Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Year Three-A Must Read
Comments: Rowling now has a third wonderful book in the Harry Potter series. This book has new characters, new plots, and new twists. We learn more about Harry's family and especially of Harry's parent's former family friend: Sirius Black. In the beginning Harry's future seems uncertain as he gets into some magical trouble with the Dursleys. You breathe a sigh of relief when he again returns to his dormitory at Hogwarts. Two new teachers are introduced at Hogwarts, Professor Lupin and Professor Trelawney both rich in uniqueness and fun to read about. A new pet, Crookshanks is introduced and is central to the storyline. A terrifying new thing are the dementors that are the guards of Azkaban, removed to look for the escaped Sirius. Harry has quite a few harrowing encounters with these creatures. Hermione has a strange year as she tries to take too many courses for a normal student, alas, she was never a normal student. Through most of the story Harrry is hunted by an imprisoned wizard out to kill him. This makes for a hold your breath kind-of book. The ending is bittersweet and not what I had been hoping for. However, things seem like they will be improving at the Dursleys. There is plenty of space for sequels, as the coming of the Dark Lord is predicted. I can hardly wait to read about Harry's adventures in his fourth year at Hogwarts.
Rating: - Jim Dale's reading is a must-hear!
First of all, don't expect Tolkien or Lewis. You won't find such literary depth and deftness here. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are much more akin to Roald Dahl's quirky, alternately lighthearted and dark children's stories. However, that's not to say Rowling's books aren't well-written, enormously entertaining and fun. They are. In fact, I can honestly say that very few books of late have delighted me as much -- *especially* the CD versions. For as much as I enjoy *reading* the Harry Potter books (and I have them all in print form), I love *hearing* them even more. Jim Dale's readings (especially the briskly-paced and richly charactered third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) have to be heard to be believed. Dale is a master storyteller. He switches between characters seamlessly, giving each one a different voice and personality. His English accent is a delight, and the pronounciations are crisp. I especially enjoy hearing the voices of Draco Malfoy, Hagrid and Professors Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall (who has a delightful brogue). I recently purchased the third book on CD in anticipation of my 3-hour drive (each way!) to Chicago for a conference. I loaded up my car's CD changer and listened all the way down and back, hanging on every word. Dale's fabulous reading turned what could have been a long, uneventful trip into a delightful escape to Hogwarts. In fact, when I returned home, I didn't want to get out of my car ... and, I'm nearly ashamed to say, kept looking for excuses to run errands just so I could continue listening to the exciting story unfold! Rowling's books seem tailor-made for *hearing*, as if she wrote them specifically to be read aloud. So if you've ever wanted to try an audio book, and if you enjoy reading the Harry Potter series, I highly recommend Jim Dale's presentations. Thankfully, the audio versions are UNABRIDGED so you can enjoy every single word. I hope Dale continues to be the reader for the Harry Potter series. I can't imagine any other voice for them. He's a perfect match for Rowling's words. By the way, I'm 39 years old. And I was raised on science fiction and fantasy books. I rank the Harry Potter books right up there with some of my all-time favorites. As I said in the beginning, Rowling's books are not as deep or clever as many of the classics of the genre, but they're every bit as entertaining in their own right. I recommend the books, but I *highly* recommend Jim Dale's reading of them. Especially Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Rating: - Dark prisoner
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is the third book in the Harry Potter series (as if I had to tell you that). I've read the first book and seen the second movie, but I decided that I wanted to see what this phenomenon was all about for myself. As with the first book, I found Prisoner to be a thoroughly charming tale, filled with wonder, suspense, interesting writing and fun characters. It was a fitting sequel to the first two stories.First of all, Prisoner is the last of the 'short' Harry Potter books (with the next two books weighing very hefty on the page scale), but its story doesn't seem to suffer at all. Rowling packs a lot of story into so few pages. The pace is fairly relentless. I think it does suffer a little bit, though, from the beginning. As with the first two stories, the Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia scenes seem a little pointless and tacked on. The sequence doesn't seem to have a lot of purpose other than to get the ball rolling. While they aren't bad scenes and I did enjoy them a little bit, I kept waiting for the action to start. I hope that they start getting development beyond the typical 'snarky family who hates Harry for what he is and wants to keep him down' portrayal we've seen so far. But this book doesn't do it. Once things get started, though, the tale becomes much more interesting as Rowling adds to the rich background of the universe she's created. She keeps adding new things and characters to her world, and each one of them is intriguing. The story behind Sirius Black and what happened with Harry's parents is fascinating, and the twists and turns this particular story takes are particularly good. As events come to their conclusion, you're riveted to your seat as you want to find out what really happened (I read the last hundred pages in one night, staying up much too late). There is also a nice moral point for the kids (who are the primary audience for these books, despite them being wonderful books for adults too) where the correction of one injustice is used to correct another one as well. This makes a wonderful point about injustice and how one must fight against it, no matter who is perpetrating it. I found Hermione's story very predictable, though. I figured out what was going on with her the first time the question came up. Rowling does dovetail it nicely with the main story though, giving it a purpose rather than just showing how eccentric Hermione can be sometimes. I didn't like the antipathy between Hermione and Ron as much, though. I thought it was a bit overdone. I know it is realistic in the sense that kids can hold grudges over the most minor of things sometimes, but I didn't find it that pleasant to read about in this case. I had trouble seeing how Hermione couldn't understand that Ron was upset that her cat kept attacking his rat. At least the antipathy grew from their already established characters, so that was nice. Most of the other things they quarrel about are rules-related, and with Hermione being such a stickler for the rules and with the added pressure of her schedule, it is a bit understandable that there would be friction. The two new professors, Lupin and Trelawney, are a mixed bag. Lupin is wonderful, with an intriguing secret and an interesting interaction with Harry. He becomes almost like a mentor to him, and one starts to wonder if there are sinister motives behind it all. Lupin was also involved with Harry's parents, and the reader is left to wonder throughout the story whether or not Lupin is on the up and up. Telawney, on the other hand, I found dreadfully boring. The only thing of interest she did was predict Harry's imminent death, but every time she appeared on the page after that, I almost started snoring. She was annoying, too, with all of her 'oh, I predicted that' statements. She got on my nerves after awhile, and I don't think Rowling did a good job characterizing her. She could have played an important part in the book, but Rowling drops the ball a little bit. Finally, the Dementors and the description of Azkaban prison are really well-done. The mystery behind them and their effect on Harry, the fear and awe they inspire in everybody, is just incredibly done. There is a real sense of menace with them, especially when Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school, won't allow them on to school grounds. Harry really grows up when he ultimately has to face them. I don't think I'd want to see much more about them, but their presence in this book was extremely satisfying. These are supposed to be 'the good guys,' but they're more feared then Sirius Black, I think. That's what makes them interesting. I was a bit surprised at the tone of the book. It seemed pretty dark for a so-called children's book. I've been surprised by the first two stories as well, but this was even a little bit darker than those. Children are obviously lapping these books up, though, and apparently reading them and loving them, so I guess I'm wrong about that. If I had children though, I'd definitely want to make sure my children were ready for these before I gave them the books. However, on the upside, the 'adult' writing makes it a wonderful story for all ages. If you enjoyed the first two, you can't go wrong with this one either. David Roy
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