Notorious mass murderer Sirius Black has escaped from the most heavily guarded wizarding prison, Azkaban. Known to be a strong supporter of You-Know-Who, he's on his way to Hogwarts to get rid of the Boy-Who-Lived once and for all. But never mind Black, Harry's got his own problems just dealing with the dementors who are the appointed school "guardians" until Black has been caught. And why does Malfoy keep showing up, taunting Harry about Black and revenge?

This is, hands down, my favorite book of the entire series. I think this is really when the series starts to take a turn for the more mature audience. I think we start to see a much darker side to many characters, Harry included - from his childish, petty desire to leaving Neville waiting for him in the library while he snuck out of the castle to the deep, burning desire to kill he begins to feel when he learns the lesser known story of Sirius Black's betrayal.

Now that I'm reading this as an adult, I begin to see some of the moral themes Rowling has skillfully put into these books. Prominent in PoA is the theme of hate. She uses Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape to get her point across. Malfoy has a hatred of Harry, driven primarily by his upbringing and jealousy, and he hurts Harry in the worst way possible, through his friends. After an "attack" by Hagrid's hippogriff, Malfoy has his father declare the animal put down. Having my own pet, this would be a devastating announcement. Malfoy knows that the hippogriff didn't do anything dangerous, but he knows taking the life of this animal who means so much to Hagrid will hurt Harry.

Spoilers:

Severus Snape, an old school mate of Sirius Black, hates Black. He wants him to receive the worse punishment possible, regardless of the fact there is strong evidence Sirius is innocent. He refuses to even consider the possibility of there being another side to the story.

End Spoilers:

I think both Malfoy and Snape's hatred make them the most despicable characters in the entire book. Rowling makes both of them look utterly foolish in the moments they are consumed by their hatred, and she shows how much you can hurt someone and how lives can be ruined through hatred.

The ending, of course, is a tragedy. Everyone wants Harry to get away from the Dursleys and he comes so close in this book that you can see the hope in his eyes. About ten years later, I still get slightly teary-eyed at the end of this book.

I strongly encourage anyone who has not read these books and has any sort of fondness towards youth fiction to read this series. The story telling is delightful and the adventure will leave you breathless.

EDIT: Another user pointed this out to me and I thought it was such a great point that I had to amend my review to put it in. Snape's hate of Sirius does come from somewhere. While at school, Sirius, James Potter, and two of their friends were horrible to Snape (and this is shown in much greater detail in later books). One particular prank almost resulted in Snape losing his life. Though Sirius, James, and Snape were just kids, these incidents left their marks. It left Snape so scarred inside that he abuses his position as teacher in order to make Harry, James's son, as miserable as possible, placing the sins of the father upon the shoulders of the son.

In addition to that, Malfoy is a product of his environment, same as everyone else. He's been brought up in a world where money can get him everything and because of that, he can get away with anything, including murder. This would be primarily the fault of his own father. But then again, wouldn't Lucius's behavior be the result of how he was raised? The chain could continue in this fashion and in the end, everyone would be innocent because everyone was just raised wrong. Malfoy is only thirteen in this book. It's hard to say whether he's old enough to be held accountable for his actions or whether he's still too young to know how much he's hurting other people.

I think this book forces us to look at the way we treat other people (as mentioned above, even Harry becomes petty in his treatment of Neville), but it also asks us to take a look at ourselves. We start as the product of our environment, but at some point we have to start taking responsibilities for our own actions. Snape had a horrible childhood, but he has to also step outside of that and grow up. He's not a child, but the grudge he's held all these years make him act like one. It's another reason I love this book: it makes us question the dividing line between innocent childhood and the responsibility of becoming an adult. Where does one end and the other begin? ( )

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling's famous fantasy series which took the world by storm...including myself. This installment was the novel of the series which really made Harry Potter recognised, it was after the release of the Prisoner of Azkaban that the film adaptations of the Harry Potter series first hit the screens.

The events of the Prisoner of Azkaban is set between the events of The Chamber of Secrets and The Goblet of Fire. After suviving the attacks of the Basilisk and Tom Riddle's diary, Harry and his friends are about to begin their third year at Hogwarts. The school is guarded by fearsome creatures...creatures which Harry fears most...but they are the only ones which are able to keep him safe from what is to come...
The Dementors are evil creatures, they siphon every place they inhabit with of all happiness, strength an dwarmth, leaving behind nothing but sadness, fear and coldness...but they this is the only way the wizarding world can survive, prevent there only hope from destruction...the only way Harry Potter can be saved from Lord Voldemort's most powerful, most honourable servant...

This was maybe my most favourite of the Harry Potter series next to the Order of the Phoenix. the legendary werewolf makes an appearance in this series, new creatures, new characters and a thicker sheet of darkness has begun to gather upon the series. Usually you'd have thought that fans would be bored of the same setting after three books, but Hogwarts never seems to get tiresome. Enough said, Harry Potter is great, the best, most famous series in all existance at the current time. There's no question about it :D ( )

This is the third book in the Harry Potter series. The book picks back up with Harry Potter (a wizard) and his wizard friends in their adventures.The book focuses on an escape from a prison near the school. ( )

This is where I gave up on the Harry Potter craze. Not for me. Too cutesy. Meh. ( )

Awesome! I know it's cliche but the books are so much better than the movies! ( )