Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (2001)

After seeing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" back in November, I started re-reading the Harry Potter books, re-imagining the scenes with the new faces I had just met, and remembering to pronounce "Hagrid" with a short A instead of a long A. Then I got a new job, got hung up on something else, started reading other books, and put down the HP for a few months. I picked up Book Three, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," last week, and found it more enjoyable the second time around.

I don't want to give too much away in this review, because I'm sure that there are still some of you out there who just picked up Book Two after seeing the movie, and who are just now getting around to reading this one. You should pick this one up, too.

There are several new characters in this book who I loved, and can't wait to see portrayed on the big screen. Some of these:

* Sirius Black, a mass-murderer who, along with Voldemort, was responsible for the deaths of Harry's Parents. And he's on the loose, and looking for Harry.

* Professor Remus Lupin, the new Defense Against The Dark Arts instructor, who likes Harry, but has secrets of his own.

* Professor Sibyll Trelawney, who teaches Divination (i.e. fortune telling). She's as batty as they come, and her dread pronouncations of doom are so annoying that one student leaves the class forever.

* Dementors, who are the guardians of the Wizard's Prison: Azkaban. They are dressed all in black, completely silent, and live off of sucking other people's happiness out of them.

* Buckbeak, a Hippogriff (head of an eagle, body of a horse, with wings). He's Hagrid's new pet, and "Beaky" is very key to the plot.

These new characters intermix with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Hagrid, McGonagall, Malfoy, Snape, and all of the other Hogwart's characters to create a delightful story, with more mysteries, magic spells, and adventures than you can shake a magic wand at. J.K. Rowling always toys with language, and the names of the characters, the names of the spells, and the magic words in the book always put a smile on my face. Sometimes, if you know the roots of the language she's using, you can pick up clues about characters before she spells them out for you--and the characters above are no exception.

If this book had a subtitle, it would probably be "Things aren't always what they seem." As various mysteries are solved, others deepen. For example, there's a reason (a very good one) that Professor Snape hates Harry Potter SO MUCH. I won't tell you what it is, but now when I imagine Snape, I imagine him in the person of Alan Rickman, whose palpable hatred of the boy wizard can close on your heart like an icy fist. If he's still playing Snape (please?) in the third film, we'll be in for a treat.

I didn't like this book as much the first time around, because the last third or so of the novel got pretty confusing. The history of Harry's Parents comes into play. The history of Voldemort and his supporters, the relationships between the students and teachers--all are more complicated than in the previous two books, which now thrills me because I know it sets up events for Book Four...but at the time, it was confusing and turned me off.

I recommend this book, and it's possible to read it and enjoy it without reading the first two...but why would you? If you saw the Harry Potter movie, but haven't delved into the written word yet, it's high time you did. If you liked the movie, you'll LOVE the books. Pick it up at your nearest bookstore or library today!