#1 in Adventure
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- 416
- Pages
- about 8 h
- Reading time
- Film 2004
- On screen
- Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
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Our view
The third volume is where the series turns darker, with an escaped prisoner casting a shadow over the school year. Its strengths are compelling prose and characters who deepen with every book. The plot leans on constant danger, which readers who care more about relationships than peril may find a little wearing. Start with the earlier volumes; this one rewards knowing the cast.
Worth knowing Bloomsbury released it at 3:45 in the afternoon on 8 July 1999 so that children would not skip school to buy it. It is the only book in the series in which Voldemort never appears, and it won the Whitbread Children’s Book Award and the Locus Award for fantasy. Alfonso Cuarón’s 2004 film gave the series a darker look and cut much of the backstory the book explains.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel by British author J. K. Rowling. The third novel in the Harry Potter series, it follows the young wizard Harry Potter during his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner who no one doubts to be one of Lord Voldemort's allies.
Reading order · Harry Potter
Full order & progress →- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's StoneStart here
8.68.6 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
8.48.4 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanThis book
8.88.8 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
8.88.8 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
8.68.6 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8.88.8 / 10 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
8.88.8 / 10 - Harry Potter prequelHarry Potter prequel–Not ranked yet
On screen
This book has been adapted for the screen once.
- FilmHarry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanIMDb
Adaptation data: Wikidata · On screen →
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.8 across 8,313 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 98% of the weight and the score stays at 8.8 — the Adventure average of 7.8 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.5 | 637 | 8% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 48 | 1% |
| Hardcover | 8.8 | 7.6K | 92% |
Frequently asked
What age is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban sits on the Middle grade shelf in the sources we use, which by convention means roughly ages 8–12. This is a guide from the book’s category, not a publisher’s age rating. It has 416 pages — shorter than 73% of the ranked books in Adventure.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Adventure — with scores between 8.0 and 8.7, closest to this book.
