Rating: Summary: Ok , but hard to get into Review: Adults may enjoy this book, but my friends and I have found it hard to get into, like a lot of information is dumped on us at the beginning. It's a little boring, in fact, and we have agreed that each of us had to struggle through the intro until finally Harry gets back to school. I hear the author cried at the death of a main character I won't mention, but I can't say that I did. It's fun to be back in Harry's world, but I think the book would have been a lot better if it had been a LOT shorter and written more with kids in mind.Carole, age 13
Rating: Summary: Katie's reveiw Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the best book I have ever read. i couldn't put it down. I read it in 1 week and tried to take my time! I can't wait until the 6th book comes out! I don't know what I will read until then!
Rating: Summary: Yeah, so what? Review: The new Harry Potter book is finally out, and in this one he gets to battle more evil goblins in his little broom and save England from a curse or spell or something. Big whoop. What, may I ask, is the big deal about Harry Potter? He was even named as one of VH1's top 200 Pop Culture Icons. Why?!? People, really. All he does is fly around, practice witchcraft, and "save the day". Come on. This has been done before, believe it or not. This is nothing original. Hey, if all you need to do to make a million dollars is write books like this, than sign me up! Oh, and go ahead and click "Not Helpful". I don't care what you think.
Rating: Summary: harry potter and the order of the phoenix Review: this was very long slow but a good book. it was funny and exciting ,like all the books it very fun to read . some of the book is cinda confuseing and you have to pay attention to it . but it was good and any fan of harry potter would love it. eric parmer a 12 yr old reader
Rating: Summary: Umbridge Gets what she deserves!!! Review: Umbridge deserves what she gets. I think that that deserves 5 stars by itself! If 5 stars is the best a book can get, this book deserves 6!
Rating: Summary: The Narrowing Road Review: Reading Harry Potter is a passion. It keeps you jumping in your seat and gnawing on your fingernails. This fifth book applies to these emotions I just described, and more. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix really starts to narrow down the series into an epic and unforgetable story of excitement.The suspense is unbearable and you get to the point where you can't wait for the next book to come out. This story is so creative and uplifting. You can't stop reading!!! Harry Potter books are my favorite books. It's very hard for me to find a book even close to the level of intensity that the Harry Potter books give. J.K. Rowling has created a phenomenal story that will live on forever. The 5th book has to be the best book in the series yet!
Rating: Summary: The best yet! Review: I was so sorry to finish reading this book, I kept wanting it to go on and on. All of Harry's adventure kept me on the edge of my seat, particularly near the end of the book. I can't wait for the 6th!
Rating: Summary: A complete flop Review: The story is boring, directionless, vapid and the characters strangely wooden, sucked dry of all joy and meaning. Everyone's yelling. Mrs. Weasley is an annoying, shrill, nagging hysteric, Ron is a moron, Hermione should overthrow Dumbledore and take on headmistressing immediately (she's like Harry and Ron's--Dumb & Dumber's--portable brains), and Harry is a sullen, unpleasant git. You don't want to spend too much time with those people. I didn't mind Rowling's poor style as long as she constructed entertaining, skillful mysteries. But the longer her books get, the more dumb "filler" there is, like the painfully detailed sentence describing how Dursleys got in the car, started the car, and with the "unmistakable" sound of the car engine took off. "They left" would've done nicely. The mystery's gone (what, the conflict between Harry and Voldemort is unto death? Coulda fooled me.) and the skill has never been more questionable. The story meanders pointlessly revisiting old ground (Hagrid's in trouble again. The kids end up in the Forbidden Forest again.) but failing exactly because she abandoned the previously set cliche: a strong opponent in the service of ultimate evil confronting Harry directly over a clearly outlined goal. Also--and perhaps most importantly, considering who the main audience are--"disorientate" and "commentate" are unforgivable sins in popular children's literature. (These egregious errors appear in the last fourth of my British edition. And no, the Queen would not approve.) I haven't been this disappointed since Matrix Redux or whatever THAT disaster was called. In both cases you feel like originally you've been hooked while under influence, and wish your money (and enthusiasm) back.
Rating: Summary: I wanted it to go on forever.. which it almost did Review: I only gave this book four stars because I'm not going to elaborate, but, you are promised a very big event by JK Rowling, and this event turns out not be quite as big as expected. Otherwise I loved this book. JK Rowling is such a great author. Because of her detailed writing you can picture everything clearly in your head, so the book moves along like a movie. In this book it is like you are truly seeing everything through Harry's eyes. You truly feel for Harry, and you feel his emotions with him. This book is full of many emotions. This book also outlines the power of true friendship. That is very touching. There is so much humor in this book as well. Despite it's large size, it is a quick read because you never want to put it down and you always want to know what happens next. There is a very hateable new character in this book, and if you truly feel for this book, like I did, this character will succeed in frustrating you. Harry Potter is a great character. I wouldn't recommend reading this book without reading the other ones first. You won't know what's going on. All in all when I finished this book, I wanted to have the next one to read right away. You never want to leave Hogwarts.
Rating: Summary: Disappointed Review: Oh, J.K., what have you done? First of all, this book could have been about an inch thinner. The beginning chapters and the last five or so were enough without the pages and pages of dragging, boring, uncreative prose in between. I have never skimmed a Harry book before, but I found myself doing it quite frequently in OOTP. The dialogue is stilted, with characters I've come to love acting in completely bizarre ways. Teenage angst is one thing (trust me, I'm not that long out of it myself) but for the majority of this book I simply did not like Harry, and that was hard for me. I was one of the few people who identified with Hermione...at least until now. I found her an irritating, whiny pest in this book. Everyone seems to have nothing better to do but whine and complain. I see enough of that in real life. Second, character development took a major downswing in this addition to the Harry Potter series. Most characters either seem to sit and stagnate (most of the teachers) or actually revert to less dimensional forms (most of the students, Dumbledore). And as other reviewers have noted, there is absolutely no depth to Umbridge. I couldn't care less about her character, and most of my skimming had to do with her sections. BORING! Third, plot holes!!!! I found the book to be most poorly written in regard to plot: a) there was nothing to keep it going...no underlying sense of unease or evil at work, no mysterious happenings, nothing that really made a difference. b)no real reason to care. c) no resolution...TO ANYTHING. We even have to wait until Book 6 to find out how the O.W.L.s went!!!! Fourth, I am very very very disappointed in which character was "killed off" and how that came about. There really was no why and it didn't serve much of a purpose. Of all the ridiculous, anticlimactic deaths! J.K. couldn't even afford the character (of whom I was particularly fond) a dignified death!!! And as many other reviewers have said, the major fight scene was very poorly written...another skimming point. As a children's literature writer myself, I am incredibly proud of J.K. and the steps she's made to further this genre. She has proven that dark subjects can be tackled and very long novels can be written and children WILL READ THEM! This is so important to the literary world in general. I have a great deal of respect for her in this instance. However, there are some things I simply don't agree with. Many characters' insistence to cling to grudges and torment each other "for the fun of it" without any discussion of the consequences for all involved does nothing to encourage a sense of morals or compassion in children. What do we need more in this world than a desire to make it a better place? Also, I found the increased use of questionable language and references to major characters swearing diappointing. Please don't think I'm some kind of upstanding citizen who thinks swearing should be banned...there is a time and a place and sometimes it's just the right word for the situation. But I don't think that we should be teaching young people that swearing is okay, anytime anywhere. That's one of my biggest pet peeves in children's lit...and it seems to be getting worse. If you've gotten this far, thanks for hearing me out. I will read 6 & 7, but at this point simply to finish out the series. I hope they are better than 5.
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