I had some trouble getting back into reading after a distracting two years of assorted COVID lockdowns, until I returned to a tried and true passion: the Harry Potter series. Despite JKR over-sharing some problematic opinions about transgender people, I can’t dispute her talents at writing a captivating series.
I love this series, and I find myself so absorbed by the story that by the end of 7 books, I’m basically also a friend of Harry, Hermione, and Ron, and now that I’m done I really miss them! To cling a little longer to the fantasy, I thought I’d just go ahead and rank the books against each other. To be clear, a ranking of 7th out of 7 books is still the same as a ranking of 93 out of 100 when stacked against a myriad of non-Harry Potter books.
Number 7 in the top 7 countdown: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
I’m not entirely sure why this is my least favourite of the HP series. It has all the makings of a great story – the Quidditch World Cup, a contest where we all are supposed to cheer for the underdog, actual dragons, first crushes, and the shocking and violent return of Lord Voldermort to his Real Life body. It’s not that I didn’t love it, it’s just that I loved it the least. Maybe it’s a bit too choppy? Or possibly it’s just too long for the stories that it is telling. Just win the tournament, escape the Dark Lord’s return, and be done with it already!
Number 6: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
I liked this booked, partly because I figured out after reading it that Snape was in love with Lily Evans, and that’s why he switched his allegiance to Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. And of course, there was the shocking twist where Snape also kills Dumbledore, so WTF??? But as far as a ranking in the HP greatest hits list, it’s just a little heavy on exposition through the convenient use of the Pensieve for visiting equally convenient, previously stored memories.
It seems like minimal progress is made in the identification, recovery, and destruction of the final remaining horcruxes, leaving a lot of heavy lifting for book 7. I mean, even after Dumbledore risks his and Harry’s lives to retrieve the locket, it turns out it’s already been retrieved (but not, unfortunately, destroyed, so technically it’s lost again). We don’t witness the destruction of even one Horcrux in this book (Dumbledore destroys the ring “off page”, so to speak). This means our intrepid gang of wizards heads into the finale with the tasks of locating three remaining Horcruxes (the re-lost locket and two as-yet unknown), figuring out how to destroy them, and killing the fourth (Nagini).
Number 5: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Bonus points for being the book that started it all! Super fun, humourous, engaging. Harry, Ron, and Hermione become friends for life. Buuuut …. three 11 year old brand new wizards can figure out the more stringent magical protections around the philosopher’s stone. Yeeeaaahhhhhh ok.
Number 4: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
This book is tough to call. Half of it is full of my absolute favourite moments: The DA comes into being, the Weasley Twins find their passion outside of school and leave a floundering Professor Umbridge in their wake, Harry bonds with Sirius.
On the other hand, Harry is so grouchy for most of the book, and even reasonable explanations don’t appease him. Yes, he’s a hormonal teenager, but he’s had to put up with way worse than “how dare you not tell me what’s going on!” And, he flakes on Occlumency training even after Dumbledore tells him nothing is more important. AND, he forgets he has a perfectly useful 2-way mirror for contacting Sirius and instead runs headlong into a Voldermort trap at the Department of Mysteries. Harry, Harry, Harry.
Number 3: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Third is possibly a higher ranking than this book deserves, except for the fact that the good guys win and we find out what happens to all the key characters in a helpful epilogue (EXCEPT LUNA, JK!!! WHY DID YOU LEAVE OUT LUNA????) It’s also full of excitement, close calls, death, not-death, and some very sad choices around who lives and who doesn’t, as seems right in a war.
The problem I have is all the heavy lifting. As already mentioned, Harry, Hermione, and Ron start out with having to find and destroy 4 Horcruxes, which is already hefty. But this eventually turns into finding the 4 Horcruxes, finding the 3 Deathly Hallows, solving the mystery of the 3 objects that Dumbledore bequeathed, and dealing with a surprise 5th Horcrux (who isn’t actually very hard to find).
Number 2: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
This book, very early on, lays a lot of the groundwork for things that will come later: the sword of Gryffindor, the diary, Gilderoy Lockhart at St. Mungos, house elves, the whomping willow, the Ford Anglia, the vanishing cabinet, Fawkes, Polyjuice Potion … It also settles nicely into the friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione and solidifies Harry’s relationship with Dumbledore. Finally, it’s already starting to hint at the degree to which Voldemort is dangerous, which of course will just continue to escalate book by book.
And the number 1 book in the Harry Potter series: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Yes, yes, I know this is an easy pick and it’s EVERYBODY’S favourite. For about 5 minutes, Harry has a family and is as happy as he will be throughout most of the series. Sirius gets his redemption (sort of), Buckbeak is saved, and there is proper and judicious use of time travel. Plus Hermione is awesome (as always) and we meet Lupin, one of my favourite secondary characters.
Next up: maybe I’ll rewatch all 8 movies! In the meantime, which is your favourite Harry Potter book?