Harry Potter Books vs. Twilight Books

[clpviolet]

Ok, first of all I have to say I read the posts so far and everyones points were good and I agree with them on some level. Twilight is mostly a love story, and HP is mostly about justice, freedom from oppression and a whole lot of magic, wands and broomsticks.

I loved HP first. I started reading the 1st one around the time that JKR was writing the 5th one and I was hooked ever since . Good thing my sis bought the boxed set (at the time 1-4) cause we devoured them in like one weekend (my sis, my mom and me all started reading them at the same time) I think that I still love the story as much as I ever did.

My sister coincidentally got me started on reading the twilight saga too. She read it first and by the time Breaking Dawn was coming out, she got me to read it too. I was hooked from the first chapter and I didn't sleep for three days reading the Twilight - Eclipse . I love it so much I wished it didnt have to end at all. After I read Breaking Dawn, I was soo addicted that I went online looking for news, ppl to chat with, anything. Instead I was greatly suprised that not everyone loved it as much as I did. I pretty much heard about, read and fell in love with the series without ever running into any news about the saga.

I love them both for what they are but I dont think that they can be compared fairly. They are written for two different groups.
And they are pretty much two different types of stories, the only thing they do have in common is that they all live in a world hidden from others who have no idea wizards, witches and vampires and werewolves(shapeshifters)actually exist. Well thats just my opinion .

[pennybug84]

I love them both for what they are but I dont think that they can be compared fairly. They are written for two different groups.And they are pretty much two different types of stories, the only thing they do have in common is that they all live in a world hidden from others who have no idea wizards, witches and vampires and werewolves(shapeshifters)actually exist. Well thats just my opinion .

I agree with you. I like both series.They only way they can compare is they're both fantasy books. But I gotta say I love Twilight (because of the love story aspect) whereas I just like HP. They both have characters I love & ones I don't like, but that's the same with all stories. I can reead Twilight over & over again, whereas with HP I usually just read them every few years. The last time I read them was when 7 came out & I wanted to reread them to prepare & help remind myself what happened in the previous 6. They are both good in their own way & both women have created these awesome worlds and characters that just amaze me. (I wish I could do something like that!) And I also love knowing anyone who has a story to tell an if they can right it down, can be author. You don't have to set out to be an author or go to school for it. And they're both mothers! And strong women! I love it!

[missp]

I must say that I agree with mostly everything that's been said up to this point. HP and Twilight are different ends of the spectrum for me, even though they both deal with fantasy.

I read HP first and fell in love with JKR's style of writing. She is an amazing author. I fell in love with the characters and loved every minute of the read.
BUT...
When Twilight came around...HP was left in the dust. I totally went ape over SM's talent. I fell hard and fast for Edward, related to Bella, and hated Jacob...until the second read of NM.
As much as I love (and I still do) Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I am so much more in love with Bella, Edward, Jacob, Emmett, Alice... the list is too long!
Never have I encountered a book series that I wanted to read over and over again! I have read the North and South trilogy, The Left Behind Series, Janette Oaks Love Comes Softly series, and HP. But the Twilight Saga has totally captured me. I have now read the entire series 4 times and have begun the fifth. I am currently re-reading NM. Every time I read these books, I find something else to love about them.

[SweetImpakt]

I also mostly agree with everything that's being said.
I loved HP way before I started reading Twilight.
Before I discovered twilight I thought nothing could ever be as good as HP was. I was totally addicted to HP and I read all the books many times.
But then Twilight came along and I like Twilight even more than HP. I completely adore all the Twilight characters which is something I don't really had with HP. Twilight has a much bigger effect on my life than HP ever had.
I do like Harry and ROn and Hermoine and other characters, but I do not love them as much as I love the twilight characters.
I also agree with the person that said it's really difficult to compare both books, because they are so different.

[blasphemous_contessa]

Harry Potter is the clear winner. Sorry. I love Twilight, rel I do. But it's a whiney teen romance. That happens to involved mythical creatures. And that's really it.

Whereas in Harry Potter there's good vs evil, internal struggles, a little bit of teenage hormones. Some saving the world. MAKING REAL SACRIFICES and then DEALING WITH CONSEQUENCES! In Twilight there are no consequences, it's all beautiful people, rash decisions and happily ever afters. Only the bad guys die and who cares about them anyway.

In Harry Potter, good things happen to bad people. Bad things happen to good people. No one marries their first boyfriend. When people run away (or attempt to) they actually have a reason. Harry breaks up with Ginny "for some prattish noble reason" and yes they are in love and yes they are meant for each other and you know what they use their time apart to do? ACCOMPLISH THINGS! Ginny leads an underground revolution comprised of oppessed students instead of moping around waiting for Harry to come save her and while Harry is obviously still pining for her he also knda oh yeah SAVES THE WORLD.

Esme is often described as a "motherly sort of woman" Mrs. Weasley doesn't need to be described as such because it's obvious in everything she does that she loves her children and wants what's best for them (even if she sometimes goes about it the wrong way). The parents in Twilight are very hands off none of them seem to actually care what their kids are up to until confronted with irrefutable proof that they should be better parents.

No one in Harry Potter is drop dead gorgeous. No one in Twilight is ugly. Are we really so shallow that we have to read a book where everyone is the embodiment of physical perfection? How come no one DOES anything? Eleven year old Harry is more mature than seventeen-year-old Bella who spends the whole time whining about how much she hates Forks well HELLO she sent herself. Of course she would not pay attention to mere mortals when there's a physical embodiment of human perfection for her to lust after.

Twilight is mostly read by teen girls and their moms. Harry Potter is read to small children at bed tiime, read by older kids who want a taste of fantasy, read by parents and uncles and college students. You can do an entire year of High School english on themes and symbollism and foreshadowing with the Harry Potter books. Al;l the preaching in Twilight is so obvious no one has to reread it to find things they missed.




Wow... I sound like I really hate Twilight (I don't I swear, it's just hen compared to Harry Potter......well how can HP lose?)

[willowtree]

THANK YOU SO MUCH SAMI.

Although, yeah, Twilight and HP are incomparable because they're totally different, they are still books, are they not? You can still compare Jane Austin and Agatha Christie and say why one is better than the other.

I started reading HP when I was eight and have read it four or five times. I went to a day camp about HP when I was ten. Then, I read Twilight. I used to be obsessed with Twilight. Completely. I, well, joined a forum about it, got posters of RP's face for Christmas, bookmarked my favourite quotes. I was taken.

Then, my friend and I went to the newest HP movie and waited in line for hours in the freezing cold, dressed up as a Ravenclaw and a Slytherin. And she introduced me to wizard rock.

Now, one of the things I love soooo much about books is their fandoms. And HP has a giant one. Like I just mentioned, wrock is brilliant. It's a whole bunch of different people joining over the books they love in music. Making friendships. Sure, I've made friendships here too, and I love all my friends from here, but if you go on YouTube and look up italktosnakes, fiveawesomegirls, the Parselmouths, Ministry of Magic, the Remus Lupins, or more, you'll see how much the series means to them and you'll appreciate it more. Well, at least I did. I fell back in love with HP and got more involved in the fandom than ever.

Now, onto the books.

Like Sami so brilliantly said, we all know Bella is an unreliable narrator. She just SITS there and goes catatonic. George's (spoiler of DH, btw) brother died, and he kept on living! Look at all those people who died! Lupin, Tonks, Colin Creevey! Dobby! James and Lily Potter! Sirius! Harry just used it as fuel to defeat the 'evil'; and even Voldemort had reasons for being like that. (Well... mostly.) (end spoilers)

"Twilight is mostly read by teen girls and their moms. Harry Potter is read to small children at bed tiime, read by older kids who want a taste of fantasy, read by parents and uncles and college students." YES.

"All the preaching in Twilight is so obvious no one has to reread it to find things they missed." Okay, well, that's just SM's life. She believes those lessons she writes into her books. Sure she isn't the best writer (...she isn't.), but she tried.

All that being said, IT IS POSSIBLE TO LIKE BOTH OF THE SERIES. Ever heard of John Green? He likes them both. All of the fiveawesomegirls (Kristina Horner, Lauren Fairweather, Kayley Hyde, Hayley Someone, Liane Someone) like both. Heck, they LOVE both.

~h. f. e. l.

[PetiteSageHibou]

Mum first read me Harry Potter at age 7. I've been completely in love with it ever since ♥ It was like a Disney movie; there was just so much goodness to take from it! :) The themes present in Harry Potter are so deeply ingrained in my character that I don't even recall learning about and accepting them ^///^

I love Twilight very much, but nothing will ever be quite as good as Harry Potter :)