Rating: 
Summary: Does Lord Voldemort think?
Review: First of all this is book offers great reading. Why 4 stars? It seems that Lord Voldemort does not learn from his mistakes. He knows that it is Harry Potter that will spoil his plans and yet waits for Harry to be in school for his adventure. May be his ego is so bloated that he wants to win over Harry and needs Harry's presence to accomplish his goals. Very short sighted? If we see his capabilities, one would have thought His main obective should be to get things done when there is least resistance. Obviously, that is when Harry is at home for holidays. All the novels in this series have one thing in common...Harry writes exams, has the adventure, goes home for holidays, looking forward to come back again. Where does that leave Lord Voldemort? Initially he was body less, now he is brainless? Voldemort is acclaimed to be the intelligent student Hogwart's has ever seen, but he doesnot show any signs of it. I hope that the next adventure involves something like Voldemort stealing something and Harry seeking him for retrieving it. So the Harry Potter formula: 1. Harry is ill treated by his Aunt, Uncle, Cousin.
2. Harry doesnot receive any letters from friends.
3. Harry decides to run from home.
4. Harry is rescued/updated with info from wizarding world
5. Harry goes to school. Ill treated by some students/some teachers.
6.Harry behind his home work.
7. Quiddtich
8. Harry sees the danger, participates in the adventure. In between all the characters play their respective parts. This is where the author shows her discipline in writing. No character is given too much to do or too less to be ignored. Just right. The theme is good. Finally, what is the name of the potions master? Severus snape? Snivellus snape?
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book
Review: I finished this book on the first day I got it. It was slightly confusing in the ending, but great anyways. From when Harry Potter is in danger of being expelled, nine wizards and witches take him away to the Order of the Phoenix, number twelve. If you aren't reading it now, you really should start now!
Rating:
Summary: A great story with bittersweet moments
Review: I receved this book on Saturday, 6/21 at 11:00 a.m. and by 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, 6/22 I had finished it. The story was incredible and JKR has definitely not lost her touch. A lot of things in this book tie together what has happened in books 1-4 ... and there are a lot of surprises. There were moments when I did cry with Harry but I am sure I am not the first and I am positive I won't be the last.
Rating:
Summary: They are all here
Review: All of the amazing and interesting characters reappear in Book 5. Lupin, Sirius, and many others appear in the book and Ms Rowling shows us more about them and how they factor in Harry's life. Even fringe characters like Mrs Figg have surprizes to offer.
The tempo of the book (like the others) is very fast. And the pace keeps up through the length of the book for an entertaining, can't put it down read (a long, 870 page read!).
It is a great book, but dark, scary and sad. Harry's struggles in learning about himself and his place are a little tough. I found myself frustrated with Harry's frustration and anger, and trying (like the characters in the book) to be patient and understand.
I had to read this book. I am now excited about the next one...Ms Rowling has again given us a thrilling and creative year at Hogwarts.
Rating:
Summary: Imagination, Heroism, Friendship, and Adventure
Review: I will keep this spoiler free, so if I am vague about plot, that is why. May I suggest that all other reviewers do the same, at least for the first month or two? With each passing novel from JKR, I become more apprehensive that she will have lost her touch, that the shine will be gone. Rest assured, dear readers, that this novel has all the magic, all the excitement, all the adventure that we have come to expect--and more. The appearance of darker themes (death, consequences, truly evil villains who have an agenda that is definitely not wholesome) that marked the end of novel four were an unexpected twist for me. I had heard that this was not a fluke, that she was taking the septology into a serious examination of what happens when someone truly evil rises to power; this is indeed what she appears to be doing. Serious themes such as these form the backbone of the novel, and are apparent from the first pages. This disconcerted me a bit, as I was expecting the usual romp through Privet drive, a la Dobby; instead, I got a much different thing. The New York Times calls this section somewhat "ponderous", but I think that that is a specious view. In reality, it was important to change the tone of the world, and she wanted to make sure that we understood that all was not mandarin oranges and ice cream here. As JKR has admitted in interviews, Harry is much more angry in this novel. I felt that she handled this reasonably well--she does an excellent job portraying adolescent confusion. It feels like Harry spends a lot of time being very distressed, but when you imagine yourself, at 15, in his situation, he is not necessarily unrealistic. Teenage angst has been done better, but seeing this side of Harry is important in understanding how he is growing.
The plot is where Ms. Rowling really shines. The Order of the Phoenix his one has significant plot twists where they should be, as well as where you least expect them. Ron and Hermione are there in spades, and there is significant character development for all the major characters as well as a few minor characters. We see new sides of McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Black, and Neville. I was thrilled to see threads from novels 1-4 that seemed unimportant at the time be picked up and woven skillfully into the narrative. Her grasp of the overall plan for her septology is admirable, and I am pleased that she even more careful a writer than any of us had anticipated. This is a united whole, a well planned world. This 7 book series has a definite beginning, middle, and an end, and we are in the thick of things now.
All the old charm is back as well. Rowling's wit seems mostly absent for the first 100 pages, but don't give up hope. She was not not attempting to make the first hundred pages funny--she wants us to know she is in deadly earnest. The wit is always bubbling under the surface, however, and later in the novel, there are a number of laugh out loud funny passages.
Descriptions, as always, are excellent. I needn't add that the names of her characters are always interesting, funny, and often revealing. Spells play an important role, of course, and their magic words never fail to amuse.
Please note: This is not a novel for 6 year olds. They won't understand the adolescent issues. The plot is not as scary as the end of the fourth novel, but the overall tone is dark, as has been much discussed. Her literary style is much the same as the previous novels, but her vocabulary is becoming more advanced as Harry ages. This is an excellent novel for the precocious 10 year old; I'm not sure I would let 7-8 year olds read it unless they are exceptionally mature. No sex, but there is some violence, and as above, the dark themes.
Overall, I would say that this is--hands down--her best novel yet. The climax left me literally breathless, turning pages as fast as I could, unable to believe what I was reading. I look forward to her 6th installment in this series.
Well done, Ms. Rowling. Keep up the amazing work. Take your time on the next one--it will be well worth it when you do. And whenever it comes, we'll still be here.
Rating:
Summary: Adult readers will not be disappointed.
Review: This book is an excellent addition to the Harry Potter collection, particularly for the adult reader. While longer than Book 4, the writing is much tighter and cohesive. You're constantly fed useful information, often through action sequences rather than lengthy exposition. As is true in most of Rowling's other books, although this is aimed at kids, nothing is spoonfed to the reader. Many have said this book represents a darker turn in Harry's life. Having read it, I think the books and the characters are simply growing up. Things are not so black & white anymore. Harry now has to deal with things in greyer terms. This made the story even more appealing to me than previous books. There are certainly more horrific scenes in this one than in previous books. There's plenty of danger. I would recommend that parents of younger children likely to be bothered by intense scenes take some time to talk to their kids as they read the novel. I'm sure some good questions and discussion can be raised from the book regarding morals and the evolving definition of right and wrong. As a fan of fanfiction, I must say that there's plenty of teasers in here to keep the fanon community happy. Alot of the characters are changed by the end of the book, with more signs that others will be. Material to ignite the imagination abounds.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the Wait
Review: Ok, I admit I'm an adult and far to old to dream of attending Hogwarts but let me scream this from the rooftops...I loved this book. I waited on line,late friday night, to get my reserved copy. I had the book in my hands at 12:18 and I was reading it by 12:30am Saturday Morning. Of course I couldn't put it down so I finished the book and the only part I regret is that I have to wait for the next installment. I love how J.K. Rowling allowed her characters to grow up. I admit I was surprised at Harry's behavior until I remembered what being a teenager was like and how I must have seemed to the people around me. I stood in line behind two sixth graders whose mother had read them the first book. They had read the others for school and had been waiting for years to read #5. As the cashier handed them the book, I heard the most wonderful sentence ever uttered by a child...."please mom, just read the first sentence, the first page, I promise I'll go to bed when we get home." How can anything compete with that. I loved the order of the phoenix but I praise all the Harry Potter's for creating more book junkies like myself.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading
Review: I managed to get through the book in a day, and even though it may have lacked some of the intensity of the first two books, I felt the book is strongly prepping the readers for the next in the series. The readability of the book is excellent, and still has that Rowling "can't-put-it-down" magic of storytelling. I highly recommend reading the first 4 books in the series, if you haven't already. A new reader to the series picking up Book 5 may feel a bit lost, and overwhelmed without the primers of the first books. Now anxiously waiting for the next in the series, and hopefully it won't be another 3 years!
Rating:
Summary: Different and Better
Review: All the magic of Rowling's earlier four books is still in five, and many of the comforting formula elements that lend familiarity persist. However, like we saw in book four Rowling is ready to stray form the formula more and more to show her world as more realistically chaotic and petty. Everyone has mentioned that Harry is angrier now, as he rightly should be. But he's also impulsive, defiant, rude and cold at times like any teenager should be. The most rewarding part of reading this edition, is that I don't like Harry as much. He's still the clear favorite, but he's a little selfish and arrogant, and just a bit snobby and aggressive... not enough to make him a scoundrel, but enough to make him easier to empathize with. The politics of the Ministry still are a little simplified which will be more palatable to younger readers, but the seeds of more realistic ambition and misplaced blind loyalty grow more believable. But I still think the more endearing quality of the Order of the Phoenix is that you not only get angry at the other characters you also get angry at Harry's bull-headedness. But then you forgive him. And that ability Rowling has to alienate her characters from the reader and then bring them back into the reader's good graces is what made me feel such great loss when I finished the book at three in the morning and knew I'd have to wait maybe years to read a new Potter chapter. Take my advice, read slowly.
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes as dark as magic, but always spellbinding
Review: My copy arrived Saturday morning. I started it Saturday afternoon, retruned to it Sunday morning after the crossword, and finished it mid-afternoon. Much has been made of the length, but the story was gripping and the chapters flew by. It's hard to review without delivering spoilers... I'll do my best. The darkness that runs through the story comes from several sources, some expected, some surprising; You-Know-Who and his followers, of course, but they are (unwittingly, one hopes) abetted by a wizard government that behaves in untrustworthy and Harry-hating fashion. Add to this the turmoil of Harry's turning 15 while living his life entirely on display, friends who turn against him, several loved ones put into mortal danger, mentors who let him down, and the truly poisonous persona of Dolores Umbridge, and you have a book that is less whimsical, more complex, and more deeply felt than most. Even in the darkness, however, humor still lurks... Fred and George Weasley are testing potential products for their joke shop, and even the most mild-mannered Hogwarts professors have funny little ways of meeting the challenges presented by Professor Umbridge. And the relationships between Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, the Weasley family, Sirius, and other regular characters continue to be developed, often in touching ways. What has protected Harry from the moment of his mother's death, after all, is love... and love lies at the heart of the tale.
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