Genre: Fantasy Age Range: YA/Adult Star Rating:5/5 stars Series: yes - book 3
*SPOILER ALERT: contains SPOILERS for the first two books in the series*
Synopsis:
“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transportation 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 VOLDEMEORT, 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…
Synopsis taken from Goodreads. Add to your shelves here.
Thoughts:
It’s a toss up between this one and #4 for my favourite HP, but I think this one might take the biscuit (let’s see once I’ve read #4).
I love the shift towards a darker theme that takes the series away from children’s fiction. The mystery and betrayals at the heart of the story keep you second guessing, with every event carefully hinted at with all the right clues peppered along the way. There’s also a lot more about Harry’s father and his friendships that shape a lot of Harry’s world.
I love that, unlike #1 and #2, this book doesn’t have some incarnation of Voldemort as the villain. The moral shades of grey are also part of the reason this book is more mature than previous entries. The exact ‘villain’ is hard to pin down, but the Dementors are certainly the most terrifying creature/force found in the entire series. They’re horrifying.
This book really solidifies Harry’s compulsion to act, but also his compassion and moral compass. Hermione is starting to move out of being purely the ‘geeky’ one (punching Malfoy, working on the defence etc) and feels more rounded this book. The Harry-Ron wobbles next book are expertly set up by Ron basking in the attention. Obviously, with four books to go, there all have a lot of room to grow but their strongest traits are recognisable now.
So yes, the time travel does open up the ‘why can’t they go back in time and fix everything?’ element (which HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD makes a point of). Excluding that nitpick, the book throws the series forwards into a darker tone and promised more excitement to come..
Read my reviews of other books in the series:
Harry Potter (this series):
Sifa Elizabeth Reads 