Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Review

In a wave of sadness to be stuck at home and not being able to go on my planned trip to London this week, I decided to reread Harry Potter, this time my favorite, Prisoner of Azkaban. Here are my thoughts on rereading it and thereby finishing my Harry Potter Rereading Marathon!

Synopsis

When Harry isn’t expelled from school after blowing up his aunt Marge and is in fact treated with extreme kindness by the Minister of Magic, he senses something’s wrong. And when he overhears Ron’s parents talking about a murderer being on the loose and in search of Harry, he begins to understand the strange behavior. Attacked by a Dementor, one of Azkaban’s guards, he finds himself in the middle of a strange year at Hogwarts. Being looked after all the time, the killer drawing nearer and nearer, Harry faces his most difficult year at Hogwarts yet…

Genre: Young Adult/ Children Fantasy

Publication Date: July 8th 1999

Pages: 435 pages

My thoughts:

Wow. What an experience. I was prepared to be delighted to be back in the Wizarding World, but not to be as enchanted as I was all week. I spent my days longing to get back to the book, spent the hours reading transported to Hogwarts and forgot everything around me. I’ve read this book at least three times before, have watched the movie 20 times as it’s always been my favorite (weirdly, it was the least successful movie!) and so I wasn’t prepared to be this blown away.

The plot was obviously marvelously structured. Full of detailed Hogwarts life, classes and small stories featuring various characters it was the perfect way to spend my days. I felt scared when Sirius came into the dormitory with a knife standing over Ron’s bed (obviously knowing his intentions, but still I had to ask who it was when the doorbell rang even though it was clear it was my mom coming back), I was full of excitement as the match Gryffindor vs. Slytherin dawned, my heart leapt when Sirius and Lupin explained everything and I was constantly worried if Harry and Hermione would make it back in time when they saved Sirius.

That ending was so bittersweet as it now means my Harry Potter Rereading Marathon has finally come to its end, but I am beyond happy to have chosen to read this book again this week and will celebrate with a movie night!

The characters were as always magical and I was happy to see a bit of Percy. Obviously, he also annoys me, but it was super funny to read all the remarks about his girlfriend and Fred and George making fun of him. However, what made me happiest of all was the mentioning of Cho Chang as well as Cedric Diggory (and I didn’t know Harry felt “something lurch in his stomach that weren’t nerves” when Cho smiled at him before their Quidditch match!).

The writing and the connected depicted Wizarding World with its atmosphere were everything and more I needed to escape the endless hours at home. At the beginning, the described Diagon Alley made me super happy, the classes and Hermione’s studies were so magical to follow along and I loved Lupin’s developing relationship with Harry.

Recommendable as a reread: 100%!

I can not stress enough how happy it makes me to be able to be thrown into the Wizarding World for a few hours! All the new details, all the small mentions made my day and so for everyone who loves Harry Potter, now is the perfect time to disappear and relive those moments again!