Ephemeris of the Mind (Book Review) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Time to read: 2 min read
Book Cover
The consqeuences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed…
Past Harry Potter novel reviews:
Review
This book introduces Sirius Black, who has one of the best character developements of the series. The story in this book revolves around his escape from the magical prison Azkaban and Harry's father's backstory. The tone for this book is more sombre and the focus is more on the backstory of the adult characters; that being said, this was the last book which Harry and friends still felt like children instead of young adults.
While I did not feel that this book was as memorable as the first two (maybe because I had only read the first two when I was younger), it was very interesting to read about what happened in the past with Harry's parents; I also thought that the time-traveling aspect was particularly well-written. I liked the discussion about the grims, which are symbols of death; the book explores superstitions in the wizarding world, which I found both ironic and intriguing. I also liked the idea of the Marauder's Map, which are relics passed from past students to current students; I guess the modern real-world analogy would be code; people can build cool projects like UIs and websites which can be used by future students.
What I found most moving in this book, however, is Rowling's writing surrounding Dementors, which are beings who suck away all happiness and hope from their surroundings; Rowling drew from her own experience with depression to create these terrible beings and I thought that it was wonderful that her writing has helped many people with their own Dementors.
Conclusion
A more sombre Harry Potter story.