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Books: Best Harry Potter Book? (Plus Rank All of the Books)

Trap Jesus

Trap Jesus

Registered User
Feb 13, 2012
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Inspired by the Best Harry Potter Film thread. Vote for the best book in the poll, then rank all 7 books.
 
Goblet of Fire
Half Blood Prince
Prisoner of Azkaban
Deathly Hallows
Chamber of Secrets
Philosophers Stone
Order of the Phoenix (I can't stand whiney Harry)
 
1. The Order of the Phoenix - Really liked the darker tone of this, and it did a great job setting up the end of the series. Opened up some interesting questions about the final 2 books.
2. The Goblet of Fire - Probably the most action-packed. I think this will be a popular choice for #1.
3. The Prisoner of Azkaban - Nice change of pace, a little more subtle than the other books. Not having Voldemort as the main focus was refreshing.
4. The Deathly Hallows - A little disjointed, but enjoyable nonetheless.
5. The Half-Blood Prince - Just felt like something was missing in this one. Fantastic end of the book, but a little bit of a chore leading up to that climax.
6. The Philosopher's Stone - Goodintroduction to the world, but doesn't hold up as well on reflection and comparing it to the other books.
7. The Chamber of Secrets - Largely forgettable
 
Tough to decide... But I finally came up with this:

1. Order of the Phoenix: A little darker, and more focus on the magical world rather than Privet Drive. Every book I felt like I couldn't wait for Harry to leave there and for the story to start. Dumbledore's Army, and the way Fred & George leave the school was epic (not nearly as much in the movie as the book). Umbridge was arguably the best villain in the books, in the movies, not so much...

2. Half Blood Prince: I really enjoyed the darker overtones of this book too. The introduction to the Gaunts, and more history, and a lot of focus on Harry vs. Draco; which I enjoyed. Plus the ending in the school was awesome.

3. Prisoner of Azkaban: I loved learning more about Harry's father, and the end reveal was a fairly good twist. This was a fun book, that I think pulls the series into a great new direction.

4. Goblet of Fire: A lot more action, and a lot of depth into the world of wizards, with different schools, and the Quidditch Cup. I don't remember SPEW fondly from my initial readings; but surprisingly missed it in the movies.

5. The Deathly Hallows: Ah, where to start. This book was not as good as I'd hoped; too much hanging around in the forest and background on Dumbldore that could have been shared at different points in the other books, or just left out in some cases. That said, it did wrap everything up nicely. But then there is the cursed epilogue, which I choose to believe doesn't exist.

6. The Philosopher's Stone: The first book has so much charm, it's hard not to remember it well, but in the whole, it wouldn't be one I'd choose to re-read.

7. Chamber of Secrets: Whenever I do a re-read, I largely skip the Chamber. There just isn't anything in here that draws me back.
 
1. Prisoner of Azkaban
2. H-B Prince
3. Philosopher's Stone
4. Deathly Hallows
5. Order of the Phoenix
6. Goblet of Fire
7. Chamber of Secrets
 
Tough to choose. PoA was kind of the finale to the child part in Harry and his friends and it set up the rebirth of Voldemort perfectly.

I went with HBP because I think it did the most for the series in terms of story. Horcruxes, Harry breaking the cycle of Hogwarts used in every preceding book (summer sucks, first day, lots of homework, everyone hates me, Xmas break, lots of homework, finals, etc...), Snape's betrayal, then Harry's tragic realization that he has no Sirius, no Dumbledore, no Hogwarts to shield him anymore. All he has is himself and occasionally Ron+Hermione.

To me it marked the beginning of Harry learning what it is to be a man.
 
sully1410 said:
I am a hundred percent true that this is not true. The unintelligent part. The rest could be.
Click to expand...

Scholastic (who bought the US rights to the books) asked Rowling to change as they though kids wouldn't buy a book with 'Philosopher' in the title. At the time since it was her first book she agreed, she later regretted this decision.
 
Loosie said:
Scholastic (who bought the US rights to the books) asked Rowling to change as they though kids wouldn't buy a book with 'Philosopher' in the title. At the time since it was her first book she agreed, she later regretted this decision.
Click to expand...

Yup. Sounds right. It probably wasn't that they thought that the American Children were stupid though.
 
I've always considered Prisoner of Azkaban my favorite, but I just realized for the first time that that could've had some to do with the fact that it was the first "new" story to me. I saw the first two movies (when they were the only two movies) before I started reading the books, so the stories in the first two books weren't new to me. Prisoner of Azkaban was totally new, though, so I was excited to turn every page.

Goblet of Fire would likely be my second favorite. What was exciting about it is that it was just so large of a book. By the time that you'd read as much as was in 'Azkaban', you were only halfway through. It really sunk you into the universe and fleshed it out. It was also just broken up really well with the various stages, so it was long, but didn't drag.

After those two, I'm not sure how I'd rank them. It's hard for me to rank the first two, since I barely have memory of reading them, owing to having seen the movies first and to them being so short. 5-7 also sort of run together for me, probably largely due to their movies all being so similar. Unlike the movies, though, there isn't any book of the series that I didn't really enjoy. If I had to choose a least-liked, though, I'd probably go with Deathly Hallows, because it suffered from predictability and the sadness that the ride was about to be over.
 
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I was actually gong to make this thread :laugh:

Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
Half Blood Prince
Prisoner of Azkaban
Deathly Hallows
Philosophers Stone
Chamber of Secrets

Would have Hallows higher but for whatever reason I took a year long break between parts 1 and 2 reading it so that just left me unimpressed :laugh:.
 
Osprey said:
I've always considered Prisoner of Azkaban my favorite, but I just realized for the first time that that could've had some to do with the fact that it was the first "new" story to me. I saw the first two movies (when they were the only two movies) before I started reading the books, so the stories in the first two books weren't new to me. Prisoner of Azkaban was totally new, though, so I was excited to turn every page.

Goblet of Fire would likely be my second favorite. What was exciting about it is that it was just so large of a book. By the time that you'd read as much as was in 'Azkaban', you were only halfway through. It really sunk you into the universe is fleshed it out. It was really meaty and satisfying. It was also just broken up really well with the various stages, so it was long, but didn't drag.

After those two, I'm not sure how I'd rank them. It's hard for me to rank the first two, since I barely have memory of reading them, owing to having seen the movies first and to them being so short. 5-7 also sort of run together for me, probably largely due to their movies all being so similar. Unlike the movies, though, there isn't any book of the series that I didn't really enjoy. If I had to choose a least-liked, though, I'd probably go with Deathly Hallows, because it suffered from predictability and the sadness that the ride was about to be over.
Click to expand...

I really like the fourth book just because it was really the perfect transition. It was really the end of innocence. There was so much going on, yet it was just so perfectly balanced.
 
Shawked said:
I was actually gong to make this thread :laugh:

Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix
Half Blood Prince
Prisoner of Azkaban
Deathly Hallows
Philosophers Stone
Chamber of Secrets

Would have Hallows higher but for whatever reason I took a year long break between parts 1 and 2 reading it so that just left me unimpressed :laugh:.
Click to expand...
It's one book, there's no part 1 and 2.
 
I guess I'm higher on Deathly Hallows than most.

Azkaban (well written, excellently paced, the Pettigrew-Black reversal twist is a little more obvious in hindsight as an adult but it's still a great development in the story)

Phoenix (well executed, pulls off the dark tone that was excellently done but IMO Half Blood Prince failed to replicate)

Hallows (yes the first half drags a bit but I feel the resolution is well done and the Snape Penseive chapter is in my opinion the best writing Rowling has ever done)

Goblet (Ultimately I feel like the whole Triwizard tournament thing was kinda silly and a wonky way to bring back the Wizarding World's equivalent of Hitler. Still a good book overall)

Stone (Hard to criticize the one that got it started. It's short, easy to read, and establishes a world I wanted so badly as a child to be a part of)

Chamber (when I was a kid I disliked it because of the dark tones but looking back it just...didn't really accomplish much. It was almost like a Sorceror's Stone side story. Like what did it do? Gave Harry a problem to solve and gave a little Voldemort backstory. Backstory that was continually built over the course of the series anyway. It just humanizes him a little)

Prince (let me be clear, I don't think there was a BAD Harry Potter book but HBP comes damn close. Rowling struggles in this one to move the narrative towards the endgame in a natural way (Horcruxes) while at the same time rushing to push out more backstory for Voldemort and Dumbledore, and still try to have a story going on at Hogwarts and in my opinion, it's just sloppy. But worst of all, for a book that takes place at Hogwarts, I never feel the magic of being at Hogwarts. The story is too focused on accomplishing all its goals as the penultimate tale that it forgets to cultivate the atmosphere that the previous 5 books had. It's still a fun read but certainly my least favorite of the bunch EDIT: Also as I said, HBP also tried to go forward with the dark tones from Order of the Phoenix but it just felt dreary rather than genuinely dark)

JustGivingEr said:
It's one book, there's no part 1 and 2.
Click to expand...

Unless he got scammed.
 
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