For me it would be Percy Jackson. Harry Potter was my childhood and i loved the books and i loved the movies i loved everything about that series…till i was bullied by my classmates out of liking it. I reread them still and i relized that (imo) it's not that good of a series. I read other things like Game of Thrones (bout to start the second book in the series) and (again imo) Harry Potter didn't hold up. It's good don't get me wrong just not what it used to be for me. Then i met my boy Percy. Where do i start? At the time i was big into mythologies (still am) and watched everything i could find on youtube or some movie i could watch. Then i see the mythology guy's reviwe on the movies and im like 'its intresting i could give it a read'. 3 months later and i start Heroes of Olympus and am not planing to stop. It was Perfect way better Harry Potter and on same level as Game of Thrones (imo). For me it had that charm that Harry Potter didn't. It found such smart ways to incorporate mythology into modern times, good charachter development, intresting story archs and godawfull cliff hangers at the end of almost any book (one time litrelary) all of wich kinda lacked for me in Harry Potter.
by SomeTotalyRandomGuy
42 Comments
Aren’t those children’s books?
Percy Jackson. I used to love both but growing up and being more critical (plus everything from JKR in the last few years) made me start to dislike HP.
Percy Jackson on the other hand still stands as a good kids adventure book series for me. Rick Riordan has done a hell of a lot better as an author and progressing with his audience, and while I may not read his new stuff any more, I love what he’s doing with Rick Riordan Presents.
The PJO and HoO Olympus stories and characters stick with me, and really built my love for mythology today, so I always look back on them with fond memories.
Percy Jackson
Harry Potter is honestly mean-spirited dogshit
Percy Jackson.
I just started his Egyptian Mythology series “The Red Pyramid” it’s actually pretty good! Even if it’s a kids book technically
I couldn’t get into the Percy Jackson books but I always loved Harry Potter!
Its been quite some time since I’ve read them but I definitely did prefer Harry Potter. The characters grow older, I find at least a few characters deeper than all of Percy’s friends, the british setting is inherently way more charming to me compared to america and I hate cliffhangers. I’d say that A Song of Ice and Fire is superior fantasy.
I read the first Percy Jackson book and didn’t feel any need to keep going. It was fine, but I wasn’t excited about it.
I’ve read the whole Harry Potter series multiple times. It definitely doesn’t feel as good since JKR has been spouting her bullshit all over Twitter/X, but it’s still kind of my comfort food of books.
Harry Potter. And by an insurmountable margin.
I’ve only read Harry Potter but Rick Rhiordan seems like a much more stand up guy, for what it’s worth. (Though you know, the bar is in hell at this point…)
I was really put off by how gung-ho everyone in Percy Jackson is to send 12 yr olds into danger. I don’t think Harry Potter is perfect in any way, but at least the adults in the room show some interest in protecting kids from the oncoming war.
YA novels tend to have some oddities, but I think the PJ movies made one good decision which was to age up the characters to be at least teenagers.
Easily HP, even though I really enjoyed both series. HP caters much better towards both kids and adults (though I read both series between 10-15) , while PJ always feels very much like a kids’ adventure. The HP universe feels a lot more real, with realistic stakes and challenges faced by the characters. It just did a better job of engaging me.
I think Harry Potter speaks to a much wider demographic seeing that the books age up as the characters grow older, but PJO and the sequential HOO series has always resonated with me so much more because of how much I love the characters.
I like them both quite a bit but I find the world building better and the finale impact of Harry Potter bigger. It occurred during my formative years compared to as adult who just likes YA so maybe it’s not a fair comparison. They’re both great adventure series, action is probably better in PJO, but I want to spend more time in the world if HP. And I think movies are all lame. This is purely a comparison based on the first 7 HP books and first 10(?) PJO
Easily Harry Potter, even removing the movies from the discussion, books alone, Harry Potter easily
I really loved the original Percy Jackson series (read each book several times), but Heroes of Olympus sucked so much it killed all my love for it. I still remember eagerly preordering the first HoO book and being so underwhelmed, then the second one was also just meh but i still had hope. Then the third came along and absolutely crushed that lol.
Also, both HoO and his series of egyptian mythology revealed that he truly has zero range. I’ve read so many different character POVs from him and they all sound the same.
Plus, as I got older Riordan’s condescending attitude towards other religions/cultures really left a bitter taste in my mouth.
HP on the other hand was always a solid 7/10 for me… no real highs, no real lows… did not get the hype and die hard fans, but I enjoyed it
Both are great, but Harry Potter doesn’t have forced, Disney Channel-esque jokes like Percy Jackson
Harry Potter was pretty good. Percy Jackson, not so much.
Are you comparing Harry Potter to Game of Thrones? Are you aware they are targeted at very different audiences/ages?
It’s like comparing Peter Rabbit to War and Peace. Both very good in their particular categories, no fair comparison possible.
Percy Jackson is just so poorly written compared to Harry Potter.
I read both series when they came out and have reread them in my 30s.
I love Greek mythology and really enjoyed the way Rick weaved everything together. It’s a fun adventure and I think the first five books are way better than anything else he’s written. I also know you can’t be cool on Reddit unless you hate JK Rowling and rag on Harry Potter.
That said, Harry Potter is better and it’s not close.
This post won’t be well received because both fandoms are zealous and the Harry Potter fandom is massively larger. Personally I like Percy Jackson more because I was a mythology nerd like you and it was really satisfying to read a story about a protagonist with ADHD.
I read PJO when it came out (I was pretty much exactly the right age as they were being released) and loved it! Identified hugely with Annabeth and maybe got a little bit of an ego about it, but read all the books up to the end of the Heroes Of Olympus series. I read HP a little earlier, when I was eight or nine. I liked them both—though I was probably bigger into HP for longer—but in retrospect with all the bullshit JKR has been into I’ve kind of stepped back from the wizarding world.
HP was less targeted at a specific age group than PJO which I think led to its more widespread success: Percy Jackson books were written for younger people, especially ones who felt they didn’t fit in, and focused pretty heavily on “preteen/teen issues, but in a fantasy setting” whereas Harry Potter had a much more “magic world with magic issues, we just happen to be at a high school,” with characters who had less of the outright *misfit* vibe, which lent itself to being a little less limited in terms of audience.
Ender’s Game
Harry Potter is far better written. It’s much more whimsical, dreamy, and has a beautiful theme and writing style with characters and stories that leap off the page towards an epic conclusion that solidifies most of its theme.
Percy Jackson is fun! That’s about it.
But it doesn’t come near the whimsical storytelling that Harry Potter achieves.
Harry Potter by about a million miles.
Any eleven year old can wave a wand around, but imagining a literal child taking down a Minotaur (Which happens literally in the first book) is a pretty insane ask.
You can read Harry Potter at any age, Percy Jackson is impossible to take seriously after middle school.
HP over PJO for me.
I reread PJO books last year, and they were still enjoyable. However, I noticed that Riordan simply put the characters in the already setup stories. What I meant with this was, Percy and the other characters were merely repeating what the other Greek heroes did. I wished Riordan made these mythological stories his own by adding his own twists or ideas to them.
I also started rereading the HP books, and they felt more original to me. Hence, I still appreciate the stories despite the problematic author’s point of views.
Harry Potter easy. I’m a millenial, I grew up with Harry Potter.
When I read Percy Jackson I was older. I read it mainly because I love greek mythology and I heard comparisons to Harry Potter. Comparisons that were unfounded.
In my opinion, Harry Potter has far more emotion and the writing was much better, the humor is more to my taste, and reading them side by side, even though they both start as children’s book, JK Rowling’s writing feels more mature especially as the series progresses. It feels like JK Rowling wrote a book that can be enjoyed by both children and adults, she didn’t just have children’s demographic in mind. Rick Riordan focuses on children and middle graders. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I prefer books that I don’t grow out of.
But to each their own. It’s good that both books are out in the world and there are people who enjoy them.
I feel both are equal for me
Percy Jackson by a country mile. Doesn’t forget who it’s aimed at, doesn’t disappear up its own ass with lore that doesn’t make sense or build a world whose rules are utterly horrific with no self-awareness. More inclusive, smarter, not generally morally bankrupt (and that’s before you hit JKR’s horrible politics).
And the Percy Jackson doesn’t take itself too seriously, while the HP franchise as a whole could declare a holy war on a small nation if it said Dumbledore was an asshole.
Harry Potter is a better story, but Percy Jackson taught me SO much about Greek Mythology. HP didn’t really teach me much about anything.
I agree with someone else that the humor in Percy Jackson is more juvenile. Can’t stand JKR anymore but I reread Harry Potter recently and despite some critiques about her choices (the name Cho Chang) I must admit, she writes twists wells, the dialogue is pretty great, and I think the themes get a little more complex as Harry gets older.
I liked both. 🤷🤷
Didn’t really hold one of the other higher when I was a kid. I just really liked both.
I have not read Percy Jackson or completed Harry Potter. So my opinion on is grounded on just a tidbit of knowledge.
But I would say Harry Potter. I am not even a fan, but just creating an whole immersive very imaginative world (though she might have consciously or unconsciously been influenced by Anthony Horowitz) that speaks to different age categories.
Percy Jackson is based on something that is done over and over (Greek gods. Though Egyptian and Norse gods have been overused as well in fiction). It’s just nothing particularly imaginary. And from what I understood more aimed at a specific age group.
Percy Jackson is probably still lots of fun, but Harry Potter is just in a class of it’s own.
Percy Jackson far and away for me. I love Rick Riordan’s books, the stories and the off beat humor in them is great. Got into them when my son read his first (The Lightning Thief) when he was younger and have read thru most of his series. Enjoy his somewhat distinct view of the “gods” (check out Apollo) and just prefer them over the Harry Potter series (which we also have the complete set due to kids and wife like). Not that I dislike Harry Potter – just enjoy Riordan’s series much more, even when rereading them.
I actually the mythology of Percy Jackson more but Harry Potter is just better. She may not have been the best writer but she is better than Riordan.
Rick Riordan is an objectively better author.
Harry Potter books are written for people who think freeing slaves is radical, and becoming a cop is how you reform the system that created magical hitler.
Like, the world building for Harry Potter is so embarrassingly bad. You’re telling me that Europe has multiple magical schools, but Africa has ONE? The continent of Africa has fewer schools? The wizards literally live in a post scarcity society, where a competent wizard is essentially a demigod capable of cresting space put of nothing, and the weaselys live in poverty?
Harry Potter, by a landslide. I enjoyed Percy Jackson, but it didn’t quite have the depth of HP. Despite JKR’s very unfortunate personal opinions and overuse of ridiculous adverbs, she’s a much better story teller. I never reread PJ, but I’ve reread HP a couple times and picked up new details each time, and though I don’t agree with JKR’s views, I can’t help but be awed by this – the way she just slips in the tiniest, most insignificant details in the first books that become major plot points much later on. The notes and outlines for the whole series must have been encyclopedia-level.
Percy Jackson for me. This is coming from somebody who has only read one Percy Jackson book, and has read all the Harry Potter books.
There was a lot about the Harry Potter world that I found compelling. I just realized in hindsight, I didn’t relate to a lot of the characterization.
Harry Potter no contest.
You’re hairy wizard
Percy Jackson is a book that is designed for teenagers and mostly stays in that category for the whole series. Harry Potter on the other hand quickly morphs to fit a more adult demographic the further you read it, which shows in it’s darker themes and more fluid storyline. Percy Jackson was, at times poorly written, but still enjoyable. HP is better though imo.
Okay, this depends. Storyline wise, Harry Potter by a landslide. Original techniques and ideas that we get to figure out and try to defeat with Harry! With Percy, we/him kind of already know how to fight monsters or challenges, bc more often than not, Odysseus, Hercules, or the original Perseus had done them before.
Character wise, Percy Jackson by a lot. I enjoy the different characters, as well as the relationships or dynamic percy creates with them. Especially if you’ve read the spin off series, Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo, you see that the main characters are always good at exploring other people’s character and emotions. I also enjoy the diversity of the PJO characters. You see that there are people who’ve experienced everything. Hazel experienced Racism, Reyna/Annabeth experienced family issues, Leo had feelings of blame towards himself for his mother’s, death and Nico experienced a series of feelings, like loneliness, alienation, and homophobia all of which were his own feeling towards himself. I personally went through family issues, self-loathing, self-homophobia, guilt for no apparent reason, and many more things. While growing up reading these, it felt nice to know I wasn’t alone. Also, in HoO, we get to hear things from several different characters throughout the 5 books, whereas we only hear from Harry in HP.
In all the books ever written, Percy Jackson. I enjoy how it’s kind of a never-ending story with PJO. There is PJO, HoO, TOA, MGGOA, KC, DAA, and other hidden gems, like demigod diaries, demigod files, and smaller books about Lukes life or something. They all tie together, with Magnus Chase being Annabeth’s cousin, and the interactions between Carter, Sadie and Percy. I enjoy how, like i said, the characters just keep coming, so you’ll always have someone to relate too.
Overall, Percy Jackson takes the cake, but that’s not to say everything about it is better.
(My 4 fav book series ranked)
1. Heroes of Olympus
2. Harry Potter
3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians (w/ a 0.000000000000000000000000001% difference to 2nd place)
4. Trials of Apollo
PJO outclasses HP in every metric. Characters, Romance, Plot, World building, Villains, fight scenes, pacing, everything