that person can save a life, that’s another reason I chose this quote is because a close friend of mine was close to ending their own life but someone reached out to them and stopped them and they have told me how much their life has changed since.

About Keegan Greenacre

Keegan Greenacre is a high school student graduating this year who is starting to dive into the writing world.