Rating: 
Summary: A step back from the previous book
Review: I was a little disappointed in this book. Not that it was horrible or anything, but it was nowhere near as good as The Goblet of Fire. (minor spoilers below...)Good stuff: This is the most heavily character-based book of the series so far. It's not just the big 3 (Harry, Ron, Hermione) who get face-time - the other kids, teachers, the members of the Order and even the Dursleys all get flushed out, generally to good effect. The new villainess of the piece is well and truly contemptible - I was happy to see her suffer defeats. The overall ambiance of fear and paranoia was well done and appropriate, given what happened in book 4. Rowling's easy-going writing is still quite readable, and several scenes (notably teen Snape meeting teen James Potter) were powerful and sometimes chilling. Bad Stuff: Two main things cut down my enjoyment of the book. For starters, in such a huge tome, surprisingly little happens. There's no central element driving the plot (ala the trwizard tournament, finding what's petrifying people etc) and the storyline, such as it is, leaves the book little different at the end than the start. Think about it: in the first 4 books (especially #4) when the plot comes together at the end, you can go back and see all the clues and foreshadowing that were leading up to it, where all the red herrings led into minor elements of their own, all good. Nothing like that happens here. At all. The "big secret" that is revealed at the end is woefully underwhelming. Plus, stuff that should have gotten a bit more page time is glossed over quickly. In the denouement, one event fans have been waiting/hoping for happens, with barely any mention. The second problem is Harry himself. Throughout the book he's angry, verbally abusive, sullen... not very likable. Yes, I know, he's becoming a teen and is definitely under stress and has reason to be in a bad mood given all that's happened/happening.... except that his mood never changes. Other characters step up for Harry with friendship and loyalty, in a big way, but this seems to bounce off him like water off a duck. And at the story's end, he's pretty much in the same state, no growth or evolution of his character occurs. Here's hoping Rowling gets a little more back in the groove in book 6.
Rating: 
Summary: Is this the Fate of all series?
Review: This last book was needlessly long; Rowling could have easily slashed at least one third. Harry potter was walking around in a snit for 94% of the book, and I wanted to say get over yourself already, why don't you? The book was filled with some major doom and gloom elements that depressed rather than enticed. I did not get the sense of euphoria that I got from the last 4 books, but I guess since we have 2 more books to read there is not much choice for us die hard fans. One good thing is that in the last 250 pages Rowling pulls through and she shows us that she is there to fascinate as we knew she could. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Prelude to War¿
Review: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the latest edition to J.K. Rowling's landmark Harry Potter series, makes its much-anticipated debut to the literary world and does not disappoint. Though a whopping 870 pages, the book, much like its predecessors, is a fast read bound to keep audiences hooked and enthralled. THE STORY: Lord Voldemort's return has turned the Wizarding world upside-down. Half the Wizarding world believes he is indeed back. The other half believes the "rumors" and "stories" are outright lies. Harry Potter is caught in the middle of it all - beloved hero to some, scorned pariah to most. Chaos runs deep a thick through the Wizarding world. Hogwarts and indeed the Ministry of Magic itself starts to come apart at the seems with a great schism and power struggle. In the midst of it all Harry himself becomes victim to Anakin Skywalker-like anger issues. At the same time Harry and his friends, now 5th year students at Hogwarts, come-of-age and must deal with their OWL level studies and of course, the pangs of teenage romance. NIFTY-REVELATIONS: Among some of the things we see here in Year 5 are... 1. A glimpse into Snape's past and his background with Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail 2. The world of Giants 3. More revelations about Sirius Black and the "Noble and Most Ancient" Black family 4. More Death-Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix that opposes them 5. More about Harry's parents and their contemporaries 6. FINALLY, the complete story behind the mysterious connection between Harry and Lord Voldemort THOUGHTS, COMPARISONS and CONTRASTS: Rowling's writing style continues to simply enthrall you and draw you in. Despite its unbelievable size you will be hard-pressed to put the book down as Rowling's writing style easily hooks you in and makes you WANT to find out what happens next. (For myself I managed to finish the book in about 3 days with about three 7 hour marathon reading sessions last weekend). More than any other book in this series, "Order of the Phoenix" is quite simply the most "emotional" out of all the books. Harry's ordeal and mistreatment throughout the book simply will leave you seething as well with him. You definitely will FEEL for him. With a nearly complete world and cast of characters to pull from many of our friends from previous installments all make appearances in Order. The previous books in the series were, aside from great fantasy novels, also great MYSTERY novels with big twists and turns. This is not the case with "Order of the Phoenix." There are no mysteries here. The book is simply what it appears to be, the prelude to a great big war. The final chapters of the book, with its intense battles, are not only a prelude to what should be in store in Books 6 and 7 but also a nice "mental image" teaser to how awesome the battle will come out on the big screen should we ever be treated to an "Order of the Phoenix" movie. THE VERDICT: If you are already a Potter fan you've probably already read the book, if you aren't a fan (yet) check out this book and the rest and catch up with the rest of society (you WON'T be disappointed). Total Read Time: 22 hours, spread out over 3 days Highest Recommendation
Rating:
Summary: Not great
Review: The fifth installment was a little disappointing. The Harry Potter character is different (in a bad way). And when will anyone give Snape a chance? Still worth reading though. Just don't expect too much.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is predictable, lame, boring, and implausible
Review: Before I start, I must say that I had enjoyed books 1-4 and I have read each one of those books multiple times, but book 5, HP and the Order of Phoenix is different. I read it once, and I don't plan to ever read it again. It was one of the worst books I have ever read. Of the 870 pages in this book, maybe 100 of them were interesting. The rest was continuing repetition of stuff she had said many times before. The plot was predictable and implausible. Characters were one-dimensional and weak. They basically repeated the same exact things they had said before. This book was obviously not ready for print. She should have taken few more years and put out something readable. I have lost all respect for this author.
Rating:
Summary: Best One Yet.
Review: In my opinion, this one has a slight edge over Azkaban (Book 3), for the top spot. You get to see a new side of Harry, and more of him as a real person. in this book you get to see Harry angry, confused, and depressed, rather than the more happy and jolly other books. But, for some reason, I still find the second one to be the darkest in the series. This is a must read that will keep you guessing, and jumping to conclusions, which are always twisted into something unexpected.
Rating:
Summary: This book was worth the wait
Review: I loved reading this book. I could not read it fast enough. J.K Rowling has created a series of books that people of all ages can enjoy. This book was hard to put down. The Order Of The Phoenix is a group of wizards whose purpose is to prevent Lord Voldemort from getting stronger and causing trouble. Lord Voldemort is an evil wizard who torments Harry mentally throughout this book. The connection between Harry Potter and Voldemort is finally explained in this book. The best thing about this book is the imaginative way Rowling writes about the world of magic. Harry Potter develops his psychic ability in The Order Of The Phoenix. Harry has dreams or visions about bad things happening to people. This ability gives him the opportunity to save a character being attacked by a snake in this book. I loved the description and names of the magic classes in this book. There is an entire chapter that I loved about a subject called Occlumency which is the magical defense of the mind against external penetration. Wizards also take classes like The Care Of Magical Creatures and an interesting class called Defense of The Dark Arts in which students magically create animals or other objects to protect themselves from danger. The Order of The Phoenix is such a visual book. So many things occur in this novel that I could just visualize by reading about them. The game of Quiddich with players flying around on broomsticks is a great example. There are interesting visual creatures in this book like centaurs and giants. I loved reading this book. It is one of the longest books I ever read. I actually learned a lot of new vocabulary words like asperity, assidiously, and surreptious. Learning new words in a great book like this is just an added bonus.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing!!
Review: This is by far the most amazing book I've ever read and its the ONLY book that has made me laugh that hard on a date. In the fith inlstalment of JK Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry turns into what we had all known was coming...a true teenager. With violent mood swings, his stupidity on girls, and uncomprimising attitude, this book shows us much of our younger selfs in it. We also find how cruel the real world can be sometimes as Harry faces redicule from the wizarding world and his peers even more so than in book 4. Although this book is much longer than the last book, you will never realize it and zoom through it just as quickly as you have the other books and have the best time too. Filled with everything you could ever want in a book, this is definitly the best Harry Potter book yet....with 2 more to go :)
Rating:
Summary: Order of the Phoenix
Review: Having just finished the 5th Harry Potter book, I am a little disappointed. The pace of the book really does not pick up until the last 250 pages. It is worth reading as I think it may be the bridge to explaining a lot in books 6 and 7, but it is definately not the best in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Greek theater-good but not worth the wait
Review: While each Harry Potter book of the series tries to play out as its own episode, it's easy to see the series as one whole story. Structured very much like a five act greek play, the first book provided us with an introduction to our characters and world. The second and third book were the rising action, book two providing our back story and book three leading towards are climax, book four. Goblet of Fire had the most interesting premise, the Triwizard tournment and lead to the climax of the entire series, the return of Voldemort. Book five, and probably book six fall under descending action. After the climax, there is no more mystery. We all know Voldemort is back and will continue to do evil, which is just what he does in book five. Order of the Phoenix tries to be clever by providing us with answers such as Harry having to defeat Voldemort, but I think most of us figured that out in book one. Book five's purpose is to heighten the tension. Things begin to spiral out of control and probably will do the same in book six. What we are all really waiting for since book four is the last chapter of the series, book seven and the final confrontation between protagonist and antagonist. Do we really have to wait another three years for book six? No, we didn't need to wait three years for book five, we don't need to wait for book six, what we are really waiting for is book seven. After the climax in Goblet of Fire, there is not much that the author can do to surprise us. So, J.K. Rowlings, get cracking, we're at the end here and we want to see the conclusion
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