Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Title: Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Author: J.K. Rowling

Released: July 1999

When Harry and his best friends go back for their third year at Hogwarts, the atmosphere is tense. There's an escaped mass-murderer on the loose and the sinister prison guards of Azkaban have been called in to guard the school. Lessons, however, must go on and there are lots of new subjects in third year - Care of Magical Creatures and Divination among others - to take Harry's mind off things.

Rating: 5 Stars

Positives: Firstly absolutely everything which occurs in this book is vital. Everything ties together, even the very last few pages are spent pulling those few final threads together. This makes for a very enjoyable read, and we get to see so many more issues developing. Again we gain a greater understanding of different magical creatures as we're introduced to Hippogriffs, Dementors and even a werewolf. 

Secondly I want a Remus Lupin. I don't even need to say anymore, that man is absolutely awesome. And I have a sneaking suspicion he already knew what Neville's Boggart would be, and therefore deliberately planned how Neville should alter it as well. 

Thirdly, it was really nice to not have a form of Voldemort trying to kill Harry for once. Much as I love dear old Voldie it's nice that he's given Harry a year off. 

And speaking of Voldemort, dear lord that plot twist about who his spy is. Well that was just magnificent. Oh dear JK you've done it again, especially because that is going to have a great bearing on future books. But as you are the queen of foreshadowing I wouldn't have expected anything less from you. 

Negatives: Okay so I know I shouldn't really be comparing the book to the movie. But I can't help it. Now I still prefer the book, don't get me wrong, but I kept expecting all these killer lines from the movies that cracked me up, and not a single one of them appeared. So I was a little disappointed. But I can't really call that a criticism of the book as the book came out first. But yeah it kinda ruined it for me a little. 

Would I recommend this book? Yes of course. Especially if you want to see Malfoy get his comeuppance. Just go and read it ... Now!