The third book in this seven book series by J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is by far my favorite book in the series so far. Typically I like to watch the movies before I read the books, such as for The Lord of the Rings, because more often than not the books are better than the movies. This allows me to continue my enjoyment of the story going from the movie to the book, instead of being disappointed by a movie after having read the book. For the first two books though, I think my biggest problem with the books was that the movies were so close to the books. This made the books feel like a glorified retelling of the movie (from my perspective). There wasn't much extra in the books to make them feel worthwhile to read. So in those instances, I would have to say I actually enjoyed the first two movies better than I did the books.
However, that all changed with this third book. Rowling has continually improved her ability to write these stories with each book and has produced a story that is a tremendous leap forward from Book 2. Her prose is much richer in context and plot, allowing everything to tie together perfectly. She has managed to fill out the story and the world in which they reside gloriously. There are no longer these random plot points. Now we have story threads hinted at in the beginning of the book, and even throughout the book, that don't come to full fruition until the end of the story. She has improved her ability to tell an intricate story to the point that I can see how these books became world-wide phenomenons. I still have issue with the way she handles the Durselys, but I feel like that plot thread has been getting smaller and smaller and hopefully will one day become nonexistent. Overall, this is my favorite of the series so far and it has me excited to jump right in to Book 4.
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