"X-Factor: Genesis & Apocalypse" by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob Harras, Louise Simonson, Tom DeFalco, Chris Claremont, and Jackson Guice

 

            The following is a review of the Marvel Epic Collection “X-Factor: Genesis & Apocalypse” graphic novel by Roger Stern, John Byrne, Bob Layton, Bob Harras, Louise Simonson, Tom DeFalco, Chris Claremont, and Jackson Guice.

            Howdy, one and all, and welcome to another review From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! As is most often the case here, I am myself Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, so, if you’ve been here before, you know that I review every Marvel comic event, Marvel Epic Collection, and Marvel prose novel I read, as well as some other books I read. If you’ve never been here before, now you know. If you’ve ever been here before, you will know how I usually structure my reviews, but if not, I’ll tell you how this review is going to work. After I finish the lead-in to this review, I will briefly tell you a little bit about the main characters in this book. It will be brief because the following paragraph will be about the story and the characters’ roles will be self-explanatory during it, so dilly-dallying on the individual characters would be pointless. After that, I will share some of my personal thoughts about the book, what I liked, what I disliked, and a few other things I feel like typing about the book. After that, I will give this book a numeric score, which, if you’ve been here before you know the deal, and if not, I’ll explain when we get there. Upon finishing that, I’ll say if I recommend this book and who I think the best audience would be, based on the knowledge I feel is required to fully understand and appreciate the story. Then I’ll finish things up with our boring goodbyes and then you can be on your way. So, I hope we’re good on that, so, let’s go!

            Scott Summers/Cyclops: Fires optic beams uncontrollably.

            Jean Grey/Marvel Girl: Telekinetic.

            Bobby Drake/Iceman: Can lower temperature and create ice.

            Warren Worthington III/Angel: Flight due to natural wings.

            Hank McCoy/Beast: Blue fur, claws, enhanced strength, speed and agility.

            Cameron Hodge: Public relations manager.

            Rusty Collins: Pyrokinetic.

            Arthur “Artie” Maddicks: Pink skin, large eyes, mute, communicates by projecting images.

            Tower: Able to grow and shrink.

            Joanna Cargill/Frenzy: Super strength.

            Vera: Beast’s sort-of girlfriend.

            Freedom Force: Mystique, Destiny, Pyro Avalanche, Blob, Spider-Woman. Former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, now government employees.

            Trish Tilby: Reporter.

            Tony Stark/Iron Man: High-tech suit of armor.

            Peter Parker/Spider-Man: Enhanced speed, strength, and agility, can stick to walls and ceilings, precognitive “spider-sense,” self-created web shooters.

            The Avengers: Captain America, Namor, Black Knight, Hercules, Wasp, Captain Marvel. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

            The Fantastic Four: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, She-Hulk. Team and family.

En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse: Nearly immortal, shape-changer, super strength, stamina and durability.

Okay, I think that’ll do it for character description, now on to the story. A plane crash in Jamaica Bay leads the Avengers to investigate and they discover a cocoon. They take it to the Fantastic Four, and they discover it contains the body of Jean Grey, who had been believed deceased. The cosmic force the Phoenix copied Jean’s body during a shuttle crash in Jamaica Bay and replaced her, leaving her body to heal at the bottom of the Bay. Jean has lost her telepathic powers. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic calls Warren to inform him that Jean has been found alive. In the time since the Phoenix’s demise, her lover Scott Summers has married Madelyne Pryor and had a son Nathan. Their former team, the X-Men are now led by their greatest enemy, Magneto, and the five original X-Men band together to form X-Factor, a mutant hunting team, which is actually a front for taking in new mutants and training them in the use of their powers. While X-Factor are believed to be humans to the public, as mutants, they call themselves the X-Terminators. They hire publicist Cameron Hodge as their public relations manager. X-Factor take in young mutants Rusty Collins and Artie Maddicks. They go up against evil mutants Frenzy, Tower, Apocalypse, and former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants now government agents Freedom Force and have team-ups with Iron Man and Spider-Man and meet young mutant Skids. The male X-Terminators originally neglect to tell Jean of Scott’s marriage to Madelyne and of his son Nathan. Madelyne, now furious over Scott’s return to being a superhero, takes Nathan and flees, removing every communications to Scott. Beast’s furry form is reverted to appearing passably human. Backstories explore Jean’s connection with the Phoenix.

I think these are all the highlights of the story, so I’ll move on to my thoughts. First off, when I first got into X-Men comics as a regular reader, I had bought a graphic novel containing the first issues of X-Men and read of this team. I had known X-Factor was a reunion of the original X-Men, but I honestly knew nothing about the story, having never read the start of the series, so this was a treat. I mean, this was from 1986, before I was born, but I didn’t pick up the original X-Factor comics series starting that year. The posing as mutant hunters was to me an amazing ploy. I’d also never read of the first recovery of Jean, and, spoiler alert, there was a panel suggesting she and Phoenix weren’t as separated as the X-Terminators had been led to believe. The showdown between Jean and Scott upon Scott fessing up to his marriage and child totally thrilled me to see Jean’s fury not as Phoenix, but as Jean Grey herself. To me, Artie was a fascinating character, and I felt the writers did an amazing job of him while being silent being such a useful character. And reading the earliest Apocalypse appearance was great, BUT! I feel like the writers could have extended the story a bit more, and the Alliance of Evil were a bit bland to me. And I loved the story of J. Jonah Jameson hiring X-Factor to destroy Spider-Man. I found Freedom Force to be an interesting reunion of Mystique’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants which I felt totally appropriate considering the reunion of the original X-Men and I thought was a great parallel. I personally loved the bond Rusty and Artie formed, their becoming best friends. I wish more mutants could have been included, though, and Bulk and Glow Worm just made me think they were pathetic and their story did not interest me. I enjoyed the backstories of the connection of Jean and Phoenix and found them totally fascinating. As for the artwork, there’s been many different styles of art, and some were characterizations of the time. I personally loved the mid-to-late 90’s, the colorizations of the time always satisfied me. As far as art went for the 80’s, I felt it was top notch and the epitome of art for the time. I mean, when it comes to comic books, the art is just as important as the story itself as it tells half of the story, and I felt this was amazing art for the time.

So, my score. This is very hard for me to decide. There was so much I liked about the book, but I did have disappointed moments as well. By the way, I score my reviews on a scale of one to ten. One is I wish I’d never read this book, ten I loved it and will definitely read it again. First, I will tell you that I will totally read it again someday, BUT! I still have to score it as an eight. For a start of a series, I felt this was a good introduction, but, like I said, I do have complaints.

Now, the biggest question on any of my reviews: do I recommend this book? I say… YES! And I feel it is an excellent jumping-on point for a comic series. If you have never read a Marvel comic before and are considering starting, I feel this would be a good book to begin with. I feel the story is very self-contained and knowing nothing about X-Factor would still be easy to pick up and read. And it you’ve read this review and are intrigued by my description, I totally think you should pick this up. And if you’re a fan of X-Men from the 60’s to mid-70’s and never read X-Factor, I think this is a good book for you. And if you’re a fan of the villain Apocalypse and have never read his first appearance, you may enjoy this book, but, like I said, I would have liked to see more En Sabah Nur. All-in-all, I totally recommend this book.

And now that I’ve ranted for so long, I’m just going to say a few more sentences. And if you are still here and still reading, you are THE BEST and I appreciate your support. Now, I’ve done literally dozens of reviews and I feel you should keep browsing my blog, especially since I have other content as well, including essays and editorials (I am a certified journalist) and short stories both fiction and nonfiction, mostly nonfiction (I have a bachelor’s degree in English, so some may say I’m a great writer), as well as some poetry, and I post fairly regularly, so you can totally keep an eye out for more posts in the near future. And with that, I have three more words: Tim Cubbin… out!

"Civil War" Prose/Graphic Novel Comparison

            The following is a comparison of the Marvel Comics Event “Civil War” and the prose novel “Civil War” by Stuart Moore. This is not talking about any actual war.

            Hey, guys! Welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m your dude, Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, first off, before you go any further, let me stop you for a second! DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ MY “Civil War” AND “Civil War” by Stuart Moore POSTS PRIOR TO READING THIS! If you haven’t, GO BACK, READ THOSE, then come back here and THEN read THIS! Are we clear? Good, let’s get started!

            Well, this is going to be a little difficult for me considering that my review of the “Civil War” by Stuart Moore prose novel was over a year ago and that the prose novel was based on seven issues and the event presented on Marvel Unlimited is ninety-seven issues, but let’s see how I do. I’m going to limit myself to five points of differences in the narrations of the adaptations, whichever of the first five that pop into my head.

            One: In the comic book of “Civil War,” Peter Parker was married to Mary Jane Watson, and Peter’s identity was known to the Avengers, and he, Mary Jane, and his Aunt May all lived in Avengers Tower. In the prose novel, Peter and Mary Jane had never married, the Avengers didn’t know Peter Parker was Spider-Man, and while Aunt May knew Peter was Spider-Man, she said nothing.

            Two: While Nitro was responsible for the Stamford, Connecticut explosion is both narratives, in the prose novel, Nitro died in the explosion, while in the comics he survived, escaped to California in the back of a pickup truck, and was chased by both Wolverine and a faction of Atlanteans.

            Three: In the prose novel, Robbie Baldwin/Speedball died in the explosion. In the comics, Robbie survived, lost his powers, and was thrown in jail as an unregistered combatant.

            Four: The teams in the comics and prose novels were inconsistent. Some characters on the two teams were on different sides between the two adaptations, and some from the comics weren’t even in the prose novel.

            Five: At the start of the final showdown in the comic book, the battleground started at Ryker’s Island then transferred to New York City, while in the prose novel, the battle started in the Baxter Building (headquarters of the Fantastic Four) and then traveled outside.

            Now, I know some of you may be wondering which adaptation I preferred better, prose or graphic. In this case, I can’t give you an answer. Having been an expanded and comprehensive comic event when compared to a four-hundred page novel just makes it impossible to compare. The comics event impacted the entire Marvel Universe, and almost every character, team, or series had tie-ins to the main event, so to be fair, I can’t give you a comparison. I mean, there was so much I liked in the comics, but the comparison is unfair to Stuart Moore, and his work on the prose novel was amazing, and I get many of his changes, since he didn’t want to write a book longer than a George R.R. Martin book, but if you look at the main event, he told the same story framework just not the outer workings.

            And that will do it for now. I know I told you to read my two prior “Civil War” posts, but feel free to read some more of my work. Believe me, I have done plenty. I have a bachelor’s degree in English/journalism and have been published, so I know how to write. I’ve done dozens of reviews, as well as short fiction and nonfiction, poetry, essays, editorials, and other writing formats, so please keep looking at other posts. If you do, you are THE BEST and your support is most appreciated! So, now all is said and done, so I only have three more words for you: Tim Cubbin… out! 

"Civil War"

            The following is a review of the Marvel Comics Civil War the Complete Event. This is NOT based off of any actual REAL Civil Wars, or the feature film “Captain America: Civil War.”

            Howdy, one and all, and welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m your host, Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, if you’ve been to one of my reviews before, you know I review pretty much everything I read, and here we have no exception. The first review I ever did for this blog was the “Civil War” prose novel by Stuart Moore which was adapted from this comic event’s main series. However, this comic event impacted pretty much every character and series in the Marvel Universe at the time, and much of these stories were not included in the prose novel. So usually I give a brief introduction to the primary characters from the books I review, but, like I said, pretty much every character in the Marvel Universe, that’s just not possible. What I will do, however, is tell the main premise of the event and then break each story down into a brief description of the role in the grand design. After that, I will share with you my personal thoughts about the event AS A WHOLE as ninety-seven comics is way too much to nitpick on. Then I will give you a numeric score, again AS A WHOLE. After that, I’ll tell you if I recommend this event and who I think the best audience should be. Then I’ll wrap this review up and tell you something so that you’ll need to read the whole review to get to a final piece of information. Following this, I will share with you more about the content of my blog so that you may want to read more of my work and what to look for. Then I’ll leave you free to do whatever you like to do on the internet.

            Okay, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, what this “Civil War” is. The start of this mess is the New Warriors, a team of C-List superheroes and reality television stars. In the quest for ratings, they get involved with villains who are way out of their league, including the explosive Nitro. As Nitro is cornered, he activates his power: explosions. But this explosion results in the deaths of over six-hundred citizens in the now devastated Stamford, Connecticut, including a school full of children. As a result, the United States government passed the Superhuman Registration Act. Now, to operate as a superhero, one must register their names, identities, and powers with the government and submit to proper training and taking part in sanctioned superhuman activity. Failure to do so will make one a criminal and be arrested if one uses their powers without being registered. Tony Stark/Iron Man feels that this is a natural evolution of the role in superhuman activity in society and a reasonable request and gathers the heroes in support of the act. Steve Rogers/Captain America disagrees with the act and gathers an underground faction in opposition of the act. This causes a split in superhumanity and a war between the two groups ensues.

            Well, let’s begin discussing the individual series and their parts in the superhuman Civil War.

            Amazing Spider-Man: Peter Parker/Spider-Man comes out in support of the act and becomes Tony’s protégé, and unmasks on live television. Now the whole world knows Peter Parker is Spider-Man and his whole life is now changed.

            Fantastic Four: Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic comes out in support of the act and registers his wife Susan Richards/Invisible Woman, her brother Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and his best friend Ben Grimm/Thing without asking first. This creates friction between Reed and Sue after Johnny is beaten into a coma, and Sue and Johnny leave the Fantastic Four and join Captain America’s underground, while Ben, a patriot, won’t take either side and leaves the country to France to avoid taking part in the war.

            New Avengers: Illuminati: A history is revealed that Mister Fantastic, Iron Man, Doctor Stephen Strange, Black Bolt, Namor/Sub-Mariner, and Charles Xavier/Professor X had, for years, secretly been meeting to discuss superhuman activity without their families or teammates knowing.

            She-Hulk: Lawyer Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk takes the case of defending the former New Warriors after a website reveals the Warrior’s true identity on the internet.

            Wolverine: Mutant James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine picks up Nitro’s trail and chases after him to bring Nitro to justice, but he’s not the only party involved in the search for Nitro.

            Front Line: Reporters Ben Urich and Sally Floyd try to get to the truth about the Civil War, surviving New Warrior Speedball denies his guilt in the Stamford disaster and must survive in jail, and an Atlantean sleeper cell is awakened.

            Thunderbolts: Former villains are called upon to hunt down other villains and recruit them to Iron Man’s cause.

            X-Factor: A mutant detective agency takes a stand against the Superhuman Registration Act and take in former mutant Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver.

            New Avengers: The Avengers find themselves divided over the Superhuman Registration Act as each member must decide whose side they’re on.

            X-Men: Scott Summers/Cyclops, Warren Worthington III/Angel, Bobby Drake/Iceman, and Hank McCoy/Beast try to track down the 198 and prevent the world from losing half of its mutant population.

            Cable & Deadpool: Wade Wilson/Deadpool is deputized by the government and finds himself pitted against his best friend Nathan Summers/Cable.

            Young Avengers & Runaways: The next generation of Avengers travel to California to protect the Runaways, children of the super villain team the Pride.

            Ms. Marvel: Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel is tasked with bringing Julia Carpenter/Arachne while training fledgling super hero Anya Corazon/Arana.

            Heroes for Hire: Misty Knight leads a team of heroes who work for a price to uphold the Superhuman Registration Act.

            Captain America: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Sam Wilson/Falcon, Sharon Carter/Agent-13, and Nick Fury work behind to scenes to aid Captain America.

            Choosing Sides: Mac Gargan/Venom, Danny Rand/Iron Fist, John Walker/U.S.Agent and Howard the Duck decide which side they are on during the Civil War.

            The Invincible Iron Man: Tony Stark/Iron Man learns about his new powers, goes public about his identity, and is considered to be Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. the world peacekeeping task force.

            Punisher War Journal: Frank Castle/Punisher joins Captain America’s anti-registration underground.

            Black Panther: Newlyweds T’Challa/Black Panther and Ororo/Storm travel to the United States and are drawn into the conflict after a hero is slain during combat.

            War Crimes: Wilson Fisk/Kingpin plans his move against the heroes from behind bars.

            The Return: The supposedly deceased Mar-Vell/Captain Marvel polices #42, a prison in the Negative Zone for superheroes who refuse to register.

            The Initiative: Fifty superhero teams are put together to protect each state in the United States.

            The Mighty Avengers: Following the Civil War, a new front-running Avengers team is formed.

            The Confession: After the war is over, Captain America and Iron Man reflect on their intentions for the Civil War and must decide where to go from here.

            Fallen Son: The Marvel Universe is sent reeling after the death of a major superhero.

            Well, that’s the Civil War in a nutshell. Now, as promised, here is my opinion. Honestly, if I were a superhero myself, I’d side with Iron Man. A superhero is trained as an individual and as a team, gets support from the government, gets paid, benefits and vacation time to do what they were going to do for free anyway. Does being on call by S.H.I.E.L.D. to just drop what I’m doing and come assist seem like a pain? Sure. But it sure beats rotting away in a prison in another dimension. Do I see Captain America’s point of view, though? Absolutely. Anonymity as a superhero is important to many heroes, and public knowledge of their identities and abilities is undesirable, and changing the paradigm of being a superhero in society is something difficult to accept. But the law is the law, and I don’t want to break the law. But I totally get each point of view, where Iron Man and Captain America are coming from, the motivations behind each hero. As far as the story itself, I found most of the stories to be highly interesting. Front Line held the greatest interest to me, having multiple stories and firsthand accounts of documents from actual wars. I also enjoyed Amazing Spider-Man, the decisions Peter made and the consequences of his actions totally kept me going. However, the X-Men story had nothing to do with the Civil War, and the events of Young Avengers & Runaways were inconsistent to the rest of the story. Still, overall, as far as everything goes, when all is said and done, all cards on the table, I felt extremely satisfied.

            Now the point I figure you’ve been anticipating the most is here: my numeric score. I score based on a scale of one to ten. One means drop it in the toilet bowl and flush it as fast as you can. Ten means this should be considered a masterpiece and I want to frame every page. Well, if you’ve read several of my reviews before, you know how I am VERY hard to please, especially if the story drags on for so long or if it’s cut short way too soon. The ninety-seven issues on the list containing as many stories as it did never felt stale to me. Yes there were things I didn’t like and some things I wanted to read more of that weren’t there, so, I have to score the event, soup to nuts, at an eight.

            Next is one of the most important aspects of this review: do I recommend this event? Surprisingly enough, I don’t recommend it unless you are a diehard Marvel fan. Some of the characters aren’t well known, and a lot of intimate knowledge of the prior storylines is required, so if you’re not a Marvel-breathing guy like me, steer clear. This is not meant for new readers and is not a good jump-on event.

            Well, if you’re still here at this point, you are THE BEST! So, I promised you a nice surprise, so here it is: some of my regular readers know I will compare and contrast stories with multiple adaptations, and in this case, I am going to do that with this story as well. So, within a few hours of this post being uploaded, you can expect to see a comparison piece up on this page as well. So, if you haven’t read my review of the prose novel, I highly recommend you check it out in the meantime and then read the piece comparing both to see my major appreciation and complaints between both adaptations, so don’t miss it!

            In the meantime, this blog may contain dozens of reviews, but I write short fiction and nonfiction, I write poetry, I write essays and editorials, there’s just so much to see on this blog, and I post relatively frequently, so you can always expect to see more posts relatively soon. Well, I leave you free to do whatever you feel like doing on the internet for now, but you be back, I’ll be back, and until next time, Tim Cubbin… out! 

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

 

            The following is a review of the novel “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” by J.K. Rowling and NOT the film adaptation.

            Hey, all, welcome to From the Mind of One Tim Cubbin! I’m your guy, Tim Cubbin!

            Okay, if you’ve been here before, y’all know how this works. If not, I’ll explain a little about how this review works. I review pretty much everything I read, and I’ve just reread the novel “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” for, in all seriousness, like the twentieth time. I love this book, I love all the “Harry Potter” books, and having started this blog over a year ago and having read the book within this parameter of running this blog, reviewing this book is a must. I have also, in fact, reviewed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” so reviewing this book is basically a must. And yes, this book was written in 1999, over twenty years ago, but it still holds great entertainment value. And if you’ve read my other two “Harry Potter” reviews and are here now, you are quite a “Harry Potter” fan and just want to read an honest review by a true “Harry Potter” fan himself and someone who is not a professional critic (however I am an certified journalist, but that’s not the point) and will actually give a fair review.

If you’ve read one of my reviews before, you know I try to keep several consistencies in how I style my reviews, many of the same basic things. So, here’s how THIS particular post shall work. I know, you’re bored with me at this point and are saying “Tim Cubbin, get to the review already,” but stay with me for a few more sentences, but once we get past this, first off, I’ll tell you the synopsis of the book with as few spoilers as possible, then I’ll give you my own personal opinions on the book, then I’ll give the book my numeric score of the book (if you don’t know my scale score, we’ll get to that when… well, when we get to that), then I’ll say goodbye and then you are free to go about your merry way and break the chains of our bond to this post. Now, I’ll stop boring you and actually get to the reason I’m writing this review.

Okay, Harry Potter is a thirteen-year-old wizard and student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friends are Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger and fellow students at Hogwarts. A wizard mass murderer, Sirius Black, has escaped from the “inescapable” wizard jail Azkaban. He betrayed Harry’s parents to the evil wizard Dark Lord Voldemort and is the reason they are dead, and he is now after Harry to finish Voldemort’s job and return Voldemort to full power. Harry lives with his despicable Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and cousin Dudley. After inflating his “Aunt” Marge, Harry flees the Dursleys and comes face-to-face with the Grim. Harry stays in the wizard shopping street Diagon Alley before starting his third year at Hogwarts. Hermione purchases a cat named Crookshanks who takes a mad-on against Ron’s pet rat Scabbers. On the Hogwarts Express train, Harry, Ron and Hermione meet their new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Lupin and learn that creatures called Dementors, the guards of Azkaban, are now stationed at Hogwarts. They feed on happiness and cause Harry to recall the deaths of his parents. Harry, Ron and Hermione attend their classes, such as the new class Divination, taught by a fraud psychic named Sybil Trelawney and Care of Magical Creatures taught by Rubeus Hagrid, groundskeeper and ally of Harry, Ron and Hermione, but Hermione has double-booked classes and seems to disappear and reappear at odd moments. In Hagrid’s first lesson of Care of Magical Creatures, he introduces his students to creatures called Hippogriffs, and Harry’s nemesis Draco Malfoy is attacked by the Hippogriff Buckbeak, who is then sentenced to execution. Professor Lupin begins to try to teach Harry to create a Patronus to defend himself against the Dementors. Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, is in his last year at Hogwarts and is determined to win the Quidditch Cup before he graduates. Fred and George Weasley, Ron’s twin older brothers and mischief-makers bequeath to Harry the Marauder’s Map to help Harry sneak into the wizard village, Hogsmeade, to which Harry does not have permission to travel to. These are all the basic plot points to the novel I can disclose without spoilers, but I will say that not all is as it seems.

Okay, my own personal thoughts. While it is not my favorite “Harry Potter” book, I still love it. Rowling truly knows how to build mysteries, excitement, humor, fun and action into her works, and I have never been disappointed by her works. I will say my favorite scene is where Professor Lupin has his third year students face off against a Boggart, a creature that can shapeshift into the nearest living thing’s worst fear and can only be defeated by laughter, and Neville Longbottom, a blundering Hogwarts student who is most afraid of Hogwarts’ Potions Master Professor Severus Snape, forces to Boggart Snape into Neville’s grandmother’s clothes. I also loved the plot twists, most of which I NEVER saw coming. As an aspiring novelist myself, I hope I can create such a sense of surprise in my readers that Rowling placed upon me as I ingested this book.

Alright, now to my numeric score. I score my subjects on a scale of one to ten. One means I barely managed to force myself into reading this book once, ten meaning I will totally read it again. You probably know where I’m leaning towards at this point, considering how many times I mentioned I have read this book. Some of my prior readers who have read reviews of mine on stories other than “Harry Potter” know I am very hard to please, and I don’t just give out great scores like candy on Halloween, so if I give a good score, then this book is probably pretty darn good. So, all said and done, I give this book a nine. This book was almost perfection for me, but I just can’t quite give it a ten. There were points that I lost interest in, and some of the major things Harry gets away with are just unrealistic considering the little things I got in trouble for when I was in school at the age of thirteen. But I thoroughly enjoy this book every time I read it, and I will totally read it again in a few years I just love the “Harry Potter” franchise that much. I will say that you ABSOLUTELY, SHOULD NOT read “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” if you have not read the books or seen the movies “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone” and “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” or else you will totally not be able to follow everything, this is a SERIES and EVERY book or movie in the series MUST be read in order in this series, it’s VERY important!

Well, I think I’ve bored you long enough. This review has been longer than some of the articles I wrote in my journalism classes I had that much to say, and if you’ve read this WHOLE review, seriously, you are THE BEST! And, yes, I will review the other “Harry Potter” books in time, so keep a lookout for them soon. Feel free to look at more of the content on this blog, I am an aspiring writer and certified journalist, I write all kinds of things on this blog and I promise I will keep on churning out new material in time. I’ll say goodbye for now, but until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!