Rating:  Summary: A long, hard year for Harry Review: JK Rowling cashes in some reader IOUs with this book. The atmosphere is oppressive. Harry is much angrier and a little less likeable. Hogwarts, which before had been a point of refuge for Harry, has become a pawn in a power struggle. One one side: those who deny and those who welcome the return of Voldemort, on the other side: those who would actively fight his return. In a distinctly adult battle of beaurocracy, Dumbledore's authority is eroded and the schoolis being systematically stripped of freedom of thought and expression. The book is truthful to the experience of a 15 year old boy's lonely journey towards adulthood. Harry is changing. He experiences the akwardness and sweetness of a first attempt at romance. He is misunderstood and ostracized. I did not enjoy this book as much as book 4, but that does not mean it isn't a worthy read. You trade in your sense of wonder at the world of wizarding for a more pragmatic and mature look at human nature, wizard or not. Rowling asks more of the reader, just as she asks more of Harry. One gets the sense that by book 7 Harry will be an evolved character, transformed not by magic but by a combination of sacrifice and grace.
Rating:  Summary: The Best Harry Potter Novel Yet Review: When I recieved my copy of the newest Harry Potter book my first impression was how big the book was. I am twenty-one years old and I am used to reading books that are pretty big. My concern was with kids that read the books. I thought that they would never get through it, but I talked to one of my cousins who is 12 years old and he said that he got through "The Goblet of Fire" just fine. So it is a book that children will take the time to read. Then I started to read and I was impressed of how it got right into the action with Harry dealing with a dementor, finding out the truth anbout Mrs. figg, and being swept from the Dursley house with The Advance Guard and how it just kept getting better and more interesting. I especially liked when Harry was reunited with Black and his friends from school. I also liked when Harry got back to Hogwarts and got back into the groove and dealing with the awful Dolores Umbridge. Then the end was spectacular especially with the death of a key character that saddened and disappointed me. This book was well written and lived up to the my expectations. It truly shows how much Harry has matured since we last saw him(even though he has become a lot angrier). The plot was great and I love some of the new characters. I highly recommend this thrilling new chapter in Harry's life.
Rating:  Summary: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review: This is Rowling's best book yet! In this book, Harry is very angry and confused, wanting answers about what is happening in the Wizarding world while he is uninformed at the Dursley's during summer break. This book has all the action and edge-of-your-seat suspension to satisfy anyone, while adding a touch of loneliness and betrayal to Harry's feelings as it seems like everyone is keeping the truth away from him.
Rating:  Summary: Great Book Review: Following the same structure of the previous books, Rawlings did a great job of keeping my attention. The harry potter series is often thought of as "just some children's books" by people who have only seen the movies, or people who just refuse to read the book. Quite the contrary, they are fairly deep and kept even my attention, while in turn stimulating my greatly starved adult imagination. They are very simple reads, where a normal near 1000 page book (like LOTR) might take me a week to read, these books, no matter what lenght take only a day or two to read. The evolution of the characters can sometimes seem fulfilling. Beginning with the first book, I felt like an outsider, just observing everything in the book, but as the series progresses, Rawlings has made me fill more involved in the book. I have noticed with the 4 previous books she starts out at an extremely slow pace, just barely manages to throw in enough details to keep me from putting down the book, and then within the last few chapters she crams enough action, adventure and exposed secrets to make me dizzy for a bit. Order of the Pheonix is no different. I did find it a bit more slow than the previous books though. I did see an ad for an interview with Rawlings on some morning show, and she mentioned that someone important dies. I won't dare say who it is, but hopefully you don't dwell on the idea throughout the book. If you liked the 4 previous books (with how fast they are to read, it's a shame not to just pick them up and read them just to say you've read them) you'll definately like this one too. It may be around 100 pages longer than the previous book, but it's actually a faster read.
Rating:  Summary: magic, darker, surprising Review: The very suspenseful story extends between two metaphors for the new Harry Potter: in the very beginning a „disillusionment" charm is cast upon him providing a sort of camouflage - the surroundings' texture is reflected on him, and in the end he smashes a mirror (a very special mirror). Fifteen-year-old Harry will more and more be confronted with a confusing reality pressing onto him, and he less and less knows who he really is - or his father, who as it turns out was less than perfect as well. He is often moody, irritable, suspicious, irresponsible and also, in a special situation, really quite tactless. The most pronounced change, however, is that in the whole new novel he is very passive, all the important ideas and decisions of the plot are not really his own in the first place. The great thing is, despite all, he is still absolutely our Harry Potter -> real magic storytelling! There are lots of brilliant (old) new characters, very nice new details of the magic world, unforgettable scenes... and the story has a lot of loose ends for the next part, a completely new (potential) future turn of the story, which makes hope that the next one will be not again three years away. ...
Rating:  Summary: Another Great Addition Review: Okay needless to say the Harry Potter series is a biblio-phenomenon. This is another great addition to the series by first-time writer JK Rowling. The book is very dark and full of teenage angst. Family bonds become an even greater force. The book follows the course similarly applied by her other books (intro w/ Dursleys, Train to Hogwarts, education time, final exams, back to Dursleys) but this echoes the lives of every school age kid; if Harry didn't follow this pattern it would be less realistic. There are a ton new characters and more about the wizarding world as a whole. Tensions heat up as Harry gets [upset] about his position as a child with a man's heart (don't we all). Altogether, I kept nodding my head and saying, as a 16 year-old, I know how he feels.
Rating:  Summary: The best book of the series Review: This book is full of teamwork and love. Despite what many others have said about it being full of evil, this book has many Christian symbols. Just like all of the books in the Harry Potter series, it's a page turner, full of twists and surprises. Even though it's the longest children's book ever written, I found that it was easy to read and to follow. There is so much in the plot. With Lord Voldemort's return, there is much going on, especially in Hogwarts. Read this book and you will certainly have an adventure.
Rating:  Summary: An AWESOME Book! Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is one of the best books of the series. Its so intriguing and keeps you wondering about what is going to happen next. You wont want to put the book down! There are so many surprises and new people. Youll LOVE it! And people of all ages can read it. I recommend reading the other books before it in the series because you need to know what has happened before. Once you start you just cant stop!
Rating:  Summary: Wow. Review: I breezed through this book in three days. I read it on the train. I read it at work. I read it at four in the morning, fighting exhaustion all the way. I could not tear my eyes away from it. Unlike some reviewers, I will not give anything away. I think it's despicable that I knew what the entire book was about before it came out. Still, read the book. It is worth every minute we've been waiting for it. It's Rowling's best yet.
Rating:  Summary: Fact or fiction? Passion, plot, and a core of moral truth Review: Just for kids, or just for adults? _Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix_ has the most sophisticated and passion-inducing plot of the series. Through the thin veneer of broomsticks and teenage crushes, Hogwarts sees the rise of a fascist regime on its very own grounds. Harry faces a world terrified of war and renewed strife, filled with closed-minded, powerful people who would rather throw Dumbledore in Azkaban than look beyond their own front doors. Not for the nervous or faint of heart, _Order of the Pheonix_ shares the usual Harry Potter medley of fun and games mixed in with battles of good vs. evil, life vs. death, but the struggle against Voldemort is clearly becoming the main focus of the series. We see the last four years of strife finally catching up with Harry's psyche, and even catch a few long-awaited glances into the nobility, strength, and sheer power that is Dumbledore. This is a book of transition: transition for Harry from innocent youth to adulthood, transition for the wizarding world from safety into mortal peril, and transition for the series from fun-loving adventure to profound lessons and insights that both the characters and we the readers must acknowledge and confront about both the wizarding and the real worlds.
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