rank the HP novels.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

I think everybody knows by now; the Harry Potter series are my favorite books of all time. - how many times do you have to keep saying that, Jillian? LOL.
They were after all a huge part of my life growing up, and are pretty much what made me into the reader that I am now. But I do have to say that even though I love them all like crazy, I have ranked them from favorite to 'least' favorite in my head. Secretly, of course.

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7 - The Chamber of Secrets - Don't get me wrong; I really enjoyed this one too, but of course, if I had to rank them in order of favorites, this would be the last simply for the reason that it was the "least" entertaining of them all. Also, I didn't find Ginny at all engaging for some reason at that time. I didn't think she was valuable or significant (LOL!) so it sort of made me wonder why it focused a lot on her too.

6- The Order of the Phoenix - To me, this felt more like a much-needed filler to provide the different back stories and character backgrounds. It also showed a lot of important foreshadowing, so I get that it is a huge part of the series. However, it just wasn't, shall we say, as charming as the rest of the books. (Also, I kind of hated Cho Chang!)

5 - The Goblet of Fire - There were so many awesome things going on here - The Yule Ball, the Tournament, the newly added characters, Cho Chang, Cedric Diggory, Victor Krum, Fleur Delacour... so exciting and incredibly entertaining novel! I was debating whether or not to put this before The Sorcerer's Stone because I truly enjoyed this one so much, but for the reason I'll state for #4, is why I put The Goblet of Fire in 5th place instead.

4 - The Sorcerer's Stone - This technically should be #1 by default, since it is the one that started it all. This was basically the reason that I fell in love with the series. It was the book that set the bar after all. And the discovery of a new series that had the potential to be epic was enough reason to really love this one.

3 - The Half-Blood Prince - Snape was definitely one of my favorite characters in the series. Without him, the entire series just wouldn't be the same. I would hate him, and then love him, and then hate him, and then like him... it was confusing, but it was fun. He was a very important part in the series, and The Half-Blood Prince truly allowed the readers to see that. I loved this book too because I thought it showcased the trio's growth and maturity, after everything that happened in The Order of the Phoenix.

2 - The Prisoner of Azkaban - Lupin. Sirius Black. The Marauder's Map. The beginning of Ron and Hermione's "bickering/hints of romance in the future," Hogsmeade. Pettigrew. Buckbeak. Time travel. The epic confrontation towards the end!
We also get to learn so much more of Harry's background and the Potters' history, plus this was the first book I enjoyed Hermione's character! Oh I really did enjoy this book so much! Anytime I crave for some HP reading in my life, I pick this one. It could be my #1 pick depending on my mood, really. Haha.

1 - Deathly Hallows - Rowling did a spectacular job satisfying every single Harry Potter fan out there with this perfect conclusion. Deathly Hallows answered every question I had, and showed me scenes and events that I wanted to see. As soon as I finished this book, I already knew this had to be hands down, my favorite book in the series, simply because it held so much meaning and value. It was emotional, exciting, entertaining, sad at times; it just was a great end of an amazing phenomenon.

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Okay, your turn! Rank the HP books according to your most favorite-least favorite - if there was even such a thing as "least" favorite, haha. I loved them all, and it was pretty hard to rank them, but I think this is quite accurate. Would love to hear your thoughts on this!

9 comments:

  1. Oh wow. Good question. I think Goblet of Fire is my favorite.

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  2. Deathly Hallows is my favorite too. I struggled through Order of the Phoenix (I am currently listening to the audiobook again) because of how hard things are for Harry. I think this book is like his low point in the series where he goes through some of the darkest times when people don't believe him and he is persecuted so much and appears to have lost Dumbledore's support.

    I agree with your rankings for the most part. In fact I'd only switch Philosopher's Stone and Goblet of Fire on your list and it would be the way I'd rank them.

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  3. I almost have your EXACT picks, except that the third is my first and the seventh is my second, ha, ha!

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  4. +JMJ+

    Thanks to my "big reread" of the Harry Potter books last year, I can do a ranking now, too:

    #4, #1, #3, #2, #6, #7, #5

    Just don't ask me to explain why! =P Reading them all within a single month has made all the episodes seem thrown together like a salad in my memory. I can barely remember what happened in which book. LOL! But I did write somewhere that #4 is my new favourite and that #3 didn't stand up; and I really can't stand #5. So that's that for now.

    PS -- I thought Ginny was annoying in #2 as well. =S Is it in #6 or #7 that she finally tells Harry that it was just because she was trying so hard to impress him at the time, and that Hermione later advised her to be herself? Well, that was great advice from Hermione, because I, too, liked Ginny a lot better when she started being herself!

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  5. I think I would rank them almost exactly the same. I'm in the middle of re-reading the whole series (currently half-way through #5) and I've been reminded why I love them so much. I can't think of what I would switch around on your list. I might swap spots 3 and 4, but then again maybe not. #6 is such a rich book and we learn so much more, but #1 started it all and is so full of wonder. Love your picks!

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  6. Awesome post hun! COS was actually my least favourite and of course the last one my most :)

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  7. Juju - Goblet of Fire was a fun book for sure with the tournament, the ball, and the new characters added in!

    Christina T - I didn't like Harry in the 5th one! He was acting like a brat; granted he had every reason to, haha, but I felt really bad for Ron!

    BookQuoter - 3 and 7 would probably be a tie for me to be a honest. I love them equally, but I guess the 7th one weighs the most since it was the ending.

    E - I'm guessing left to right is favorite to least favorite since you said you didn't like #5? I also didn't like #5 as much as the rest, mainly because like I said, I felt like it was used as a filler. Plus I hated Harry here! He was PMS-ing the entire time. His attitude was understandable, but I felt so bad for Ron and everyone else around him!

    Melissa - I'm excited to see you almost have the same list too! And yeah, it is hard to really rank them properly because they can easily be switched, depending on what I'm looking for. And like I said, the first one should be #1 by default.

    Aly - Yay. So we both agree haha

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  8. I'm so glad you posted this! I'm re-reading the first 3 books (so far I've done 2/3) and then finish off the series which will be all new to me (yay!). So far, I love Philosopher's Stone best (Sorceror's Stone in the U.S.).

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  9. Teacher/Learner - Oh I can't for your reviews for the rest of the books! I would love to know if your rankings have changed.

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