Something Wicked This Way Comes: A Re-Review of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Mischief Managed.

I’ve finally come full circle; I finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

I started this journey last year, re-reading and listening to the audio-book for Goblet of Fire; I started there because, a year or so prior to that, I’d just re-read the first three books, giving up at four because it was very long and I had other books I wanted to read.

Last year I went through the final four books. While I’ve read them all before, the audio-books a brand new experience for me. And when I’d finished, even though I’d recently read the first three books, I couldn’t help but feel I’d missed out, since I hadn’t listened to those audio-books yet.

With each books finished, I wrote some form of a review. On some I had clear ideas on what I wanted to talk about with revisiting the stories, on others I simply discussed stray thoughts that came to mind. I compared the movies, I talked about artwork and different ways to take in Rowling’s beautiful works. And now, with book three, I’d like to do more of the same.

First and foremost, Azkaban has always been my favorite. Favorite book, favorite movie, favorite soundtrack. I just love it. I love it for starting to build connections, like with the arrival of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin and their relationship to both Harry and Snape. I love it for Rowling beginning to unravel the narrative threads, letting us see that there’s so much more behind her characters than meets the eyes, and that there is so much more yet to discover. And, of course, I love it for the time travel, which is one of my favorite elements of science fiction/fantasy (for reference, my favorite Star Trek films involve time travel, my favorite Artemis Fowl book involves time travel, and Back to the Future is one of my favorite movie trilogies of all time… no pun intended).

Revisiting it now, however, I realize I love Prisoner of Azkaban most because it is the first book where returning to Hogwarts actually feels like returning home for me…