Rating: 
Summary: awesome book
Review: Very awesome book! Very detailed but wished Harry's personality didn't make it so "evil".
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC!!!
Review: This book is, in my opinion the absolute best book in the series so far. It explains Harry's struggles in life as he approaches the end of his time at Hogwarts in almost unimaginable depth, along with just about everything else in the book. This book is the best of the series because of all the mystery, excitement, and anxiety that J.K. Rowling has put in. Sure, the other books were good too, but this book has darker plots, deeper meanings to the smallest things, and much more insight into Harry's past...and even his future...
This is the best book in the Harry Potter series! I very highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read it yet...and I highly anticipate the next addition to this fabulous tale.
Rating:
Summary: Too many spoilers in these reviews!
Review: No spoilers in my review, but watch out reading the rest of these reviews, there are some serious spoilers here! Now, for the book, it's not a "fun" read like the first four, Harry is struggling on several fronts, and it shows throughout the book. But still it's brilliant, Harry really came alive for me, so many times I wanted to reach out and shake some sense into him! And the Weasley twins were absolutely fantastic!
Rating:
Summary: I love Harry Potter
Review: I have just recently become hooked to Harry Potter. I read the whole series in about 2 weeks and have just finished Order of the Pheonix and I must say it was excellent. Now i'm just depressed because I have never had to experience waiting for a Harry Potter book to come out before. This book was definately darker than the previous ones and I don't know what people expected. Of course the tone of the books have to change as Harry grows older. It can't be all happy-go-lucky and mostly cheerful as the first books were. Harry is not 11 anymore. As Harry grows older, he has to face more serious issues. He is also a growing teenager and his mood swings are definately realistic to a teenager.
Now comes the depressing part. I am still in tears over the death of one of the characters. This was one of my favorite characters and when I learned that someone dies in the fifth book I hoped and prayed that it wouldn't be the character who in fact does die. I finished this book at 4:30 in the morning and just sat there crying. I can't wait until the sixth book comes out. There are still some unresolved issues and I would like to see how this war with Voldemort will play out. But seriously, if you loved the first four books, you will definatley love this next installment of Harry's life.
Rating:
Summary: A serious page-turner!
Review: There have been a few series of novels that have been page-turners in my time...David Eddings's series, Lord of the Rings and Stephen King's Dark Tower series. Then along comes this line of children's books that have religious zealots decrying them as the work of the Devil. What Ms. Rowling has created is in every way as deep and rich and classic as Lord of the Rings, just in a different way. The fifth installment of this series sees the culmination of plot lines established in previous novels and positively reeks of teen angst, most of it oozing from Harry Potter himself. There is not a lot of laughter in this one. It is a very serious work with serious challenges and it will have you clutching the book with white knuckles. Delores Umbridge is perhaps the most evil character yet in the series...as a teacher I have seen her kind come and go. Unfortunately, people like her usually do not get their comeuppance. Does she? My lips are sealed. All I can tell you is that from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM I could not put the book down...except reluctantly to make a quick lunch before diving deep into the story again. A worthy read!
Rating:
Summary: Rowling's Greatest Work to Date
Review: I read the fifth installment in the Harry Potter series about 1 week after it was published, and I found it to be the best yet. Yes, it was longer, and it was darker, (definitley not a book for small childeren) but it weaved an excellent story, full of unexpected plot turns. I was afraid that Rowling might have been losing her touch after reading the disappointing (but still enjoyable) GOBLET OF FIRE, but I was quite wrong. Rowling brilliantly manipulates the emotions of the reader so that you sympathize with the characters throughout the novel. In regard to previous reviews which stated the the book was labored and unneccisary, I can only guess as to the reasons for the harsh criticism. Perhaps the book was a bit too complex for them (as I said, it isn't a kiddie read). They obviously did not understand the symbolism in the later chapters. But for anyone who is interested in reading a dark spellbiner, I strongly suggest HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best in the series...
Review: This book pretty much proves a tendency that I have noticed ever since book 3.
Harry is becoming more and more selfish and arrogant.
He seems to think that the whole world only evolves around him which,at times,makes him a character that is not very likeable (not to mention that he treats his two only friends like dirt in this book)
Also the book just seems to be dragging on and on.
The book has a good pace,until Harry gets back to Hogwarts and then the whole narrative just falls right back in to the dull 'from classroom to classroom' daily life of the Hogwarts students.
Don't get me wrong,this wouldn't be nearly as boring if it hadn't already been done in 4 previous books...
My final and biggest point of criticism is that JK Rowling seems to have a preset pattern which she applies to all her books,which has become all too obvious. 1.Harry stays at the Dursley's and doesn't like it
2.Harry leaves the Dursleys and goes some place else for the rest of the summer (The Burrough,Diagon Alley,Quidditch Tournament,House of the Order of the Phoenix)
3.Harry gets back to Hogwarts and we follow his day to day life at school.
4.Some event or mistery comes up,attracting Harry's attention (cursed students,Sirius Black on the loose,Wizard Tournament etc.)
5.Harry solves the mistery or event (usually with someone elses help) and leaves Hogwarts to go back to point #1. This system of storytelling is becoming highly repetative and I think most readers would appreciate it if JK Rowling would throw in a book with a completely new structure to suprise the readers...not to mention that all the Voldemort is back (again!) stories are slowlyg wearing out... I think that is another reason book 3 is my favorite...because it is the only one that is not about Harry fighting Voldemort. Despite all this criticism Order of the Phoenix is still a good book,which is fun to read and enjoyable,regardless of your age.
My favorite thing about the book is the character of Luna Lovegood,who is very interesting and reminds me alot of one of my friends :)
Rating:
Summary: Audio CD a real treat
Review: I loved the Book 5 audio CD. Jim Dale does a wonderful Delores Umbridge! My husband and I were able to share the story together and discuss all the clues. New theories sprang to life as each chapter unfolded. Once again, JKR delights us and leaves us begging for more...
Rating:
Summary: Something missing...
Review: I would've given 2 stars, but my respect to previous 4 books is very high, so...
The book is too darn long. "Phoenix cover" edition has 766 pages. It would be nothing if the plot was moving, however it wasn't. I foung it hard to concentrate myself- J.K.R. told us nothing new and when it came to the best part - SNAPE v.s. HARRY in Occlumency lessons - she just doesn't develop the plot any further. I have no idea why she cried when Sirius died - it was like 5 or 6 senteces and it was over. Harry didn't even cried.
The book just doesn't stick together as it should. J.K.R. should get a grip and do her best on the last 2 books or she'll lose loads of fans.
Rating:
Summary: Unstoppable
Review: I devoured this book in less than a week, and twice rented movies to distract myself because I wanted that first-time reading experience to last a little longer. (For the record, I'm 45, and "The Nazi Officer's Wife" was the book I read immediately before Phoenix.) I mourned the ending of the book, not only for the growth experiences that cause Harry pain, but also because reading this book was such an extremely satisfying experience. The first four books were entertaining and fun. Phoenix, in turn, is complex, not always fun, but acutely insightful. Harry is a remarkable portrait of adolescence, and I saw myself thirty years ago in his uncontrolled rages followed by remorse, his personal over-awareness, and his increasingly complicated but also ultimately more satisfying relationships with peers and family. Harry also learns that the world is more nuanced and less clearcut. And the very nature of good and evil are examined over and over again, with no concessions to the world of absolutes and easy answers. And yet much about Phoenix is pleasantly familiar and comfortable. The story slowly builds for the first two hundred pages and then rolls along easily toward the finish. Rowling's cartography and dialect create intimate and absorbing settings, and she introduces several new locales. Hermione and Ron continue to be enjoyable, even as Ron learns to cut Harry some slack and Hermione chills out a bit. Rowling's worlds--both magical and Muggle--continue to be intriguingly free of most modern distractions (one punkish character with bright blue hair appears oddly anachronistic, given the overall 1950s ambience), and amusingly evocative of classic literary references to magic: students wear robes, carry wooden wands, and quaff pumpkin juice; owls, not e-mail, deliver letters; and the only worms are the ones encountered in classes about strange animals. Freeing the background from modern complexities has the same effect Austen strived for when she made Emma wealthy: by eliminating a major confounding factor, the story concentrates more fully on universal emotional and moral (and literary) issues. The denouement was less surprising than I anticipated, but a fitting conclusion to the story's development. The only question I had was whether I would see shadows of my 16-year-old self in the next book.
| 
