Rating: 
Summary: The Saga Darkens. . .
Review: Wow. I just finshed reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" and it is so draining. . . and amazing.
Harry is different in this fifth part of the Harry Potter saga. He is in the prime of his adolesence and he is very rebellious. He is mostly angry. Angry at the way most of the Wizard world treats him-- as if he was crazy, believing that Voldermort has returned. He is angry at his friends, who have told him nothing but tantilizing hints all summer about the wizarding world. He is angry about how the Ministry of Magic is beginning to control Hogwarts, with their supplying of a horrible Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the term.
There is more than a hint of romance in this book, with Harry and Cho Chang's relationship deepining. And most of all their is a major secret revealed about Harry's past, and a horrible death that is just as hard to read as it was for J.K. Rowling to write it. The war is beginning, and it's going to be dark, very dark. There's no going back. . .
Rating: 
Summary: Sadly, not that great
Review: The lead character is no longer interesting, he is simply dour and selfish. There are no clever plot twists and the sense of a great mystery is absent. The wonderful scenes of past books, like the World Cub, are also absent. Furthermore, we learn NOTHING new.What a sad, sad dissapointment.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to par
Review: Dont get me wrong, its a pretty decent book. But it is not on the same level as the other four books. The transition from book 4 to book 5 is too great. Harry has grown up too fast in such a short amont of time. What has made Harry Potter a wonderful series (in my opinion) was its childish world of fantasy with a dose of strong plot. However, this time, Rowling has almost made this story into a "Sweet Valley High" book. There is too much "ohmigod, hes dating WHO?". Furthermore, Harry's temperament was at times a bit overbearing. He lashes out so often, it feels as if Rowling had a compulsion to make him say "shutup" every two lines. Finally, I felt that much of the book was stretched out too much. If you really care to notice, for the middle 500 pages, nothing of note really happens (I know this is an exagerration, but Rowling REALLY did stretch out a lot of rather unimportant things).
That is not to say that Rowling is not an excellent writer. Her writing is easy and very easy to follow, her ability to grab the reader in is absolutely great! Even though the book was a bit "extended" it still kept me wondering enough to turn the pages, which unfortunately (with a few exceptions) led to a rushed, lackluster climax and conclusion (but what can you say, the entire thing was wrapped neatly within the last 50 pages or so out of an 870 page book). Its overall a "good book", but not up to the standards of the first 4, and it certainly did not live up to the hype.
Rating:
Summary: Harry is growing up
Review: Order of the Phoenix with its darker tone is a wonderful addition to the Harry Potter mythos. In this book Harry finds out that not everything is black or white - there are many shades of grey. He finds out his parents weren't perfect, that the adults he admires the most are fallable and he becomes more aware of his own faults. In short - Harry is growing up. I was a little leery of the size of the book (almost 900 pages), but the story flowed well, and there weren't any parts that I thought were superfluous - everything either advanced the plot or was an illustration of Harry's maturing. Two new characters were introduced - "Loony" Luna Lovegood (a student) and Dolores Umbridge (the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher). Umbridge is one of the creepiest people I have ever read about. One of the main characters does die, but Rowling keeps you guessing, to the very end, as to which one.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!! One of Her Best!
Review: First off I must say that I am a great fan of J. K. Rowlings novels, but this one is far better than any of her other books!! Don't get me wrong, I have given each and every one of them 5 stars but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix deserves at least 7 stars!! True, her book starts far before Harry hits the Hogwarts train but this begining is nessessary to meet the people that have formed the Order against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. I won't say very much because it's too good to say but I will give it a short, accurate, if not well written summery on it.
Harry is growing up. He is having the oh so very irritating out bursts of anger due to the always very helpful hormones of a teenager. To make a long scene short, Harry ends up almost getting kicked out of school for using magic over the summer, again. He then meets up with Sirius, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Wealsey, all their children (except Percy) (and might I say Ginny has matured alot!), Lupin, Moody, hermione, and a bunch of others that I can't remember at this second. They fill harry in on whats been happening after more angry outbursts from Harry. Harry has been having dreams about a long dark hall with a bunch of doors and the strange obsession to open one of them. Not to mention his prickling scar which tells harry how his favorite person is feeling emotionaly, and some dreams that tell the what his ol'pal is up to these days! Now I would tell more but I wouldn't want to ruin the book for you now would I? But I will tell you these finer points 1. Someone dies (well duh!) 2. Harry's got some activites that he isn't working on. And Harry is teaching a bit... 3.And he has made his career choice. 4. The usual feeling of relief is nonexistent in this book. 5. Waiting for the next book is going to kill me! 6. The Weasley twins are so funny my mom looked in on my reading to make sure I wasn't cackling from insainty. If you are reading and don't know what I mean KEEP READING!!! hehehehe!! ahhh... revenge is sweet! Oh Peeves is also the best! once again, bahahaha!!
Cheers!
Rating:
Summary: Something is Rotten in the State of Hogwarts
Review: "To be, or not to be", that is the question that brooding Harry Potter asks himself in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. J. K. Rowlings' teenage Harry Potter has taken on the self-examining, introspective tones that exemplify another great character in British literature, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The parallels are numerous. Hamlet's father is dead; Harry's parents are dead. Hamlet has the weight of the world on his shoulders; Harry is the only person who has stood up to Lord Voldemort. (warning, plot spoiler in the next sentence) Harry faces death yet again in installment 5. He seems, momentarily, ready to let go, just like Hamlet. "Let the pain stop, thought Harry. Let him kill us ..." Harry's life gets ever more complex as he gets older. Hamlet's mother and uncle are concerned about his state of mind from the
beginning of the play. His mother asks him to leave the memory of his father behind, but
Hamlet cannot. Harry starts the fifth book in Rowlings' series lying in the garden outside
the Dursley's trying to overhear the news. He is depressed because he doesn't know what
is going on and it seems his friends have abandoned him. Harry spends much of the book
trying to figure out what is going on with his two main male role models, the cabin-fever
crazed Sirius Black and the suddenly reserved Albus Dumbledore. In this book, we see Harry make an effort of sorts to interact with members of the
opposite sex. Unlike Ron and Hermione's Beatrice and Benedick love/hate relationship,
Harry and Cho are doomed from the start. Hamlet may or may not be in love with
Ophelia, but in any case he sure doesn't know how to woo a young woman; Harry and
Cho Chang have issues too. While Harry was the only witness to the death of Cho's
sweetheart Cedric, Hamlet, in fact, kills Polonius - Ophelia's father . Harry doesn't tell
Cho to go to a nunnery, but he can't even make it through a date on Valentine's Day
without making her burst into tears and flee. If the first three books were charming and delightful, book 4 marks a turn to a
darker sort of writing which only becomes more foreboding with Harry's angst in book 5.
Still, Harry, unlike Caesar, does not need anyone to whisper in his ear "Remember, thou
art mortal" nor do I expect Dumbledore to divide Hogwarts among his three daughters. I
finished reading book 5 by 9 p.m. on the 21st of June and I am, like everyone else, eagerly
starting the clock on books 6 and 7. The bad news for Harry's fans: there are only two
more years at Hogwarts. The good news: If the books continue to grow exponentially as
the first five have, we can expect book six to come in at 1,114 pages and the final
installment to run a hefty 1,471, nearly 5 times the length of Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone.
Rating:
Summary: Harry Finally Acts Like a Teenager
Review: Well, as a mother of a teenaged boy, I'm glad to see that Harry is finally acting like a real teenager. He's angry all the time, sasses teachers, is shocked to find out his father wasn't perfect, and worries about what he's going to do for a living when he graduates. All told, he handles it very well considering he's had very little adult guidance. I'm always amazed at how poorly Dumbledore and the other teachers have tried to deal with Harry's emotional needs, which are considerable given his orphan's life. The book is less scary than Goblet, and the final battle scene (there's always one) is less convincing. Still, the sadistic teacher Harry encounters is enough to make any parent pull their kids our of boarding school. I do hope Rowling gets tired of Harry and Snape snarling at each other, it's getting tedious. It's obvious they'll make up sooner or later (Harry gains insight in OotP into Snape's dislike of his father) so get on with it. Rowling creates wonderful characters, but she can be a tease, giving us a glimpse of two great new Aurors but not giving them more development. But really, isn't the bald black one with an earring a ripoff of Mace Windu? I kept waiting for his to pull out a lightsaber instead of a wand. The entire book is a condemnation of adult incompetence and foolishness, until the very end when the real wisdom of some peoples' actions are revealed. This is in keeping with the adolescent discovery of how stupid adults (like me) really are. Although Harry makes some big mistakes, he finally becomes established as a leader among his peers, which is significant. The much-ballyhooed death is in fact heartbreaking and the description of Harry's grief is eerily accurate for anyone who has ever lost a loved one. You can well believe it was horrible for Rowling to write. All told, an excellent read, and will help some kids to understand adolescent rebellion and tumultuous feelings happen to everyone, even Harry Potter.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good, but not as exciting as previous books from series
Review: I thought that this fifth version was very good, but it wasn't as good as the other Harry Potter books. It is mostly because it isn't as action-packed, and Harry changes. He seems to get moody, and of course there is some jealousy in this book that even made me want Harry to be the one with that postion, or to have that and so on. Also, the book gets very frustrating with all the changes and all the foreshadowing too, which isn't explained until a long ways in the book. By the end of the book I was disapointed. I didn't like that the character who died died. I didn't like that the only action was a total failure, etc. i was just disapointed. But I do love this series so I will surely continue reading the series. It was a great book to read, I did like it very much, but I do like previous ones better. In other words, it was good enough that waitng until 2 a.m. to recieve this book was worth it.
Rating:
Summary: Harry grows up
Review: If I can describe this book in one word, "filled". This book showed true development and there was an actual sense of time passing. Don't get me wrong the other Potter books were great, this one filled in the blanks that were left in between many of the "heroic" events that was the focus of the prior books and resolved some of the mysteries that I'm sure everybody has been wondering about. I'm trying not to give spoilers here but many of those things that everybody though was unfair towards Harry? Well guess it's payback time. Heh, the book was wonderful and J.K. Rowling if it takes this long to produce a book this good so be it, I'll be there in line again.
Rating:
Summary: Best book in the series!!
Review: Wow! I stayed up until midnight to be one of the first to get the book, and then I didn't go to sleep until I had finished. Was it worth losing an entire night of sleep?? OF COURSE! It's kind of hard to review this without giving away spoilers, but I'll say this. It's worth the [money] you pay. It's worth the night of sleep you lose. It's worth fighting rabid fans in the bookstore at midnight. This book has absolutely fabulous character development. You find out more about almost every character in the book. Even detestable characters seem more rounded. There is less action than the 4th book, but that does not make it boring. It had plenty of exciting action, but it's not a mindless fighting book. It follows more along the lines of the 3rd book than the 4th, with more character development and revealed secrets than heavy action of the 4th. In my view, I think that made it more exciting than the 4th, because once the action is over you have a lot to think about. Although the series is becoming darker as they go on, the book isn't so dark that children can't read it. There is still comic relief, including the return of some old, funny characters that you thought wouldn't be back. The book was a little bit longer than it needed to be; there was a little bit of information that could have been cut out without hurting the book. But even with the tiny bit of extra info, the book NEVER became boring. It was fabulous, and Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed.
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