More specifically, someone on this forum claimed it was pretty widely accepted that the Deathly Hallows wasn't one of the better books, or the best book, or something like that. Basically I want to know if you guys agree with that, as I was very surprised to hear this.
Rank the Harry Potter novels, or discuss which you like and why, or whatever comes to mind. And don't pretend like you haven't read and reread them three times, because I know you have.
I'll start by my ranking the books from best to worst, in my opinion:
Deathly Hallows (7)
Order of the Phoenix (5)
Half Blood Prince (6)
Goblet of Fire (4)
Prisoner of Azkaban (3)
Chamber of Secrets (2)
Philosopher's Stone (1)
Basically I think they get better and better with the exception of book 6 which had a few too many slow passages and sometimes not enough "action". Book 7 is, in my opinion, by FAR the best in the series.
Agree? Disagree? Comments, thoughts?
Stopped reading after the 4th book, stopped watching after the 2nd movie. Didn't feel motivated to continue.
Might have something to do with reading heaps (literally) of fantasy and various tale books as a kid. Harry Potter just failed to impress me because it felt like one of them without having enough original elements of its own. Something around those lines.
Warp wrote:
Edit: I think I understand now: It's my avatar, isn't it? It makes me look angry.
I think the ones who found it disappointing are those who either wanted Harry to die at the end, those who where convinced Dumbledore was still alive or those who basically had the whole story for it made up in thier head already, and where wrong on many parts.
Also that girl who downloaded a fake version of it where everybody died in like the first chapter was probably pretty disappointed in the book. Seeing as how she killed herself.
My ranking form best to worst (though worst is not really the right word here, as al of them are good).
Deathly Hallows
Half Blood Prince
Goblet of Fire
Order of The Phoenix
Prisoner of Azkaban
Philosopher's Stone
Chamber of Secrets
1. Prisoner of Azkaban best (happy fantasy timetravelling adventure, happy ending mostly..)
2. Goblet of Fire (Lots of world-building and a thorough plot)
3. Sorceror's Stone
4. Chamber of Secrets
5. the Deathly Hallows
Didn't really like:
6. Order of the Phoenix: Potter Angst go!
7. Half-blood Prince: Potter Angst 2
Hallows was...good, but the angsty-adolescent-idiot-ball-holding was still there, and it was a little too much like a random walk between plot coupons, particularly because they didn't seem to know where they were going. Also, it was inadequately tied into the other books.
I don't really blame him for being angsty in Order of the Phoenix. After all, he did pretty much have his worst fear come true, and not a single frigging soul outside of a small group believed him.
I've not run into the "Deathly Hallows is the worst of the series and everyone thinks so" line of thought before. Most people I've seen/known who talked about the book considered it one of their favorites in the series.
Personally, I think it's in the middle.
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Yeah, I read the books, they're pretty entertaining and well-written for the most part (except the last book, which feels more like a screenplay than a book). I was very amused by the whole Harry Potter Teaches Children Witchcraft hysteria, and was very amused that Dumbledore turned out to be gay, which made some.. uh, "special" people go nuts. The movies are so-so. The first movie was OK, the second movie was the best one, and it's been downhill from there. The last two movies have been just awful.
Basically, I like the series, but it has gotten far too much attention. Seriously, there are other fantasy books. Stop treating this one like it's some special new kind of storytelling. Sheeish.
I read one of them and it felt like an Enid Blyton book so I didn't have an urge to continue with the other books. I really don't understand what the big deal is with this series.
Yeah, I read the books, they're pretty entertaining and well-written for the most part (except the last book, which feels more like a screenplay than a book). I was very amused by the whole Harry Potter Teaches Children Witchcraft hysteria, and was very amused that Dumbledore turned out to be gay, which made some.. uh, "special" people go nuts. The movies are so-so. The first movie was OK, the second movie was the best one, and it's been downhill from there. The last two movies have been just awful.
Basically, I like the series, but it has gotten far too much attention. Seriously, there are other fantasy books. Stop treating this one like it's some special new kind of storytelling. Sheeish.
That Dumbledore thing was just gigantic balls of WTF. It made no sense whatsoever, like she decided to see if her fandom would freak out.
I didn't really care either way, myself, outside of the sheer WTFishness of it.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
IST wrote:
That Dumbledore thing was just gigantic balls of WTF. It made no sense whatsoever, like she decided to see if her fandom would freak out.
I didn't really care either way, myself, outside of the sheer WTFishness of it.
It makes more sense than 90% of everything else in the books. Why couldn't wizards (or witches) be gay, anyway? Are they not human? The thing that amuses me is that this would shock people.
too many slow passages and sometimes not enough "action"
I think this is a summary of the entire series.
I stopped reading after book 5, because it was downright boring to sit through the 500 pages between the start and the ending, which were the only places in the book something actually happened.
The angst, unnecesary deaths (Sirius Black's death was the most ridicolous death ever), the "romance" and the long passages of nothing happening just doesn't make for entertaining books.
These books have got many people into reading.
Everything else means squat.
So what if the fanbase and author can be slighty insane or Debate the details to death?
In the end, these books while popular have -really- helped increase the numbers of readers in the world.
Also, I think quite a bit of the hate on the books comes from Its Popular Now It Sucks/Unpleasable Fanbase
From Tvtropes:
In the end, Potter may be the largest existing fanbase in the world. It may not actually be possible to get that many human beings to agree on the same thing... ever.
Again, can you blame the character? Imagine your worst nightmare coming true, and everyone thinks you're lying.
Oh, and it means the frigging Apocalypse.
they're pretty entertaining and well-written for the most part (except the last book, which feels more like a screenplay than a book).
Wait, a screenplay? It was written more like a paperback thriller in my opinion (not that it's bad or anything). Yes there are action sequences, but a lot of the time is spent on character, and the pacing's a bit uneven for a movie as well. Imagine staging an all-out wizard fight on the scale of the last battle in Book 7. Nobody would know what was going on when, it would be a total mess like this runon sentence!
Also I doubt any screenplay could have such huge chunks of exposition without boring us ADD filmgoers. Not to mention two of the key plot points are revealed IN THOUGHT. Seriously.
**SPOILER**I'm referring to the location of the last Horcrux (Hogwarts) and the room it's in (a sudden realization that it's the Room of Requirement)**Spoiler end**
Looking back on it, most of the big "plot holes" could be interpreted as genuine mistakes by characters, like how Voldemort thinks he's found the RoR for the first time when there obviously would have been stuff under the "I need to hide something" trigger. Sheesh, is he really that thick?
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Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
theenglishman wrote:
Blublu wrote:
they're pretty entertaining and well-written for the most part (except the last book, which feels more like a screenplay than a book).
Wait, a screenplay? It was written more like a paperback thriller in my opinion (not that it's bad or anything).
I don't actually read screenplays. But what I meant was that I felt like the book was a movie and not a book, because of the long vapid action sequences.
Deathly Hallows (7)
Order of the Phoenix (5)
Half Blood Prince (6)
Goblet of Fire (4)
Prisoner of Azkaban (3)
Chamber of Secrets (2)
Philosopher's Stone (1)
Sounds about right. I agree with your post.
