Rating: 
Summary: someone
Review: I loved the book and will give it five stars. I have to admit some parts of the book were upsetting (...) and some other things were annoying. But the thing of it is, is that J.K. Rowling wrote a book that is just as good if not better than the rest of them. It was different, but would you really be just as interested if Harry met Voldemort every year, defeated him and had a wonderful life? Moved in with Sirius, Sirius' name was cleared and he was happy? I don't think so. By writing the way she does, she keeps us on our toes. It was a good book overall, and I am seriously hoping that there ends up being an extremely good reason for everything that has happened in book five, that will be shown in book six.
Rating:
Summary: Waiting for the next one now
Review: What can I say that has not already been said by thousands of critics worldwide. Rowling did it again. This may be a huge book, but it reads as if it is half the size.
Rating:
Summary: I Am Still Hooked After Reading # 5!
Review: AT LAST! I simply could not put this book down! It is well worth the 800+ pages! Let me tell you why....HARRY GROWS UP! The cute-little-bemused-at-all-the-attention kid is gone and in his place is a young man. Harry goes through puberty with the sameness as any other kid; complete with all the trials and tribulations. This book swells with individuality,accountability and acceptance. Harry has to now live up to his name and all the responsibilities and woes that goes along with it. Harry learns what its like to go up against authority and how important friendships really are. In the beginning Harry IS the magic as there is wonder as to who he is and how he has surrived; now Harry is MAKING magic of his own. Rowling continues to create a very stimulating enviroment around Harry in the form of chracters and places. After finishing this door-stopper of a book, I cannot help but wonder how traumatized Harry will end up as he approaches adulthood with all of the prior events under his cloak? Will Harry be a seperate individual from the darkness he has been exposed to or will the darkness lure him in?
Rowling continues to touch and explore social issues in #5 and the characters are famiular with this spell as well. The students think about their futures and carreers as adulthood looms...This is better than any SAT Prep Course! My only hope is that I don't have to wait another TWO YEARS for #6! I will give my eyes a rest, clean my house, return a few phone messages and then I will read "Order of the Phoenix" AGAIN!!! Ususally, when Harry leaves the train station with the Dreadful Dursley's he is trailing behind, this book ends with Harry in the lead and the Dursleys following! What a lovely prelude to the next book!
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait? Oh yes!
Review: It has been a very long time since I finished reading a book and immediately wanted to go back and start it over again, but that's the way I felt at the end of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." (Instead, I went back to re-read books 1-4, thereby forcing myself to wait two weeks - I started my second reading yesterday.) This installment of the series moves things forward, answers many questions, confirms the answers to others - there absolutely will be a final death match between Harry and Voldemort - and raises yet more questions.Character development and shading plays a big part in this book, and there has been much comment about Harry in particular in this light. As a mother whose own son was fifteen not too long ago, Harry's raging adolescence (and he's certainly raging) rang perfectly true to me. I think J.K. Rowling took a big risk here, in that this rendering of Harry makes him pretty hard to like at times. I respect and applaud her for taking that risk, because I think it ultimately serves the character and story well, and by the end of the book, Harry is growing. I think that the "good" characters have more dimension and complexity than the "bad" ones, but I've felt that way all through the series, so that's no real change. There are shifts in the dynamics between Harry, Ron, and Hermione as Ron steps out from Harry's shadow. A few characters who have been around all the way along move to the foreground, most notably Neville, and we meet some new characters both in and out of Hogwarts. There's really only one character that has seemed ambiguous throughout, and although we do learn a few more things about Snape, I think there are still questions there. As far as the "bad" characters are concerned, this year's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, is a classic flat-out villain that really needs to be unshaded in order to serve the story. This book has more magic than its predecessors, but even as some of the characters are becoming more identifiably human, so are some of the threats and dangers. The tone is darker than ever. The plot itself isn't as riveting as "Goblet of Fire" or "Prisoner of Azkaban," but there's no shortage of action. I tried to read this one slowly, and I couldn't. I was never bored, and the length of the book just meant I could spend more time in this world. I have quibbles with the writing style, but they're not new to this installment; yelling has been shown in all caps in the other books as well, and the dialogue could be left to stand on its own without necessarily describing the manner of speaking (all those speech adverbs!). These are minor issues to me and don't interfere with my enjoyment of the book at all. The series is continuing to move into new territory, maturing along with its principal character. Parents of younger Harry fans will need to decide whether their children are up to it and might prefer to read it with them. If you've been along for the ride since "Sorcerer's Stone" - and your expectations are not overly inflated - "Order of the Phoenix" is totally worth your time. I think it will hold up well on its own merits, but it's also important as a transition into the next two books and the climax to this seven-part tale. I eagerly await Book 6. I both anticipate and dread Book 7, because I'll hate to see this end.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST of the Five!
Review: I stayed @ the bookstore from 10:30pm to 2:30am waiting for this book, and it was DEFINITELY worth the wait!! I stayed up all night reading the the night I got it, and finished it in 2 days total :D I LOVED it! All the characters, new and old, were superb! Despite Prof. Umbridge's evil-ness, I thought she was a hilarious character (what with her 'Decrees'). I was very sad when I read the part about a certain someone being killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, but I suppose JK Rowling had to have someone die :( I thought that HP Book 5 was definitely the best book of the set so far, I totally recommend it to anyone who's a fan of HP!
Rating: 
Summary: Unimaginably impressive!!
Review: The 5th Harry Potter book is definitely the most engaging book in the series - and that is saying something b/c every single one of these books has been quite the page turner. Rowling has developed the characters with such vivid brush strokes that it is almost impossible not to fall in love with each of them. Even secondary characters are Though the book is the longest of the series Rowling has masterfully figured out how to avoid some of the tediousness that plagued book 4. there are some places where the story drags - particularly sections having to do w\ Hargrid (who I believe Rowling has not been able to figure out what to do with properly since book 1) - but book 5 avoids falling into the trap of intricate but seemingly unrelated subplots that aren't really going anywhere and don't really make sense until the very end of the novel. Book 5 is also different from its predecessors because its darker tone is set from the very beginning. From the very first page we see that this is a very different Harry than we had been used to in the past. We also know from the very beginning that "trouble" is looking to find him rather than the other way around. The buildup to the drama that is common in the 4 predecessors is not handled in the same way in book 5. Instead, there is an action-packed beginning and the book does not let up until the very end. There is a buildup to the end, like in all Harry Potter books, but you can tell from the very begining that the tensions is hire with book 5. 870 pages feel more like 200. The book is also so intense that instead of being ready for more, when finished, most readers (myself included) will probably need to take a few days to digest everything that they have just read. Though book 5 does not reveal as much of the back-story of the Harry Potter universe in the way that previous books have, it does add to the mythology of the Harry Potter world and makes clear things that were simply hinted at in the previous books. All in all, Rowling has definitely outdone herself. Book 5 is a strong contender as the best book in the series tho I have still not really gotten over the events of book 3 which made absolutely clear to me that Rowling is a genius. She continues in book 5 to show she is a master storyteller who is not above flaunting her hero's negative traits. I loved seeing how "normal" Harry could be. He doesn't have petty emotions and not "do the right" thing to do for the sake of being the stereotypical reluctant hero. Instead, he does what any normal teenage boy would do. Even more impressive is that Rowling doesn't serve Harry's negative traits with healthy doses of guilt just to make her hero look more heroic. Harry doesn't always do the right and noble thing. He is in touch w\ his "dark side" and the amazing thing is that the story does not preach that this unacceptable.
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Summary: Wonderful Harry!
Review: I am Harry Potter obessed- I get more involved in these stories than I do in most and I love to read. People are crazy who say they didn't like this book. I was thinking about it for days afterwards- true it was a bit depressing but I was so involved into it and I couldn't put it down. I love Harry so much and I can't wait until the 6th. J.K. Rowling just writes the most amazing stories and I love all the life at Hogwarts!
Rating: 
Summary: Order of the Phoenix falls flat
Review: Compared to the earlier books, I found this to lack an essential characteristic. I felt, in the first books, that Harry was not only learning new skills, but also acquiring insight into some essential truths of human nature (as preparation along the way to the ultimate fight with Voldemort). Rowling failed to take advantage of plot situations related to Harry's whiny and bad-tempered behavior to set up a conflict and resolution between Harry's innate sense of justice and fair-play vs. the feelings caused by the mind-meld between Harry and Voldemort. While the action was exciting and I applaud the stronger roles of many of the secondary characters, I finished the book with a sense that Harry's character had gone backwards and not forwards. I also felt that the book, more than any of the others, was written as a bridge to the remaining volumes--setting the stage for the rest of the adventure. And I agree with the earlier reviewer who said it could have used more editing.
Rating:
Summary: A book for all ages
Review: When I read the first Harry Potter book, it was merely out of curiosity, but I got hooked on the enthralling writing of J.K. Rowling. This fifth installement is full of adventure, intriguing characters, and a very intricate plot.
Harry is now more emotionally complex. He is evolving into this tormented teenager, that you cannot but feel with him and for him.
I think this is a great book, although my favorite still is the Prisonner of Azkaban.
Rating:
Summary: So/So
Review: I love the Harry Potter stories. What a wonderful imagination this author has but, the Order of the Phoenix let me down a little. I did not like the grim depressing feeling this book gave. I understand that the book needed to take this turn somewhat as the Dark Lord is back but, I feel that there could have still been some fun times and a few good things could have happened to poor Harry along the way. It is a little complex for younger readers but gets the point across that Mrs. Rowling was going for. Do not expect any lighthearted fun in this book. Now that it has been proven that V..... is back I only hope that some fun times can be had even though the war to kill him will be started soon.
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