harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling and is narrated by Stephen Fry. It chronicles young wizard Harry Potter's third year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the book takes on a much darker feel to the previous 2 novels. Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione arrive back at Hogwarts after the summer holidays only to find that security is tight all over the school grounds as crazed mass murderer Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison and is on the loose. the grounds are being guarded by the sinister hooded Dementors who drain the happiness out of everyone they encounter. When Sirius Black unsuccessfully attempts to enter Hogwarts, this sets off a chain of events in which Harry discovers the truth about Sirius and his links to Harry's family as well as making a discovery about his old enemy Lord Voldemort.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is certainly much darker than the previous two novels. Although the book retains much much of the light-hearted and humorous dialogue between the main characters, the plot is much more adult with plenty of horror and unsettling scenes. Whilst this might not appeal to the youngest readers, for an older reader like myself it seems quite appropriate to make the book more adult as the characters get older. The plot is incredibly engrossing with plenty of twists and turns to keep you interesting, and while the story is as fantastic and absurd as ever, JK Rowling once again shows she has a knack for creating believable teenage dialogue and realistic relationships.

The narration by Stephen Fry who has narrated all of the books in the series, is as brilliant as ever. Being a well-known comedian and writer he is excellent at portraying the emotions of the characters as well as having passion and humour in his reading. His strong and commanding yet calm voice gives a perfect seriousness to quite a dark novel yet in the more lighthearted moments he captures the humorous dialogue perfectly. I couldn't think of a better choice of narrator for this novel. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is an excellent novel brilliantly transferred to CD.