Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps a bit too long.
Review: While I was glad to finally have some of my questions answered and to be given information that will probably be important for the next two books, I found OOP quite long and overly expositive. I once had a writing teacher who insisted we "show, don't tell." I think Rowling could have used this advice. Harry doesn't even get to school until page 200! It was nice to visit old friends after three years. Sometimes I found it hard to drown the voices of the child actors who portrayed the main characters in the movies, but by page 400, Harry and friends where talking in the voices I heard them use before the movies came out. There were a few inconsistencies--including one where Harry loses his wand and somehow has it back in the next chapter! (If you know what page it was returned to him on, please let me know, because I couldn't find it anywhere!) The changes in Harry, Ron and Hermione as they are becoming young adults are great! Tempers flare a lot more in this latest installment. In all, an enjoyable read.
Rating: 
Summary: we waited for this?
Review: We've been waiting nearly three years for this installment of the Harry Potter series and, after reading all 870 pages, it hardly felt worth the wait. For instead of the fun, magical world that Rowling has given to us in previous books, this one feels stale and lacks the fluidity of it's predecessors. It is entirely too long and could have easily been trimmed to keep the pace livelier and entertaining. It does drag in places and hardly feels like the Scooby-gang mysteries the other books have treated us to. Bring back the magic J.K.!
Rating: 
Summary: Harry is So good it's Scary!
Review: After waiting 2+ years for the 5th Harry Potter book, I am pleased to say it was worth the wait. Harry is faced with his fifth year at hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry- and that means the fifth years are faced with OWLs. The book starts off at Number 7 Privet Drive, where Harry has lived with his Aunt, Uncle, and overweight cousin for 15 years after Voldemort killed his parents. Harry goes for a walk, and spots his cousin Dudley and is then attacked by a dementor and then foinds out that his catloving neighbor Arabella Figg is a squib, a witch with no power. As the book progresses we see that Harry has become more and more like an agitated teenager, not some goody two shoes boy. Voldemort has come back, but noone believes Harry or Dumbledore. To find out what happens you have to finish the book! At the end there is a surprising death which is very sad...
This book has beautiful language and is very funny, and I would reccomend it to ages 10 and up. You will find Harry Potter enchanting!
Rating:
Summary: I can't wait for book 6!
Review: The books in this series are getting better and better! Book 3 was my favorite because it introduced some of my favorite characters. Book 5 has them all back and gives some of the past of James and Lily. The good is delightful and the bad is purely evil. I can't wait to see what is in store for book 6!
Rating:
Summary: I never dreamed that I would have such a person on my hands
Review: It's been a long three years since Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Thankfully, it was well worth the wait. Rowling delivers an amazing, engrossing novel simultaneously full of humor and tragedy. It's been said many times that Goblet of Fire was dark. Order of the Phoenix is darker. Yet, at the same time, it is a profoundly human novel. After finishing, I sat down and thought about what it was that made these books so wonderful for me. I adore Tolkien's works, from The Hobbit to the Silmarillion. They are epic and intricate. The end of Return of the King touched me in a way few novels have. Yet, in the end, it is a story of wide scope, told from the point of view of a few key adventurers. The Harry Potter books exude a quality which Rowling describes in the wrenching scene in Dumbledore's office near the novel's conclusion -- heart. I have read no other series in which the characters can attain such grandeur yet maintain the flaws which denote their humanity. This was not always true for the early part of the series (I'll discuss this later), but it seems that as Harry ages, the books' content and depth increase as well. Rowling certainly uses many literary archetypes, and the death of a main character is certainly no plot innovation. Yet the book remains gripping throughout. No book in my recent memory has made me so anxious, or made me loathe a villain so thoroughly. Dolores Umbridge, the personification of power-hungry, narrow-minded, iron fist government representative, fostered a sense of enmity I rarely experience with novels, much less day to day life. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is one of those books that makes you want to hurl it across the room in rage at the injustice perpetrated by Harry's opposition (for most of the novel, the magical government and/or its delegates). It's hard to explain the rest of what made me enjoy this novel so thoroughly without spoiling anything. The best I can do is say that character development abounds. The picture-perfect, white and black view of adults and heroes often present in the earlier books is dispelled (no pun intended) forever. Harry's beliefs regarding his parents, his enemies (Snape, in particular), and Dumbledore himself are shaken. Dumbledore's talk with Harry after the final confrontation touched me deeply. We finally see Albus Dumbledore, the man. We see Harry mature greatly. This is Harry Potter's coming of age story - he's no longer the innocent, naive boy who saves the world (this perception was fading even in Prisoner of Azkaban, but the transition is truly cemented in book five), and there are certain realities that he and the reader must face as a result. Similarly, Order of the Phoenix marks the transition from children's fiction which entertains adults as well (remember those deoderant commericals? Strong enough for a man, pH balanced for a woman!) to a deep, complex storyline containing characters children know and love. I'm not sure how much the kids who got into The Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets will enjoy this - perhaps the presence of the beloved characters will carry it through (not to mention the antics of Fred and George, the ever-hilarious Weasley twins). However, Order of the Phoenix is packed with content for late teens and adults alike. From Harry's trouble with girls (and the resulting change in his views towards Cho following the tragedy) to the obvious satire on newspaper, government intervention, and censorship, there's something for everyone. It's just a wonderful book. Give it a try, although I'd recommend at least reading book 3 and 4 first if you haven't. For a long time I neglected the series, thinking it was kids' fantasy, not worth my time. I was sorely mistaken. I feel the bromide applies here - Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Rating:
Summary: It's Harry, but not at his best
Review: I enjoyed reading the fifth book in the Harry Potter series but when I finished, I had to think to myself, what was it that makes me feel that although this was a good book, it was not the best in the series. Two things come to mind. In book five we see a new Harry. A teenager who is angry most of the time, moody, doubting, insecure, impatient and sometimes mean to his friends. He is a typical teenager. This makes Harry a much less likeable character. Secondly, this book was was just too long. Instead of being an 870 page at times slow and redundant book, it could easily have been an exciting, adventure packed 350 page book. Bigger is not always better. In spite of these criticisms, I couldn't put the book down. The story begins as usual with Harry at the Dursley's wishing he was back at Hogwarts, still reeling from the return of Voldermort in the last book. We watch as Harry begins to unravel what has been happening in the wizarding world and feel with him his frustration and feelings of isolation being in a world of muggles while his friends are together. Harry returns to Hogwarts to find that once again he is a pariah and he struggles to find his place. Dumbledore isn't himself, Haggrid is missing, nobody seems to understand that "You know who" is really back. Worst of all a new professor of the dark arts is making life at Hogwarts miserable. Several of the characters are really evil, some are humorous, and all are well developed and interesting. Hermoine has a larger role in this book than in the last and I really enjoyed that. The ending,as always, was a page turner and I was up until 1:30am feverishly trying to reach the conclusion. I was left as usual with the same thought, "I can't wait to read the next book."
Rating:
Summary: Best book ever!!!!!!
Review: This book is the best of the Harry Potter series. While I'm not going to reveal who dies I'll give a hint. Harry sees this person almost as a parent to him. Of course this leaves about 6 different people. I loved every minute of this book and finished it in less than 11 hours. You will love it too.
Rating:
Summary: Nearly impossible to put down!!
Review: I have loved the Harry Potter series ever since I picked up the first one. This book was difficult to put down once I started reading it. I was a little disappointed in the end by the character that was killed off, but the story as a whole was well written and entertaining. As with all of the others in the series, it leaves you hungry for more!!
Rating:
Summary: OK BOOK SAD ENDING
Review: I read the book in four days but I did not rush through it and I saw typing errors on some of the pages toward the end. FACTS :
-A MAIN CHARECTER DIES [WHY DID SHE KILL THEM I DON'T NOW]
-HARRY IS SAD\MAD all THE TIME
-HARRY HAS PROBLEMS WITH QUIDICH AND THE NEW TOAD OF A TEACHER I think the auther rushed when she rote the book, but you should see for yourself. Would you give it a high rating?
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing, tedious and too conflicted
Review: Book V was disappointing. I read it page to page. It seems like the author wanted to show the turbulent world of the adolescent but there seemed no end to the upheavals and barriers that they faced. Harry was always angry, Hagrid was always hurt, and everyone else was chained to uncertainty. The book did not give the message of hope like the others did. It was too long, the kids did not learn too many new things considering they were in the fifth year and Dumbledore's behavior was illogical and out of character. It left me feeling disappointed and unfulfilled.
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