Revisiting Potter via Dale, part three | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3)

Review | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) | J.K. Rowling

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	• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) J.K. Rowling Scholastic Paperbacks, 2001 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 2637 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The best book in harry potter series

I felt compelled to write this after reading all harry potter books.. This one was by far the best book in the whole series. Lots of surprises, new concepts and excitement..I could read this over and over..

Revisiting Potter via Dale, part three

Even with the book series all said and done, I still proclaim the third Harry Potter novel my favorite in the series. At this point, Rowling has mostly smoothed the rough edges off of her style, and she has a much clearer idea of where the series is going. She lays so much groundwork here not just for book four, but for the end-game of the entire series. Draco Malfoy begins the slow fade to the background that will remove him as any kind of main plot participant until Half-Blood Prince, while Severus Snape steps up into the limelight and becomes more than an aggravation / subplot. With the arrival and then departure of Remus Lupin, we get our first hint that the constant vacancy of the Dark Arts position is more than just happenstance. And with the introduction of Lupin, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, we start to get the history that will affect every decision Harry makes throughout the rest of the series.

What I've always liked about Rowling's writing is that Harry, Ron, Hermione and their teenage friends don't always make the right decision -- they go on their instincts, their hormones, and sometimes make the kind of mistake we as readers are slapping our foreheads and shouting at them to not make. Every time Harry fails to tell Dumbledore something, every time the Trio hare off on their own someplace, the writer in me recognizes Rowling setting up important complications but the reader in me yells at them to stop being stupid and myopic. Of course, they are teenagers -- they are virtually made of myopia. And that's what makes them so real. They are not perfect. Even amongst themselves -- the discord between Ron and Hermione here, how easily they cut each other out, is a great hint at how Seamus Finnegan will turn completely against Harry in "Phoenix" based solely on what Seamus thinks he knows versus what is the truth.

Prisoner is also the last of the short books in the series, the last that is tightly plotted and in which the subplots are not given equal page time with the main plot. Which also mirrors the age Harry and the gang are at -- life gets more complicated the older kids get, as their world-view expands beyond themselves.

Jim Dale, of course, does his usual fantastic job performing the book. I've commented before that his Hagrid and McGonagall sound just like Robbie Coltrane and Maggie Smith, while the rest of his characters sound original. This time, he manages to also make Remus Lupin sound almost exactly like David Thewlis. Certain voices, certain inflections, just fit certain characters, and I think in these cases Dale is wise to go with what sounds right rather than differentiating just to avoid comparisons.

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Review

Fast service, but the book is a little old...still enjoyed it tho and no pages missing!! Thank you!

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Harry Potter #3 book on CD

This is the 3rd in the series that I have listened to. Jim Dale does an excellent job of reading and interpreting the Harry Potter books. You have a hard time believing all those voices are his!

Book 3 on CD

Every Harry Potter fan knows the book; one of the very best of the Potter Series. As with the rest, Jim Dale does a fantastic job with the performanace. I have listened to his reading of all 7 unabridged books over and over when I commute or go on road trips. They are simply wonderful!

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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.