All 7 Harry Potter books, ranked worst to best

By Bryce Olin | Jun 19, 2023

LONDON - FEBRUARY 28: Part of a collection of 550 first edition Harry Potter books are displayed on February 28, 2008 in London. Bloomsbury Auctions are selling the collection, known as 'The Property of a Gentleman', in their Children's and Illustrated Books, Original Artwork, Private Press and Limited Editions' two day sale on February 28 and 29, 2008 in London. The collection of Harry Potter books range from Finnish, Gaelic, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Welsh and six different Indian dialects to Hebrew, Turkish, Polish,Indonesian, ancient Greek and Latin. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) /

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Harry Potter Series: Classic Editions Illustrated by Mary GrandPré. Image courtesy Scholastic /

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the seventh book of the Harry Potter series, and it was published in July 2007. It’s the final book of the series and easily one of the best of the bunch.

I had a hard time not moving this book up the list because it does an excellent job of making readers feel like it’s all been worth it. There are lots of twists and turns, highs and lows, victories and devastating losses. Overall, it’s an incredible ending for an epic tale.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione set out on a journey to destroy Voldemort’s remaining horcruxes to give Harry a chance to kill him once and for all. It leads to an epic conclusion in the Battle of Hogwarts, one final conversation with Harry and Dumbledore, and many more iconic moments.

There’s so much going on in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As if the quest to destroy the horcruxes wasn’t enough, Dumbledore seemingly sets Harry, Ron, and Hermione on a mission to also find the Deathly Hallows, magical objects that make the possessor of all three the Master of Death. It’s an interesting direction for the story to take, considering no one had heard about the Deathly Hallows until this point in the story, as far as I know, and it does distract from some of the more important parts. It also adds to the intrigue and creates a layer of mystery that we’d come to expect from this book series.

Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just a little bit lower on the list, but it’s definitely in the top tier of the books. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban are the other two books that I think are on that top tier, as well.

I also didn’t love the epilogue. We didn’t need “19 Years Later.”

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