Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Once I became accustomed to ALL what these “Full Cast Editions” entailed, above and beyond more than just each and every character being individually voiced, the original score, the sound effects, the “Spatial Audio”, etc., I have become a lifelong, fully committed convert. Other than my initial complaints from the first two books, the inauthenticity of Draco Malfoy’s “constant, overwrought, overdone and overused snicker” and Neville Longbottom’s “whining whimper” that suffers from the aforementioned, now we’ve got certain moments of “OVERACTING” and done in some cases by well known, well respected, oft-awarded, professionally trained 🇬🇧 actors. Some of these I neglected to mention in “Chamber of Secrets” (I.e., Vernon Dursley, narrated by the normally, understated Jeremy Swift), but they increased in frequency (not to to the point of harming my love for these), especially since “The Prisoner of Azkaban” is SO much longer, but because these are SO wonderfully done, it makes me wonder if the actors, vocal coaches, directors and editors didn’t do SOMETHING about it. Again, these are amazing‼️. But when the films, no matter how fantastical and intense scenes became, the performances were ALWAYS so believable and so authentic. As before, I’m quite confident that I will ALWAYS be listening to one of these in rotation throughout the remainder of my 65 year old’s life…

Outstanding! So well done and engaging to listen to. Pricey is the downside.

Great book for kids

Now thirteen, Harry Potter heads into his third year at Hogwarts. Third year is a big step for Harry and friends; they get to choose electives, learn harder magic, and best of all, get to go to Hogsmeade on field trip weekends. As usual though, Harry's horrible Muggle aunt and uncle won't sign his permission form or even acknowledge his wizarding background; they tell people he's been sent to a reform school for dangerous criminal boys. Ha--if they only knew Harry's real school will be more dangerous and exciting than ever this year! J.K. Rowling has, what can I say, outdone herself. Prisoner of Azkaban gets off to a bang of a start, with Harry learning a convicted killer named Sirius Black is after him, having escaped from the notorious Azkaban. To his credit though, Harry isn't about to let a little thing like a serial killer ruin his big third year. He's got plans, such as winning the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor for the first time in years. But J.K. goes beyond the simple "avoid the crazed killer" plot. She adds well-timed and delicious details and subplots, such as Hagrid finally getting to teach Care of Magical Creatures, a secret that could land Hermione in the hospital wing all year (at minimum), and Harry's discovery of the Marauder's Map. Most authors would drop their Quaffles somewhere, but J.K. manages to keep all her plot threads tight and making sense. Harry Potter and friends, as well as some new characters, get some superb development here. As another reviewer noted, the Hogwarts kids are growing up, and it's obvious in the problems they face and how they respond to each other, as well as the people in their lives. Harry faces some traumatic truths about what happened to his mom and dad; Ron continues growing into his place at Hogwarts; and Hermione pulls off one of the most breath-stopping climaxes in the series so far. (I tend to agree with a fan who says every book should be called Harry Potter and the Time Hermione Did Absolutely Everything). Even the bad guys get a little more sympathetic. For example, I still hate Snape, but I had to admit he had a point when he complained about Harry getting special treatment and doing as he pleased. Maybe it's the adult/former teacher/Muggle in me, but I couldn't help feeling Snape got a bad deal--until the end, that is, when he turned right back into a first-class jerk. If I hate Snape, I have to say I love Lupin. He made Defense Against the Dark Arts fascinating for me and his students; I wanted to go to one of his classes. He's the kind of teacher I always wanted to be. I also identified with him based on his secrets and standing as an outcast. There are rumors floating around that J.K. wrote Lupin's affliction to stand in for HIV/AIDS. If she did, that's brilliant--it points us to the stigma faced by people with illnesses and disabilities, and encourages us to treat them with respect in a non-preachy way. Speaking of Lupin, I absolutely loved the subplot with him, his friends, and the Marauder's Map. The scene where the Map insults Snape is downright hilarious. Other favorite parts of note: As a cat-lover, I cheered for Hermione adopting a cat. The subplot with Hagrid and Buckbeak is heartwarming, heartbreaking, and triumphant--not an easy mix to pull off. I'm not into sports, but that Quidditch final had me loathe to put the book away. GO, GRYFFINDORS! And I do wonder what's going to happen between Harry and Cho Chang...kudos for picking a Ravenclaw girl, Harry. We're the best of the lot. :) Read it--you'll love it!

Lost book 3 in my book set & bought this to replace it. It doesn’t match the box set unfortunately but fits in there!

Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the original group of Harry Potter novels, thus it is set in the student's third year at Hogwarts. The book introduces several new characters, including the new defense against the dark arts professor, Professor Lupin, the titular prisoner of Azkaban (which is the wizard prison), Sirius Black, who is out to find Harry, and the Dementors, the guards at Azkaban who are trying to track down Black but also have a huge effect on Harry any time they come near him. This book is significantly longer than the first two, and as such, it has more content cut out for the movie adaptation than the first two books did. For example, the book has two additional Qiddich matches that were not shown in the movie, and there was more to the Buckbeak storyline than was shown in the movie. Also, some events played out differently in the book than they did in the movie, such as when Hermione decks Draco, Harry facing the Boggart for the first time, the circumstances of Harry getting his new broom, and the climax of the book when all is revealed has a lot more detail than was shown in the movie. And, some characters that were introduced in this book did not show up on film until the Goblet of Fire movie. Overall, the book is very well written, and done in a similar (yet a bit darker) tone than the first two. As most know, Rowling anticipated that kids reading the books would age as they were released so she made them darker and more "adult-like" as each book was released. So, there is a lot more talk of death in this one and we learn more details of the night that Harry's parents died than in the first two books. While it is technically a book for kids, in the 10-13-year-old range, adults can easily enjoy it. Even people like me who were older than the target reader group when the books were originally published. I had seen almost all the movies before I ever read the books for the first time and I think I enjoy the books more having already seen the movies. Even though the book is longer than the first two (435 pages), it is still a fairly quick read, depending, of course, how fast you read and how much time you have to read. If you are a fan of the movies or the first two books, it is definitely a must-read.

I’m slowly building my Harry Potter collection, and Prisoner of Azkaban is definitely one of my favorites so far. This edition is absolutely beautiful — I love how each book has its own colored page ends, and this one looks amazing on the shelf. I’m on book four now, and the series just keeps getting better, but Azkaban really stands out. The story is so good, the pacing is great, and it’s one of those books you can read over and over without getting bored. Between the quality of the book itself and the story inside, it’s an easy 5 stars.

Good read

Good book for children, excellent story

One of the best books I ever read

もっと読書をしたいと思わせてくれる、素晴らしい本です。物語も会話の構成も素晴らしく、想像力を豊かに刺激してくれます。子供からティーンエイジャー、そして私のような大人まで、誰にとっても素晴らしい本です。

I love these books 👌 it was an excellent edition

Libro di buon materiale. Ottima rilegatura e la copertina di alta qualità. Ben fatto, regalo gradito