Honestly, it's a toss up between The Philosopher's Stone, The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Half Blood Prince.
I liked the first book in the series for the descriptions of the castle and the humour laced in almost every sentence. While I feel too old to be reading it on occasion, I still love it.
The Half Blood Prince dealt with Harry's issues better than The Order of the Phoenix and the Hogwarts magic was back even though the book was pretty dark. Personally, I also think it's the best written and it has perfect pace, lingering over just the right moments.
However, my ultimate favourite and one of my favourite books of all time is The Prisoner of Azkaban. Firstly, it has loads of Lupin (shallow, I know). Secondly, it introduces three of the most interesting and complex characters in the series. The wit in this book is incredibly sharp, particularly from Lupin. It's also interesting to see what Defence Against Against the Dark Arts lessons should have been like. Lupin is also the only DADA teacher anyone has ever been sorry to see leave at the end of the year.
I like the change of pace. It was really refreshing not to see Voldemort in this book. Obviously, this was the calm before the storm but having Black built up as the villain throughout this book, the twist worked wonderfully and I'm still even taken in for a little while when I read it now.
Interestingly, I was far, far, more afraid of Black than I ever was of Voldemort when I first read this book. I assume this was because Voldemort looked like a psychopath. Black, before Azkaban, was described as most serial killers are - handsome, charming and normal. The threat seemed more real than that of a deranged and power hungry wizard.
What I really liked about Black is that I could see why people would think him a killer. Azkaban unhinged him a little. Even though we know he's innocent, there's still something bubbling away beneath the surface that unnerves the reader. I think that's fantastic.
In short, it's easily the best book in the series for all the above reasons and more.
You know, one thing I missed in all the HP books was the trick stairs. Whatever happened to them? The castle had so much more humor in the first book. I know the books are supposed to get darker, but the humor seemed to be a whole layer of the magical world that JKR steadily dropped. A lot of it came back in book 6, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Sirius fan, and I think that's why I liked POA so much. He's such a complex character (like most of them are) but I guess I can just relate to him more.
I can't tell you which book I think is the best. They are all the best for their own reasons, I think. I'll have to think about it.
I love this 30 day challenge! I think I'm going to do it in my blog posts, but only at the bottom of each post--like in a sentence or two.