Top Three

I have chosen to give my opinion on what I think the top three Harry Potter books are out of the series.

The criteria is:

1. Character Developement

2. Overall Plot

3. Unexpected Twists

4. Book Covers (British, childrens)

Number 3:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone:

The start of it all! The Philosopher's Stone set up the foundation of one of the most well-known children's series of all time.

The development of the characters was not full-blown but something of an introduction to everyone. One recieved the fundamental personality traits of the main characters like Hermione being bossy, Ron being slightly bewildered most of the time, or grumpy, and Malfoy being an all around git. One also gets described to them the character's appearances. There is also the feelings of Harry described, his wonder at the hidden wizarding world around him, his love for Hogwarts and the first real friends he had ever had. There is a deep sense of humility to his character, and I could not help but like him for that.

The plot was simple for younger children but had morale lessons woven into it, the most forward one being the power of love and how it can overcome the evilest of evils. It also really felt like it was a child writing the story. I don't mean vocabulary- or grammar-wise, but the way that Harry thinks is so young and innocent, like J.K. Rowling was able to remember what it felt like to be a child again and write it down on paper.

There were a few unexpected twists in The Philosopher's Stone, like timid stuttering Quirrel doing the bidding for a weakened but alive Voldemort. But I am not counting how many each book has, rather how it blends with the story. Since this is the first in the series, it was innocent and childlike like the trio Harry, Ron, and Hermione themselves had been. This whole book had magic flowing through it, the magic of youth and goodness and discovering the world around you. Of course there was some evil, but Harry Potter is only eleven and so were many of the readers, or younger, so more terrifying evils were left later on 'till they could be handled by the audience.

This book sets the stage for a tale to grow up along with the characters. I think it is a very good way to learn about evils in the world and morales, especially for younger children.

The cover is colorful and fun, like the book. It really suits this book's atmosphere!

Number 2:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

***WARNING: If you have not read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and are planning to, this contains some spoilers***

Of course the final book would be on my list! This book was a treat to read, but it was not perfect. Firstly, it ended. And Harry Potter ending was so depressing! (This is just me being a HP nerd, this isn't a real reason...) Acutally some parts of this book were slow, such as them camping for a quarter of the book. I personally didn't mind because it really showed the trios personality on living outside the comforts of home. Ron did not go through it well. He was used to having three large meals a day cooked by Mrs. Weasley, and large meals at the Hogwarts castle. Harry did not mind, as he had lived with the Dursley's full-time for ten years, and they were not generous with food. Hermione just overall was tough and did not complain at all, and I really admired her for that. This book had less character developement than others, obviously as it was the last book and was set up to end the story not continue it. But one character who really stood out to me with how much he had evolved over the whole series was Neville Longbottom. He had started out as a clumsly, socially-awkward boy who had grown into a hero. In the final book he rebelled against the Death Eaters controlling the school, and even sliced off the head of Nagini the snake. He had grown into a man of such honor and goodness and maturity; I was really impressed. I thought the plot and character developement of the finale to this epic tale was wonderful and full of action and excitement. It drew many emotions from me, I who had been a major fan of the books for almost half my life. There is so many more points to discuss about The Deahtly Hallows' plot, I could write a book. But alas, I don't have time.

The unexpected twists were phenomenal. They got to the very core of the questions people had been asking for years about the book; was Snape good or evil? Why did Dumbledore have the gleam of triumph in his eye after the Triwizard Tournament? Would Voldemort be defeated? Who would live and who would die? These are just some of them, and all of them were answered, but I won't type them down as that would take a long while.

This book cover would have to be my second favorite. It seems very adventurous and before the book was released it raised a lot of questions about what was going on in the scene. I especially like the goblin's hand holding the sword of Gryffindor behind Harry.

Number 1:

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is definetly my personal favorite out of the whole series. The character developement of the three main characters, Harry, Ron and Hermione compared to the two books before was much more advanced. You understood more of Harry's desire to have a parental figure in his life (when Sirius Black suggests to have Harry live with him after he is cleared of his crime, Harry's heart soared). He also ended up developing an extremely strong bond with his godfather. Hermione was more relaxed about the rules around her and was a very good rolemodel for young girls. She also developed a bit of a wild side with walking out of her Divination class and punching Draco Malfoy in the face. Ron's character was also developed in showing how much he loved his pets (and others, and how he wasn't very good at expressing himself). At the time that he thought Scabbers, his pet rat, was killed by Hermione's pet cat Crookshanks, his friendship was almost broken between him and Hermione. This also shows how Ron could be very unfair towards the people around him at times. When he found out that Scabbers was actually the man who commited the crimes Sirius Black was blamed for, he was absolutely horrified.

The overall plot of The Prisoner of Azkaban was more advanced and intricate than any of the others. There was many subplots that all ended up connecting at the climax of the book. Sirius trying to kill Harry (although that wasn't the actual case, but it seemed so), Harry's struggle with trying to ward off Dementors with a Patronus Charm, Hermione and Ron's fighting about Scabbers and Crookshanks, Hermione's Time-Turner Secret, Remus Lupin's werewolf secret, etc. Then end result was very satisfying as all these seemingly chaotic sub-plots came together to create a big bang.

Basically the whole book was full of unexpected twists (the subplots' outcomes being revealed), the biggest one being that Sirius was not trying to kill Harry afterall, but trying to kill Scabbers a.k.a Peter Pettigrew a.k.a Wormatil. Of course all of the Harry Potter books had unexpected twists at the end, but I found this book's ones the most enjoyable.

Although the cover is not my favorite, this one is high on the list. This probably is my third favorite. I think it gives the impression of a darkening wizarding world instead of happy-go-lucky Harry Potter, which was what the first two books were more like.