Rating: Summary: could've been better but still amasing Review: I expected this book to be better than it was. What really annoyed me was that JKR kept repeating herself. It's just so boring to read things that you've already read in previous books. I like the fact that the characters go through what normal teens go through. I think it's funny the way harry keeps having outbursts of anger and rage. JKR puts alot more feelings and emotions into this book which i like because it helps me to understand the characters more. I absolutely hate the fact that bad things happen to someone (hint hint), but I suppose that to make a good book there have to be sudden twists and suprises even if sometimes you don't like them. otherwise the book would not be as interesting or breath-taking. Overall I loved the book, but it is not the best in the series. It deserves 4 and a half stars out of 5. By the way there is no point reading the reviews that andry2aek did because she's a bookoholic that basically only likes historic romances and will always have something bad to say about harry potter (just joking, she really is a lovely sis).
Rating: Summary: I waited all that time just for this! Review: I liked all of the other Harry Potter books but I only got 700 pages into this one. Pretty much the only thing that happens in this book is Harry scar is hurting all the time and he get a whole bunch of detentions from Umbrige! It might be the thickest book but it has the least excitment.
Rating: Summary: I waited all that time just for this!!!!!! Review: This book is soooooooooooooo boring!!! There might have been a few exciting bits near the end but even 700 pages into the book I was still asleep. If you are a big fan of Harry Potter books I guess you will have to read this because it contains information you will need to know for book 6 and 7.
Rating: Summary: Superb ... Once again!!! Review: What has captured my complete admiration is Rowling's imagination. There are a lot of people who were complaining about the sheer length of the book and how boring it was ... well, for these people I have only one thing to say. Rowling wrote this series for children between the age of 9 and 12. How astounding is her success that people between the ages of 8 and 80 are all reading the Harry Potter series and throughly enjoying them? Don't compare Harry Potter with The Lord of the Rings or any other book. Harry Potter is a class of its own, which parents,children and grandparents can read together and enjoy. They can sit together and have discussions on the plot and the characters. It is amazing how Rowling diminished generation gaps by writing this series ... and families should be grateful that their children are 'reading' when there are so many more distractions around them - they are getting their adventures and thrills from Harry Potter!!
Rating: Summary: hmmmm...unsure Review: I have to admit that I loved this book. It's just...some things didn't really seem to gell. Prof. Umbridge, for example. She's just too horrible and the ministry is too. And occlumency. Why doesn't Harry try a bit harder? And the way he is so moody. I suppose it's just adolescance and all, but it seems a bit sudden. Before he had more passive opinion, but now he shouts it for the world. Harry Potter has grown up in the short gap of about a month between the 4th and 5th books. Perhaps it's puberty, come about 3 years too late? I have to admit, it seemed a bit odd that he seemed exempt from most of the normal things that happen to a growing boy... except for Cho, of course. God I hate her! Die, Cho! I hate her even more than Umbridge. Overall, this book was a bit odd, but a great read. Except... what's with the american covers? If you're going to buy a copy, get the Australian one. It's so much more tasteful, and accurate.
Rating: Summary: Just finished the entire series - very overrated Review: I decided to read the Rowling books because I had heard so many great things about them, but I have to say this is about the most disappointing reading experience I have had in a long, long time.I suspect if I hadn't heard so many good things about the books, I might have enjoyed them a lot more. I was expecting something that was akin to a great classic, like ALICE AND WONDERLAND or THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, but while it was OK, it was a masterpiece. Well, let me say one positive thing. J. K. Rowling has obviously not been content to rest on her laurels or sales. She obviously has expended an enormous amount of effort into making each book better than the previous one, and I respect her for that. But it still doesn't make me rate these among the best children's books ever written.
Rating: Summary: Smothering bitterness, trivial conspiracy. Review: In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," J. K. Rowling spun a thrilling yarn that never felt as long as the book's 180,000 words, and escalated the specter of Voldemort from a child's boogeyman into a vicious killer. At 225,000 words, "Order of the Phoenix" runs a quarter longer still, as Harry enters a moody phase in his mid-teens. Understandably uncomfortable with the scrutiny and resentment attracted by his reputation, Harry wallows in bitterness even before Rowling takes away everything that made Hogwarts enjoyable for him -- Quidditch, Hagrid (except for a pointless subplot), and virtually all interaction with Dumbledore. The looming OWL exams, the educational struggle with the Ministry of Magic, and Harry's fumbling attempt at dating justify some of the dark mood, but the depth of his bitterness drowns any spark from the narrative. Worse, Rowling lets Harry wallow through the entire book rather than using the dark mood to make his character grow. Harry's spite for heroic acclaim and newspaper slander almost feel like Rowling reacting to her own massive bestseller fame, and the negative attention it has attracted. Voldemort's scheme seems trivial and pointless for the heinous villain resurrected at the end of the previous book. The much-hyped death of a character close to Harry, coming after over 200,000 words of excessive bitterness and repetitive academic repression, loses most of its possible impact. Harry returns as always to the Muggle world for the summer, but "Order of the Phoenix" leaves his fifth year at Hogwarts seeming tired and empty.
Rating: Summary: L.Ross Review: J.K Rowling has another winner on her hands with this. It is the best to come from the series yet. It's one of most creative books of all time. It has a fun and exciting plot that keeps you interseted and guessing from beginning to end. Rowling creates an amazing make believe world with such descrption that you'll feel like your right in there in the Wizarding world with Harry and company. The characters ,each very well done, have their own unquie personalties that make you fell like you know them. This is my favorite book of all time. Once yoiu pick it up you won't be able to put it down. Prepare to laugh, cry and to be rooting for the characters with this one the whole book. This isn't like any other book out there. You can just see all the time and effort put into making this book such a wonderful sucess. The book connects to us and things going on in our world now. There is a deeper meaning behind it, but at the same time it's magical, wondeful, and a whole lot of fun to read. I don't think there is a beter book out there or that will be out there in a while. If you haven't read it do so. You'll be gald you did. I commend Rowling on her best work yet and cannot wait to see what more interseting and new things we'll see with the next one (the sixth in the series).
Rating: Summary: much missing Review: Harry Potter series had one major problem. I am a big fan of The Lord of the Rings. J.K. Rowling has set up her character structure like that of LOTR. Wormtail:Wormtounge- both traitors, both weak, she even steal the "worm" thing! Dumbledore:Gandalf- both old men with long beards, helpful yet elusive. Harry:Frodo- both on a mission and kinda lost as to who they are. other than that i liked this book.
Rating: Summary: If you can't say something nice... Review: I hate Harry Potter. I realize that the preceding remark alone will get me, like, 55 "not helpful" reviews in the next four minutes. That's okay. I can deal. I understand that opinions differ, and that I am messing with the sacred cow. Hopefully my intro has already weeded out the purists... :-) I think, though, that for a lark, since a couple hundred people have already stated all the things I dislike so strongly about this book/series, I'll say what I like about it. About this book, at least. (see, I can be conciliatory now that I know I'm not alone. :-) Snape -- complex and intriguing, and even strangely likeable, character. I read the book (once, swiftly) about six months ago, and he's the one thing that stands out. Here's a guy who suffered intense, prolonged, psyche-scarring bullying as a child for no good reason, joined the "dark side," rejoined the good side for reasons as yet unexplained, and goes out of his way to protect the son (whom he also doesn't really like much) of his chief tormentor, even when his hatred for the boy's father keeps him from seeing the boy's own good qualities/differences from his dad, and he does this out of duty or sense of honor or some such. His sense of responsibility is so strong that it overwhelms his stubborn (and unjustified, at least in books 1-4) blind spot about the kid -- the same kind of mad blindness that usually DRIVES your garden-variety bad guy. He has all the anger, bitterness, and motivations of a typical villain, but he serves Good. Wow, I do believe Rowling has actually managed to create a bona fide Antihero, and if she does not further explain and explore this character she will have committed a literary crime against herself, let alone her readers. Aaaaand.... I liked Prof Umbridge. I liked the subversive undertone of it -- the potential for rot that excessive government, bureaucracy, and apathy can carry with it. Very dark. (eternal vigilance is the price of liberty and all that... and she ecourages a heathy skepticism for the media. I am saying all this with a great deal of winking.) I'm very much the opposite of a fan. I don't see great literature here. The fandom, not to mention its breadth and longevity, frankly baffles me. HOWEVER, I can say with confidence, at least, that the first four novels were a study in a writer's steady improvement, each one a degree better than the last. Three and Four were real page-turners. And I am forced to admit that I own all the books so far (British editions. I liked the covers. ^_^) I keep meaning to sell them as a set on eBay (they're pristine!), and I keep not selling them for some reason. So there must be SOME spark in there that even I, a confirmed hater, am recognizing. Maybe subconciously. So, uh, what happened with this intstallment? (And yet... I... keep... reading!! It helps to know what I'm criticizing, I guess.) My main complaint is that Harry has gone too far out of character -- actively unlikeable instead of just sort of...present, while everyone else has stagnated. The day Hermione stops doing everyone else's work, or -- hmm -- maybe fails a test she didn't quite study for because she's developed some normal outside interests, will be a glorious day indeed. Even the most obnoxious Everynerd's Nerd gets at least one B in their lifetime, because they were sick or bored or rebelling or in love or their dog died or SOMETHING. I'd like to see how she deals with it, and how it would alter the way she sees herself (or not); I think it would be enlightening. I'd like to see Harry and Ron talk her through it -- it would either be really heartwarming or freakin' hilarious.
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