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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The beloved stories as you’ve never experienced them. Get ready to be transported to the world of Harry Potter in a captivating production that features hundreds of unique voices and immersive sound design that brings the wizarding world vividly to life in Dolby Atmos. You’ll hear footsteps echoing through the corridors of Hogwarts and the heart-racing whoosh of the Golden Snitch as it darts past your ears in the heat of a Quidditch match. Also featuring an electrifying new musical score, The Full-Cast Audio Editions present J.K. Rowling’s iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family.
'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...
Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter stories never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.
Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.
'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...
Having become classics of our time, the Harry Potter stories never fail to bring comfort and escapism. With their message of hope, belonging and the enduring power of truth and love, the story of the Boy Who Lived continues to delight generations of new listeners.
Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.
12 pages, Audiobook
Published January 13, 2026
620 people are currently reading
276 people want to read
About the author
J.K. Rowling
697 books234k followersSee also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 276 reviews
January 31, 2026
My Quick Takes:
- 5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Genre 📚 Middle Grade Fantasy
- Language 🤐 one use of b**ch
- Spice ❤️🔥 none
- Content 🤔 past death and murder, violence
Will never stop talking about how phenomenal the full cast audio is.
I forgot so many details from this book. I just love it all so much 🥹 getting more details about Harry’s parents and a bit more fleshing out of what happened in events surrounding their death was my favorite part of this book.
I’d love to be a first time reader of this book, because that reveal is so good. And anything that gives readers an excuse to become more endeared to anyone in Harry’s small circle is a treat. I can’t wait for the next one!
- 5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Genre 📚 Middle Grade Fantasy
- Language 🤐 one use of b**ch
- Spice ❤️🔥 none
- Content 🤔 past death and murder, violence
Will never stop talking about how phenomenal the full cast audio is.
I forgot so many details from this book. I just love it all so much 🥹 getting more details about Harry’s parents and a bit more fleshing out of what happened in events surrounding their death was my favorite part of this book.
I’d love to be a first time reader of this book, because that reveal is so good. And anything that gives readers an excuse to become more endeared to anyone in Harry’s small circle is a treat. I can’t wait for the next one!
January 19, 2026
Audiobook (11.5 hours) narrated by a full cast, including:
Frankie Treadaway as Harry Potter, ⚯⚡︎
Max Lester as Ron Weasley, 🐀
Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, 🐱
Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore, 🧙♂️
Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape, 🧪
Michelle Gomez as Professor McGonagall, 🧹
Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort, 🐍
Simon Pegg as Arthur Weasley, 🚗
Iwan Rheon as Remus Lupin, 🐺
David Holmes as Stan Shunpike, 🚌
Cush Jumbo as Narrator, 🎙️
and more exceptional, hard working, voice actors. ❾¾
Publisher: Audible Studios (Pottermore Publishing)
The full cast list is audibly read at the end of the book, including most, if not all, others who worked on this incredible series. The two prior books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are both excellent. I spent more time going over the audio editing and scoring in the first book of the series, which holds true through the next two, thus far.
The new characters, and thus narrators, on the scene are notably Lupin and Serious Black, both who are excellent. Fans of the series know that Lupin plays a large role in this chapter of the story, and he is everything audibly that I want him to be.
The audio is flawless. The scoring is excellent. The audio levels are consistent, do not interfere and do compliment the narrations. The narrations are seamlessly together as is everything was going on in a studio, with no erroneous background noise or interruptions. The volume is consistent with the loud parts sounding loud without going over volume, so screams and excitement happens that are mood elevating, ambience creating, while remaining earbud and headphones friendly.
The audible audio is an experience. 🧙♂️🪄
For some reason my first audiobook reading, as narrated by Jim Dale, back in 2023 seems to have gone missing. The only thing available is the star rating. I'm not sure what happened as I fell in love with Jim Dale's narration and really went in on the character voices in at least some of the volumes. I still love Jim Dale and his narration. He is exceptional and if you haven't enjoyed a book narrated by him, it is worth it to at least go in and do one.
This is another world. I am going to say something that may sound controversial to some and for others may set the bar too high, but for me this version of the book is better than the movie.🥇
It's better because the voice acting is phenomenal and it is the entire book!
A little over 11 and a half hours of pure bliss.
Every word spoken, narrated, and/or scored. The whole thing.
I have an imaginative mind, so I can see this and I do see it in the actors who played this out on screen, even though the voices are different. The movie actors gave the characters a corporeal presence that has manifested in every re-read that I have done since the first movie, including this one. The actors managed to do such a great job, with the assistance of all who worked on the films, to have recorded a slice of time where they will forever be time stamped at that age as the character who they portrayed. There are not many films like this, but there are a few. As well as they did, you cannot compare a 2 hour and 22 minute movie to a full 11 hours and 32 minutes!
Each has it's place. I would not give the movie back but I have a clear favorite and it is this version of the book.
No Wingardium Leviosa incantation needed to elevate this edition of Prisoner of Azkaban above the rest. ⚯ ͛ ❾¾ leViOsa🪄
I am having so much fun with this series and we aren't even to my favorite book yet!
🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮ℋ𝒶𝓻𝓻𝓎 𝓟ℴ𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻⚯⚡︎🎧ྀིSirius Black🐾
Frankie Treadaway as Harry Potter, ⚯⚡︎
Max Lester as Ron Weasley, 🐀
Arabella Stanton as Hermione Granger, 🐱
Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore, 🧙♂️
Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape, 🧪
Michelle Gomez as Professor McGonagall, 🧹
Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort, 🐍
Simon Pegg as Arthur Weasley, 🚗
Iwan Rheon as Remus Lupin, 🐺
David Holmes as Stan Shunpike, 🚌
Cush Jumbo as Narrator, 🎙️
and more exceptional, hard working, voice actors. ❾¾
Publisher: Audible Studios (Pottermore Publishing)
The full cast list is audibly read at the end of the book, including most, if not all, others who worked on this incredible series. The two prior books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets are both excellent. I spent more time going over the audio editing and scoring in the first book of the series, which holds true through the next two, thus far.
The new characters, and thus narrators, on the scene are notably Lupin and Serious Black, both who are excellent. Fans of the series know that Lupin plays a large role in this chapter of the story, and he is everything audibly that I want him to be.
The audio is flawless. The scoring is excellent. The audio levels are consistent, do not interfere and do compliment the narrations. The narrations are seamlessly together as is everything was going on in a studio, with no erroneous background noise or interruptions. The volume is consistent with the loud parts sounding loud without going over volume, so screams and excitement happens that are mood elevating, ambience creating, while remaining earbud and headphones friendly.
The audible audio is an experience. 🧙♂️🪄
For some reason my first audiobook reading, as narrated by Jim Dale, back in 2023 seems to have gone missing. The only thing available is the star rating. I'm not sure what happened as I fell in love with Jim Dale's narration and really went in on the character voices in at least some of the volumes. I still love Jim Dale and his narration. He is exceptional and if you haven't enjoyed a book narrated by him, it is worth it to at least go in and do one.
This is another world. I am going to say something that may sound controversial to some and for others may set the bar too high, but for me this version of the book is better than the movie.🥇
It's better because the voice acting is phenomenal and it is the entire book!
A little over 11 and a half hours of pure bliss.
Every word spoken, narrated, and/or scored. The whole thing.
I have an imaginative mind, so I can see this and I do see it in the actors who played this out on screen, even though the voices are different. The movie actors gave the characters a corporeal presence that has manifested in every re-read that I have done since the first movie, including this one. The actors managed to do such a great job, with the assistance of all who worked on the films, to have recorded a slice of time where they will forever be time stamped at that age as the character who they portrayed. There are not many films like this, but there are a few. As well as they did, you cannot compare a 2 hour and 22 minute movie to a full 11 hours and 32 minutes!
Each has it's place. I would not give the movie back but I have a clear favorite and it is this version of the book.
No Wingardium Leviosa incantation needed to elevate this edition of Prisoner of Azkaban above the rest. ⚯ ͛ ❾¾ leViOsa🪄
I am having so much fun with this series and we aren't even to my favorite book yet!
🎧ྀི♪⋆.✮ℋ𝒶𝓻𝓻𝓎 𝓟ℴ𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻⚯⚡︎🎧ྀིSirius Black🐾
January 22, 2026
Absolutely lovin' these full-cast audiobooks! 👍😁👍
January 26, 2026
Another flawless experience with the full-cast audio 🤩
January 19, 2026
I will shout this from the rooftops again that these audio books are SO well done! Prisoner of Azkaban has always been my favorite HP book in the series. There is so much plot development and world building I am still just as obsessed with this book as I was when I first read it.
February 27, 2026
4.5
enjoyed it more than full-cast audiobook 1, but still love book 2 more.
James's voice was great. (even hearing that short line made me happy)
Sirius's was great.
Lupin's was good, generally, but there was times that it sounded too thin (if I chose the right word to describe)
enjoyed it more than full-cast audiobook 1, but still love book 2 more.
James's voice was great. (even hearing that short line made me happy)
Sirius's was great.
Lupin's was good, generally, but there was times that it sounded too thin (if I chose the right word to describe)
January 20, 2026
Sirius Black 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
Can't stop listening to these as soon as they come out.
Can't stop listening to these as soon as they come out.
January 23, 2026
Коллеги, ну что тут говорить. ❤️
January 28, 2026
Newest review at the end/bottom!!
2021: So this took way longer than expected to read. I came in thinking I was going to read this in like 2 days or so and realistically, it took me almost a week… :/
The beginning was way slower than I remember which was a little sad. I wasn’t super intrigued by the whole Knight Bus ordeal or any of their classes or quidditch games. So like the first half was probably 3 stars worthy.
But then it got like SO good. I’m rereading this series purely because I wanna read a Harry Potter fan fiction about the marauder’s so it was super fun to read about Lupin and Remus and Pettigrew. And the ending was just perfection. Like it all just wrapped up so nicely. Like you can tell J.K Rowling must have spent a good amount of time getting all the separate stories all lined up like it just MADE SO MUCH SENSE and it was fantastic. Like the whole time travel and Hermione and Harry saving Buckbeak and Sirius was just amazing. So. Good.
As far as illustrations, there was a lot more pages where there were no illustrations at all but then random pages where the whole page was a super awesome picture (which wasn’t the case very often in the first 2 books) so that was nice!!
This, to this day, is my favorite Harry Potter movie but after reading it, I can tell this is where the movies started straying from the books. Like there were a lot of similarities, but there wasn’t a ton of word by word dialogue from the books in the movie. Also, I felt like the left out more in this book vs. the first two which was a little sad :(
Critical 2021 would probably rate this 4 stars. The beginning 3 stars but the ending deserves all the 5 stars you can get. So far, 2021 Ari is going to rate the first three books by best to worst as: 1, 3, 2 <3
2023: WOW I LOVE THIS BOOK! So good so good so good!! I always said that the fourth book is when things started to get serious with Voldemort but I think the 3rd is. Like even though Voldemort doesn't have a body/presence in this book, Harry's ordeal with Peter Pettigrew is SO important!!
I loved reading about Hermione, Ron and Harry and how much they researched and stayed up late to help Buckbeak and his appeal! Like that's so sweet!!!
This book is also extremely well thought through. Like the first two books of the series were quite easy in the sense of Harry goes to school, defeats voldemort and then we move on. But everything that happened in this book has huge implications for the rest of the series. Like Black and being the secret keeper? I think Harry also mentioned something of how he was curious of why Voldemort was targeting his parents?? Like again, this stuff is so important and I loved reading about it!
Something that I didn't think of until this time reading was the idea of Snape knowing Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail and Moody... like did he recognize those names when he had the map? Cause he looked at Lupin and was like "maybe this has something to do with the original creators" so did he know then that Lupin was behind the original making of the map? Had he seen it before? I'm assuming he did recognize those names but if he did, I'm surprised he didn't make a bigger deal of confiscating the map.
random thought but how did I never realize that NEWTs stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests like LOL that's hilarious
In the movie, it's Harry who discovers Peter on the map and then tells Lupin. That didn't happen in the book and I kind of wish it did? Harry never got the weird "hhm isn't it odd that I see Peter, a man that is dead, on the map?" like he does in the movie. And speaking of maps, I'm still confused on what people the map chooses to show. Cause there's no way it shows every student in hogwarts or those hallways and classrooms would be hella busy.
I've said it in other reviews but the same goes for this book: I love how we read this book series in Harry's POV. AKA we don't know things until he discovers them. They did a great job at that in the big shrieking shack scene. Like you meet Black and you still think he's a bad person cause he says stupid stuff like "There's only gonna be one murder tonight!" And then lupin comes and gives him a hug and you're like NOOO. It's very well written. I like that you come into this scene with still a sense that Black is a bad person.
Anyways, those were random notes I wrote down while reading. I thought this was great. So far in 2023 from best to worst is 3, 2, 1. Pretty sure that's entirely different from 2021 ari which is cool. and interesting.
2024: Interestingly enough, I don't have a lot of notes this time around. I mean this is like my 13th time reading it, so idk why i'm suprirsed. there's only so much you can get from a 400 page book.
-so does snape know the identities of moody prongs and padfoot? like when he saw the map was he immediately like oh this is lupins i know who these people are? I've often wondered how well known the maurader's nicknames were.
-Dumbledore's conversation with harry at the end about seeing his dad as his patronus was honestly so beautiful and lowkey made me emotional
-i know dumbledore said it wouldn't have changed anything, i still think to this day, that voldemort couldn't not become human again if harry would've just let lupin and remus kill peter in this book. Like URGH.
-throughout the book, i couldn't help but think of scenes from the movie and wow I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
-i'm shocked that there are only like 12 registered animagus in the world like HOW ARE THERE NOT MORE? And in addition to that, how are there not like wayyy more illegal ones too? I struggle believing that there are so few animagus' in the wizarding world.
- i thought it was so sweet how ron was staying up late researching stuff for the appeal with buckbeak and hagrid like that boy HATES school but he was so loyal and helped hagrid. I thought that was very sweet.
-okay as of now, I feel like I'd rank the books 2,3,1 in order of fav to least fav? I'm switching it up this year i feel like normally i like this book more than book 2 (2 and 3 are probably tied if i'm being honest with myself)
2026:
OKAY lowkey hot take coming!! This is definitely my favorite movie. And i used to LOVE the book but this time reading it, i was super aware of all the plot holes and whatnot and I was shocked. Now don't get me wrong, I still loved this book. But arguably I had some qualms.
1) nothing really happened in the first like 80% of the book. Like they went to school, Hermione and Ron were fighting about Crookshanks and Scabbers, Hermione was going to a ton of classes, Harry was mad about not going to hogsmeade and then the occasional sirius black sighting. But those things were so small, so minimal that it felt almost filler. Like idk it wasn't a bad thing, like I'm a HUGE harry potter fan so I am FULLY content reading about those things like any mundane Harry Potter related thing I'll immediately love. But I think I was surprised this time reading at how nothing really happened that much in the beginning of the book. And then June comes around (so MANY MANY months after school started) and then one night of chaos and then bam, school is done, end of book. It felt slow slow slow and then BAM all of the drama all at once which i didn't necessarily love other than when I got to the end and couldn't stop listening.
2) Audiobook was very good (i listened to the full cast version). There was only one scene when the background noises were so loud that I couldn't hear the narrator but other than that, it was so good and I felt like there was a lot of background noises which I loved! I thought Sirius' voice was so good like he was so emotional and I loved it. I also LOVED lupin until i realized that the voice actor was the actor who played ramsey gordon from game of thrones aka literally the worst human ever and then I got all sad :( But his voice was very lupin-y and calm which I loved.
3) so i've read my fair share of harry potter fanfics, especially wolfstar (aka sirius and lupin as a couple) and I could definitely see how their relationship could be canon like it makes sense in my head. But even if you don't believe in that, you have to believe that they were BESTIES back in the day. And it seriously BROKE MY HEART while reading this book, realizing that Lupin actually believed Sirius betrayed them. Like bro yall were besties how did you not second guess that? Like i thought it was absolutely crazy how lupin truly believed sirius betrayed james and lily and killed them. Like if my bestie did something like that, I would've fought to figure out the truth. And I mean, who knows, maybe Lupin did fight to find out the truth but stopped when he realized nothing was coming out of it... but idk it was very shocking to read about the situation you know? Like how was Sirius not so upset at Lupin for not trusting or believing in him? If i was in wizard jail for 13 years and my bestie had literally thought i was a murderer i would've been so upset. Why wasn't Sirius? AND if you believe the theory that they were romantically involved back in the day, this is a huge act of betrayal!!! RIGHT?
4) doesn't a truth serum exist? Like a LOT of this book would've been fixed by the truth serum. like almost everything.
5) This is such a small thing but i swore you couldn't just conjure things up out of nowhere with magic like you had to take it from somewhere? Maybe not? Cause when they bandaged Ron's leg and bandages just magically appeared. And then when they did a spell to put manacles on Peter and Harry and Ron like where did those come from? Cause doesn't that come up in goblet of fire when Harry's trying to figure out how to get the firebolt into the arena?
6) This goes back to point #3. HOW DID NOBODY SUSPECT PETER? Like even before his "death" like they knew somebody was betraying the order to voldemort. And it was a known fact that peter was weak, not courageous (lol how did he ever get into gryffindor) and just a follower and not bold. And people (including his besties!!) thought Sirius betrayed James vs Peter? Like that's crazy! screw peter
7) seeing snape absolutely lose his cool at the end was a very enjoyable experience. I thought the voice actor did great cause snape was going absolutely CRAZY and even fudge was like woah there buddy.
8) an obvious plot hole is the map. Like HOW did they not notice Peter on the map?!? Like seriously how…
9) LOL at hogwarts making a HUGE deal out of getting a parent signature for a hogsmeade day but not giving 2 shits about the students competing in the triwizard tournament
10) how did George and Fred get access to the marauders map lol how did it open for them? How did they figure out the secret words?
11) the fact that there are only like 7 animagus in the HP universe is WILD. Also how did dumbledore not know about the mauraders becoming animagus? I feel like that’s a VERY hard thing to keep a secret and I’m shocked. Also shocked that more people haven’t tried that? Cause turning into a pet sounds awesome!!
12) the whole shrieking shack scene was anxious to listen to cause it was like in stranger things 5 when Max and Holly were so close to leaving the upside down and then they decide then to have a heart to heart and you’re watching the screen going AHHH JUST GOO! I felt the same when Peter was RIGHT there and lupin decided to go down memory lane and explain everything which ok, I understand a little but most of me was like KILL HIM NOW! Every time I read this book each year, I get so irritated by this scene like I’m pro killing Peter (in my head if they killed Peter in this scene then nothing of the later books would’ve happened at all cause Peter was the one who brought back Voldemort but I think if Peter was dead, someone else would’ve done the deed). But still!! I also get what Harry said too about not turning his dads besties into murderers but yeah it’s so aggravating to read knowing that Peter’s going to escape and within a year literally being Voldemort back to life…
13) Overall, this was so good cause it’s Harry Potter! My fav part was definitely the going back in time like that was so cool to read about (but arguably WAY cooler to watch).
2026 order of books from fav to least: 2,1,3 (SHOCKER I KNOW)
2021: So this took way longer than expected to read. I came in thinking I was going to read this in like 2 days or so and realistically, it took me almost a week… :/
The beginning was way slower than I remember which was a little sad. I wasn’t super intrigued by the whole Knight Bus ordeal or any of their classes or quidditch games. So like the first half was probably 3 stars worthy.
But then it got like SO good. I’m rereading this series purely because I wanna read a Harry Potter fan fiction about the marauder’s so it was super fun to read about Lupin and Remus and Pettigrew. And the ending was just perfection. Like it all just wrapped up so nicely. Like you can tell J.K Rowling must have spent a good amount of time getting all the separate stories all lined up like it just MADE SO MUCH SENSE and it was fantastic. Like the whole time travel and Hermione and Harry saving Buckbeak and Sirius was just amazing. So. Good.
As far as illustrations, there was a lot more pages where there were no illustrations at all but then random pages where the whole page was a super awesome picture (which wasn’t the case very often in the first 2 books) so that was nice!!
This, to this day, is my favorite Harry Potter movie but after reading it, I can tell this is where the movies started straying from the books. Like there were a lot of similarities, but there wasn’t a ton of word by word dialogue from the books in the movie. Also, I felt like the left out more in this book vs. the first two which was a little sad :(
Critical 2021 would probably rate this 4 stars. The beginning 3 stars but the ending deserves all the 5 stars you can get. So far, 2021 Ari is going to rate the first three books by best to worst as: 1, 3, 2 <3
2023: WOW I LOVE THIS BOOK! So good so good so good!! I always said that the fourth book is when things started to get serious with Voldemort but I think the 3rd is. Like even though Voldemort doesn't have a body/presence in this book, Harry's ordeal with Peter Pettigrew is SO important!!
I loved reading about Hermione, Ron and Harry and how much they researched and stayed up late to help Buckbeak and his appeal! Like that's so sweet!!!
This book is also extremely well thought through. Like the first two books of the series were quite easy in the sense of Harry goes to school, defeats voldemort and then we move on. But everything that happened in this book has huge implications for the rest of the series. Like Black and being the secret keeper? I think Harry also mentioned something of how he was curious of why Voldemort was targeting his parents?? Like again, this stuff is so important and I loved reading about it!
Something that I didn't think of until this time reading was the idea of Snape knowing Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail and Moody... like did he recognize those names when he had the map? Cause he looked at Lupin and was like "maybe this has something to do with the original creators" so did he know then that Lupin was behind the original making of the map? Had he seen it before? I'm assuming he did recognize those names but if he did, I'm surprised he didn't make a bigger deal of confiscating the map.
random thought but how did I never realize that NEWTs stands for Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests like LOL that's hilarious
In the movie, it's Harry who discovers Peter on the map and then tells Lupin. That didn't happen in the book and I kind of wish it did? Harry never got the weird "hhm isn't it odd that I see Peter, a man that is dead, on the map?" like he does in the movie. And speaking of maps, I'm still confused on what people the map chooses to show. Cause there's no way it shows every student in hogwarts or those hallways and classrooms would be hella busy.
I've said it in other reviews but the same goes for this book: I love how we read this book series in Harry's POV. AKA we don't know things until he discovers them. They did a great job at that in the big shrieking shack scene. Like you meet Black and you still think he's a bad person cause he says stupid stuff like "There's only gonna be one murder tonight!" And then lupin comes and gives him a hug and you're like NOOO. It's very well written. I like that you come into this scene with still a sense that Black is a bad person.
Anyways, those were random notes I wrote down while reading. I thought this was great. So far in 2023 from best to worst is 3, 2, 1. Pretty sure that's entirely different from 2021 ari which is cool. and interesting.
2024: Interestingly enough, I don't have a lot of notes this time around. I mean this is like my 13th time reading it, so idk why i'm suprirsed. there's only so much you can get from a 400 page book.
-so does snape know the identities of moody prongs and padfoot? like when he saw the map was he immediately like oh this is lupins i know who these people are? I've often wondered how well known the maurader's nicknames were.
-Dumbledore's conversation with harry at the end about seeing his dad as his patronus was honestly so beautiful and lowkey made me emotional
-i know dumbledore said it wouldn't have changed anything, i still think to this day, that voldemort couldn't not become human again if harry would've just let lupin and remus kill peter in this book. Like URGH.
-throughout the book, i couldn't help but think of scenes from the movie and wow I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
-i'm shocked that there are only like 12 registered animagus in the world like HOW ARE THERE NOT MORE? And in addition to that, how are there not like wayyy more illegal ones too? I struggle believing that there are so few animagus' in the wizarding world.
- i thought it was so sweet how ron was staying up late researching stuff for the appeal with buckbeak and hagrid like that boy HATES school but he was so loyal and helped hagrid. I thought that was very sweet.
-okay as of now, I feel like I'd rank the books 2,3,1 in order of fav to least fav? I'm switching it up this year i feel like normally i like this book more than book 2 (2 and 3 are probably tied if i'm being honest with myself)
2026:
OKAY lowkey hot take coming!! This is definitely my favorite movie. And i used to LOVE the book but this time reading it, i was super aware of all the plot holes and whatnot and I was shocked. Now don't get me wrong, I still loved this book. But arguably I had some qualms.
1) nothing really happened in the first like 80% of the book. Like they went to school, Hermione and Ron were fighting about Crookshanks and Scabbers, Hermione was going to a ton of classes, Harry was mad about not going to hogsmeade and then the occasional sirius black sighting. But those things were so small, so minimal that it felt almost filler. Like idk it wasn't a bad thing, like I'm a HUGE harry potter fan so I am FULLY content reading about those things like any mundane Harry Potter related thing I'll immediately love. But I think I was surprised this time reading at how nothing really happened that much in the beginning of the book. And then June comes around (so MANY MANY months after school started) and then one night of chaos and then bam, school is done, end of book. It felt slow slow slow and then BAM all of the drama all at once which i didn't necessarily love other than when I got to the end and couldn't stop listening.
2) Audiobook was very good (i listened to the full cast version). There was only one scene when the background noises were so loud that I couldn't hear the narrator but other than that, it was so good and I felt like there was a lot of background noises which I loved! I thought Sirius' voice was so good like he was so emotional and I loved it. I also LOVED lupin until i realized that the voice actor was the actor who played ramsey gordon from game of thrones aka literally the worst human ever and then I got all sad :( But his voice was very lupin-y and calm which I loved.
3) so i've read my fair share of harry potter fanfics, especially wolfstar (aka sirius and lupin as a couple) and I could definitely see how their relationship could be canon like it makes sense in my head. But even if you don't believe in that, you have to believe that they were BESTIES back in the day. And it seriously BROKE MY HEART while reading this book, realizing that Lupin actually believed Sirius betrayed them. Like bro yall were besties how did you not second guess that? Like i thought it was absolutely crazy how lupin truly believed sirius betrayed james and lily and killed them. Like if my bestie did something like that, I would've fought to figure out the truth. And I mean, who knows, maybe Lupin did fight to find out the truth but stopped when he realized nothing was coming out of it... but idk it was very shocking to read about the situation you know? Like how was Sirius not so upset at Lupin for not trusting or believing in him? If i was in wizard jail for 13 years and my bestie had literally thought i was a murderer i would've been so upset. Why wasn't Sirius? AND if you believe the theory that they were romantically involved back in the day, this is a huge act of betrayal!!! RIGHT?
4) doesn't a truth serum exist? Like a LOT of this book would've been fixed by the truth serum. like almost everything.
5) This is such a small thing but i swore you couldn't just conjure things up out of nowhere with magic like you had to take it from somewhere? Maybe not? Cause when they bandaged Ron's leg and bandages just magically appeared. And then when they did a spell to put manacles on Peter and Harry and Ron like where did those come from? Cause doesn't that come up in goblet of fire when Harry's trying to figure out how to get the firebolt into the arena?
6) This goes back to point #3. HOW DID NOBODY SUSPECT PETER? Like even before his "death" like they knew somebody was betraying the order to voldemort. And it was a known fact that peter was weak, not courageous (lol how did he ever get into gryffindor) and just a follower and not bold. And people (including his besties!!) thought Sirius betrayed James vs Peter? Like that's crazy! screw peter
7) seeing snape absolutely lose his cool at the end was a very enjoyable experience. I thought the voice actor did great cause snape was going absolutely CRAZY and even fudge was like woah there buddy.
8) an obvious plot hole is the map. Like HOW did they not notice Peter on the map?!? Like seriously how…
9) LOL at hogwarts making a HUGE deal out of getting a parent signature for a hogsmeade day but not giving 2 shits about the students competing in the triwizard tournament
10) how did George and Fred get access to the marauders map lol how did it open for them? How did they figure out the secret words?
11) the fact that there are only like 7 animagus in the HP universe is WILD. Also how did dumbledore not know about the mauraders becoming animagus? I feel like that’s a VERY hard thing to keep a secret and I’m shocked. Also shocked that more people haven’t tried that? Cause turning into a pet sounds awesome!!
12) the whole shrieking shack scene was anxious to listen to cause it was like in stranger things 5 when Max and Holly were so close to leaving the upside down and then they decide then to have a heart to heart and you’re watching the screen going AHHH JUST GOO! I felt the same when Peter was RIGHT there and lupin decided to go down memory lane and explain everything which ok, I understand a little but most of me was like KILL HIM NOW! Every time I read this book each year, I get so irritated by this scene like I’m pro killing Peter (in my head if they killed Peter in this scene then nothing of the later books would’ve happened at all cause Peter was the one who brought back Voldemort but I think if Peter was dead, someone else would’ve done the deed). But still!! I also get what Harry said too about not turning his dads besties into murderers but yeah it’s so aggravating to read knowing that Peter’s going to escape and within a year literally being Voldemort back to life…
13) Overall, this was so good cause it’s Harry Potter! My fav part was definitely the going back in time like that was so cool to read about (but arguably WAY cooler to watch).
2026 order of books from fav to least: 2,1,3 (SHOCKER I KNOW)
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February 10, 2026Three books down, four more to go. As I had predicted, Prisoner of Azkaban was more enjoyable than the first two books given how the material is growing more mature. Rather than discuss the story, however, for this review I'll just be looking at the quality of the audiobook. Overall, the cast was strong, with a few standout performances. The trio is great, and they, along with McGonagall and Hagrid (I'm going to stick to using the character names for this), sound very close to their movie counterparts. They were outshone only by Malfoy and Neville, who embody their characters perfectly, and a delightfully batty Professor Trelawney. The narration and sound effects were also well-done.
As with the first two books, Dumbledore sounds too young, and Snape doesn't capture the sneering tone that is so essential to his character--he mostly just sounds angry, like he's speaking through clenched teeth. I don't know whose idea it was to cast Ramsay Bolton as Professor Lupin, but it makes for a jarring effect. Even without the Game of Thrones connection, Lupin exhibits his character's melancholy but none of his warmth. He sounds sedated for most of the book. Similarly, Sirius never quite embodies that manic energy that makes him such a vivacious character. (On the flip side, the Marauder's Map insults Snape in the voices of its four young creators, and that scene is done perfectly. It really nails that "douchey prep-school jokesters" tone that we'll hopefully see more of in the pensieve flashbacks.)
As with the earlier books, this is a solid adaptation, but nowhere near the best Harry Potter audiobook. The Stephen Fry version is still by far and away the best, no question.
As with the first two books, Dumbledore sounds too young, and Snape doesn't capture the sneering tone that is so essential to his character--he mostly just sounds angry, like he's speaking through clenched teeth. I don't know whose idea it was to cast Ramsay Bolton as Professor Lupin, but it makes for a jarring effect. Even without the Game of Thrones connection, Lupin exhibits his character's melancholy but none of his warmth. He sounds sedated for most of the book. Similarly, Sirius never quite embodies that manic energy that makes him such a vivacious character. (On the flip side, the Marauder's Map insults Snape in the voices of its four young creators, and that scene is done perfectly. It really nails that "douchey prep-school jokesters" tone that we'll hopefully see more of in the pensieve flashbacks.)
As with the earlier books, this is a solid adaptation, but nowhere near the best Harry Potter audiobook. The Stephen Fry version is still by far and away the best, no question.
January 18, 2026
Another banger for full cast audiobook. I love all the new voices. The only voice I’m having issues with is Snape’s, but I think that’s only because I loved Alan Rickman so much. Looking forward to book 4.
January 19, 2026
I honestly can't imagine experiencing this story any other way. These full cast recordings are extraordinary
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February 16, 2026Professor Lupen is the best! 😭
January 29, 2026
This is my favorite Harry Potter book in the series, so I very much enjoyed rereading it as the full-cast audiobook on Audible. They're doing a fantastic job with these full-cast versions so far. However, my main issue is the miscasting of Snape and Pomfrey. They do not fit with the characters at all, so I wish they cast different voice actors for them. Other than that, everyone and the rest of the production are excellent.
January 27, 2026
Best audio books ever. Arguably the best book of the series! So much the movie doesn’t explain or show. The actor voicing Sirius and Lupin are such a great addition!
**I really do hate Snape though. Furiously. He is positively the worst… next to umbridge of course.
**I really do hate Snape though. Furiously. He is positively the worst… next to umbridge of course.
February 19, 2026
Um dos meus preferidos da saga
January 27, 2026
Loved this audio! Brings me back to when I used to listen to the audios on YouTube as a kid 🫶
January 29, 2026
Ugh. Goosebumps. Absolutely loved this one. The story is really starting to ramp up and the actors they’ve chosen to play the characters are fantastic. So much more emotion and adventure in this one. Looking forward to the next.
January 28, 2026
god these full-cast editions are so good
January 23, 2026
This was my favorite of the all-cast audiobook productions so far! It helps that the story itself is one of the strongest Harry Potter books, but I continue to be impressed by the voice talent, music, and sound effects of these Audible recordings. It is giving me a new, exciting experience with these familiar stories!
February 3, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
January 20, 2026
Obviously 5⭐️ - we know I love these books so let’s talk voices!!! Sirius sounds hot, Snape’s VO isn’t my favorite, the main 3 ARE PERFECT, I can’t believe Ramsay Bolton is Lupin - he did so well, and don’t think I didn’t know a Derry Girl’s voice when I heard it!!!
February 4, 2026
L'audio book avec le full cast est insane 👌🏻 les effets sonores et les voix des personnages rendent l'exp��rience vraiment immersive, je recommande pour une relecture des Harry ⚡
February 19, 2026
This version solidified it as one of the best in the series…why isn’t magic real? 🧙🏽♀️ ✨
January 23, 2026
4.5⭐️ one of my absolute favorite harry potter books!! the last year before things start getting dark and we get the introduction of the best characters i.e. messrs. moony, wormtail, padfoot & prongs
February 12, 2026
……. Just wow. First off. The book to movie adaptation is so good. When I’m listening to this full cast audio it’s like I can literally picture the movie and that’s saying something bc I can never picture anything in my head. There are small details in the book that they changed in the movie but it makes the book even that much more gut wrenching. I KNOW I’m gonna cry like a baby when things get more serious. I hate JKR’s views and it makes me upset that I’m supporting her, but I need to be able to escape the world right now and hogwarts is the perfect place.
January 20, 2026
Obsessed with these full cast versions.
February 22, 2026
Once again these full cast editions are an excellent addition to the Harry Potter saga. Loved it! The characters do an amazing job of bringing you into the story and making it exciting at just the right times. 👍🏻
February 1, 2026
It’s great EVERY TIME!
January 19, 2026
obsessed w Lazlo being Sir Cadagon
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