The Harry Potter serial was a determinative phenomena for a generation. These books opened doors to other fantasy series, and encouraged kids who had very little interest in reading to pick upward a book and requite this one a try. And, equally for the addicted reader, they had a very important thing in mutual with people that typically don't know what they're talking well-nigh in terms of books. That shared interest opened doors to all sorts of unusual friendships. All that passion and excitement to read fabricated this series what it is. And it is because of that nosotros demand to take a expect at the books themselves and come across which ones are genuinely superior, either in style, form, plot or whatsoever connectedness therein. And what is more than fundamental than ranking the books that started a worldwide craze (likewise, nosotros're non including Cursed Child since J.K. Rowling isn't the author of that book, which is likewise a phase play rather than a novel)

one. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

The absolute best of the best, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is not only the pivotal story in the saga for the Harry/Voldemort dynamic, but information technology represents a turning point for just almost every character. This is the volume where Harry meets those who desire Voldemort to return to his evil ways and the entire globe is thrown off its centrality. Prior to Goblet of Fire Harry by and large knew that Voldemort was evil, killed his parents, and was trying to render to the land of the living. At about, he was aware that Professor Quirrell and mayhap a few others wanted Voldemort to render, but not that at that place was a powerful and motivated group of people who not but want Voldemort to return to power, but that have been doing their part in secret to keep his cause alive. Throughout the pages of Goblet of Burn, Harry also has to confront the horrors of growing up. Not but does he have to compete against the other Triwizard champions who are all at to the lowest degree 3 years of magical education ahead of him, just he asks Cho Chang to the Yule Ball, he has a pretty epic fight with his very all-time friend, and grieves a new, but no less truthful, friend. This book represents a substantial pin from Harry and his friends wreaking havoc in the castle as they try to correct wrongs and protect loved ones, to seeing what challenges the magical world exterior of Hogwarts has in shop for Harry, and resultingly Ron and Hermione likewise.

2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

By the time we arrived at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows nosotros were all more than a footling invested in this magical tale. The brunt this story had to deport was dense, moving us from the terminate of One-half-Blood Prince with Dumbledore's expiry and Snape's revolt to an ending that would feel justified, satisfactory, and make reading the previous 6 books in this series worth it. Nosotros knew that Harry was going to have to face Voldemort mano a mano, yes, but there is a lot of road left to travel before that final confrontation can and volition be possible.

This book faced a task and so monumental in finishing this saga, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows does it with incredible flare and in remarkably satisfying ways. Not only do we get the ultimate showdown in a place that means so much to both of these great men, but we finally have the chance to sentinel equals battle information technology out for the survival of non merely themselves, but for the fate of the wizarding globe.

iii, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The only task harder than that of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is introducing us to the magical world itself, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Rock does that with gusto. Harry leaps into the unknown at the first opportunity, leaving every horror he's ever experienced nether the Dursleys' roof and stepping into a globe of magic he didn't know existed. And he did so alongside the biggest human being he'd ever laid eyes on.

Opening not just Harry's eyes, only all of ours to the magic surrounding usa was a gargantuan task to undertake, simply Wizard's Stone does it, and does it pretty freaking well. We run across Platform nine & 3/4, the Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley, and Hogwarts all for the first time, and each and every new place is ameliorate than the last. We meet new characters, swallow new treats, experience new commonplace things (like your meal magically appearing on the tabular array in front of you or fixing broken glasses with the touch on of a wand), and start off an take a chance that will change not simply Harry'south world, only our earth, too.

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4. Harry Potter and the Guild of the Phoenix

The halfway point is exactly where Harry Potter and the Club of the Phoenix belongs, because subsequently the massive shift in Harry'southward world at the terminate of Goblet of Fire, it seems impossible to move on. While we were all clamoring for the side by side step in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's journey, the magical world was debating whether or non our hero was a traumatized immature fool that should be ignored and discredited.

The journey that Harry takes throughout this book, from learning the departure between his own emotions and those of his rival, to the magical world albeit he's not a nutter, is quite perhaps the most insane trek any volume in this series has to manage. The first read of Social club of the Phoenix stands out in but virtually whatsoever Potter fan's mind, because the angsty, angry bitterness that Harry is trying to survive in the beginning of this book is and then dissimilar from the boy nosotros've been hanging out with in the four previous ones. The remarkable tonal shift near the cease when our hero discovers just how far his friends volition go to protect him, no matter who else believes whatsoever of them, is one of the nearly incredible moments in the entire series.

five. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The penultimate book in the serial was met with some mixed reviews. Nosotros all knew the kinds of things that lay ahead for Harry later the events of Order of the Phoenix, merely we didn't think Harry's personal life would play such an important role. Volume Six is of import, because nosotros learn more than than we e'er wanted to know about how far Voldemort has strayed from a normal wizard'southward path. We follow forth as Harry and Dumbledore hazard into the mind of Voldemort and look for proof that he has truly fallen into the deepest end of dark magic.

And that is exactly what we find. Horcruxes and expiry litter Voldemorts mail-Hogwarts days, and learning that history prepares united states of america to enjoy The Deathly Hallows in all its glory. Without Half-Claret Prince, we would have no hope of enjoying the final story, but it does suffer a bit from penultimate syndrome, in that it is somewhat satisfying, simply leaves yous with more questions than answers stepping into the final affiliate of this saga. Yes, watching Harry embrace his feelings for Ginny is great fun, just knowing that a showdown between Harry and Voldemort looms lessens the heartening impact of their teenage dearest story.

6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

While a lot of people accept come to honey the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban motion picture, the book still just doesn't rank as highly. This is the book with the time turner, where nosotros meet Sirius Black for the first fourth dimension, where the Malfoys exert a little ability to get Buckbeak sentenced to decease, and, virtually importantly, the book where we learn about the Marauders. While its importance to the series cannot be debated, it ranks second to terminal purely because the other 5 books have so much more to offering.

Whether they're introducing us to the magical world, moving this one thousand tale to its next peachy plateau, or providing a more-than-satisfactory conclusion, the other v stories ahead of Prisoner of Azkaban on this list are just improve stories. The events of Prisoner of Azkaban are important, and life-changing for Harry at the time, but are simply precursors to the adjacent iv books worth of change and heartache and joy that have nonetheless to come.

7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Despite its significance to i of the biggest plot twists in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is definitely the bottom of the barrel when information technology comes to the books. And it's still a good book, and then that'south proverb something. But, Chamber of Secrets just leaves something to be desired, even with all the undercover-sleeping room-in-a-behemothic-magical-castle energy going on, it just doesn't quite measure up to all the other insanely of import plot twists and graphic symbol developments in the other half dozen books in this serial one time you lot've read them all.

Along the way, though, Chamber of Secrets is a wholly entertaining story. There's only an entire universe of craziness unfolding in the adjacent 5 books, and this book as no promise of matching that energy later on the fact. It was fun, even so, after reading Harry Potter and the Half-Claret Prince, to dig back through this story and examine every moment for details we may have missed. Ultimately, a adept story, just just another step into the unknown that was the Harry Potter series earlier it exploded into the worldwide-notoriety kind of popularity a few years subsequently.

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About The Author

Kristen Kranz (35 Articles Published)

Kristen is a Movies/TV Feature writer for Collider. She is a Bowling Green State University graduate with a Popular Culture caste (yes, that'southward a real thing), and has previously reviewed movies, written about books and TV, and podcasted for Hypable.com. You can grab her now on Prophecy Radio: A Percy Jackson Podcast. When she'due south non writing, she'due south an avid romance reader, a devoted Detroit Lions fan, a peanut butter addict, and a Sorkin devotee. Oh, and she never turns downwardly a risk for karaoke.

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