Rating: 
Summary: Awesome
Review: This is simply the best book of the series. It has a darker setting and a lot more action. It keeps you constantly guessing and you can't stop reading.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: This is an awesome book if you are a teen like me. Or, even if your not. It's got everything you would want in a book. Magic, Adventure, Suspense. And a major character dies, but I won't tell you who. That part wasn't so hot, but this book is by far the best in the series. I have two favorite books of all time now, this one, and a book called, The Little Guide To Happiness. One is fiction, and the other helped me get through some depression I was going through. Whatever your flavor, if you are a teen, these books will surely please.
Rating: 
Summary: Biggest Dissapointment
Review: When I heard the title of the new book, I was looking forward to it. After seeing the size of the book, I was eager to get my eyes through it. This book was the biggest dissapointment so far :( It was pointless! We learn that Harry's going to kill Voldemort if he doesn't kill Harry first. SO WHAT?! That's a GIVEN is it not?! How dare she write such a long, pointless book. And what was it with Cho and Sirius?! Surely she could have written a lot better. Her best book was Prisoner of Azkaban. Her worst was this. If you're a big fan of Harry Potter, go ahead and read this .... Otherwise, don't bother. It doesn't get you anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Just keeps getting better!
Review: I was worried that this book wouldn't live up to the quality of storytelling in the first four books. What if J.K. Rowling was getting tired of the characters? What if success went to her head and the quality suffered?I shouldn't have worried. The first couple of pages were slow but once the action got started I was breathless. I would go to bed at night swearing to read just one chapter, but at the end of the chapter I would be anxious to know what was going to happen next! The story is so much more involved now! Having just finished the 5th book, I'm already wishing for the 6th one. My one caveat is this: I had not read the 4th book since 2000. If it's been awhile since you've read The Goblet of Fire, read it again. While The Order of the Phoenix stands alone as an excellent read, the 4th book is a good reminder of why things are the way they are in the 5th book.
Rating:
Summary: intricate, developing, wonderful
Review: I eagerly awaited this book and was not at all disappointed. The book takes us from the earlier innocence and wonder of the magical world and brings us now to a time of disorder, fear, disbelief, and frustration. Like in the muggle world, Harry is realizing there is no magic fix to all the problems - that at a time of "war" or increasing evil in his world, there are bureacrats, people who don't want to believe the worst and close their eyes to things, divisions instead of standing united. We see his struggles of adolescence, his coming to grips with a changing world, and a widening circle of people. JK Rowling does not disappoint - the little details that bring to mind a grand picture of the magical world are there as always, as well as some truly funny moments. We see more depth in some characters, a bit less in others. As an integral peice of a 7 book series, I can see that this one may be pivotal in terms of the information and clues that may lie in it once we know everything. I read it twice and found it wonderfully thought provoking as well as entertaining. Can't wait for book 6 - read and enjoy and reflect!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Continuation - Almost Full Marks to Rowling
Review: Let me get the good points out there first. I will also try to do this while giving away as little of the plot as possible. I really enjoyed this latest installment of the Harry Potter series. Rowling's latest work is a worthy successor to the previous volumes. She is still spinning an enchanting tale of growing up between two worlds, of dealing with the problems of being an adolescent while in confusing portion of your life and, of course, trying to Do The Right Thing. All the usual characters are there. Unlike many other series' dealing with adolescent characters, Harry and his friends are beginning to show some differences in behavior and dealing with some more adult problems. I find it very refreshing to have the characters age and develop while I'm involved. Even when I read them as a kid, I always wondered why Tom Swift never got over being brilliant teen and became a brilliant adult. The language, while harsher than the previous books in the series, is still within my judgment of what I would consider acceptable language for teen conversation. I've attended kids movies with worse language than what passes between Harry and his friends. While there are some violent fight scenes described, it is not gratuitous violence nor is it made overly gory. Hagrid's face is described after an encounter with a giant, but there is no extreme detail of his injuries; statues, not people, explode from spells that don't hit the target; a character's demise takes place "off camera". Without revealing too much of the plot, I was underwhelmed with the death of the character. This is not to say it is an unimportant event, but rather the hype far exceeds what actually happens. Rowling chose carefully here: the cast is indeed diminished, the loss is heartfelt, there is no immediate damage to the ongoing plot and some interesting avenues for plot branching are created. My biggest negative involves some of the plot twists presented here. If you have followed some of the threads in the USENET newsgroups you may not be surprised at some of the developments. I don't know which came first, but some portions almost seem like fanfic. Rowling does these up in her usual style, so there is no lack of quality in the writing, but rather some of the surprise is taken out of the events as they unfold. I should add, however, this in no way detracts from the overall effectiveness of the plot. Many people question the suitability of the series, and the increased darkness of the plot, for kids. I suggest that if the readers are the age of main characters, it should be OK. This admonition should, of course, be tempered by the emotional development of the reader involved. While I do not condone violent video games, there are any number of home video games and arcade games that have a much greater degree of violence, sexual innuendo and outright sex than what Rowling presents in her story. The closest thing to a sex scene involves an awkward kiss prompted by compassion between to characters. I wholeheartedly recommend the "Order of the Phoenix" to all current Harry Potter fans. I really rate this as 4.5 stars, but we can't do fractional ratings, because of my lack of surprise in certain plot developments. While the book stands on its own merit, I do suggest reading them in order if you are new to the phenomenon as knowing the background will make the story all the more enjoyable. At the end, you will be anxiously anticipating returning to Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. Please Ms. Rowling, don't make us wait so long for the next installment!
Rating:
Summary: I don't know about the story, but the tapes are poor!
Review: My son is old enough to enjoy Harry, but not old enough to struggle through the book. So when I had the opportunity to preorder the book on tape, I jumped on it! He has the first 4 audiobooks and listens to a tape every night. Not these tapes! 14 of the 17 tapes would not work! It appears to be a spooling issue on 12 of them. Before you play them, you should rewind, ffwd (it will stop after a couple of seconds), rewind, ffwd to the end, then rewind to the beginning. This pattern seemed to work for me on 12 of them. On one there was a loop(or kink) sticking out the side of the tape spool, and the last problem was the tape was glued upside down to the leader! (how in the world does that happen???) Additionally I am a fan of audiobooks that state the chapter and side at the beginning of each tape, these don't. It appears to me that this was simply an issue of trying to produce as many copies as possible, as quickly as possible, using the cheapest materials as possible with no quality assurance. In order to avoid these issues, I would recommend purchasing the CD's.
Rating:
Summary: Yet more of the dreary old formula
Review: Rowling apparently never got the memo about hermeneutics, and as a result her 1000 page potboilers shortchange all readers, dumb and savvy. Like it or not, the novel is an art form refined over several centuries, and there are certain expectations, even in a throwaway kids' novel. But Rowling is apparently sublimely, massively, blissfully unaware of any techniques of creating deeper meaning, of layering subtext, of actual thoughtfulness in writing. Just plug the formula in, crank the handle, and bank the royalties. A recent example is in "HP and the goblet of fire". The climax of the book has Potter lost in a maze full of dangerous challenges. It's a slam dunk certainty that he will overcome them all. But how? With courage, intelligence, a good heart, and a winning innocence? It worked in the Wizard of Oz. Golly no, Potter does it with magic. Well, there's a surprise. Magic! I just think it would be nice if the writer could put a bit of thought and subtlety into her work. It doesn't have to be Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. But if you're going to do a Bildungsroman, the buying public can handle a little more than one dimension at a time, don't you think?
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait!!
Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was well worth the wait. In addition to many new, rather colorful characters, Harry and his friends have there hands full. So much of the previous books introduced us to new experiences of life as a wizard. In this one, Harry is no longer surprised by anything. In fact, he starts to understand a few things and guess how to make them happen. He, better than anyone his age, knows what evil is. And he is ready to stare it down whenever it crosses his path. As we have come to expect from him, he cares not for his own safety and success (most of the time) but is more worried for the entire wizarding world, a place he hopes to call home some day. J.K. Rowling is truely the mistress of balance. She uses fear, saddnes, anger and laughter in just the right amounts and in just the right places. In Book 5, she gives her characters depth and humanity. This is the first time I have read one of the Harry Potter books aloud. It makes for a richer experience to share with someone as you go, talking the plot and exchanging ideas, as well as someone to cry with, as we did most of the final 3 chapters. As mothers of small boys, we applaud J.K. for including life lessons, we hope teenage boys reading will pay attention to Hermione when she give Harry dating advice and tries to tell him, yes, girls are much different than boys!! All in all, another success! But as much as we were willing to wait for this one, PLEASE, J.K., PLEASE don't make us wait quite so long this time!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: I have to say its okay!
Review: Alright this definitely was a good book. I mean there were parts where i was dieing to know what was going to happen. But there were a lot of things that she did with this book that I did not like. First off I mean since when did Nevile, Ginny, and Luna become such big characters in this book. I thought that she changed the whole aspect of this book compared to the other books. Second, I wish this book was a little bit more up-beat. I mean how many things can go wrong for one person in a book. I mean this book is sad, I mean Dumbledore even cries. She went off all the old concepts everyone is always happy at the end. Last, I think this book was absurdly too long I mean yeah it gave us more to read but it was little too much. Even though there were a few things i disliked about the book, I still think it rocked and that there are hardly any other writers that can write books as well as she can. I well be waiting for the next one and am still a strong supporter of the series. Maybe some change is for the better. But all in all you need to read this book.
|
