Another Magical Journey in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban by JK Rowling

Of course, I loved this book. I mean, it’s a Harry Potter book! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; there’s just something really comforting about sitting down with a Harry Potter book. You really can just loose yourself in the magic and forget about reality. It’s one of those things where you look at the clock one minute and it’s something like 8pm and then you look up and it’s 11pm! I could sit for hours reading this series.

After recently reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, I got into a bit of a Harry Potter mood and I’ve decided to continue reading the series from where I left off reviewing them, late last year. You can read my reviews of Philosopher’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets if you follow those links. So, Prisoner of Askaban is one of my favourite films, so I loved reading this one. I loved the further detail that JK Rowling went into that the film missed out. One of my favourite parts of any Harry Potter book is the Quidditch matches – so I loved reading all about Harry’s Firebolt!

So Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban centres around an escaped prisoner called Sirius Black, who is on the loose and apparently hunting down Harry! In order to protect people against Sirius (who is said to be extremely dangerous), strange creatures called Dementors are acting as guards of Hogwarts and other places, in an attempt to frighten Sirius off. But the Dementors themselves are very dangerous, and Harry has a couple of near-fatal experiences with these dark creatures in this book. Everything is seeming much darker and dangerous than the previous two books in my opinion.

So much happens in this book! There are seriously so many sub-plots in this book, it’s unbelievable. There’s the mystery surrounding how on Earth Hermionie is tackling so many subjects this term – I mean, we all knew she was clever, but is she really clever enough to attend multiple lessons – at the same time of day!? Also, Oliver Wood, the Griffindor Quidditch captain is going all out to try and secure the Quidditch cup this year. Harry has acquired a very mysterious thing which is the Mauraders Map, which enables him to see exactly where everyone is in the castle – and also, it reveals several secret passageways from Hogwarts into different destinations. And then there is Ron’s old rat, Scabbers, who is fighting for his life on numerous occasions in this book, because Hermionie has a new pet cat, who seems intent on killing Scabbers!

Despite the fact that the subjects dealt with in this book seem darker and more dangerous than ever before, there is still an equal balance of humour, which is GREAT. The humour in these books is fantastic, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban is no exception.

Another favourite scene of mine, from this book, is one of Professor Lupin’s lessons – when the children all have to face the boggart, which is again, a very scary thought, but very humorous when the boggart turns into Professor Snape!

There’s so much to say about this book, it is impossible to say it all in this review! But yeah, I thoroughly enjoyed it and in my opinion, it was faultless. Packed, until the very end, with excitement and intrigue – the best in the series so far, for me!

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What are your thoughts?

• What did you think of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban?
• Would you agree with my five-star rating?
• What is your favourite Harry Potter book?
• Have you read Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

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Thank you for reading my review!

August Wrap-up

Hi Everyone, it feels like yesterday that I was writing my July wrap-up, where has this month gone?! And the worst thing is, my summer holidays are almost over and I’ll be having to go back to school again – oh no! 😦 But, it’s been a busy month for me. I’ve been away on holiday and thoroughly enjoyed a seven night’s break away at a gorgeous Cottage near Scarborough, which had a beautiful swimming pool and multiple acres of private land to explore. I loved every minute! I’ve also read a lot of books, this month – a grand total of four books (which might not seem many to some people, aha, but it’s more than usual for me), so it’s been quite successful. I also got my results back from my exams, if you remember me saying, I took earlier this summer, and you’ll be happy to hear that I passed them all (yey!!!) Anyway, enough of that personal news, lets get on with the wrap-up:

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 After You by Jojo Moyes

Reviewed Here

This book is the sequel to Jojo Moyes bestselling Me Before You and although I was very excited about it, I was also cautious because I was happy with the way the original book ended. But it was a nice surprise, because I thoroughly enjoyed this sequel! I enjoyed seeing what Louisa was up to after the events of Me Before You, but in a way, I also thought it contradicted the meaning of the last book: to just live, and to live an exciting life, because now Louisa works in an airport bar and is back living a sheltered life again. However, I awarded it a four-star rating because I really enjoyed the book, and there was just as much humour and everything, as there was in the first book.

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 The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish

Reviewed Here

This book is an excellent, very summery thriller which I read in just a couple of days towards the beginning of the month. It is about the reopening of a local swimming pool in the town that the main character of this book lives, who has an aquaphobic daughter, and befriends a very stylish family – the new celebrities of the town. It was a really well-paced, compelling book and I loved the characters – and the stage of the plot, which was obviously the swimming pool. It was a really clever book and I actually didn’t want to finish it in the end! I gave it a very high star rating of five stars out of five, because it was such an enjoyable read, and also I’m surprised it hasn’t had more recognition, to be honest.

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Never Saw It Coming by Linwood Barclay

Reviewed Here

As I mentioned in my review, I hadn’t planned on reading this book, I picked it up spontaneously (there’s actually quite a funny story behind it, if you read my review!) but I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it was a good book, and better than I thought it would be – but certainly not up there with the bestsellers like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, etc, because I could see quite a few faults, however, it was entertaining, and there was a good plot behind it. However, the characters weren’t really developed as well as they should have been and the narrative wasn’t that good, to be honest. But I gave it three stars out of five, which I thought was a very fair judgement.

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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Reviewed Here

I was cautious about picking this book up, because I didn’t really think a sequel to the original series was needed. The play was actually quite good, even though the fact that Harry didn’t seem his old self (he seemed much more moody, impatient and irritable, etc) spoilt it a little for me. But the idea about the time-turner and bringing back the subject of Cedric Diggory’s death was all quite clever, and I enjoyed it. But there was several flaws, which was why I only gave it four stars out of five. But it’s definitely something I was certainly recommend to fans of Harry Potter.

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Currently Reading:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban

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Other News:

Guess what? I’ve reached 400 followers! I really didn’t see this coming, and I’m absolutely thrilled to think that there are so many of you out there that read my posts and stuff! Debating whether to do a post like some bloggers do when they reach a similar sort of milestone. Anyway, just a big thank you from me to all you out there that are following Poppy’s Best of Books – you are really appreciated!

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 August’s Posts:

• August 1st: July Wrap-up
• August 6th: Discussion| Judging Books Before You Read Them
• August 8th: After You by Jojo Moyes: Was there any Need For a Sequel?
• August 13th: Dripping in Drama: The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish
• August 22nd: The Entertainer Blogger Award
• August 23rd: Never Saw it Coming by Lindwood Barclay: a little too predictable
• August 27th: New Dark Secrets Surfacing in: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

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How Has Your August Been?

• Have you been anywhere nice on holiday, etc?
• Have you read many books this month?
• Have you done anything else exciting this month?

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Thank you for reading my Wrap-up!

New Dark Secrets Surfacing in: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

 When I saw that this book was coming out, I actually didn’t have high hopes for it. I’m not the sort of fan who is desperate for a favourite author to keep writing and writing. I suppose I’m a “quit while your ahead” person, and I’m always quite cautious about picking up a sequel to something when you were quite content with the way it ended. So the Harry Potter series – yeah, I was happy with the ending, but curious about the content of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. So curiosity got the better of me and I picked it up… and read it. Because, at the end of the day, what was there to loose?

Well, er, my faith in JK.Rowling, the ‘magic’ of the previous seven books, my perspective on the series…

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set nineteen years after to the events in the original seven books. It is, of course, in the format of a script (why, by the way, did not put me off  in the slightest – I’ve read scripts before, and I love how quick and easy to read they are) so I enjoyed that.

But for me, it is the storyline of this play, which was the most important thing. And frankly, I just couldn’t see it meeting the standards of the earlier books. I also couldn’t understand how a Harry Potter play would work on stage, I mean, how are they going to get away with flying brooms and extraordinary spells without the special effects that the films had?

So, I had my doubts, but I was actually pleasantly surprised. This book, I mean play is actually really impressive and exceeds any expectations I had for it. The storyline is equally as mysterious and complex and the original storylines, and the characters are just as interesting.

So a majority of the play is set in Albus Potter’s (Harry’s son) fourth year at Hogwarts, and is about Albus’ escapades with his best friend, Scorpius – the son of Draco Malfoy. Although it is emphasized that he is in fact the son of Malfoy, there are rumours that Scorpius is the son of Voldemort, circulated by many characters, including Harry Potter. I have to admit, I was disappointed by the way Harry Potter was portrayed in this play. In my eyes, he had lost what made him such a likable character in the original series; his adventurousness, his kindness, his modesty and his patience, and had become an irritable, careless father who didn’t seem to have time for either his kids or his friends. He was obviously very overworked at the Ministry of Magic, his workplace, but my argument to that is: Hermionie, who had a much higher position at the Ministry – as in, the actual Minister, still had plenty of time for her child: Rose.

So anyway, regarding the actual storyline, this book was very good, in my opinion. It surrounds the death of Cedric Diggory, who died in the graveyard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Basically, Cedric’s father, Amos, comes to Harry, begging him to use a timeturner to go back and save his son, however Harry says no, but his son, Albus, had overheard and becomes desperate to deal with the suggestion, himself. He and his best friend Scorpius team up with Amos’s niece, Delphini, to delve back into the past and recover Cedric Diggory from that terrible evening when Voldemort ordered him to be killed, and called him the spare.

But when they go back in time back to the Triwizard Tournament, small changes that they make in order to try and save Cedric, make enormous differences in the present day and it turns into quite a creepy adventure, in the end, certainly full of dark shocks and chilling surprises!

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of Harry Potter. It is witty, very clever and really interesting. Wish I could see the actual performance of it, but that isn’t likely to happen, I don’t think, ahaha! I’m giving this book four stars out of five, just because I was disappointed that Harry didn’t really resemble his original character in the first 7 books, but other than that, it was really good and I was very happily surprised. 🙂

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What did you think of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child?

• Did it meet your expectations?
• Was there anything you were disappointed in?
• Are you going to go and see it at the theatre?

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Thank you for reading my review!