Today is J.K. Rowling’s birthday. As such, I thought I would share my rankings for the Harry Potter books. Now, if you disagree with me, that’s fine. Everyone has their own opinion. This just so happens to be my order for the books.
Spoiler Alert.
7. Half-Blood Prince. The sixth book is boring, in my opinion. I know a lot of people like it, because Harry learns about the Horcruxes and how to defeat Voldemort, but it’s still presented in a pretty dull way. Most of the book is just Harry and Dumbledore going through Tom Riddle’s memories and that’s fine, the memories are my favorite part of the book, but where are the rest of the characters? We see Hermione and Ron arguing throughout the whole book, Draco trying to fix the Vanishing Cabinet and Snape attempting to help, and pointless romances between Harry and Ginny and Hermione and Ron.
Nobody gets much character development, except Harry, Dumbledore, and Voldemort. Everyone else just feels stiff and a parody of their usual selves. Why is Hermione snapping at Harry for using the Half-Blood Prince book? She’s never done that before. In fact, Hermione should be happy that Harry’s doing well in class. Sure, Harry should be asking Slughorn why the changes written in the book are better than the official instructions, but he is still learning. Hermione should be pleased.
There’s no much more to say about Half-Blood Prince. It’s boring, I find the romances tacked on, and the fact that Dumbledore uses students to deliver messages to Harry make them feel like owls.
6. Order of the Phoenix. Book five is where my love of Harry Potter started to wane. I was pretty young when all the books came out and I hated that the books became darker from this point on. Even now, I still don’t like how dark they’ve become. Now, I love conflict in books, how else would we have a plot, but there’s a difference between fun and gloomy. The first four books were fun. The last three are gloomy. My brother and I have a name for Order of the Phoenix Harry: “Caps Lock Rage Mode Harry.” Harry is just yelling all the time in caps lock, making him unpleasant to be around. He has good reason to be angsty, what with Voldemort coming back and Cedric’s death, but that’s not what I want to read. Everything is way too dark and gloomy and it took me forever to get through this book the first time, because it felt like a chore to read. Reading should be fun. You shouldn’t have to force yourself to do it. Plus, I hate Umbridge. Who doesn’t?
The only redeeming qualities in this book are Luna and the fireworks. Luna is a ray of sunshine. I love how she can cheer up both the reader and Harry while barely even trying. She’s my all time favorite character. Fred and George are their usual fun selves in this book. The fact that they were able to set off the fireworks and cause chaos for Umbridge was a brilliant move on their part. I love the mental image of Umbridge running from the fireworks.
5. Deathly Hallows. The seventh book beats out five and six for one simple reason: Voldemort is defeated. This is what the seven books have been building toward since Sorcerer’s Stone. (I’m American). The plot is boring, since a huge chunk of it is just Harry and Hermione going on a camping trip. Oh yeah, and Ron’s there sometimes. Moving on. It does pick up a bit when they go to Malfoy Manor, but I’m still disappointed in the plot. I wanted Harry and Hermione to be actively fighting against Voldemort and the Death Eaters, taking down their bases and forcing Voldemort to go on the defensive. Instead, they almost starve to death in the woods, while having no idea what they’re doing or where they should go. Woo.
Now, that being said, it does get a bit exciting at Malfoy Manor. I was devastated when Dobby died. Infiltrating Gringotts was interesting, even though I feel as if it would have been easier and the goblins might have helped if they explained about the Horcruxes. Regardless, it was cool to see them escape on a dragon.
The battle of Hogwarts was bittersweet. It was exciting and I love how Voldemort died like a regular mortal, not a supernatural creature, but there were too many deaths. Lupin, Tonks, Fred, and countless others. I’m really torn up about Fred. You can’t just separate Fred and George. I would’ve preferred Percy sacrificing himself to save both twins. Percy would have been redeemed and we could’ve kept both Fred and George. Done. Alas, it was not meant to be. Still, it was satisfying to see Voldemort defeated and good win the day. Just don’t talk to me about the epilogue. Ever.
4. Goblet of Fire. This book and my number three spot are actually interchangeable. I love them both equally, so it just depends on which one I like more on a given day. Goblet of Fire is a fun book, especially since we get to see more magical schools: Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. The extension of the magical world helps to put the books into perspective. If Harry fails to stop Voldemort, he could go after more people, not just the ones in the U.K. I’m not too bothered by Harry being in the Triwizard Tournament, since he’s the main character. The plot would be pretty boring if he wasn’t forced to compete.
That being said, Voldemort probably could have had Crouch Jr. turn Harry’s glasses in a Portkey and grabbed him on his next Hogsmede weekend, but nobody ever said Voldemort was smart. And again, there’s more of a plot if Harry competes.
This is the book where I started to dislike Ron. It annoys me to no end that he abandons Harry before the First Task, but since he is sorry, I can forgive Ron. It was just a momentary lack of judgement on his part. I do have an issue with Ron abandoning Harry again in Deathly Hallows, but that’s a problem for another day.
Beyond that, I am sad that Cedric dies at the end of the book. I wish he would have lived, but I understand that Harry had to be the sole survivor for the Order of the Phoenix plot to work. Fudge might have believed both Harry and Cedric together. Cedric’s death just turned Fudge against Harry for an entire book.
3. Sorcerer’s Stone. Like I said above, I love Sorcerer’s Stone and Goblet of Fire equally. Sorcerer’s Stone beats out Goblet of Fire simply because it’s the first book and our introduction to the series. I love entering the magical world for the first time and learning all it has to offer with Harry.
That’s not much else to say. My only complaint is that McGonagall throws four first years into the forest. Let me get this straight: Harry and Hermione get into trouble because they help Hagrid late at night, so their punishment is to help Hagrid late at night. What? I just wish McGonagall could have used a bit of logic. Why would Harry and Hermione feed Malfoy a lie about a dragon, tricking him into wandering the halls at night, and then do the same thing themselves? If it was just a lie, why would they risk leaving Gryffindor Tower? To watch Malfoy get in trouble? It would make more sense for them to go to bed and simply hear about it the next morning. Neville would have spotted them in the Common Room and they could have explained the situation. McGonagall makes no sense in this scene.
2. Chamber of Secrets. I love this book! Its so much fun! This book is lighthearted and whimsical, just like the first book, and I love the mystery. Yes, it’s obvious now that the memory of Tom Riddle was possessing Ginny, but when the book first came out, who would’ve guessed that? I also have a soft spot for this book, because I have fond memories of reading this book, absorbed in the story, while my brothers and nephew were noisily goofing off around me. Good times.
1. Prisoner of Azkaban. It should be no surprise that this is my favorite Harry Potter book. It seems to be universally loved by almost all the fans. My reason for loving it is simple: Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. I love both characters. I already mentioned that I love the mystery aspects of Chamber of Secrets. Well, Prisoner of Azkaban seems to ramp this concept up. We’re trying to understand why Sirius might have betrayed Lily and James, when plot twist, it turns out Sirius was innocent all along. I just love the reveal at the end of the book.
Well, there you have it. This is my ranking for all seven main Harry Potter books. If you would like to leave a comment, telling me your rankings for the books, I would love to hear it.