Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
By J.K. Rowling
Rating: 9 out of 10

Book 3 in the Harry Potter series might be my favorite so far. I really enjoyed The Sorcerer’s Stone. The Chamber of Secrets was pretty good, but out of the three I have read, it was my least favorite.

One of the things that I liked the most about this book was that I thought very assuredly that I knew what was going on…thought that I knew who the bad guy was…but, similarly to the first book, I was off.

Book 3 finds Harry and his friends Ron and Hermoine (pronounce Her-mahn-ee) getting ready for year 3 at Hogwart’s. Many things have changed, but other things have stayed the same. Hermoine is still working hard at school; Ron and Harry are still at odds with their nemesis, Draco Malfoy of Slytherin house. Harry’s exploits on the Quidditch field continue to be exciting (seriously…I would totally watch Quidditch if it were a real sport).

The Prisoner of Azkaban is Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner with a personal interest in Mr. Harry Potter. I won’t go into the interest, but it is BIG. We are also introduced to a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Lupin, as well as the Divination teacher, Professor Trelawney. All of the rest of the regular characters return, including Professor Severus Snape, who seems to find newfound loathing for Harry and Ron.

There was a lot of really cool stuff in this book. I don’t know how Rowling continues to come up with new stuff at Hogwart’s, but there are new secrets, new tricks, and new spells that are all fascinating and have brought me further into the world of Harry Potter and his wizard and witch friends. I am going to try and take a break from the Harry Potter series for a while. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is next in the series and it is a Historian-like length at well over 700 pages. I am determined to finish Ogilvy on Advertising, but I don’t know if it is possible. We shall see. After reading this much fiction, it’s tough to jump back into non-fiction, but I’ll give it a shot. I guess you’ll see by the next book that I review.