I have never tried to hide the fact that I love Harry Potter. With numerous posts on this blog dedicated to Harry Potter collectibles, reviews of the books, and more, I don’t think there will ever truly be an end to Harry Potter related posts on this blog! With that being said, today’s post is yet another Harry Potter post and the title says it all! In today’s post I will be ranking the Harry Potter books from my least favorite to my favorite. This list will only include the seven in the series and not any companion books, film vault books, or The Cursed Child. So here is my ranking of the Harry Potter series from my least favorite to my favorite.

7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

For anyone who knows me, this probably doesn’t come as a surprise. Prisoner of Azkaban is my second least favorite movie (Deathly Hallows Part 2 is my least favorite movie). Though many of my favorite things come from this book, such as the Knight Bus, The Time-Turner, the Snape Boggart, The Monster Book of Monsters, and the shrunken heads, as a whole this book doesn’t hold up for me. It is the one book I always seem to slag through and don’t look forward to reading as much as the others. I’ve never been able to figure out why I dislike this book so much and I thought I would eventually outgrow my dislike of it, but I haven’t. I know a lot of people who love this book and would rank it close to number one on their lists, but this is my least favorite and probably always will be. And once I figure out why I’ll be sure to let you know why!

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This one might shock a lot of people because I know how popular it is. Truthfully, it was a toss up between Half-Blood Prince and the Goblet of Fire for this spot! But in the end the things that bothered me about this book edged out what bothers me about Goblet of Fire. One of the biggest things about this book that irks me is are all the relationships that happen within it. We get small snippets of that in Order of the Phoenix, but in my opinion, there’s too much of it in this book. I know they are sixteen at the time and sixteen-year-olds are full of hormones and emotions, but it was too much. Ron and Lavender’s relationship happens out of nowhere and is disgustingly annoying. Ginny and Dean break up, Harry realizes he has feeling for her seemingly out of nowhere and then they end up together only for Harry to dump her at the end because of his mission to find the other Horcruxes. It just irks me a bit that they’re all worried about crushes and dating when there are much more concerning matters at hand, especially for Harry who watched his godfather die the year before that and then watches Dumbledore be murdered by Snape. With everyone dying, disappearing, and being attacked, romance just doesn’t feel important in the overall scheme of things! Honestly, this is just nitpicking. I really do enjoy this book, but I feel it could have been stronger.

5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I’ve heard a lot of people say this is their least favorite book for several reasons. As I mentioned above, this book was almost in the sixth spot, but the teenage romance aspect of Half-Blood Prince edged out what I don’t like about this book. In my opinion, The Goblet of Fire is one of the more exciting books in the series. We didn’t get a typical year at Hogwarts- we got a year with magical foreign visitors and a dangerous competition. Was it obvious that Harry would somehow be entered into it and win? Of course, he’s Harry Potter! But the twists this book took to get us to that conclusion were great. The revelation that Barty Crouch Jr was still alive and pretending to be Mad-Eye Moody, fooling even Dumbledore, was a shock to read! This book also brings us into the darker side of Harry Potter. We see Cedric Diggory get murdered and the Dark Lord return, raising the stakes for Harry and the entire Wizarding world. Those are just a few of the reasons why this book ended up as number five on my list.

4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Though I absolutely hate how they butchered these movies, The Deathly Hallows is number four on my list. This book was a heartbreaking, but satisfying ending to my childhood. Though we lose many great characters in this book like Fred Weasley, Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, we see good triumph over evil. We see Harry truly put an end to the big bad and restore peace to the world we’ve all grown to love so much. Maybe the ending was a little too perfect, but after everything Harry and his friends had gone through, I think that too perfect ending was what they earned and deserved. And even though its been over a decade, I still reel from that revelation about Snape and Harry’s mom! Who saw that coming? I know I didn’t!

3. Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets

There are so many things I love about this book that I don’t know where to start! I guess I have to start with all the magical creatures we meet in this book. Dobby, the mandrakes, Fawkes, and more have all fascinated me since I was young. I didn’t add the Basilisk to that list because I’m terrified of snakes, but I think the use of the Basilisk’s mythology is amazing. I feel this book is a great example of Rowling’s knowledge on mythological creatures and how those myths could be used within the Wizarding world. This book also gave us a brief taste at the darkness of the Wizarding world. We know Voldermort murdered people, but no one knew how far back it went. When you think about it, Moaning Myrtle was his first victim and that happened while they were both students! So this book showed us early on the true depth of Voldermort’s evil and that death wasn’t just a possibility for the adults, but for the kids as well. Plus, this book had Gilderoy Lockhart in it and though he is not my favorite professor or character, the comic relief he provided is incredible! Though Rowling based him off a real person, he has always reminded me of Lord Byron, and his Byronic complex has always made me laugh. As a child I didn’t see right away that he was a fraud, but as an adult it is very clear, and that just makes his character more laughable.

2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
This book is dark, there’s no denying that. Harry is dealing with the aftermath of both Cedric’s death and Voldemort’s return. He’s so worried about it that he’s constantly listening to the news to see if anything strange has happened in the Muggle world. He hasn’t heard from his friends all Summer. And most of all, Harry’s feeling alone and angry. Him and Dudley are attacked by Dementors, he had the possibility of being expelled… a lot happens to Harry before he even gets to Hogwarts! This book is packed full of emotion from start to finish and I think that’s what it makes so strong. We see Harry dealing with grief and anger while dealing with a ton of negativity at school from both his peers and Professor Umbridge. We see him struggle with his relationship with Cho, wanting to fight against the evil within Hogwarts and outside of Hogwarts, and we see him struggle with his connection to Lord Voldemort. And most of all, we see Harry struggle with himself, something I’m sure a lot of teenagers and even adults can relate to. We learn so much more about the characters we’ve grown to know and love while being introduced characters we grow to love (Luna being my favorite of the bunch). Overall, I think it’s one of the strongest book in the series because of the emotion it makes the reader feel.

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone

I know one of the biggest reasons why this book in number one for me and that is because of the nostalgia factor. I remember reading Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time after seeing the movie and I was hooked. I had always loved to read and I read a lot as a kid, but I knew this wasn’t like anything else I had read. Harry Potter was special in a way that no other book was for me at that point. Truth be told, even as an adult I have yet to find a book series that makes me as happy and excited as Harry Potter does. Nostalgia factor aside, this book is a well-rounded kids book. We have magic, adventure, school and all the issues that comes with it. We have magical creatures, friendship, and a fun sport to play. And the way it’s all put together is brilliant. Every time I read it I still get that giddy feeling I had the first time I read it and I don’t think that feeling will ever go away. So maybe it’s just purely nostalgia that made the decision for me, but Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone will always be my favorite Harry Potter book.

So there you have it- the entire Harry Potter series ranked from my least favorite to my favorite. Do you agree or disagree with my list? How would you rank the books on your personal list? I would love to know! I hope everyone has a magical week!