Rating: 
Summary: I don't want it to end.
Review: Last night I read the chapter on the Quidditch final to my son and we were both on the edges of our seats!! It is probably difficult enough to write about a sporting event and make it interesting to the reader but to make a non-existent (at least in the muggle world) game come alive is true genius. Brava to Ms. Rowling
Rating:
Summary: Yes, I gave it 5 Stars too but it actually deserves it
Review: Let me keep this short and sweet. I know, I know, I'm yet another reviewer out there who gave this book five stars. But I gave Harry Potter 2 only three stars, so hear me out: this deserves five stars because it's the best of the four Harry Potters. The ending, especially, is the coolest twist of events I've ever seen. Overall, it's a joy to read.
Rating: 
Summary: A Few Quibbles
Review: Let's get the good stuff out of the way first. Harry Potter is the ugly duckling who turns out to be a swan. He's easy to like. He brave, kind and generous. He's open minded and loves to learn. He is not vain about his celebrity or snobbish about his special gifts. When he has the chance, he chooses not to kill the man who betrayed his parents to their deaths. He has a strong inborn sense of good and evil, and he knows what side he's on. That's a good thing, because in many ways Harry Potter has the potential to be a somewhat dangerous example. Harry is, first of all, a born member of a secret elite. Like all wizards and witches, he knows he is superior to the surrounding world of muggles, who don't know what's really going on and must never be allowed to know. Nice wizards like the Weasleys view muggles with a sort of superior amusement at the clumsy way they have to do things. This attitude is taught at Hogwarts -- Hermione, who has two muggle parents herself, has to do a paper for her Muggle Studies class on "Why Muggles Need Electricity." Nasty wizards, like the Malfoys, are a lot worse. They view muggles with contempt, as not really human. All wizards agree that it would be a very dangerous thing if the muggles ever found out about what wizards and witches can do. Most of the work of the Ministry of Magic seems to involve keeping them from finding out. So Harry finds himself on the right side of a world divided into two groups - a small, smart minority who know what actually happens, and a vast, stupid and potentially dangerous minority -- think Durseleys -- who live in a world of illusions. Hermione's inner life, by the way, would make a fascinating story. Unlike Harry, her real parents are muggles. How they and others like them are persuaded to send their children to Hogwarts, where they get the galleons to pay for tuition and school supplies in Diagon Alley, and why they don't tell all the other muggles all about it are never really explained. As muggle born (the ugly expression is "mudblood"), Hermione is subject to a certain amount of prejudice from bad people like Draco Malfoy. Because she's smart, she tries to overcome it and fit in by learning everything there is to know about being a witch, as if getting the top marks will really make her an insider. She's miserable when her book learning doesn't make her friends with born wizards and witches. Although she fights with Ron Weasley, he wants so much to be friends with him because Ron is from a big, happy, pure wizard family and comfortable being a wizard without being a snob about it. I would bet Hermione is always nervous about how she's doing and always afraid that something is going to go wrong for her. She think's her only protection is to be perfect, and nobody's perfect - least of all at 13. But back to Harry. He was raised as a muggle, but he's a natural wizard and a born superstar. He's also rich, which won't hurt either as he gets older. He was a celebrity before he even arrived at Hogwarts. He's never heard of Quidditch, but he turns out to be an exceptional player the first time he picks up a broom. Everyone thinks he will grow up to do extraordinary things As a result, he gets a lot of special treatment. Gifts are showered on him by adult patrons and older students - hotshot brooms, an Invisibility Cloak, the Marauder's Map. He gets special teaching from Dumbledore, from Lupin, and even from Hagrid. Only Professor Snape and Malfoy don't like him, and that's because they're both jealous. Hogwarts itself comes easily to Harry. If it wasn't for his grown-up enemies who are out to get him, he wouldn't have any real problems in his life at school. It's how Harry solves his real problems that's disturbing. Because he is who he is - the the predestined enemy of the fearsome Voldemort -- Harry is treated both by the author and his fellow characters as if he were above the law. He constantly breaks school rules. He sneaks into places where he is forbidden to go. He conceals important facts from his teachers, including Dumbledore. To do so, he flat out lies. He puts the lives of other students at risk. He helps the hippogriff and Sirius Black escape the death sentences imposed by the Ministry of Magic. In every crisis Harry breaks the rules and defies adult authority to follow his own judgment - and he teaches Hermione that she should do the same. The faithful Ron, of course, follows him without question. He is always forgiven because he is right and the rules, his teachers (except for the all-knowing Dumbledore) and the government are wrong. Not only does Dumbledore forgive and reward him; by The Prisoner of Azkaban, Dumbledore is conniving with him against the Minstry. So Harry teaches his young readers that if you're somebody really special (and who isn't), you know better than most of the adults who tell you what to do, and you should trust your own judgment and do what's right, not what you're told. The few really wise adults will agree with you and help you out. The adults who get in the way are likely to be fools, like Snape, or fakes like Lockhart and Trelawney, or bullies, like Malfoy's father, or cowardly weaklings, like most of Voldemort's followers seem to be. It never hurts an author to flatter her audience, and I suspect that a fair number of Harry's fans are learning some interesting moral lessons about the world and their place in it.
Rating:
Summary: It only gets better!
Review: Like a fine bottle of exquisite wine or other spirits (for that matter); this series, i.e., Harry Potter, only gets better and better (as it progresses). Part III, i.e., Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre(Illustrator) is not an exception and shows the reader that Rowlings writing style becomes more polished, e.g., better character development, a more complex story and dialogue that seems and feels very natural (and therefore neither phony not fake). I am by all means a big Rowling fan by now (even though I had my initial reservations); and I must say that I can not and will not wait long before I have started and finished the fourth book in this series, i.e., Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) by J. K. Rowling, Mary Grandpre (Illustrator)
Rating:
Summary: Compulsive reading
Review: Like all th best children's books this one is an excellent read for adults too. The basic themes are timeless (good versus evil, weak versus strong) but most important is the quality of the writing. Harry is an entirely plausible person and one with whom one can empathise easily. It's very easy to imagine yourself in his predicaments and hoping you would make the same decisions he does. I confess I bought it primarily for myself but I also read a chapter each evening to my daughters (3 and 4 years) before bed each night. I goes a little over the head of the youngest one but the older one loves it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best in the Harry Potter series (so far)
Review: Like I said in the title this is the best Harry Potter book I've read. I just finished the series and they are all very good however. Like all Harry potter books if this is the first one you read (as it was for me) you won't feel like you've missed a thing! Rowling is very good at informing the reader of past events from previous books. Reading them in order is probably best but if you've seen both movies and are just waiting in anticipation to see what happens next you really can just start on the third book. Again this book is great don't hesitate to purchase this its worth every penny!!
Rating:
Summary: HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban is amazing!
Review: Like its two predecessors the book begins with Harry spending the summer with the Dursleys and their attitude towards Harry and treatment of him has not changed. Harry has not heard much from his friends Ron and Hermione, Ron's father won some gold over the holidays and took the whole family to visit Ron's eldest brother in Egypt, scabbers went too; Hermione went to France with her parents on holiday. Harry was having breakfast with the Dursleys one morning, the TV was on and in the background there was a report of a dangerous criminal, Sirius Black, escaping from prison and a letter arrived informing the family of a visit from Mr. Dursleys sister, an obnoxious women who had always shown a particular dislike of Harry. Harry is looking forward to his third year at school, in this year students are allowed to occasionally visit the village of Hogsmeade, which is completely inhabited by witches, wizards and other magical creatures, but Harry needs his Uncle to sign the consent form to allow him to go out of school. Harry tries very hard to merge into the background and not upset anyone in the hope of getting his consent form signed. Mr. Dursleys sisters visit is just too much of a strain for Harry and eventually things come to a head resulting in Harry running away late at night and without his consent form signed. A huge black dog, which causes him to fall, frightens Harry and he is nearly run over by the knight bus (a magical bus that takes you anywhere). Harry becomes a passenger on the knight bus and disembarks at Diagon Alley where he books into a room at the Leaky Cauldron until it is time to return to school. The Weasleys and Hermione spend the last night of the holidays at the Leaky Cauldron with Harry and Harry overhears a conversation about him being in danger, it seems the escaped convict Sirius Black was in league with Voldermart and has returned to kill Harry. The school is guarded by Dementors, hideous creatures who drain all happy thoughts out of people they come into contact with leaving them with the thoughts of the worst thing that has ever happened to them, while in the Dementors presence, they are the grim guards of Azkaban prison. Harry has another year of adventures; using a secret map given to him by the Weasley twins he discovers underground tunnels and a secret way into the village of Hogsmeade. Problems arise between the three friends, Hermione has bought herself a pet cat she calls crookshanks who takes a real dislike to Ron's rat scabbers, this causes bad feelings between Hermione and Ron with Harry stuck in the middle. The year is again full of danger, excitement and adventure with twists and turns and the bad guy turns out to be the last person you would expect. The book is three hundred and seventeen pages of mystery, clues and intrigue and leaves you wanting to read even more.
Rating:
Summary: I'm Hooked on Harry
Review: Like many others, I fall out of the targeted age group for the Harry Potter series. The third book in the series is particularly good. I write this reveiw as a college student at the office of the internship I have in NYC. I want to elucidate how impressed I am with Rowler. The third installment is filled with twists and bends that tie in beautifully with the other books in the series. Harry's life seems to be in jeopardy when supposed mad-man Sirius Black escapes from the wizard prison Azkaban and is on the loose. A man hunt ensues led by the wretched Azkaban guards who are "dementors" that are able feed off people's happiness and have a kiss worse than death.... Packed with mystery and mystique, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is for any age (as long as the person has the ability to read). It does not matter if you've been following the series or not, the book is great either way.
Rating:
Summary: love it
Review: Like the first two of Rowlings "Potter" series this one is just as well written. I loved it; every word. You almost feel a loss when you are finished and only wish for the book to go on for longer. Once you start you will not be able to put this book down. Just as spellbinding as the first and second of the series. If you liked the first two this is definitely a must read. I hope you will enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Rowling is almost as good as Diana Wynne Jones!
Review: Like the other two, this one was a lot of fun. I've been addicted to children's sci-fi/fantasy books for a long time and this is just my kind of thing. If, as a kid, you liked books by L'Engle, C.S. Lewis and Nesbit, you'll like this. You'll also like the books of Diana Wynne Jones (HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE is a good one to try her out with).
|
