Rowling's literary style in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban continues her traditional writing techniques found in the first and second Harry Potter novels. Her third novel, however, offers more complexities of plot, language, and characterization.

Her characters and settings are multi-layered because of her use of mythological and historical allusions. Rowling utilizes recognizable symbols and motifs, such as the full moon, to create images that communicate her themes of love, despair, despair, illumination, and forgiveness, and she skillfully foreshadows confrontations, such as the quarrel between Scabbers and Crookshanks, early in the book. Her sense of humor balances otherwise tragic and bleak depictions. Rowling speaks to her readers by addressing timeless, universal human concerns such as social acceptance and public humiliation and ostracism.

An omniscient narrator tells the Harry Potter saga. The novel resembles an oral folktale that praises the deeds of a hero who...