In my opinion, the greatest series ever written (there may be some arguments here... I know) has a few incredible books and a few, well, non-so-incredible ones. I am here to give my rankings, and of course, explain why! There may be some disagreement, but here me out!
Credit: Film
Seventh Place: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The main reason I put this book in dead last is its similarity to the first book.
When I read the book for the first time in elementary school, I remember thinking that it was strange that at the end of the school year, Harry meets up with Voldemort in a place in Hogwarts, just like in the Philosopher's Stone.
Secondly, I always thought that it was way too convenient for Fawkes the Phoenix and the Sorting Hat to arrive at just the right time and somehow fend a powerful dark wizard off.
And, though this may seem minor, I was always annoyed by the fact that Harry and Ron just had to fly the Ford Anglia to Hogwarts. Why didn't they make the obvious decision of sitting and waiting for their parents to notice that they are gone. However, I suppose I do understand that strange decisions can happen in the moment... but that was just annoying to me, even as a 10 year old reading it!
Lastly, this book overall seemed unconnected to the plot of the series. Of course, the part about the Horcrux being Tom Riddle's diary was there (SPOILER, sorry), but otherwise the whole book seemed stand-alone. It was boring to read and I really had to push through it because I was excited to get to the more interesting plot later on.
Sixth Place: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Hey! Let me explain!
Though it is the first book, and I liked diving into the magical world, it just seemed... boring. I probably shouldn't have expected much action in the introduction to Harry's life, but I wanted just a little something.
I did like the ending a bit, but I was SO annoyed that we didn't get the answer to Harry's important question to Dumbledore at the end; "Why does Voldemort want to kill me?"
While rereading this book, I always find myself rushing through much of the book to just get it over with, which also happened in the second book, as I mentioned before. It seems that Rowling also wanted to rush the book, because the months at Hogwarts get passed by quite quickly.
Fifth Place: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
In this book new organizations and alliances are shown, such as the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's army. Dolores Umbridge is also introduced, a person we all love to hate. With a passion. Anyway, though there are some interesting parts, until the battles at the end of the book, it was brutal to read.
Harry is angry, understandably, after what happens at the end of the previous book, and takes it out on everyone around him. Yes, it makes sense. But is it very hard to push through? Yes again.
I also thought that (SPOILER! (I gave a warning this time!)) Sirius' death came far too early, and there was so little bonding time between he and Harry. Yes, I still cried when he died, but I might've felt it more if we had a few more scenes.
We're getting into the good ones now!
Fourth Place: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
I really enjoyed the plot of this book, and I felt so much emotion reading it. Every death meant a lot in this book, so it was definitely the most meaningful book for me.
I also really enjoyed reading the long lead-up to the final battles, which normally bore me. I found it interesting seeing how Ron, Harry and Hermione dealt with their friendships.
The reason this is pretty low on my list is because of how frustrated I was with the ending. I was confused as to why Snape got a redemption arc, but Draco did not. I would have loved to see Draco become more of a main character later.
The epilogue is another thing that bothered me. Harry names his child after Snape, saying he (SPOILER) was a very brave man. I think it was kind of last minute for the names to be so unoriginal and in my opinion, Snape was certainly not the bravest of all the people Harry has known.
Third Place: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
At first read, I actually thought this would be my favorite book. I loved thinking about the competition aspect of it, loved seeing that there were other magical schools, and loved getting to read the first book in the series that was super long!
I also liked seeing that the characters here seemed much more grown-up, and less like children, as they were portrayed in the first three books.
However, upon rereading, it seemed a little weird that Cedric was the one that faced the event that happens in the end, as he was a disconnected character who was not introduced much expect for the fact that he was a generally good person.
Also, the tournament parts seem a little repetitive in the way that Harry has to prepare and face them, and I did think about how boring it must have been for the students at Hogwarts to watch.
Overall, I loved the ending of this book and liked that this book seemed to be the start of what the series is really about, there were just some minor complications.
Second Place: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
This book was overall so interesting, for it finally introduced the concept of Horcruxes, which readers were wondering about for many books.
We also got to see some character development for Snape, because we could see there was something more to him than a greasy-haired professor.
When we finally get towards the ending of the book, I was so excited to see what would happen, and I felt more like part of the story than I ever had.
My only complaint about this book was that Dumbledore seemed to not be the same person as before.
He was absent for most of the book, then seemed so intense and serious that it caught me off guard. It may have been necessary for the rest of the plot...
First Place: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!
I have to admit, when reading the series at first I never expected this book to be on top.
When rereading this book, I fell in love with how cohesive the plot was, and how interested I was in every single part of the story. I really enjoyed seeing Sirius and Remus Lupin in the shrieking shack, and I found the introduction of the time-turner quite interesting (I may be biased because I am always interested in time travel).
Furthermore, I actually liked Voldemort not having much of a role in this book, for the past two books already made me sick of him. I liked seeing the Golden Trio grow so much and become much more developed characters.
I encourage you to reread this book if you did not enjoy it much on your first read!
Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!
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