I think I owe someone an apology. The Prisoner of Azkaban (POA) was much more enjoyable than I remembered. As I have mentioned before, I am reading all of the Harry Potter books. This is the third installment and it is definitely my favorite of the first three—it’s not even close—which is not what I communicated in my previous HP post.
Why did I enjoy POA so much more than the first two? I would point to a few things. First, I really enjoyed the additional characters. Remus Lupin is such an interesting guy. In my mind, he looks just like Paul David Tripp, and I feel like Tripp is just one of the nicest and most genuine guys. Lupin seems like such a legit wizard too. I enjoyed Sirius Black as well, but I think a lot of that enjoyment comes from a fuller knowledge of the character from having read all of the books before.
Second, (SPOILER ALERT) I love that Peter Pettigrew is Scabbers. It is such a crazy twist that has been set up all the way from the beginning—I assume anyway. I love the misdirection with Crookshanks and thinking that Scabbers is worried about the cat.
Third, I actually enjoyed the time turner section, which I did not remember fondly. However, there were enough stipulations that went along with its use that made it believable for me. In fact, it added a lot of drama to the story, and the stakes seemed really high. One could argue that flying a hippogriff to the top of a castle would be fairly noticeable, even at night, but that one person should probably just relax. It also provided what was probably the most emotional moment for me. When Harry thought he had seen his dad and went to see if it was him, it got a little misty—BUT NOT TOO MISTY.
I have not been rating these books, because I feel like they are all 5s. I would probably admit that that is from mostly nostalgia. POA though is definitely a 5/5 for me. I think it’s an awesome story, and even better than I had remembered.
Do any of you have a character comparison like my Paul Tripp/Lupin connection? I know what the movie tells me, but I am just going to continue to ignore that.