Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban - JK Rowling - Reviewed by Maxim Sheko

Joanne Kathleen Rowling’s book “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban”, the third book in the series, and it’s when the real action starts to happen. This book and the others in the sequel are all fantasy and adventure stories where a lot of advanced magic and spells are used. In this thrilling story, Harry must overcome adversity, Hermione achieves the impossible using time travel, Harry develops his skill of conquering evil to a better level, and Harry, Ron and Hermione prove the innocence of the falsely accused. At the heart of the novel, the theme is discovering the true identity of people (Both Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew). This shows readers that you cannot assume someone is a bad person until you properly get to know them.

This is Harry’s third year at the enchanted Hogwarts. In the story, Harry discovers that Sirius Black, a supposedly murderous wizard, is after him. Harry’s arch enemy, Malfoy, insults Buckbeak (a hippogriff) in one of Hagrid’s classes, who retaliates and is then accused of being guilty. Using time travel, Harry and his friends prove the innocence of Buckbeak (saving him from execution) and Sirius Black (saving him from having his soul sucked out by dementors).

I liked how in the book, Harry, Ron and Hermione found out the true identities of people. In the story, almost everyone thought Sirius Black was a murderer and responsible for the death of Harry’s parents. But Harry and his friends tracked down Sirius Black and found out that it was really Peter Pettigrew (disguised as Ron’s rat) that did this. I also liked how in the end, Harry was able to repel the dementors with the Patronus Charm, to save Sirius Black from them. What I found most intriguing was that all this was solved by time travel.

Rowling’s writing style is descriptive. The reader is able to visualise the strange creatures (like dementors) or eerie scenes through the vivid descriptions. The dialogue passages also give us a very good idea about what certain characters and their attitudes are like.

One of the main issues in this book is whether Harry is justified in performing magic when his anger is pushed to the limit by the Dursleys’ cruel behaviour towards him, for example when Aunt Marge abuses him and his parents, which results in Harry casting a spell on her.
Another issue is one of Harry’s guilt at wanting to hear the voices of his parents when they were being murdered, because it was one of his few memories of them.
There is also the issue of Sirius Black’s innocence. Harry is deeply scarred when he finds out that Sirius is his godfather, and was partly responsible for the death of his parents. But, in the end, Harry learns that Pettigrew was guilty of Black’s supposed crimes.

The themes of this Harry Potter book and ‘Shrek’ are very closely related. They are along the lines of “Don’t judge a person until you get to know them”. In ‘Shrek’ it is about accepting people that are extraordinary. Fiona is not what Shrek had expected but he learns to love her. In ‘Harry Potter’ it is about not accusing someone of a crime until you know that person and what they have to say. Everyone thinks Sirius Black was a murderer, but when Harry confronts him, he learns that he is innocent and who the real culprit is. In both stories, getting to know a person gives us a fuller understanding.

This ‘Harry Potter’ book is by far my favourite of all the books that I’ve read so far. If you’re the type of person that enjoys fantasy, intricate plots and time travel, then you will love this book. I look forward to more adventure and magic in the next books of the ‘Harry Potter’ series. Keep up the good work, J.K Rowling.