Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling (ISBN 978-1408855676, Bloomsbury)

The third Harry Potter book. As you probably know each Potter book follows Harry during a year at Hogwarts school of Magic. So, in book 1 he was 11 years old and going to his first year. In The Prisoner of Azkaban we meet Harry during the summer at his uncle and aunt awaiting the third school year at Hogwarts. As Harry grows older the story evolves with him. Where the first 2 books were light and mainly humorous in tone, things start to turn dark in book number 3. Summers at his uncle and aunt are always a torment and this summer is not different. When Harry loses his self control during a visit of aunt Marge because she insults his deceased parents he turns her into a balloon. Upset and afraid that he will be punished for using magic as an underaged he runs away in dispair. Sitting by the side of the street wondering what to do the Knight Bus appears to bring him to the Leaky Cauldron. To his relief the minister of magic has no intention to punish Harry and Mr Weasley tells him that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison. He the first prisoner to have managed to escape from this prison. Sirius Black is a notorious ally of Voldemort responsible for the death of Harry’s parents who killed 12 muggles before being captured and survived more than 10 years under the terror of the foul Dementor guards of Azkaban. The mad man Black has evidently escaped Azkaban to finish the job and kill Harry. Under this dark omen does Harry start his third year and this gloom pervades the majority of the almost 500 pages. Besides the suspense and the action new important characters in the Harry Potter Universe are introduced: Sirius Black and new defence agains the dark arts teacher Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail. We also learn more about Harry Potter’s parents and how they died and about Snape and why he hates Harry so much. This is one of my favourite books of the series because it so nicely combines suspense, action, humor and magical elements. It has the necessary seriousness that goes with having to face the personification of evil well balanced with relatively carefree life of a 14 year old that has magic at his aid to help him out of difficult situations. Also some of the events in this book set the stage for things to come. In general, as the characters grow older they become emotionally more complex in the books as well. As the danger of the return of Voldemort grows and becomes more real, tough choices are forced on all, sides have to be chosen and sacrifices have to be made. Compared to the first 2 books this one is in a different league all together, in a good way.