UPDATE: Just discovered Lupin is supposed to be a metaphor for incurable diseases such as HIV/AIDS? nahhhh son that's fucked up. I am heavily disappointed (again) in Rowling YET AGAIN and this time it really hurt. this is probably the only series I have continued to read even though the author is such a shitbag.

-----------------------------

I considered not even reading this and giving up on the series, but I remember promising myself I'd only do that if I did not enjoy a book after finishing the goblet of fire, so here we are. Luckily, this is the first book in the series that I can comfortably say that I have enjoyed, and the only one I would ever consider rereading so far. One conclusion is for certain though, and that is while this series comes with its fun and adventure, it suffers from a lot of really ugly problems, more-than-occasional boughts of bad writing, and uses gross stereotyping to get points across.

Disclaimer: I do not believe that Rowling has some weird hidden agenda in using the damaging tropes that I am about to explain, but I do believe that her worldly experience has resulted in her use of these tropes without her having the awareness to see them as being problematic. An example that springs to mind is how some have read the gringotts goblins to be antisemitic. Of course, I am not JK Rowling, but I do believe that this was not directly her own message but a reuse of goblins being portrayed in such a way for a very long time. Is it her fault for continuing the trope without questioning it? Yes, of course. And this is the problem I have found myself having time and time again with this series.

I feel like I need to have a bit more structure in these reviews, because sometimes I feel like I am repeating myself a lot. So have some headlines that summarized what I have thought in previous books and how this either has or has not changed through the series.

Character building
THIS IS IT!! THIS IS THE BOOK WHERE I ACTUALLY CONNECTED WITH THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH MORE! Lupin by far was the best character who I felt incredibly attached to (which indeed I should, seeing as this is written through harry's perspective I would be irritated if I wasn't!). I also really felt horrible for neville, and felt really cross at harry for treating him like shit multiple times.

Female characters
Cho Chang is introduced by blushing at harry. The only time we shall hear her speak in this book is to wish harry luck. so I guess her sole purpose as a character is to be used as an interest for harry...

As mentioned previously, Mcgonagal was the only good female character going for me at this point. I was really disheartened to see her largest purpose in this book was bitching about trelawney, another woman in her profession, instead of supporting her and working alongside her :(

Trelawney: another female character that isn't taken seriously.

Ginny: still hasn't said anything of value and I have 0% investment.

Hermione: Could be admired up until this point for her amazingly hard work ethic but it had to be revealed that she was in essence cheating by having the ability to literally take any class, any exam, and have as much time as she needs to study. like I have never been a fan of the time turner subplot because it is incredibly unnecessary (apart from the whole buckbeak freedom operation but seriously was this the only way to do this??)

Annoying problematic tropes
the biggest thing with this book was stuff about weight. lots of stuff about weight. I'm really getting tired writing this review now but in short theres lots of stuff about slimmer people being rewarded and larger people being the butt of everyone's jokes (black is able to escape askaban because he is slim. harry is able to use the secret passage to hogsmeade because he is slim. dudley dursley described as lazy, fat, piggy and plump and is arguably taken too far with harry's jokes. aunt marge is punished by "blowing up like a balloon" and harry told vernon she "deserved what she got".

Plot
#1 - enough plot, but underdeveloped due to the incredibly short length
#2 - not really any plot at all
#3 - This book has the best plot BY FAR, but it became very unclear as to what the main focus of the plot was. first we get told about a dangerous man who is supposedly looking for harry, then we are getting very heavily hinted that our favourite new teacher *cough* MAY be a werewolf (the hinting was so excessive that it was not really a mystery all, and the lesson with snape I think took it too far.) , then we are in a rush to save an exotic bird from it's death, and then 30 pages before the end we are whirled into some really crazy and unfitting subplot about how hermione has been time travelling all year. Hated it when the movie came out, hated it now. SLOW DOWN, THIS IS A SERIES.
Regardless, the charm of the book really lies in the pages that take place in the shrieking shack. The storyline really ties up nicely here! (or at least you know, a few of the bigger sub plots and mysteries buzzing around anyway)

Weird use of plot devices to keep the storyline going
not so many this time!! although THE TIME TURNER THING (doesn't need repeating)


Question to JK rowling about something that really didn't make sense

According to the chamber of secrets (as mentioned in that review) hogwarts has 336 students, considering that all dorms are the same size and all years/houses have the same number of people. My question is the logic of the slytherin/griffindor quidditch match. if 3/4's of the crowd are griffindors and the rest are 200 slytherins, then I am going to ask the same question: HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ATTENDING THIS SCHOOL??? ARE THERE ONLY TWO HUFFLEPUFFS??? IS THAT WHY WE DON'T HEAR ABOUT THEM VERY OFTEN???