Ah, "Harry Potter," the series that defined a generation. Our childhoods were filled with magic spells and moving staircases, and we all desperately hoped to find a letter from Hogwarts waiting for us on our 11th birthday. For many of us, we could plow through all 870 pages of "Order of the Phoenix" in a couple of days, refusing to put the book down for anything. Speaking of "Order of the Phoenix," it is generally considered one of the worst books in the series, which begs the question: which book is the worst? Or perhaps we should start with which is the best?

1. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"

The first of the almost-obnixiously-and-slightly-unnecessarily-long books, the Goblet of Fire combines all the best parts of all the books--mystery, teen angst, and an epic wizard duel! With ample subplots, tons of action, and an ending that sets up the latter half of the series, "GOF" is hands down the best read of the lot.

2. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"

Omigod YESSS. What a fantastic ending! WHO SAW THE DRACO-MASTER-OF-THE-ELDER-WAND TWIST COMING?1 The book wraps the story up nicely, tying up every loose end, from Percy's falling out with the Weasleys to the favor Wormtail owes Harry. What's more, it gave us perhaps the most emotional scene in any of the books--Snape, you gave us so many feels. A good portion of the book is rather dull, featuring Harry, Hermione, and sometimes Ron aimlessly wandering around doing nothing particularly relevant, which takes it out of the number one spot. Still think it should be number one? Go talk to Fred. Or Tonks. Or Collin Creevey. Seriously Rowling? COLLIN CREEVEY?

3. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

Clocking in at number three, "POA" marked a darker turn for the series, introducing dementors, werewolves, and everyone's favorite fugitive godfather. Notable for being the only book in which Voldemort does not appear in any form, "POA" enthralls its audience, gradually revealing bits and pieces of new information about Sirius as the novel progresses until the truth is finally revealed. Oh, and it gave us one of the series's more amusing characters.

4. "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"

This was a difficult call, as the third and sixth books are about equal, but between all of the Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny angst, "HBP" narrowly falls to fourth best. The book sets up the final installment perfectly, revealing the grey areas of Voldemort's past, painting Snape as the ultimate traitor, and leading up to the hunt for the horcruxes. Unfortunately, much of the novel is just that--lead up--and very little besides watching Voldemort's past happens until the final chapters. In a way, the whole book is just exposition for "Deathly Hallows," as Harry so wonderfully reminds us:

5. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone"

The book that started everything, introducing most of the series' major characters and subtly setting up all sorts of future events (i.e. Hagrid borrowing Sirius's motorbike because Sirius said he wouldn't need it anymore). However, Rowling was still searching for her style as a writer, and it shows, especially in the early chapters. Additionally, the first book, more than any other, feels much more like a children's book. Even the ending, where Harry blacks out before we see Quirrell die, feels censored for a young audience. Still, without this book, there would be no books, no movies, and no Harry, and for that, the book ranks above the bottom.

6. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

Ugh. This one. We all loved it, and we all loved to hate it. It wasn't cruel enough that almost the entire book seemed to have no direction until the end, that we had to sit through chapter after grueling chapter of Harry's teen angst on steroids and Umbridge's nonsense--no, J.K. Rowling decided to reward our suffering with 870 PAGES OF IT. That's more than any two of the first three books combined. To be fair, we saw the beginning of the resistance against Voldemort, and watching Harry teach his classmates how to fight was cool, but come on, do any of us want to sit through all of that just to watch Sirius die and Harry's angst reach a level previous unknown to the world? No. Absolutely not. Never again.

7. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

Not even the great mystery surrounding the mythical chamber could redeem this one. Coming in dead last, the second installment in the series offers barely anything to readers. In all fairness, it had pretty high expectations to live up to--it's like Harper Lee trying to follow up "To Kill a Mockingbird," it's nigh impossible. But Rowling gave readers so little in her second book. Let's evaluate it, shall we? We got Ginny, who is not relevant again until the end of "Order of the Phoenix." We got the diary and a glimpse into Voldemort's past, which don't become relevant again until the middle of "Half Blood Prince." We got the basilisk, which isn't relevant again until the end of "Deathly Hallows." There's also Lockhart, perhaps the single most annoying character in the entire series. OH, and then there's Dobby, who almost gets Harry killed multiple times in book two, helps Harry out in books four, five, and six, saves Harry in "Deathly Hallows" and then dies THE SADDEST DEATH IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. Curse you J.K Rowling! He was the best part of "Chamber of Secrets," and you just had to kill him off.