Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

JK Rowling

“‘Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go.'”

When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it’s the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run – and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry’s tea leaves … But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss …

---

JK Rowling continues with her fabulous series and doesn’t let anything slip. There are so any good characters in this series, and a couple of new ones get introduced in this book, both good, though I prefer Lupin to Sirius. It’s not just the characters that make this book and the series great, it’s the plot, with Harry’s life becoming both better and worse as he learns more about his parents and how they died, and the writing; there is a good level of descriptiveness to every aspect of this book, but nothing that overwhelms the story, allowing you to access what’s going on without anything getting in the way.

The best thing about this book, compared to the first two, is that the plot doesn’t revolve around Voldemort, there is a different focus, and I believe that keeps the series from becoming boring. If I have one real complaint about any part of this book, it’s that there seems to be a contradiction between one part of this book and something that was mentioned in The Chamber of Secrets: in this book a character says there’s no cure for being a werewolf, but in COS Professor Lockhart mentions performing a spell that gets rid of a werewolf curse.

I’m not sure if Rowling forgot what she had written in the previous book, or if she needed to change that in order to use a plot thread she had come up with.

Regardless of that one niggle, this is a very good book in a very good series.

A review of Harry Potter 2

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

JK Rowling

“‘There is a plot, Harry Potter. A plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year.'”

Harry Potter’s summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors – and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone … Dobby’s sinister predictions seem to be coming true.

---

The Chamber of Secrets continues from the events in The Philosopher’s Stone and delves deeper into the magical world of Hogwarts. We get to know more about Harry and his friends, and meet some new characters, some friendly and others not, all interesting.

Once again J K Rowling has brought to life a magical world I would love to be a part of. The characters feel and act like real people, with hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses, friends and rivals. There is danger for Harry and his friends, and danger leads to injuries, but that’s to the good because it would have made it hard to accept what happens if nobody got hurt.

The writing remains as good as in the first book, and though I know, intellectually, magic doesn’t exist, I really wish it did and that I could do my time at school over again so I could attend Hogwarts.

An interview with the princess of paperback

Today I am interviewing a fellow blogger, Joyce from Princess of Paperback, who reviews and provides some of that all important support to indie authors like myself.

Welcome to ARCBookBlog, my little corner of the web, Joyce, sit down and put your feet up, the tea will be ready in a few moments.

First off, tell me a bit about yourself:

Joyce – Hi!  My name is Joyce and I’m a thirty-something bibliophile who grew up reading Robert Munsch. The Paper Bag Princess was my all-time favourite story.  Coffee and fiction are my addiction.  I love reading mystery/thrillers, crime, fantasies like Harry Potter, fairytales, a little bit of horror/paranormal, historical fiction and YA.

When I’m not busy at my day job, I’m a wife and mommy to 4 kids.  Some people eat to live, but I live to eat!  I’m a foodie who appreciates good food and doesn’t mind sharing recipes.  So here I am.  New to the world of blogging.

I’m also a bit of a couch potato.  From time to time, I’ll quote or write about the shows and movies I like to watch.

Now we’ve been introduced, I just have a few questions for you so my readers can get to know you better.

Me – How long have you been blogging?
Joyce – I’ve been blogging for 3 or 4 months now.

Me – Is blogging something you’ve always been interested in doing?
Joyce – I didn’t discover the world of blogging till just this year. So I’m kinda late on the blogging bandwagon. I never really thought I was particularly good at writing. So it wasn’t something I gave much thought to until now.

Me – Do you write every day?
Joyce – No. I post once every week or two, or when I have time really. Life is busy with 4 kids.

Me – What is your favourite genre?
Joyce – Mystery/thrillers

Me – What would you like to achieve with your blogging?
Joyce – I would love to be a book reviewer for a publishing company..wishful thinking right?

Me – What’s your favourite book?
Joyce – My favourite book..hm. That’s a tough one. There are so many good books. But the only one I have ever read more than once, was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. Ooh. And of course, the beloved Harry Potter series.

Me – Tell me about your next post
Joyce – My next post will be a review of The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney.

Okay, now that we know you, a little better than we did before, how can we follow you?

Website: http://www.princessofpaperback.wordpress.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/princesspaperback
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ms_j_ho
IG: http://www.instagram.com/princessofpaperback
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/princesspaperback

I’ve decided not to sell my books to Hollywood.

Okay, disclaimer, Hollywood has not come knocking with an offer for my books, nor do I think they are likely to any time soon. I merely say this because I am sat here, watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, having watched each of the Harry Potter films over the past week, and with 1 film still to go, and in watching them I am reminded of the damage that can be done to a story when Hollywood gets their hands on it.

The first two Harry Potter books were made into decent movies, I’m quite happy to watch them; after that, however, the films, in my opinion, become worse and worse. The acting, even from those with great acting credentials is no more than acceptable, while horrific liberties are taken with the plots, scenes ignored or cut to the bare minimum, scenes added for no good reason, characters missing, elements of speech shifted from one character to another.

Some of these things can be excused by the necessity of making the films manageable lengths, but not everything.

I can’t help thinking that if they can’t do justice to the books, they shouldn’t have touched them at all.

Being reminded of how indifferent filmmakers are to ensuring they adapt a book correctly is why, should they ever make an offer for any of my books, my first instinct is going to be to tell them to get lost (I realise there’s every chance my answer will depend on the size of the offer and my need for money at the time, but I’d like to think my integrity will allow me to go with my first instinct and refuse to have my books butchered).

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

As I said in my welcome post, this site is for reviews of things I’ve read, seen, heard, played or done, which gives me a lot of scope to find things to write about. I hope you will all like my reviews, or at least find them interesting.

If you disagree with them, please do let me know, I like to hear opposing thoughts on things.

My first review is for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the book not the film) I realise this is something that has been reviewed a lot but I feel it’s a decent place to start – don’t worry, I will be reviewing some less well-known things as we go along. And now to the review.

By J K Rowling

After years of being either ignored or bullied by the relatives who took him in when his parents died, Harry Potter discovers on his eleventh birthday that he is a wizard and can do magic. Not only that but he has been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

When he arrives at school he finds friends, and enemies – both old and new, and

encounters adventures that excite him as much as they frighten him. At the end of the year he comes face to face with the dark wizard who changed his life. Can an eleven year old boy really hope to defeat the most dangerous dark wizard for a century.

This is a great book, filled with wonderful characters who are richly described and a pleasure to read about. One of the best things about this book is the way the characters develop, learning magic and the ways of the magical world as they, without immediately becoming super powerful and capable of doing anything; the characters, certainly the main trio of Harry, Ron and Hermione, complement each other well with each bringing something to the group.

Along the way to the final confrontation there are laughs as well as some more serious scenes, all of which, though the book is intended for a younger audience, fit to be enjoyed by adults.

I’ve read Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone more times than I can remember and continue to enjoy it, which I consider as important, if not more so, as how well the book’s written. In this case the book is both well written and enjoyable, and is likely to remain a favourite of mine for years to come.