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    November 14, 2008

    Tell us: What's Better: The 'Twilight' series or 'Harry Potter'?

    081116cover The four books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series have taken the publishing world by storm and it looks like it may be conquering Hollywood as well. Check out this week's special Twilight issue featuring a cover story about the phenomenon as well as an exclusive poster signed by stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart. (To find out which newspaper near you carries USA WEEKEND, click here.) Sounds like another phenomenon we've heard about recently, right? Yes, Harry Potter inspired the same kind of fan madness, but it seems like Twilight may have even more passionate fans. So we couldn't help but ask what you think. Which is better: Stephenie Meyer's tale of forbidden vampire romance, or the Harry Potter tales of the boy wizard fighting against evil?  Vote in the poll below, and tell us in the comments why you chose the way you did.

    Comments (5773)

    ok listen and listen good twilight is better than harry potter

    Posted by: alex | Jul 4, 2009 2:03:59 PM | Flag as abusive

    "Atleast Twilight was written by Stephenie Meyer, a good, nice, talented author who has a good taste in books."

    Excuse me?
    Lord of the Rings was written by J. R. Tolkien, OHMYGOSH. It would be an amazing story, if it was written the same way, no matter WHO wrote it.

    Seriously, if your argument about a book being good, is because who it was written by, then...just...no comment

    Posted by: you fail. | Jul 4, 2009 1:16:14 PM | Flag as abusive

    I have read both series and can understand why people enjoy twilight, i enjoyed it myself but harry potter is clearly a better story
    it has so much more depth and intricate plots, its something ive read over and over and still not get bored
    its in a league far above twilight, its something one day your going to want to pass on to your kids so they can discover the mysterys

    i am sad that i will never again be able to experience the wait leading up to the release of a new harry potter book, the excitment and then once you get it you cant stop reading

    it is a pity the story had to end but we can all be happy it didnt have a stupid predictable happily ever after for everybody, not that anyone really expected that of an author as talented as JK.

    in the end it relaly comes down to the fact that harry potter will live on forever and be rememebred as a classic, yet twilight will be forgotten

    Posted by: harry potter forever | Jul 4, 2009 1:16:31 AM | Flag as abusive

    How the hell can that even be a question?
    Harry Potter all the way.

    Posted by: Aimee | Jul 3, 2009 10:40:46 PM | Flag as abusive

    They're both equally dire examples of writing.

    The only difference is that Harry Potter has a guy as the main character and so it readable by plebs of both sexes while Twilight has a female lead so all the guys scoff at the girls' bad taste.

    Posted by: Forever and Anon | Jul 3, 2009 3:08:48 AM | Flag as abusive

    Having read both series entirely, Harry Potter wins. The two seem almost incomparable because of the completely different levels of writing.

    Harry Potter flows from one book to another. Each book is important to the entire series and they all feed off of each other. The series is cleverly planned, with events in one book becoming crucial in a later one.

    Twilight, has no twists, and is incredibly predictable. The novels are written as if Meyer sat down one day and was like "I like vampires. I think ill name him edward and see where it goes." The books go on and on about things that could be simply stated; a prime example would be the entire first half of new moon. The twilight saga is a story with no backbone. It is entertaining, and i do not regret reading it at all. But the simple true is the characters are under developed, the story line is weak, and very little thought appeared to have been put into it.

    Harry Potter is a series people grew up with, and wont grow out of. Adults and kids both thoroughly enjoy the books. Twilight is a series that is little less than a fad. Thirty years from now parents will not give their kid a twilight book and talk about how amazing vampires are. It is easy to envision, however, a harry potter fan, as an adult, giving their child Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, whether they are a boy or a girl, and expect them to enjoy it.

    Posted by: Jess | Jul 2, 2009 1:37:24 AM | Flag as abusive

    Having read about 3/4 of Harry Potter and a good chunk of Twilight, I can honestly say that Harry Potter is, by far, better written in every way. Even Stephen King agrees with me. You can see the interview. Twilight was a bit entertaining. So what? That doesn't by any means make it a good piece of literature in the least. You can find online sex stories and fan fictions that are littered with grammatical mistakes, plot holes, character flaws, and so much more that are entertaining. Meyer couldn't write in more than two sentence structures to save her life. And how much work was put into the Harry Potter universe? Let's see, the first book was published in either June or July of '97. The series was finished about ten years later. Twilight, on the other hand, was started somewhere in mid 2005, and ended in 2008. Yeah. Meyer fires off books more quickly than a teenager masturbates. Not to say that prolific authors aren't bad--on the contrary, Harry Turtledove is prolific in the extreme, and he's great. But Turtledove has skill. Before I move onto my next topic, let me harp a bit more on writing prowess. My Advanced English teacher has told me this directly, having read both series: About 60% of my English class in the 8th grade was made up of better writers than Meyer. Thirteen and fourteen year-olds. Yeah. Ouch.

    And now for the characters. Meyer claims that characters are what drive her story. Edward, the one everyone obsesses over, is perfect. More so than anyone could hope to be. Bella is... well, Bella is rather dumb and has an inferiority complex and is always angsty. The reader doesn't care about either of them. I'm serious. When I was reading the conclusion of the first book, I simply said "Oh, she got attacked. Poor Bella. I wish I could honestly say that I cared". And as for Harry Potter: The reader grows deeply attached to each character. Mainly because they're realistic and believable, whereas Twilight's characters are all either perfect or cardboard cut-outs. No one can relate to perfection or a cardboard cut-out. People can relate to Neville Longbottom, who was made fun of, bullied, and went through many hardships, and despite all of this was an altogether sweet, heart-of-gold boy, who treasured his friends and would give anything to protect them. They can relate to Harry, a boy struggling through adolescence and who feels at times as if the world was crashing around him, and who had to genuinely WORK to get where he got to in the end. The reader feels for Dumbledore, who goes through extreme agony as Harry is made to force him through the pain. In short, it comes down to this: Harry Potter has a genuinely endearing and heart-felt cast, whereas Twilight is just made up of teeny bopper eye candy for a cast.

    And Harry Potter is exceedingly entertaining.

    Posted by: Cullom | Jul 1, 2009 8:00:11 PM | Flag as abusive

    Seriously..how can you even compare Twilight to Harry Potter? I cant stand how people compare Stephenie Meyer to J.K Rowling. Stephenie Meyer can't write 1/1000000000000000000 as well as J.K can.... if Twilight should be compared to anything, it should be compared to the "literature" people find on the stalls of public restrooms...

    Posted by: Harry Potter is a freaking beast and Edward Cullen can kiss my arse! | Jul 1, 2009 1:45:48 PM | Flag as abusive

    i AGREA WITH MILEY

    Posted by: JACK | Jul 1, 2009 7:23:01 AM | Flag as abusive

    HI IM MILY AND you ARE THE WORLD

    hARRY POTTER IS BETTER AND AND TWILIGHT IS GOOD TO BUT HARRY POTTER IS BETTER HARRY POTTER ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.OK

    Posted by: Miley | Jul 1, 2009 7:22:38 AM | Flag as abusive

    Crowd of Twilight fangirls: OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT'S ROBERT PATTINSON!!!!!!!!!! YOU'RE SO HOT!!!!!!!!!!! CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH???????????????????
    Me: O_o

    Posted by: Hermione | Jun 30, 2009 8:36:14 PM | Flag as abusive

    Harry potter is infinatly better thatn twilight.

    my first experiance with harry potter was when I was eight. this was before the movies and before anyone even knew who Harry Potter was. I fell in love with the story the first time I read it. You twihards are probably thinking "why should be trust the opinion of an eight year old?" well, simply because in my opion I know/knew a good book. I was reading JK rowling, Ghram Edwards, Brian Jaques and Garry Killworth even then. I love these books and even now know that they might not be well knowen, but they are true classics.

    Harry Potter may be set in a world of magic, but the characters are still human, they still feel, they still make mistakes

    Edward Cullen is perfect. he is the kind of perfect that no one could possibly live up to. and he STALKES Bella. if he was fat and ugly, she'd call the police.

    The overall theme for Harry Potter is undying love. James and Lilly Potter die for thier son. Harry dies for the entire wizarding world. They are willing to sacrafice themselves for what is right.

    Does this happen in twilight? are there feats of beavery and doing what is right in Twilight? the relationships are founded on hormones and lust. you get about 99.5% of "oh edward, I love your hair/eyes/teeth/skin it is just gross.

    I read the first bit of twilight and almost threw up because of it. I slogged through it simply because I know that it is unfair to hat a book untill you have read it.

    summary:
    Harry Potter > Twilight

    Posted by: harrypotterisinfiatlybetterthantwilight | Jun 30, 2009 12:57:45 AM | Flag as abusive

    harry potter is better than twilight

    Posted by: guy | Jun 29, 2009 9:14:08 PM | Flag as abusive

    harry potter is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

    Posted by: guy | Jun 29, 2009 9:13:23 PM | Flag as abusive

    Honestly, Twilight gives a bad name to teenage girls. All Bella ever does is freak out and complain. She's not an independent person, and she always needs saving. Also, the book is simply very shallow. The entire series is about how Bella is obsessed with Edward. All she thinks about is how hot he is. The writing itself doen't flow. With Twilight, it's written just to get through it, Harry Potter is written more like it's art. Twilight lacks imagination. The plot was very predictable. Spending money on the book was hardly nessacary, the outcome is obvious. The Harry Potter books deal with slavery, racism (Well, mugglesand mudboods vs purebloods anyway)and that which people seem to fear above anything else, death while Bella's lets out a constant stream of OH I WOULD DIE FOR HIM. Harry Potter deals with a more real love. In the end, it's pretty obvious that Harry POtter is superior. And anyway, Harry Potter could beat Edward anyday.

    Posted by: Hermione | Jun 29, 2009 2:31:31 PM | Flag as abusive

    harry potter forever!
    when the twilight saga dies, so will this hype..twilights a fad. harry potter will live on forever, it is not just a fad..its a legeng..a bit like MJ:P

    Posted by: hp** | Jun 29, 2009 2:08:52 PM | Flag as abusive

    BTW, I don't care if a stampede of screaming fangirls/twihards/twitards comes screaming at me and they trample me and I have to go to the hospital.

    Posted by: The world's #1 HP fan | Jun 29, 2009 10:32:45 AM | Flag as abusive

    I think that Twilight is okay, but Harry Potter is by far better than Twilight. The action and adventure makes readers never want to put it down!

    Posted by: Summer | Jun 29, 2009 10:26:28 AM | Flag as abusive

    Honestly, how could Twilight even come CLOSE to beating Harry Potter?! The best arguments Twilight fans can come up with against HP are things like, "Edward is hotter!!!!"

    Posted by: The world's #1 HP fan | Jun 28, 2009 8:52:42 PM | Flag as abusive

    HARRY POTTER OWNS TWILIGHT!!!!!!!!!

    HP will live forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Posted by: The world's #1 HP fan | Jun 28, 2009 8:49:51 PM | Flag as abusive

    dude, twilight is way better, harry potter is boring.......vampires are way better than wizards. they suck your blood and have powers, wizards just have powers :-)

    Posted by: madison and annie | Jun 28, 2009 5:48:14 PM | Flag as abusive

    Why is this being discussed!?!? Everyone knows Harry Potter is the best book written in the universe. And twilight is the worst book ever written. Stephanie writes so boring. It never ends..... just goes on forever. Jk is soooo mu=ch better

    Posted by: Missy | Jun 28, 2009 11:32:56 AM | Flag as abusive

    Hi people of the world i think harry potter is better because i have a friend at school how loves twilight so much she brotht a bella jorsey so that is true harry pottre is so much better.
    i have a joke ok

    I say: Gess what
    You say:what
    I say: your mad and i'm not
    Alez

    Posted by: Alexandra williams | Jun 27, 2009 8:27:38 PM | Flag as abusive

    In my opinion, Twilight ends to perfectly. Sure you might be thinking 'WTF Harry defeated Voldemort at the end of the series and he marries the girl he wants and blah blah bhah blah blah.' True, Harry does defeat Voldemort in the end, but he has to fight for it. Many people got killed in the final battle and many peoplegot locked up in Azkaban. Not everyone gets a happily ever after.

    Posted by: :) | Jun 27, 2009 5:53:04 PM | Flag as abusive

    Angelina,

    Are you seriously proud of having thrown a brand new book into the bin? You could at least have donated it to a charity shop.

    Let me get this straight, you think Harry Potter is "bubblegum pop crappy garbage"? Have you READ Twilight?

    And why should it be illegal to sell in any stores?

    Aoife

    Posted by: Aoife | Jun 27, 2009 9:02:39 AM | Flag as abusive

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