Which Popular Fantasy Series is Best? J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, or Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials?

In the last five years, I have discovered that you don't have to be a "young adult" to enjoy popular young-adult fiction. And you don't have to be a total nerd to enjoy books from the "fantasy" section of your local bookstore! I recommend all three of these popular fantasy series: J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. But which is best? Let's compare Harry Potter, Twilight, and His Dark Materials on the Scale of Awesomeness.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is comprised of seven novels: 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, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Should we also include The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Sure! Even if you've never picked up any of these books, you've probably at the very least seen previews of the Harry Potter movies, or had children dressed as Harry Potter ring your doorbell on Halloween.

Do you want to know why J.K. Rowling's books are so popular? And why the movies based on these books are so entertaining? It's because J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books are WONDERFUL! Don't you dare tell me you're "too old" to read a bunch of silly children's books! That's what I said for a long time. But by chapter three of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I was absolutely hooked. The characters are charming, the writing is great, the story is wildly imaginative. I was not disappointed by any of the novels in this bestselling fantasy series. I adore Harry, Ron, and Hermione; I'm fascinated by Professor Snape and Albus Dumbledore, and terrified of Voldemort; I want to visit Hogwarts and, most of all, I wish I could be a wizard for just one day!

My two favorite books in the Harry Potter series are Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which introduces my favorite Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher-the hilariously conceited Gilderoy Lockhart-and a troubled boy named Tom Riddle, and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which involves time travel (always cool!) and the mysterious Sirius Black. On the Scale of Awesomeness, on which 1 equals "not awesome at all" and 5 equals "so awesome I'm dancing around and singing," Muggle Maria gives J.K. Rowling's instantly-classic Harry Potter series these scores:

Perfect 5 for originality. J.K. Rowling's imagination is magical.

Perfect 5 for quality. J.K. Rowling is a fantastic storyteller! The Harry Potter books are impeccably written and edited.

Perfect 5 for overall entertainment value. I flew through all of these books, and never wanted to leave Harry Potter's universe-even with a wicked wizard like Voldemort roaming around, life in Harry's world is so much fun!

Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series lacks the broad appeal of Harry Potter, but if you ask a group of teenage girls who they'd rather kiss-Harry Potter or Edward Cullen?-I think you'll discover that girls dig teenage vampires more than teenage wizards. A lot of women my age (and older) have also read Twilight and discovered that vampire love affairs add a whole new dimension to "till death do us part."

The Twilight paranormal-romance fantasy series has four novels: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. I was never interested in vampires before I read these books. Now I daydream about becoming a vampire because, in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight zone, vampires are fast, strong, gorgeous, and immortal! And, yes, they need to drink blood to survive, but don't you know there are good vampires who drink animal blood instead of human blood? It just so happens that the sexiest leading man of any romance novel I've read in the last five years is a good vampire named Edward Cullen.

Clumsy, introverted Bella Swan is a normal teenage girl, struggling to fit in. She never meant to fall in love with a vampire! And Jacob, her best friend, isn't exactly normal, either. What will Bella sacrifice to be with her true love? Wouldn't you like to know?

I enjoyed the first Twilight book more than the sequels in the series, but I devoured all four of them like a starving bookworm. On the Scale of Awesomeness, Bloodthirsty Maria awards Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series these scores:

3 for originality. We've seen humans fall in love with "good" vampires before-remember Buffy and Angel?

3 for quality. These aren't the best-written books you'll ever read, and I found numerous typos throughout all the books, as if they'd been rushed to the printer's before the proofreading was done.

Perfect 5 for overall entertainment value. The romance is what's important here, and these books are fast-paced, fun, and sexy as hell-but never R-rated! Bella and Edward's relationship is what every teenage girl fantasizes about (and even grown-up women still secretly dream of finding a man who's going to love them the way Edward loves Bella). Click here to read my more in-depth, spoiler-filled, humorous discussion of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.

Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is not nearly as lighthearted as the Harry Potter series, or as hormonally-charged as the Twilight books. Let me describe The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass with four "D" words: dark, daring, deep, and dense! Pullman's remarkable fantasy novels moved me in a way that Harry Potter and Twilight could not. These novels ignited my imagination, engaged my intellect, sent chills down my spine, and challenged my religious views and my personal philosophy about death and the human soul. Wow!

Lyra, Pantalaimon (Lyra's shape-shifting daemon), Will, Iorek Byrnison, Lord Asriel, and Mrs. Coulter are the main characters in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. I found it difficult to get close to these characters (unlike the characters in the Harry Potter and Twilight novels, who feel like old friends to me). But 12-year-old Lyra's life-altering adventure took my breath away. In The Golden Compass, we enter an eerily familiar universe; it feels like the past, but what are these talking, armored polar bears doing here?! How many parallel universes are we going to explore? What is this Dust stuff? Watch out for angels and witches, and please don't ever become separated from your daemon!

Have I intrigued you yet? I hope so, because Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is worth checking out! Any fantasy-loving kid over the age of 12 will probably enjoy The Golden Compass as much as I did. Younger readers are better off sticking to Harry Potter.

How does Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy weigh in on the Scale of Awesomeness? Maria and her unicorn daemon named Glendapoo award His Dark Materials these scores:

Perfect 5 for originality. The way Pullman flips our universe on its side and creatively brings to life some really complex philosophical and spiritual concepts is amazing.

Perfect 5 for quality. Pullman is a master of his craft.

4 for overall entertainment value. These books will make you think. If you're looking for pure-escapist-fun fantasy, please read the Harry Potter series instead. If you don't mind exploring darker worlds and more serious themes, His Dark Materials will entrance and amaze you. On a personal note, I didn't particularly like the way this series ended. I enjoyed the journey, but wish things could have turned out differently for Lyra and Will.

The next time you're at the library or bookstore, don't skip the young-adult fantasy section! I give J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series a perfect score on the Scale of Awesomeness, closely followed by Philip Pullman's remarkable His Dark Materials trilogy. And for all of you ladies out there who think "I could never love a vampire": Twilight's Edward Cullen will change your mind! You're never too old to enjoy an awesome fantasy novel. If you'll excuse me, I have a date with a wizard...or maybe he's a werewolf or vampire...or a friend from a parallel universe...

Works Cited

Meyer, Stephenie. Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4). Little, Brown Young Readers, 2008.

Meyer, Stephenie. Eclipse (The Twilight Saga, Book 3). Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007.

Meyer, Stephenie. New Moon (The Twilight Saga, Book 2). Little, Brown Young Readers, 2008.

Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1). Little, Brown Young Readers, 2006.

Pullman, Philip. The Golden compass. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.

Pullman, Philip. The Amber Spyglass, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 3). New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2007.

Pullman, Philip. The Subtle Knife, Deluxe 10th Anniversary Edition (His Dark Materials, Book 2). New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2007.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7). New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2000.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2005.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. New York, NY: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 1999.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. New York: A.A. Levine Books, 1998.