Rating: 
Summary: A fantastic read, but not without flaws
Review: OotP is a really rich, detailed read, with a much darker tone than the pervious books. But don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it! I think it's an amazing continuation of the HP series.As many people have commented, Harry has changed a lot in this book. He has a quicker temper and is much more confused & angsty. Although I think she could have toned it down a LITTLE bit in the first half of the book, I also think that it was a good thing JK did this. Harry's trying to deal with the events at the end of GoF, the frustration of being kept in the dark all summer, abandonment by his friends, etc ... wouldn't you want to vent your anger too? Who hasn't ever been nasty to their siblings even without all of Harry's motivation? I'm glad that JK wrote Harry like this - he grows and becomes more complex, and she's broken him out of the 'perfect little hero' mould once and for all. The length of this book allows for a lot more character development - which I thought was GREAT. It's important too, since the strength of friendship is such an important theme in this book. We are shown that good and evil is not so black and white as before, and people such as Fred & George, Ginny, Neville, and Ron really grow. I loved space cadette Luna Lovegood, I hope she reappears in the later books (seems likely as she's joined Harry's circle of friends). And I thought that the Snape/James/Lily flashback was good too, interesting implications on James and Lily's relationship, no? However, some characters, like Draco malfoy, are annoyingly the same. Some development going on there would have been good. A lot of people have also been saying that the book was too long, that it dragged on and on, etc. Actually, for the most part, I enjoyed reading more about Hogwarts, the HP universe, and the characters, as I've already said. Yes, it's true that OotP contains a lot of side plots which are not crucial to the overall plot, and some are probably unnecessary. For instance, the cleaning of Black manor and Hagrid/Grawp parts don't really have any bearing at all on the plot. But it's always possible that all these are setting up events in forthcoming books. It's becoming clear in this book that JK is writing in terms of the overall, rather than creating a self-contained story. OotP is written in a much less linear fashion than any of the other books, but people, this is not necessarily a bad thing. One major difference is that while the bulk of the book is concerned with the hateful Umbridge, she has nothing to do with the climax of the book. This book has a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end, doesn't it? JK's writing style is branching out. I didn't mind the length of this book, but some more editing wouldn't have weakened it either and would have pleased a lot of people by the sound of it. If you want a cohesive plot, go straight to the masterpiece of plotting that is Prisoner of Azkaban - the way all the plots strands converge at the end of the book is fantastic. I have to say, I'm still not over the death in the book. My favourite character and JK kills him off! [warning: slight spoiler] Poor Harry, he just can't catch a break when it comes to family can he! It was rather a strange death too ... there are unanswered questions there. Also, it seemed like there was less of the jokes that made books 1-4 so enjoyable and lighthearted in OotP. Especially in the first third of the book, even when they were making jokes the people seemed slightly angry. But well, this year was never going to be a barrelful of laughs for Harry. Some of the scenes were truly inspired though - Fred and George's departure has to be one of my favourite HP moments! And I just have to comment on one of the main themes in the book: that of prejudice and the corruptibility/propaganda of government. Seems relevant to todays world, doesn't it?
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as the previous books
Review: I really enjoyed the first four, but this one wasn't that great. More pages doesn't equal an exciting adventure; I go for quality over quanity. This book didn't really have much of a mystery for Harry & friends to solve. It was quite depressing and kept rambling on and on. What I enjoyed most about this book is Snape's worst memory. I find the mysterious Severus Snape a very interesting character because it's hard to understand where he's coming from. We get a glimpse into Snape's childhood. It was worth buying the book just to read about that. I also like the Christmas scenes. There isn't much else I can say about this book that's positive.
It would have been much better if Harry and friends had exposed curruption at the Ministry since I sense the wizard government and Minister Fudge knew that Voldemort was back and they intentionally covered it up. However, this didn't happen. This book was boring and it didn't have a real adventure. The ending was the worst part. My favorite adult character died. Hopefully, the next book will be better. I'm still a big Harry Potter fan.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best books ever written
Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is an excellent and touching book. It brings a new understanding to Harry's character, as well as others in the book, and it is a coming of age. I found after reading this book the first time and then reading it the second time, that I missed a few things. The content of this novel isn't as hard, bad, or complicated as some book review as said it was. I think Harry Potter Book 5 is my second favorite in the Harry Potter series with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban being my favorite. The wait for Harry Potter Book 5 to come out was hard but the wait for Book 6 will be even harder with the feeling of wanting the story to go on after reading the last page. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope that the wait won't be as long. I hope this review was helpfull in a way...
Rating:
Summary: Potter V Wins on Every Level
Review: Like the folks in Gasoline Alley, Harry Potter grows older with each literary edition of his life. What is most wonderful is that J.K. Rowling is growing too, into a better and better writer. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a finely honed book in every regard. The plot is beautifully constructed--not a single gun doesn't go off when it should and the most startling turn of events has its roots in the early pages. The language and imagery keep the reader glued to the page through all 870 of them. Rowling's ability to capture Harry as a middle teen, with the angst, the difficult emotions, the budding wisdom, the forming character, is superb. Ron and Hermione, even Neville, grow naturally and interestingly too. Only Draco remains fairly sketchy and one-note; yet the stage is set for him to do some growing in book six. To consider this a children's book is to sell it short, and the NYTimes is to be scolded for deciding to make a separate bestseller list for children's books just to get Harry Potter out of top spot on it's regular list. Humans of all ages race for the next Harry Potter, not to be seen or heard from for the length of time it takes them to read it. In this age where it is popular to dumb things down to make them palatable to everyone, Rowling dares to use language richly and accurately. She chooses the best words to express her ideas, not the easiest. She knits them together in such a way that children increase their vocabularies through her contexts. She expands our minds and knowledge of language. She does not fear losing little Johnny because she doesn't write to his current level; rather she knows she will capture him and carry him to her level and he love the trip and be the better for it. Would that others would follow her lead in this regard, not only in books but in movies, television, newspapers, all areas of life. All of this matters little while you read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You won't notice any of it--you'll be having too much fun in Harry's world.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, but could be a bit less "depressing".
Review: I wanted to make this book last for 2 weeks as I took it on a certain vacation but it was so absorbing that I found myself trying to restrain myself from reading. I finished it within a week and if I had read as much as I did on the last day, EVERY day, I would have probably finished in 3 days or so. I was very impressed, J.K. Rowling has indeed "done it again" but with the passing of ______ *no spoilers!* it adds to the deep depressing feeling in the book. I personally enjoyed Goblet of Fire more (I think) because it was more "happy" and had more adventures and things like that... Not to say this book isn't good though. Don't listen to people who say this book is bad, give it a fair try. You must be open to new things, this book is very interesting and it is quite hard to put the book away. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting a good read.
Rating:
Summary: One Adult's Viewpoint
Review: Yes, I agree that this book had a dark ambiance, and Harry was acting just the way I felt and acted as a 15 year old. One person proclaimed that she would not let her precious children read such a depressing book. I would like to point out to her and others that her children live in the early 21st century, and if they go to school in the USA they probably encounter kids on Ritalin, to say nothing of illicit drugs. They also probably know kids from broken homes or no homes. Kids from such backgrounds enter gangs and engage in lots of dysfunctional behavior. We see it on the TV all the time. Yet this mother is afraid to have her children read about a 15 year old boy who is pronounced a fake by the entire "witch" society and whose authority figures (until late in the book) disappoint him, and reacts with depression and anger? I recommend REBECCA OF SUNNYBROOK FARM to her, but I suspect her children will find a copy of the HP 5 and read it anyway. I found Harry to be sullen and angry, but understand the deep complexity of his life that makes that a normal response. I do however, wonder how this will be portrayed in the inevitable movie version. Sitting in a theater and watching our pal Harry "give attitude" for 2+ hours might be a bit hard to take. But hopefully the movie will balance this with the great complexity of the plot, which involves life-death issues of good and evil. Like it or not, the real universe is not a nice little American sitcom, interspersed with glossy high tech Gen X products for sale! Real life involves pain, power, and personal decisions over good and evil. To say our children cannot handle such issues is patronizing at best and denial at worst, since they have no choice but to deal with such issues in their lives. Unless you home school them and chain them to their bed posts during "free time", they will have to mature (as we all do....hopefully) by trial and error into functioning adults. Rowlings uses Harry as an example of how this is done, acknowledging that this journey is not always easy, and that teens reading this book who feel estranged from society are not alone, but need to "hang in there" and realize that the future will bring them the depth and resolutions that they seek. Like Harry, they may have to wait (Harry was very impatient in this book), and we all know that patience is a virtue, hard to come by. I URGE my grandchildren to read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Unresolved Unanswered Questions
Review: I have read all of the Harry Potter books 1-4 three times each. I like everyone else was looking forward to this book, and like most read it by the time the weekend ended. Harry did tend to be a bit more moody/angry than necessary. Personally, I was looking for resolutions on Fred and George, Percy and Cho. Perhaps resolution is not quite accurate but Percy's ignorance towards his family should have been addressed once more when the Ministry publically accepted Voldermort's return. Loved Fred & George's "flight" but really was anxious to hear Mrs Weasley's take on the episode. Totally in agreement with the reviewer who stated the great secret of the book was a bit of a disappointment. Although, perhaps if one of the two does die by the end of the Seventh book it won't be so bad. I mean the prophecy that one must die for the other to survive is kinda pointless if it ends with them still both struggling against the other. Perhaps I am missing something too, but what if it is that they just continue to battle all their life, what does that prophecy mean, that if they both live they cant help but fight? Like magnets drawn to one another. I mean Harry is already 15 years old, so is there no time limit on this destroying the other in order to survive? Maybe its just me but big deal one has to die, we always knew Voldermort wanted to kill Harry, thats no secret. This now is posing another question for me, if Dumbledore was so interested previously that Voldermort took some of Harrys blood to rise again, and part of Voldermort is with Harry via the scar - how does that work? Will they both have to die? or live?
Rating:
Summary: harry potter five review
Review: ok i loved loved loved this book and i wanted to give it five stars but i duess i gave it four out of spite because the aouther killed my most favorite character and i cant tell u who taht is. but other than that it was great so much detieal and action but one thing that got me mad at harry was his atidude and same with cho ok ive said to much but because it was so good im going to chane my grade to five stars
~vee~
Rating:
Summary: A new look at a new Harry!
Review: I have read parts 1 through 4 and it gets better every single time! Yes, it does get darker. Yes, it does get annoying at times. But that's the beauty and mystery of this book! I bought part five and read it in 2 weeks. I have to say, even though it was dark and Harry had a BIG attitude, it was well worth my money and time.
WHY? You ask? BECAUSE the story is a continuation of Harry's life. In this book you learn more about the characters! You learn WHY Harry has to stay with the Dursley's, you know WHY Harry has that scar. OK, it does have death in it, I know, I know. And I HATED...that...but I learned more about Harry and you will too! ALL in ALL, I give this story two thumbs up!
Rating:
Summary: the best yet
Review: a little darker than the previous ones, but well worth the read.page turner. i read the book in three days. i couldn't put it down. can't wait for the next. harry potter fans will be more turned on than ever.
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