My "BookTubeAThon" Challenge!

Hey, y'all!
So if you're at all familiar with the BookTubeAThon, then you're probably very confused right now. Actually, you're probably just as confused if you don't know what it is. Allow me to explain.

The BookTubeAThon is a Youtube-based reading marathon that has taken place the past two years and was created by and is hosted by Ariel Bissett.  Basically, BookTubeAThon occupies a single week, and during that week, you attempt to read as much as possible. There are also several challenges that you can attempt to complete throughout the week if you so choose. Oh, and one other thing... it took place from July 14th- July 20th.

So, you're probably wondering why I'm talking about it now. It's a whole month later. Well, if you've followed my blog, you know that throughout the month of July, I challenged myself to read the entire Pendragon series. Unfortunately, that kept me from being able to fully participate in the BookTubeAThon. I was able to get a lot of reading done on my series by doing twitter sprints, but I was really sad that I didn't get to try and complete any challenges, because reading through a series in order doesn't necessarily cater to the challenges.

So, what I decided to do was to take a week in August (which was originally planned to be last week, but that didn't happen) and to attempt to complete all of the BookTubeAThon challenges. So, August 18th- 25th will be the week where I'm attempting these challenges, and after that's over, I'll let you know how I did.

Now, let's get into the challenges and see what I decided to read to complete each of them!

1) A book with pictures

The Shadowhunter's Codex by Cassandra Clare and Joshua Lewis

This book has a lot of illustrations throughout it. I just recently read all of Cassandra Clare's books except this one, so I figured that I might as well read it since it's a companion to the series. Plus, it's pretty short and I think it would be easy to finish it really quickly. 

2) Start and complete a series

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

This is a middle-grade high fantasy series that's 5 books long. They're all very short, so it shouldn't take me very long to get through them, which is really good for a read-a-thon.

3) A book with red on the cover

Animal Farm by George Orwell

As you can see, my copy has quite a bit of red on the cover. I picked it partially because it's short, but also because it's Ariel Bissett's favorite book ever and I'm interested to see if I really like it as well. 

4) A book that someone else picked for you

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

I collected a pile of 5 books to do this one. Each book completed either the "a book with red on the cover" challenge or the "a book from the genre you've read least this year" challenge, so that I could knock out two birds with one stone. Then, I had my roommate choose a number between 1&5 and she chose 4, which landed on Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, which is interesting because this is also another of Ariel Bissett's favorite books and she's the one who caused me to get it.

5) A book from the genre you've read least this year

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

This one is doing double duty. Like I said up above, each of the books in that stack could have completed a second challenge, and for this one it was "a book from the genre you've read least this year" because I've completed a single contemporary book... although by the time this post goes up, I'll hopefully have finished one more!

6) Read a book and watch the movie adaptation

The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

One again, this one is doing double duty. The Disney movie, The Black Cauldron, is based off of this series. From what I've been told, the movie is not just based on just the book "The Black Cauldron" but I'm also under the impression that the movie doesn't cover the entire series either. I don't know. But The Black Cauldron is one of my favorite Disney movies, and it's extremely underrated. I'm excited to see how great its source material is!

7) Read a total of 7 books

If you count up all of the books I'll be reading throughout the week, you'll see that I'm reading 8 books, so I'll definitely be completing this challenge!

I also made a video back around the time of BookTubeAThon discussing what I would be reading, so here's that if you're at all interested in watching that...

So, those are the books that I will be reading starting tomorrow (Aug 18) and going through the rest of the week. I'm not sure which book I'm going to tackle first, so we'll just have to see how things unfold! Hopefully, at the end of the week, I can do an update post saying how well I did, but I won't go into my opinions on the books, because I plan on doing a series discussion on The Chronicles of Prydain, and plan on including the stand-alones in my next Stand-alone discussion post. So watch out for those coming soon!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure Rankings! [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with my LAST summer reading challenge post! I did individual posts on each book, as well as a series discussion post, so here are the links to all eleven posts:

The Merchant of Death

The Lost City of Faar

The Never War

The Reality Bug

Black Water

The Rivers of Zadaa

The Quillan Games

The Pilgrims of Rayne

Raven Rise

The Soldiers of Halla

Pendragon Series Discussion

Now, in this post, I'm going to be ranking my favorite covers, travelers, and territories!

Series Summary

The Pendragon Series is a young adult fantasy series. The beginning books could be classified as middle grade, but I think young adult is a better label. The series begins with the main character, Bobby Pendragon, at age 14. One day, his uncle suddenly shows up at Bobby's house and tells him that he needs some help. What Bobby doesn't realize is that he's about to be taken on the biggest adventure of his life. Bobby learns that there are 10 territories (alternate dimensions) and that he is a Traveler, a person tasked with the protection of the territories. Bobby quickly learns that a guy named Saint Dane is attempting to throw the territories into chaos, and it's Bobby's job (along with the travelers from the other territories) to stop him and save all of humanity.

Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Ranking The Covers

#10: The Pilgrims of Rayne

This cover. UGH. I immediately hated it when I first got the book, because Bobby looks totally different on this cover! If you look at the first 7 covers, it definitely looks like the same guy is on all of them, just aged up a bit each time. This one looks like a totally different person! Also, I recently discovered that this is also DJ MacHale's least favorite cover and that he not-so-lovingly refers to it as "Bobby the blue-eyed reindeer." I hadn't even noticed the reindeer thing. But all the other covers depict Bobby with dark eyes. You'd think they'd at least try to make it cohesive.

#9: The Lost City of Faar

It's not that I hate this cover. I just don't particularly like it. Maybe there's just too much orange. Because the water looks orange, his suit is orange, the bubble is orange, the ship is orange, the lettering is orange. Too much orange.

#8: The Reality Bug

Bobby looks a little weird on this cover. Not like bad or different, I just think that the way it's laid out, it almost makes him look even younger than on the Merchant of Death cover.

#7: The Rivers of Zadaa

Like the covers before it, I don't care a ton about this but it has Loor on the cover, and that bumps it up a lot. Loor makes everything better. 

#6: Black Water

I feel like this cover fits the book really well. You definitely get the jungle thing. Bobby definitely looks like he's aged, which is also indicative of the maturing of the series. And those eyes! Pretty cool cover.

#5: The Never War

I feel like this cover is one of the most well-connected to its story. Just at a glimpse, we can clearly see that it takes place in the past in New York!

#4: The Merchant of Death

When I think of the Pendragon series, I think of this cover. I feel like the first cover in a series is always the most iconic or memorable, and I think that's definitely what it is. 

#3: The Soldiers of Halla

I love the contrast between Bobby and Saint Dane on this one. It's really cool. You can see the beautiful Solara behind Bobby and it's just a really cool cover.

#2: Raven Rise

This book, like The Pilgrims of Rayne, still does make me slightly mad just because Bobby doesn't totally look like the previous books. But I really like the colors of this and the nazi-esque cover.

#1: The Quillan Games

Oh boy, I love love LOVE this cover! Red is my favorite color, so I love that everything is red accented. I love the castle and the depiction of Quillan with the huge screens. It perfectly matches the book and looks amazing while doing so!

Ranking The Territories

Although this list is mostly ranked due to interest factor, there are sometimes where a place won out because I'd prefer living there over another place.

#10: Eelong

I don't think that Eelong is the least interesting territory. Nope, I think that falls to the #9 spot. But this is the territory that I'd least like to live on. I'd rather not be treated like an animal, thanks!

#9: Zadaa

For me, Zadaa is the least interesting of all the territories. Many of the other territories have something really cool going on, but Zadaa is almost as close to Earth as you could get. No crazy weird animals, only a single sun... it's just not as cool and interesting. 

#8: Denduron

I like Denduron. I think it's really interesting with the Bedoowan versus the Milago and the huge castle carved into the mountain. However, I don't think it's quite as interesting as some of the other territories. 

#7: First Earth

If I were to choose a time in Earth's history to travel back to or have characters travel back to, 1930s New York would be pretty low on the list. Obviously, that's when the Hindenburg crash was, so that can't really be helped, but I just really wish that First Earth could have been in a slightly more interesting time in Earth's history. That being said, I'd much rather live on First Earth than any of the territories that fell lower on this list.  

#6: Second Earth

You probably think I'm crazy for putting the territory that we all live on (if we're pretending for a moment that other territories do, in fact, exist) so far down on the list. Allow me to explain. If this list were purely based on where I would want to live, yes, Second Earth would obviously be slightly higher. However, this list is based off of both how interesting I find a territory as well as how much I would want to live there. And because of the first aspect, this is slightly lower. Maybe Second Earth would be interesting to someone who lived on a different territory, but to humans on Second Earth, it's just... normal. 

#5: Ibara

When I first started re-reading this book, I felt a very strong resemblance to 1984 because of how information was withheld and because people could disappear just because they spoke their mind. But then when you dig deeper and find the truth about the society, it's incredibly interesting, and I especially loved the twist about the rest of the territory and the whole reconstruction plan. 

#4: Veelox

I'm a sucker for virtual reality. I wouldn't want to live in Veelox, but I would certainly love to go and visit and jump inside Lifelight just once. And because of the whole everyone-is-in-lifelight-and-not-actually-living thing, it definitely has the feel of a dystopian civilization, which is also one of my favorites to read about. 

#3: Third Earth

And when I say Third Earth, I'm obviously talking about the Third Earth we see at the beginning of the series. The untainted, perfect Third Earth. The technology is astounding, the people live in entire cities underground, on the moon, and underwater. Just... whoa. And they figured out how to stop destroying the earth. The only sad part is that actual books aren't really a thing on Third Earth. But that's a small price to pay... right? I would love to live on Third Earth. If I could bring some family members and a few friends with me, I'd be set.

#2: Quillan

Remember how I said that I really like dystopian worlds? Yep. Quillan. The entire society is really interesting! And though I don't know this for sure, it seems like DJ MacHale might be making some sort of statement about where our society is headed. Blok, a company, basically runs the entire territory. The poverty is out of control and people gamble with their lives. Literally. And let's not even get started on the games. I obviously wouldn't want to live on Quillan because it's a disaster, but it would be really cool to have a Quillan Games channel on my TV. 

#1: Cloral

Was there ever any doubt? Everyone loves Cloral! How cool would it be to live in a world that's made up completely of water and live on a floating city? They have such cool technology too, like the domes that mold to your head so you can breathe, and skimmers! Race you to Grollo's for sniggers! 

Ranking The Travelers

For this list, I stuck to just the travelers with Bobby/ of his generation of Travelers. And I decided to go with Elli Winter and exclude Nevva. Does Nevva even count at this point? Anyway, I also left Bobby off the list. Obviously, Bobby would be #1. Duh. He's our main character. But since that's a given, I decided to just rank the other 9 of them.

#9: Elli Winter (Quillan)

I don't hate Elli. Sure, I'm a little sad when women are really timid and scared and meek, but that's just me. But she's just not traveler material. She just can't handle anything. And she's also the traveler we see the least of, which doesn't help her chances of getting any higher on my list.

#8: Aja Killian (Veelox)

Aja is intelligent, confident, head-strong, and talented. Sounds like a character I would love, right? Well... maybe not so much. As a character, I have nothing against her, but as a traveler, I do. She caused so many problems for Bobby when he went to Veelox. She had problems cooperating and letting go of control so that Bobby could do what he knew best. She thought she knew it all and she didn't. Not a great quality for a traveler to have.

#7: Patrick Mac (Third Earth)

I really wanted to like Patrick. He's a really smart dude, and he's a professor (or is he just a teacher? Can't remember) And once again, I didn't dislike Patrick! I really didn't. But he just panicked and ended up causing problems that he couldn't fix. Cool guy, not so great for the whole traveler thing.

#6: Kasha (Eelong)

I grew to like Kasha eventually, but when we first meet her, she's a doozy. I think I was mostly annoyed with the fact that she didn't want anything to do with Bobby and hated him just because he represented the stuff her dad told her about. But it's always hard to shake bad first impressions, so I only like her a little.

#5: Siry Remudi

At first, he's incredibly frustrating and I wasn't really sure I would grow to like him, but when he eventually came around, he was super loyal to Bobby and I really ended up liking him.

#4: Gunny VanDyke

Gunny is just great. He's one of the most level-headed people in the entire series, and it's great that Bobby can depend on him and trust in him to pull through.

#3: Alder

He's such a lovable, clumsy teddy bear, and yet he's a highly trained fighter. He's such a loyal companion and always eager to jump in and to help Bobby. I'm just glad he's on our side.

#2: Spader

Spader is just great. He always has a great attitude about everything and keeps optimistic. He's such a fun guy but at the same time he's also incredibly loyal and wants to do what's right. He may not be a fighter, but he's lots of fun to have around. Hobey ho!

#1: Loor

How could anyone beat Loor? She's an amazing warrior. It takes her a while to appreciate Bobby but she quickly becomes his go-to traveler for whatever he needs. She's great to have on your side, and she's a great friend to Bobby, not just a companion. She's absolutely incredible, and she's certainly my favorite traveler, and probably my favorite character in the whole series.

So, that's it for my summer reading challenge! All of them are completely done! I can't believe the summer will be drawing to a close in less than a month! Seems really crazy!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

The Pendragon Adventure: Series Discussion! [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with one of my last summer reading challenge posts! I finished the final series in my challenge, which is super exciting! I did individual posts on each book, so here are the links to all ten posts:

The Merchant of Death

The Lost City of Faar

The Never War

The Reality Bug

Black Water

The Rivers of Zadaa

The Quillan Games

The Pilgrims of Rayne

Raven Rise

The Soldiers of Halla

Now, I'm here to discuss the series as a whole, including my opinions about the entire series, my rankings of the books, rankings of the covers, and some of my favorite things in the series.

Also, unlike the other series, there will be one more post about Pendragon. There were so many rankings that I wanted to do (books, covers, territories, and travelers) that I decided to do a separate Pendragon ranking post. I'll do the book rankings on this post, but the rest of them will be in that post, which should be up tomorrow!

Series Summary

The Pendragon Series is a young adult fantasy series. The beginning books could be classified as middle grade, but I think young adult is a better label. The series begins with the main character, Bobby Pendragon, at age 14. One day, his uncle suddenly shows up at Bobby's house and tells him that he needs some help. What Bobby doesn't realize is that he's about to be taken on the biggest adventure of his life. Bobby learns that there are 10 territories (alternate dimensions) and that he is a Traveler, a person tasked with the protection of the territories. Bobby quickly learns that a guy named Saint Dane is attempting to throw the territories into chaos, and it's Bobby's job (along with the travelers from the other territories) to stop him and save all of humanity.

Our main perspective is of Bobby, told in first-person through journals which he sends to his best friend to keep a record of what is happening. The secondary perspective is of Bobby's best friend, Mark, and pseudo-girlfriend, Courtney, who receive the journals and go through their own problems on Earth. The majority of the books focus on a single territory each, as Bobby travels there to thwart the evil Saint Dane.

Overall Opinions

Like most of the books I read in this reading challenge, this entire series was a re-read for me. I was a little concerned going into this re-read, because I was worried that now that I'm 20, I wouldn't like it as much as I did back when I read it in junior high. But I shouldn't have been concerned, because I absolutely loved it once again.

I really like the dual perspectives in this book, because it's great to see what's going on on Second Earth while Bobby is out jetting across Halla. This is especially interesting after the first few books.

Overall, I was really surprised by which books I really loved and which I didn't. I distinctly remembered not liking one section of the series, but ended up really loving that part this time while I was reading. 

Ranking The Books

#10: The Rivers of Zadaa

This book just is not my favorite, and it's for a combination of reasons. First off, the setting. Of the territories, I find Zadaa to be one of the least interesting. Each territory has something interesting going on with it that makes it unique, but Zadaa is just basically a desert. On top of that, we have a fairly basic plot. There are two tribes warring over water. And the argument is starting to heat up. Yes, many of the Pendragon books have plots that aren't as unique, but it's also the third Pendragon book to feature two tribes having conflicts with each other. It just got old. 

Favorite moment: I really loved the section where Bobby is training at Mooraj, as well as the ending. 

Rating: Overall, on a 10 star system, I'd give it 8 stars out of 10.

#9: The Never War

I knew going into the series that this book wouldn't be one of my favorites. I appreciated that Bobby was faced with his first real moral dilemma, but that was the only really intricate part of the book. And while I do enjoy First Earth, it's not quite as exciting as some totally foreign territories, and old-timey gangster stuff isn't really my thing and got old quickly. 

Favorite moment: The trip to Third Earth. Our first glimpse into Third Earth is just amazing.

Rating: I'd have to give it 8.25 stars out of 10.

#8: The Merchant of Death

I feel kinda sad putting the book that started it all at spot #8, but that's really where I think it belongs. I really love seeing Bobby freaking out about what's going on. Of the books, this is the one that's most obviously told from a 14 year old's POV. It sounds kinda childish, which is part of its downfall. The plot isn't my favorite as far as Pendragon books go, but I really like the way it introduces us to the series. It's very action-packed and exciting.

Favorite moment: Probably just the very beginning because at this point it's just extremely familiar to me.

Rating: I'm going to go with 8.5 stars out of 10 for this one.

#7: Raven Rise

As I expressed in the post about this book, I was very torn on my feelings about this book. On the list, after this one is when we get to the books I really enjoy in the series. Basically, I think that the book was really good, but I didn't particularly super super like it. Obviously, I did like it because it's not just tossed at the bottom of my list, but my kinda aesthetic displeasure got in the way just a smidge. 

Favorite moment: Uh... I guess maybe when Bobby gets back into the game?

Rating: Overall, I'd give it 9 stars out of 10.

#6: The Lost City of Faar

Setting, setting, setting. I've always been of the mindset that everyone's favorite Pendragon books are significantly effected by their favorite territories. Well, Cloral is certainly one of my favorite territories. It's just so much fun! Although the plot isn't super intricate, it's interesting and that is amplified by the fact that the territory is just so cool.

Favorite moment: When Bobby takes Spader to Zadaa!

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.25 stars out of 10.

#5: The Reality Bug

Yet another setting which creates an amazing book. I just find lifelight super interesting and love seeing all the sequences that go on because of it. 

Favorite moment: Any moment in lifelight!

Rating: I'd probably have to go with 9.4 stars out of 10. 

#4: Black Water

Black Water has possibly one of the best plots in the entire series. I love the back and forth with Bobby and Courtney and Mark, with all of them joining together for a single cause. It's really fast-paced and exciting. This one and #3 are pretty much tied, but it was my love of the territory of the other to set that one in the higher position. 

Favorite moment: I'm not sure that there's just one best moment. But it's always nice when we get to see Cloral!

Rating: Overall, I'd give it 9.6 stars out of 10.

#3: The Quillan Games

This is another one where the thing that made it amazing was the setting. I find Quillan super interesting. I love the games and I love the dystopian-esque world and I love that we got to hear the history of the world. It's just really interesting and I really love this one. 

Favorite moment: I mean, any time that the games are going on. So cool.

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.6 stars out of 10.

#2: The Soldiers of Halla

I went into this book thinking it was one of my least favorites, but my opinion changed very quickly. When I first started making this list, I had this book at #1 originally, but I kept constantly thinking about the book that I'd placed at #2. This one is certainly the most epic of the series and the whole shift in the mission and in the travelers' abilities is really amazing. And while it may be slightly more action-packed and epic than the one I placed at #1, I just completely fell in love with the other one, so this comes up as a mostly tied second. 

Favorite moment: I mean, can you really choose one in this? Maybe *SPOILER ALERT* when they finally defeat Saint Dane? 

Rating: I'm going with 9.8 stars out of 10.

#1: The Pilgrims of Rayne

Just like with The Soldiers of Halla, I originally didn't like this book. But when I re-read it this time, I fell in love. I wish that I could have erased my memory of this book so I didn't know about the major plot twist, but even though I knew that one, there were many things I forgot and got to experience as if it were the first time. The society of Ibara is so secretive and controlling of knowledge, and the plot of the book is really great... I just really love this book. Oh, and plus it has probably my favorite Mark/Courtney plot of the entire series.

Favorite moment: Oh man. All of it? Or maybe the part where the council explains stuff?
Rating: I was very tempted to go all out on 10 stars, but because it only edged ahead of Soldiers of Halla because of my love for it, I went with 9.8 out of 10 stars for this one as well. 

I got rid of those little favorite/least favorite sections, because one wasn't relevant, and others will be talked about tomorrow in my rankings post, which will be my last summer reading challenge post! Woohoo!

I've also created a Facebook page for my blog, so if you want to check that out and like it, you can click HERE. I'll try to keep that pretty up-to-date with new posts and such.

Thanks for reading this! If you like my posts, don't forget to subscribe/follow, since it lets me know that you're enjoying what I'm doing. See y'all soon!

Harry Potter Series Discussion [Summer Reading Challenge]

Hey, y'all! I'm here with another summer reading challenge post! I've been re-reading the Harry Potter series, and I've posted discussions about each of the books individually. Here are the links to all seven posts:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Now, I'm here to discuss the series as a whole, including my opinions about the entire series, my rankings of the books, rankings of the covers, and some of my favorite things in the series.

In my Cassie Clare series discussions, I talked about the overall premise of the series, and my opinions on it, but as I said in my individual posts, it's Harry Potter. If you don't know the premise of the series, then you need to stop wasting time reading this and go pick up the books and devour them. Therefore, this discussion is going to be very spoilery if you (somehow) haven't read the books or seen the movies. Also, as far as my opinion, I LOVE IT. This series was my childhood, my present, and my future. I love everything about it, and it will always be my favorite series. It's beautiful.

Ranking The Books

#7: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I hate to say that I have a least favorite, simply because this entire series is absolutely beautiful and perfect. However, if I were to name the one book I least enjoyed reading and had the least urge to re-read, it would be Chamber of Secrets. I think this is more due to how amazing the other books are than to something being wrong with this one. I don't think there's anything specific that makes this one lower, it's just not as good as the others. 

Favorite moment: When Fred and George parade Harry down the hall, joking about him being the heir of Slytherin. Leave it to those two to be not only completely loyal, but to make you laugh while doing so. 

Rating: Overall, continuing the 10 star system, I'd give it 9.4 stars out of 10.

#6: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Yes, I understand that this was the book that started it all, and how dare I put it so far down on the list, but the plot just isn't quite as interesting or intricate as the other books. And overall, it just seemed way too short to me. We didn't get to the scene where they go after the sorcerer's stone until the last 40 pages of the book! The detail and intricacy that we get in later books just isn't there yet.  do think that the plot of COS is better and more intricate than Sorcerer's Stone. However, Sorcerer's Stone has some of my absolute favorite moments and quotes in the entire series, while Chamber of Secrets doesn't. That's why Sorcerer's Stone gets higher.

Favorite moment: Literally any time a Weasley twin says or does anything.

Rating: I'd have to give it 9.5 stars out of 10.

#5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

While #6 & #7 are fairly equal for me, Order of the Phoenix is a distinct step up in terms of how much I like it. I don't agree with the people who think the book dragged, but while the stuff in the middle was important, I didn't find it quite as exciting. Umbridge was perfectly evil, the DA was really cool, and the scene where Mr. Weasley got attacked was exciting. Everything else that takes place throughout the school year just isn't as exciting or interesting for me, and as far as ending, Voldemort-fighting sequences go, the battle at the Ministry just isn't my favorite.

Favorite moment: Probably either the Mr. Weasley/ snake bit, or when Harry and Hermione take Umbridge out into the forest. 

Rating: I'd have to go with 9.6 stars out of 10 on this one.

#4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I enjoyed this book much more on this read-through than I ever have before. In the past, books 4&5 have always been fairly even for me in terms of my favorites. But this time through, Goblet of Fire came out significantly on top. It's one of the most action-packed and fast-paced Harry Potter books by far. The Tri-Wizard Tournament keeps everything exciting and interesting. And the scene in the graveyard is one of the most important moments in the series. Overall, I really enjoy this book.

Favorite moment: I don't really know. Maybe the scene in the graveyard? I like the graveyard scene through the ending.

Rating: I'd probably have to give Goblet of Fire 9.8 stars out of 10.

#3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

While I also love the 4 books ranked lower than this one, my top 3 books are very distinct and definitely a couple steps up from the other four. Prisoner of Azkaban is where we first meet Sirius and Lupin, two of the best characters in the series (in my opinion). The last 150ish pages of this book are some of my favorite moments in the entire series. And we also get the most epic and exciting quidditch game ever in this book. And this is when we first get the Marauder's Map. I just love how much we learn and discover in this book and all of the characters we meet. 

Favorite moment: As I said, everything from the Whomping Willow onward. So perfect.

Rating: I'd have to give it 10 stars out of 10.

#2: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Over the years since its release, Deathly Hallows has gone back and forth between being my favorite and being my 2nd favorite, but I think it has found its final resting place in second place. A lot of people think that the book is a little slow in the camping scenes, but I disagree. It was still exciting. This book is just an epic conclusion to the most epic book series I've ever read. This book rips out my heart every time I read it. The battle of Hogwarts has me constantly in tears. I'm surprised I'm always able to read through it due to all the tears. This book is just... perfect.

Favorite moment: The Prince's Tale. We learn all of the secrets and it's great.

Rating: It was a clear 10 stars out of 10. So, so amazing.

#1: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

This book became my favorite Harry Potter book upon my first read at its release. For quite a while after the release of book 7, this remained my favorite before they eventually started flip-flopping back and forth. I've read this one more times than any of the other books, and actually had to repair it because some of the binding was coming apart. Reading the first 3 chapters feels like going home. It's so familiar and comfortable and I absolutely love it. I think that the pensive scenes are some of the most intriguing and interesting of the entire series. I just really, really love this book. A lot. 

Favorite moment: As I said, any moments with the pensive. So great.

Rating: It was a clear 10 stars out of 10. This book is perfect.

Ranking The Covers

#7) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

I've never really liked this cover. I'm not quite sure why... I dunno, this one just is my least favorite. I feel like I'm hating on Chamber of Secrets a lot since I put it last on both lists, but it really is my least favorite in both categories. And when I think of Chamber of Secrets, I picture the movie cover, which is a sure sign I don't like the cover. Sorry, COS!

#6) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I've never really been that excited about the cover, mostly because of the front. I think it's just because the way Krum and Diggory are drawn aren't really how I pictured them, so I didn't really like it. The rest of the cover is really cool though! The back is interesting, and the Goblet of Fire is cool! If some elements had been moved around, this could have been higher of my list.

#5) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I really like this cover. I think that it fits the tone of the book perfectly. Dark, mysterious, monotone blue, this cover is really cool and interesting. When I think of Order of the Phoenix, I immediately think of this picture. Very cool.

#4) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I have very mixed feelings about this cover. If this list was based on just the front of the cover, this would be at #6. I'm not a fan of the front on its own at all. However, the full panorama like this is really cool and I really love it. I kinda wish the back were the front. I love the back, with harry's patronus, Sirius, the whomping willow, and the dementor. It's just really cool. But due to my very mixed feelings, this falls right in the middle.

#3) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter covers are always very intricate, and for me this one is the most intricate. We see Harry trying to get the snitch, we see an owl, flying key, Dumbledore, Fluffy, a unicorn, Harry sneaking out of bed, it's just so intricate and such an iconic cover. It's the one that started it all!

#2) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

While most people think that the most iconic cover is Sorcerer's Stone, I think it's Deathly Hallows. When I think of Harry Potter, this is the cover I think of. It's just such a vivid cover and it stands out so much. We get the curtains that we saw in book one, and we see Harry finally facing off against Voldemort. It's so great.

#1) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I couldn't find a full cover of this with the Harry Potter lettering across it, which is sad because I love the contrast of the green and purple. Anyway, I love the front, with Harry and Dumbledore looking into the pensive, with the memories swirling around them, because that's my favorite part of the book. The back, with the dark mark and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, is also great and just as dark as the scene that it's from. I just really love this cover. Also, I think it's the only cover that has distinct images on the front and back rather than a full picture. Despite that, though, I just love the whole thing.

Favorites/Least Favorites

I'm planning to do a more in-depth "Favorite Harry Potter Characters" post, with a ranking of ALL of the most important characters, but for now, I'll just discuss the basics.

Favorite character: I've said it before, and I'll say it until the day I die. The Weasley twins are my absolute favorite characters in anything ever.

Least favorite character: Ooh, there are so many. I'd say Umbridge, but she's a really great character because she's just so unbearably evil. I'll just go with Filch for this. A bit random, yes, but he's annoying and serves very little purpose.

Favorite ship: ROMIONE. They are my OTP of life.

Least favorite ship: Neville and whoever he ended up marrying. Was it Hannah Abbott? Either way, NUNA. NUNA. NUNA.

Favorite moment: Everything. Everything. Everything.

Least favorite moment: I don't even know. Honestly. I just can't. I love it. 

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So, there you go, that's all for my Harry Potter Discussion! What are your feelings on the series? I know you have some- everyone has feelings about Harry Potter! What are your rankings? Your favorite characters? Let me know in the comments!

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