Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Review

Intro

Despite how swamped/lazy I've been lately, I managed to finish my current reread of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I'm actually surprised it took me so long. I started this reread in August and it's now November. I shudder to think how long it's going to take me to reread Goblet of Fire, though I'm planning to attempt keeping up with Alohomora's reread, now that I've started the book.

SPOILER WARNING

Although I find a spoiler warning for this book rather silly at this point, if you haven't read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban don't read my review until you have done so. My review will contain spoilers. Also, if you haven't read/listened to it, where have you been? Living under a rock? Get on that!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling - Review

Characters:

• Harry James Potter - Main protagonist. Gryffindor.
• Hermione Jean Granger - Harry's Best friend. Gryffindor.
• Ronald "Ron" Bilius Weasley - Harry's Best friend. Youngest Weasley male. Gryffindor.
• Sirius "Padfoot" Black - Main antagonist. Animagus. Former Gryffindor. Marauder.
• Remus "Moony" John Lupin - Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Werewolf. Former Gryffindor. Marauder.
• Severus Snape - Potion Master. Head of Slytherin House.
• Draco Lucius Malfoy - Antagonist. Slytherin.
• Professor Sybil Trelawney - Seer. Divination teacher.
• Buckbeak - Hippogriff.
• Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew/Scabbers - Animagus. Former Gryffindor. Marauder.
• There are too many characters to list. I think I've got the main bunch of this book listed here, though.

Review:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is my all time favorite Harry Potter book. That said, I hadn't realized until this reread that most of my enjoyment of this book is drawn mainly from chapters 18 and 19. Everything else serves to set up the events of those chapters and the ones after. PoA is also the most normal year Harry ever had at Hogwarts, I believe. There honestly isn't much that goes on and so the book jumps through the year like it's playing leap-frog with the events.

The main thrust of the PoA story, for me at least, is The Marauder's Map and the characters surrounding it. The Marauder's Map is an interesting concept, though scrutinizing it shows a few massive plot holes, though most of those show up later in the series. The Map has been shown to reveal the true identity of anyone within Hogwarts. It was previously owned by the Wesley Twins who, while probably not using it to spy on people in other dormitories, probably would have noticed that Peter Pettigrew was constantly with Ron. I honestly wouldn't have thought about this plot hole if it hadn't been for the internet, so you can take it or leave it.

The first of the Marauders is the most infamous of the group, one Sirius Black. He is mentioned first in Chapter 2, though not actually seen until much later. Sirius is the main antagonist of this book, though it's later revealed he's not much of an antagonist. Sirius was purported to have turned the Potters over to Lord Voldemort and also to have murdered Peter Pettigrew and a number of Muggles. He was sent to Azkaban and, at the beginning of the book, has managed to be the first person to escape the prison. It isn't revealed until the last chapters of PoA that Sirius is innocent of both charges.

The second Marauder we meet in chapter 5, one Remus Lupin. Lupin is the latest Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is somewhat mysterious in that we know next to nothing about him until the final chapters of the book. He is very fond of Harry and Harry of him so we see Remus is a very good light. Remus is also revealed to have been friends with Harry's parents, though this doesn't do much to strengthen the bond between he and Harry.

The final member of the Marauders we meet is Peter Pettigrew. However, as it's revealed much later in the book, we've known Peter from the very start of the series. Peter is, in fact, Scabbers, Ron's rat. He is revealed as having been the spy among the Potters' friends. He faked his death to escape whatever fate he had coming to him. Unfortunately, Peter escapes before he is able to face any punishment for his crimes.

Of course, my main interest in the Marauders, also including James Potter, is the back story surrounding them and the Map. I say "of course" because I've previously reviewed some Marauder's Era fanfiction. The birth of Marauder's Era fanfiction began based solely on the information we as a fandom gleaned from information provided by Prisoner of Azkaban.

I think it took me such a long time getting through PoA this time around because I was chomping at the bit to get to the end of the book. Reading through the previous chapters kind of became a bore, quite honestly. I feel like knowing the end of the story made the rest seem like extraneous material. It wasn't horrible extraneous material, but at the same time, it didn't make me want to keep reading this time around.

However, the first couple times I read PoA, I ripped through it at a much faster pace. I really do enjoy the book as a whole, not just the last few chapters.

Housekeeping

Alright, that might not have been my most awesome review ever, but... meh. It'll have to do. Let me know what you thought of the book in the comments.

Next up: Either a Nuzlocke Challenge update (yeah, that's been a long time coming) or a review of something... depends on my mood.

Again, I'm sorry for getting so behind and whatnot. I've been working and tired and unmotivated lately. I'll try to break out of that funk sooner rather than later.

Love ya, Jessie

Pottermore - Goblet of Fire - Section 1

Intro

That's right, it's time again for another Pottermore Update! This came out yesterday and I figured I'd go through the sections that had interesting new stories/information attached to them and tell you what you should definitely check out, if collecting stuff and looking at all the pretty art isn't your thing.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, please leave the blog, read it, and come back. I will inevitably spoil things because of the overall nature of Pottermore and because I'm horrible at keeping spoilers out of my reviews and what not.

The Weasley's Arrive

The first thing you'll want to click on is the fireplace. There's an interesting little article-thing on the Floo Network. We get a story about a woman who, after ending up in the altogether wrong fire, essentially ditches her husband for the man who's fire she ended up in. The story is, of course, a lot more interesting when you read it, so I encourage you to do so.

I was pleasantly surprised by the two sound clips found after the main article. J.K. Rowling herself tells the story I mentioned above and talks about her inspiration for the Floo Network! The sound clips are in English only, though there are transcripts provided. I'm not sure if the transcripts translate, but I'm sure someone's done that somewhere if you don't read English.

After checking out the Floo Network article, be aware that there is a very loud crash that happens when you click the fireplace again. I jumped a couple times when things crashed and fell so I figured I'd warn you.

The Misty Moor

Again we get an article/story about wizarding transportation. This time, it's Portkeys. The short tale is about a pair of dog walkers who end up at a Celestina Warbeck concert. One of the Muggles writes a Muggle version of Warbeck's "Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love."

Also, because of my rabid listening to Mugglecast and using Mugglenet.com as a resource for my Harry Potter goodness, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Emerson Spartz, the founder of Mugglenet, got a mention at the end of the Floo Powder article.

The Campsite

Okay so... Pottermore is gorgeous. Like, I'm extremely impressed by the artistry that goes into it. Yesterday I was extremely impressed with The Campsite scene. It was the most gorgeous piece of artwork I've seen on Pottermore. It's a lot cooler than how the scene looked in my head and on film. All the tents mentioned in the books are there. And I thought the clover-covered tents looked rather like Hobbit Holes. It was gorgeous. If you don't look at anything else I've talked about today, go have a look at this scene.

Of course, the gorgeous artwork made a perfect place to have an article about colors in the Harry Potter books. There's a bit of discussion about why wizards prefer emerald green and purple, why Aunt Petunia's house is largely salmon and peach, and what the colors of the Hogwarts Houses represent.

The Golden Stadium

The only thing I have about this section is a warning. The crowd noise is really loud and it's hard to find the items to pick up.

Morsmordre

Yeah... another gorgeous piece of artwork that looks a lot better than it ended up looking on film. The Dark Mark is just so sparkly!

A Hundred Horseless Carriages

I liked the artwork in this scene. It was really intricate-looking. However, I didn't want to stay on this page even long enough to grab my items because the sound of the storm was ridiculously loud. Pottermore seriously needs a volume control thing.

Housekeeping

Okay so... I apparently missed that The Vampire Diaries was premiering tonight. Thank you, Vampire Hype for making me look it up. I am planning to watch it live and review it tomorrow... and I suppose I'll rewatch The Originals pilot as well, and re-review that... maybe. Next week, however, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland takes precidence over TVD and so I'll switch to reviewing TVD on Saturdays.

From here on out, due to the usual length of my reviews, I'll be putting each one in a separate post. Unless I get lazy, and then I won't.

Love ya, Jessie

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Review

Intro

After many months of having Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets sitting on the little cabinet in front of my upstairs toilet, I finally finished my reread. It's also somewhat fitting that I'm currently wearing my "Harry Otter" t-shirt and used my Harry Potter beach towel to dry it off after my mother squirted me with a unicorn.

Yes, that actually happened.

The unicorn is small and white with a little pink saddle and mane and a purple bridle. I collect unicorns so my mom got it for me and proceeded to assault me with it before hand.

But anyway... on to the spoiler warning.

SPOILER WARNING

If you have not read or watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, please leave the blog and return later. Actually, considering I'm rereading the books for the umpteenth time, if you haven't read the entire Harry Potter series or watched the entire Harry Potter series, please leave the blog and return after you have done so. There will be spoilers.

Also, this isn't a spoiler, but I abbreviate Chamber of Secrets into CoS.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has never been my favorite of the Harry Potter series. It has also never made it beyond the bottom rankings, were I to rank my favorites of the series. However, this does not mean that CoS is not an incredibly important book in the grand scheme of things. CoS sees the introduction of House Elves, Dobby, Gilderoy Lockhart, and the first actual interaction with a Horcrux.

House Elves, as a concept, are quite interesting. I'm not particularly fond of how they end up being portrayed throughout the series, but their modus operandi is intriguing. They remind me a lot of Brownies, a sort of lower fairy that will clean your house for you so long as you leave out some milk and bread for it and don't acknowledge it otherwise. However, our first peek into the "world" of House Elves is actually really disturbing. We have the Malfoy family essentially severely mistreating their servant just because they can. True, there's not really much Dobby can do about this, but it's disturbing nonetheless. House Elves are sentient creatures, after all. They can carry on conversations coherently, they have feelings, and they are quite happy to cook and clean for you, assuming you're lucky enough to have one. The mistreatment of Dobby cements in our minds just how horrible the Malfoys actually are.

Speaking of Dobby, his introduction in CoS begins the long love affair most fans of the Harry Potter books have with the little elf. Personally, I found him rather annoying for a good chunk of the series, especially in CoS. Dobby attempts to help Harry the best he can, but the ways in which he goes about the helping are ludicrous and down right dangerous. First, the interception of Harry's letters. Secondly the thing with the pudding. Thirdly, the barrier at Platform nine and three-quarters. Forth, the Bludger. None of which end up actually stopping Harry. One of which almost kills him. And the entire time Dobby is being ridiculously cryptic, as evidenced by his explanation to Harry what he meant about Tom Riddle instead of Voldemort. That made me want to hit him 'round the head with something!

I also very much wanted to smack Gilderoy Lockhart. He is the most famous of Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers for being totally lame. I'm pretty sure no one learned anything that year and so it was a good thing exams ended up cancelled. Lockhart is gigantically annoying, self-absorbed, and really kind of scary. He wrote all of his books based on things other witches and wizards had done and took their memories of having done them. In addition, he just up and decides to strike Harry and Ron insane (which he says himself). The boys are 12. Seriously, Lockhart? It's a good thing Ron's wand backfired on you.

And finally, the Horcrux. At this point in the series, we have no idea what Riddle's diary actually is. All we know is that it's a magical object enchanted by Voldemort when he was 16. It's really rather disturbing what Riddle does throughout the book to get to his corporeal form there at the end. Poor Ginny gets essentially mind-raped by the Horcrux and almost dies. It's no wonder some people decided to stop reading the series at this point.

Overall, I thought CoS was a perfectly serviceable second book to the series. It sets the tone for how dark the series can get without completely going off the deep end.

Housekeeping

I do believe I lost my train of thought there about the Horcrux. I remember having something semi-intelligent to say, but then it just kind of died... meh.

As of right now, I'm starting my reread of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which is my favorite Harry Potter book. Not sure when I'll end up finishing it, but I will, of course, review it when I get there.

Love ya, Jessie.

It's Harry Potter Day

Intro/Overview

Okay, so it's not actually Harry Potter Day because such a thing does not exist. However, it is both Harry Potter's and J.K. Rowling's birthday today. Also, Pottermore has a new update so... there's that.

Pottermore Update

So... Pottermore released an update today... or yesterday... or something close to now-ish. I went through and clicked through the new chapters and the old chapters. The updates include a new navigation page, site layout, progress bars, and a couple new chapter moments in the Sorcerer's Stone section.

I'm neither impressed nor unimpressed by the new navigation page. I do like the new layout and the new chapter navigation. I didn't really have a problem with the old chapter navigation; in fact, I think that the old chapter navigation was much more slick than this one is. And by slick, I mean better looking.

I really like the progress bars. As I went through the new/old chapters, it was nice knowing whether or not I'd missed mousing over something. I'm a little annoyed that the progress bar counts animations as well as pick-up-able items, but meh. There were a surprising number of people in the comments under each section who complained up and down about hating the new navigation and hating the progress bars. While I agree that the chapter navigation bar could use a button that makes it collapse, I wasn't all that phased by it. The progress bar was actually what made me go down and check the comments. If I couldn't find something, I'd check the comments to see what it was. Easy peasy.

The new Prisoner of Azkaban chapter sections were awesome. It was great seeing that Lupin as a werewolf was actually portrayed as a werewolf and not as an emaciated naked mole rat with fangs. I enjoyed the new information and insight into werewolves and Remus Lupin himself. There was actually some in-depth information about Remus that shattered some of the fanfiction canon I've been exposed to, but that's par for the course with fanfiction.

I also really enjoyed the couple of new moments we got in the Sorcerer's Stone section. Each one actually added something to the experience and didn't shuttle you right off into wand selection and sorting. In fact, there was actually a moment for Ollivander's shop, which was cool. I like the movie version better, but seeing the place in need of a few candles was nice.

Overall, I feel that this Pottermore update has done more for the site than any of the others. I actually spent a good portion of my day running through the site again in order to fill up my progress bars. I will say though, the really blatant and obvious marketing for the "Book of Spells" game took me out of the experience. Yeah, the little trailer video was kind of cool and kind of entertaining, but I don't think that's a good way to market the thing. Mind you, I knew about "Book of Spells" when it was announced so... maybe I'm not the target for that advertising.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY AND JO!

Love ya, Jessie.

Happy Thirty-Third Neville!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM!

Yeah... so I'm a big Harry Potter nerd and this was on my calendar. So I bring you a completely useless blog post simply wishing Neville Longbottom a happy birthday from an alternate universe.

(I'm a nerd, sue me.)

Neville Longbottom turns 33 today according to the Potterverse timeline.

Harry Potter and the Spell Bound Stone

Overview

I actually read/finished some books! I'm gonna review them for you. Also, an Altador Cup Update and a Housekeeping section.

SPOILER WARNING

I am absolutely horrible at keeping spoilers out of my reviews, especially when rereading stuff. If you have not read any of the Harry Potter series and/or seen the movies, the following review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone contains spoilers for the entire series. Also, if you haven't read the Women of the Otherworld series, my review for Spell Bound also contains spoilers.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - Review

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I'm a Harry Potter fan. As such, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was the book that got me into J.K. Rowling's magical world. That said, I tend to skip over it when I reread the series. This is for several reasons, which I will outline below, before I get to the reason I shouldn't skip over Sorcerer's Stone as often as I do.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is largely a setup book. The reader gets what is basically a book-long info-dump interspersed with actual plot. That said, much of the info-dumping is necessary as the reader is in the same shoes as Harry: neither has any idea what the Wizarding World is like. However, in large info-dumps serve to make the book choppy. While we don't necessarily need to know what's going on hour-to-hour and day-to-day, I personally felt as though delving into the day-to-day stuff more often would have been helpful to break up all the jumping around that happens. There are also a lot of plot-conveniences throughout the book that hinge on characters being in certain places at certain times to overhear random bits of dialogue in order to create the red herring villain: Professor Severus Snape. I enjoyed Snape as the villain on the first read, but knowing about that upon reread ruins the magic, as it were.

What I really enjoy about rereading Sorcerer's Stone is the foreshadow-y clues sprinkled throughout the pages. Sirius Black is mentioned in the first chapter, though he doesn't come back up until Prisoner of Azkaban. Horcruxes, while not explicitly named or expounded upon, are mentioned. We see the after-effects of Voldemort using one of them. It's the only way he could even show up in the book. Professor Snape is initially set up as the villain. By the end of the book, and ultimately the end of the series, we see that he's not. We get a slight mention of the Marauders in this book, or at least a mention of their exploits, when Dumbledore tells Harry that James saved Snape's life. These, along with many other bits and pieces, are reasons rereading Sorcerer's Stone is so much fun.

In addition to the foreshadowing, there were certain bits of the story I really enjoyed. The depiction of Hogwarts at Christmas really stands out. I also quite enjoyed the Gringotts plaque -- I've got that thing memorized. I do really want to punch Ron in the face for all the things he said to Hermione in this book, though. That was before they became friends, but even so, he was really cruel to her.

If you are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for the first time -- I don't know why you're reading this review if you are, first off -- this is the book that gets you into the series. It might not be the best example of Harry Potter brilliance, but it works as a nice introduction to the series.

Spell Bound by Kelley Armstrong - Review

Spell Bound picks up the morning after Waking The Witch ends, skipping nary a beat getting into the action. Spell Bound continues to follow Savannah Levine as she works a case that turns out to be much bigger than she'd started out believing. Largely, Spell Bound takes all the loose ends from Waking The Witch, expands upon them, and then ties them up fairly well while at the same time creating something to carry readers into the next, and last, book in the series.

I really enjoyed Savannah's journey through both cases and her life. It was a lot of fun seeing her get things done without her powers, even if she usually had a "babysitter" alongside. Savannah is fully fleshed out here as she unknowingly gets ready for the apparent war to come.

I also enjoyed the cameo appearances of Elena, Clay, Hope, Jaime, Jeremy, and Cassandra. Getting all the Council characters working together in one place was awesome. Seeing them through the lens of Savannah was also quite fun. Usually we're seeing her through their eyes. Of course, rounding out the very fun cast were Karl, Adam, Paige, Lucas, and Sean to lesser extents.

Adam acted and reacted pretty consistently through the book. However, he did do a ridiculously quick turnaround from being pissed at Savannah. That bit threw me and didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the goings on, even if he thought he'd found a way to get Savannah's powers back. It was so weird I didn't even think that was actually Adam.

I thought the various "villains" of Spell Bound worked well together and apart. They transitioned quite smoothly from one to the other, at least. While they gave Savannah some trouble, they were mostly ancillary to what was going on in Savannah's head while they were around.

The questions asked, but not really answered were actually quite welcome. It was like watching a TV show and coming toward the end of a season. I do wonder who this Giles person really is, or rather, what he is. I wonder who "took" Savannah's powers and is pulling her toward becoming a Champion.

Overall, Spell Bound kept me engaged every step of the way. I found it very hard to put down. While Spell Bound is definitely not as stand-alone as previous Women of the Otherworld books have been, I'm really happy with how it was presented and how it ended. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.

Altador Cup Update

It's a bye day today. Perfect for giving an update.

Shenkuu ended this round fourth in the Alabriss Bracket. We're currently tied with Terror Mountain for 10th place overall.

Housekeeping

Tonight I may or may not have Initial Reactions up for Warehouse 13 due to shopping that needs to happen tonight.

I'm thinking of starting a Tumblr... so I can share pictures and stuff I've found around the internet. Currently I'm doing that through my Twitter feed, but... I keep forgetting about it so... a Pleiades Tumblr might be coming soon.

Love ya, Jessie.

Mirror of Erised Question

So I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I've gotten to the chapter "The Mirror of Erised" and to the part where Harry discovers the mirror. The following excerpt is what my question is about.

"The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them."

Okay so... why just the Potters? Why not also the Evans-es? I mean, it's revealed a little later in the book that what Harry desired was his family so that's the the mirror showed him. But... it just showed him the Potters, not the Evans-es.

I have no explanation for this, only a small theory: Harry already thought he knew what his mother's side of the family was like so he didn't really want to see them.

I'm pretty sure Lily and Petunia's parents were dead before Harry was born and so he never got to meet his grandparents. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Evans wouldn't have been as nasty to Harry as Petunia and Vernon were. That's why I say Harry thought he knew.

Anyway... that's my random tangent for today.

Love ya, Jessie