Synopsis: "For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts… he’s at Hogwarts.”
Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may be a traitor in their midst."
My Review: After the absolute torture of reading the first two books earlier this year I really put off continuing the series until now. I was rather surprised when I started reading this one, instead of having to force myself to read a chapter a night, I found it very easy to read 3 or 4 in a sitting. I find it very odd that after such dry narration in the first two with lagging storylines that this one seems to pop with activity, almost as if there is a different author writing it. I still am not a fan of any of the main characters, Harry, Hermione or Ron, but of course Dumbledore and Hagrid are still fantastic and the addition of Black and Lupin made for much more enjoyable characters to drive the story along. And while I have heard this is the best of the series I have new hope for the rest of series.
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts… he’s at Hogwarts.”
Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may be a traitor in their midst."
My Review: After the absolute torture of reading the first two books earlier this year I really put off continuing the series until now. I was rather surprised when I started reading this one, instead of having to force myself to read a chapter a night, I found it very easy to read 3 or 4 in a sitting. I find it very odd that after such dry narration in the first two with lagging storylines that this one seems to pop with activity, almost as if there is a different author writing it. I still am not a fan of any of the main characters, Harry, Hermione or Ron, but of course Dumbledore and Hagrid are still fantastic and the addition of Black and Lupin made for much more enjoyable characters to drive the story along. And while I have heard this is the best of the series I have new hope for the rest of series.
My Rating: I was rather surprised at the change between this book and the previous two in the series. I understand there is a lot of world building with fantasy books but that doesn't explain how horrible the first two were. I am glad that the series picked up with this book and can only hope it continues in the same manner. I give it a rating of Three Paws and a Stump Wag.
Wow. It's so weird to read a review from someone who isn't as infatuated with these stories as I am. I've never heard anyone say that they didn't like the first two books before. I've heard others say they weren't their favorites of the series, but wow. I'm glad you like Azkaban. It's my favorite story of the series, but Deathly Hallows is actually my favorite book of the series.
ReplyDeleteThe first two books were absolute torture for me to get through, if I hadn't been given the whole series I would have DNFed the first book and never looked back at the series. This was much more enjoyable and I was able to keep the momentum up into the next book.
DeleteThis one seems to be everyone's favorite. It was never mine but I'm glad you liked it so you'll continue with the series.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it will end up being my favorite but it at least gave me hope that I could in fact finish reading the series without wanting to bash my head against the wall.
DeleteSo glad you liked this one better. I really love when this book comes along and the series becomes less child story telling and more young adult. The 4th book is my favorite so I can't wait to see what you think about that one.
ReplyDeleteThe book does seem to mature a little thank goodness but I guess it would have to in order to keep up with the audience. It did still seem like a whole other author though to me.
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