MuggleNet March Madness Ranking Roundup: The Best and “Least” Best Books of Potterdom

by · March 31, 2015

Over the course of March Madness, the MuggleNet staff members have presented six separate lisiticles ranking the Harry Potter books from best to least best, in our various opinions. Here were the results in order from best to least best:

Round 1 (Nicole) – Hallows, Prince, Order, Prisoner, Goblet, Chamber, Stone.

Round 2 (Elayna) – Prince, Hallows, Prisoner, Order, Goblet, Stone, Chamber.

Round 3 (Michael) – Prisoner, Prince, Hallows, Goblet, Chamber, Stone, Order.

Round 4 (Caitlin) – Goblet, Prisoner, Order, Hallows, Prince, Stone, Chamber.

Round 5 (Alyssa) – Prisoner, Hallows, Prince, Goblet, Order, Chamber, Stone.

Round 6 (Amy) – Hallows, Prisoner, Order, Goblet, Prince, Chamber, Stone.

Overall Hallows and Prince consistently remained on the higher end of the scale, and Stone and Chamber occupied the lower end of the scale. But not all of you agreed with us…

Firenze writes in response to Round 1,

I credit the last book for not letting my high hopes down, but after a few months, thinking about it, I see a lots of flaws in it.

Where do the Hallows come from? Never ever mentioned before in the series… They suddenly offer a second plot that was never properly introduced. JKR clearly didn’t plan that bit years before, unlike loads of other stuff, and it shows… Dumbledore wanting to find a way to defeat death? So foolish, so vain, so un-Dumbledorish! So [much] stuff not very plausible or too convenient…

Hermy writes in response to Round 6,

Um, if you’re someone who pays attention to the smallest details, then I’m surprised you rank DH as your favorite book. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed it too, but it’s full of inconsistencies and contradictions. Hermione doing a [M]emory [C]harm on her parents and then only chapters later claiming she’s never done a [M]emory [C]harm is just one example. Not to mention the fact that wands switch allegiance as soon as someone defeats someone else (Harry should have lost mastery of his wand a long time ago).

Elaine writes in response to Round 4,

…I liked PoA the best of all the books because Harry gets his first real link to his parents – in the form of Remus Lupin, werewolf and DADA teacher.

But then Semprasectum adds,

Sorry, SS will always be the best… it created something out of nothing. GoF was too full of irrational actions by rational characters. Chamber and PoA are the 2 least well written and tired storylines… Sorry.

Sarah writes, in response to OotP coming in last place in Round 3,

Nooo, I love OotP! The sprawl of it is what makes me love it–it opens up the wizarding world in a massive way and expands on the characters so beautifully. I love POA too–for a long time that was my favorite–but I’m thinking OotP takes the cake for me, or perhaps GoF (mostly for sentimental reasons).

Shelby writes in response to Round 5,

I was surprised to see Prisoner of Azkaban as number one not because I disagree but because I thought I was the only one who thought so. I think I liked it the most because we learned so much about who James and Lily really were. We learned through Lupin and eventually Sirius at the end. I think the plot twist in P[o]A was one of the biggest in the series. You read the whole book thinking that this Sirius guy is responsible for James and Lily’s death only to find out things aren’t always as they seem.

What do you think? Which Harry Potter book is the best, and which is the least best? Are we on to something? Or are we completely off our rockers?