In honor of the first part of the last installment of the Harry Potter movies opening this week, I decided that I would write about Harry Potter, specifically ranking the books in order of my love for them.
It is interesting to try to rank the segments of a series as each book builds upon the ones that came before it and set up those that come after it. But I still find myself drawn to certain books more than others, though there are also sequences and storylines in certain books that I love, even if the book itself is not my favorite. Oh, and I'm going to rank from top to bottom, just because.
1) Prisoner of Azkaban: It is weird to me that my favorite book in the series is the one that has the least to do with Voldemort, the main bad guy. I really enjoy PoA for a couple main reasons. First, I really love Lupin. As a teacher, as an old friend of James, as a mentor to Harry. He just rocks. I also love Sirius a whole lot. He is such an interesting character with his tourtured past. PoA also has all the timeturner stuff and Buckbeak, not to mention the epicness of the Shrieking Shack scene. I feel like you just learn so much backstory that it becomes one of the most important novels without really having much to do with the overall Harry vs. voldemort story arch.
2) Order of the Phoenix: You get Luna, lots of Weasley twin action, giant battle at the Ministry, and Umbridge. I mean, Dolores Umbridge is one of the most amazing characters in a book ever. She isn't evil, but she is definitely not good. She is just...bad. Pure bad. I love how all the teachers revolt against her. And then you get the battle at the end, with Bellatrix and Lucius and Voldemort himself. It cements the friendships of Luna, Neville, and Ginny with the main three but also answers some of the big questions about why it is Harry that is chosen. And there is major drama when Sirius gets killed! Now, while I super love a bunch of the stuff in OotP, it also has one of my least favorite storylines ever: Hagrid's half brother. I just don't care. It doesn't add a lot to the story and I find the chapter about Hagrid's saga boring.
3) Goblet of Fire: As I write this I am tempted to switch my ordering to say that GoF is number 2 and OotP is number 3, but I think I will stick with my original thought. I love the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I think it is a really nice way to introduce the other schools into the story. And as a girl who relates closely to Hermione, it is nice for her to get a little action with Victor Krum! I also absolutely love GoF because I did not see the Mad-eye Moody/Barty Crouch, Jr. thing coming at all. At all! It is a rare book that can completely catch me off guard. Also, GoF was the first time you get to see Voldemort as Voldemort. So dramatic! Also, I love Cedric Diggory. Every time I reread GoF I fall in love with him and them am sad when he dies. Wah wah!
4) Sorcerers Stone: I gotta go with the original for my next favorite. It was a tight race between this one and Deathly Hallows. But I have a very special place in my heart for the first HP book I read. My sister and I got the first two books for Christmas one year and I remember sitting and reading the first book super fast and dying to read more. The world that JK Rowling created came alive from page 1.
5) Deathly Hallows: Again, I almost had this one position higher because I really love the end of the series. Deathly Hallows is so full of mystery and lore and danger and drama! The way that everything came together at the end was incredible. Pretty much every character you could possibly think of makes an appearance and they all battle like crazy. It is an emotional book and the only one that almost made me cry (which does not happen often). Also, the end battle with Harry sacrificing himself is powerful. I cannot wait to see this all on screen!
6) Half-Blood Prince: I love Half-Blood Prince, but I feel like it mainly works as the set up for Deathly Hallows. Also, I love Draco so I hate to see his downward spiral. What I love the most about HBP is all of the Horocrux lessons. But again, most of that just sets up DH. I do so love Ron dating Lavendar, though.
7) Chamber of Secrets: Poor Chamber of Secrets. It is always at the bottom of my list. Wah wah. That isn't to say that I don't like CoS; I just don't like it as much as I like all the other books in the series. See, that still sounds worse than it is. Because I love CoS. I think all of the Tom Riddle stuff is super interesting and has a nice payoff in the later books. And no one beats Gilderoy Lockhart! I mean, come on! But when it comes between the first book and my favorite book, CoS ends up being overlooked.
So, what are your ranks for the books? What is your favorite? What is your not-as-favorite? Any parts of the books you wish weren't in there?
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