• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews - Audio And Video Online Reviews 1991-2018
  *Starred Review* Arriving just in time for summer vacation's marathon road trips and beach lounging, the latest Harry audiobook is just as captivating as its predecessors. Once again, Dale deftly balances dialogue and narration in his enthusiastic British diction (phrases such as "close-set purple postules" are irresistible). But it's the distinct, expertly dramatized characterizations that will keep listeners glued to their headphones. Particularly affecting is the barely concealed rage of smarmy, priggish bureaucrat Cornelius Fudge; the silky sleaze and droning imperiousness of the various Ministers of Magic; the long-suffering, ill-spirited whine of the house elves. And then there are the newly adolescent Harry, Ron, and Hermione, whose voices Dale interprets with just the right hints of teen restlessness and insecurity. Listening to every word, rather than skimming forward as readers do, may draw attention to Rowling's sometimes repetitive descriptions and slower passages. But Dale's exciting, nuanced performance wholly captures the story's irrepressible humor and magic. Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews.

J. K. ROWLING has written fiction since she was a child. Jo enjoyed telling her made-up stories to her younger sister and wrote her first "book" at the age of six--a story about a rabbit called Rabbit! She started writing the Harry Potter series after the idea occurred to her on a train journey where she admits Harry "just strolled into my head fully formed."

JIM DALE is the voice of all the characters in the Harry Potter audiobook series. This work has won him the Grammy Award (2000), two Grammy nominations, and two AudioFile Earphone Awards.