Rating: 
Summary: Harry Potter Rules!
Review: This is the most adventurous, cool, magical, and compelling book in the entire world! It was well worth the wait, belive me!
I've been a HP fan since the 1st grade and this is by far the best HP book yet. I highly recommend this book to anyone.
The student characters have grown into their teen years, {HP is 15,} and each mystery leads to another deeper darker secret, and I can hardly wait for HP number 6!
Rating:
Summary: An excellent continuation
Review: THe fifth installment of the harry Potter series is wonderful. It kept me reading well into sunday night. I wanted to hurry up and read the next page so I could find out what was happening, but at the same time I didn't because I knew I would be that much closer to the end.
This book is a little angrier and darker than the rest, but everyone needs to remember Harry is also growing up and lets face it lots of teenagers have a few dark periods. But the anger and darkness make more sense in the end.
This book is a must for any harry potter fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Who are these people?
Review: My biggest problem with Book Five of the Harry Potter series can be summed up in the title of this review.The characters are behaving so strangely. Now, grant it, Harry's now a 15 yr old teenager. Teenagers are full of angst and mood swings. But do you honestly want to read about this for 900 pages? I don't. I can understand much of Harry's anger. I'd be irritable too if I had to go home every single summer to be abused, locked in my room and starved. Can anyone tell me why the Hogwarts Wizards don't, until this book (book FIVE) do anything to ease Harry's plight? In this book, finally, they confront the evil Dursley's and warn them to be nice to Harry. Why didn't they do this, oh, I don't know, back in book ONE maybe? Secondly, the main conflict of this book could have been avoided if Dumbledore had only had one simple conversation with harry. A single sentence. Anything. Instead, in a plot device that no other writer could get away with, Dumbledore ignores Harry for most of the book, and never has that conversation. Thus, this big conflict, big death, etc. It's kind of lame. Writers are told never to base your conflict on a simple misunderstanding, on something that could be cleared up with one convo. Yet Rowling does exactly this. There are about 300 words too many in this book. It gets awfully slow in some parts, as if JK Rowling feels that anything and everything her characters do is utterly fascinating. I LOVE this series but this book was not one of the best. It meandered, it whined, it stomped its page heavy feet like the petulant teen that harry was throughout. Hermione was not drawn very dynmically, and is becoming a charicature of herself. Dumbledore didn't act like Dumbledore, and neither did Harry. Hagrid annoyed me too, and I'm growing tired of his requests for the ridiculous. What he asked of Harry and Hermione was so silly. Even I had to agree that Hagrid may be a tad off his rocker. And mostly, i found the entire "prophecy thing" to be one big "So?" I already had deduced that much...and i felt like I was sort of ripped off...where's the payout for staying with this book for 900 pages? I needed more from it...and I didn't get that. Hopefully book Six will be less depressing.
Rating: 
Summary: Another winner!
Review: Well what can I say about the great JK Rowling and the wonderful world of Harry Potter that hasn't already been said. This was perhaps one of the most anticipated books ever and it doesn't disappoint. Then why four stars you might ask? Don't worry. It is as fabulous, magical, enthralling and thrilling as ever. But it is not a book for children whatever the cover might look like. Right from the very first chapter it is dark and throughout the book Harry faces challenges which would break most fifteen year olds. I loved the book and in some ways it might be the best so far (many might disagree) since it has so much depth, new rich characters are introduced and characters from previous books including Harry develop new dimensions. I think the key is that Ms. Rowling seems to know that most of her fanatical readers who started reading Harry Potter at a younger age are now older and are ready for darker stuff. (Even the 11 year olds wwho read Book One must be 17 by now) It says much for Ms. Rowling that Harry and his friends are all growing with the books. It is more than anything else a coming-of-age tale. And then there are all the adults who are perhaps even more fanatical than the younger readers. So this book being so dark is quite the stroke of genius taking into account that everyone evolves. And as is said that in any great tale the Hero must sink to the depths of misery to rise again and win against all difficulties and pain, still more the reason for this book being so sad. This book is unrelenting towards Harry right from the very first chapter.
I understand all this but I just cannot get over who she killed off. I can somewhat understand that the plot needed one of the principal characters to die but this was absolutely agonising and felt so wrong. Both for the readers and of-course Harry. And in such a way too which was much too abrupt an end for the character and furthermore seemed to place blame in a lot of quarters. The character was also one who was most crucial to Harry and would have been especially so in the future. I do not want to go into further details since I do not want to reveal who dies (especially since I seem to be the first reviewer) but it was someone I thought of as "anyone but that person." This is the only reason I give it four stars instead of five. Otherwise it deserves five and very likely more.
JK Rowling once again succeeds spectacularly to transport us into the magical world of Harry Potter. Fred and George emerged as such endearing characters and the whole thing revealing why Snape hates Harry's father so much is also simply brilliant. I could go on and on and on. To summarize, just read the book!!!
Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter 5 - Qualms & Mysteries
Review: I finally got the copy of the book this tuesday, and I read it that same day. I'd recommend it to anyone who ever read a single word on any page anywhere ever. Harry is indeed VERY much angrier in this book, and he flies off the handle very easily (not without reason, trust me. Death to Umbridge!). The Weasley twins are at their funniest ever, especially because they've been given the opportunity to be. The lack of the cheeriness that was present in the other books is a little annoying, but that just makes the moments of the big and little triumphs shine all the brighter. The plot is more twisted than the Whomping Willow's branches after Ron flew the Ford Anglia into it, and there are surprises around every corner. Who could ever forget Mrs. Black's portrait, or Dobby's liking of knitted clothes? Despite the darker atmosphere, I got the feeling that this book is either A)The calm before the storm, or B)The blackest darkness before dawn. But it was lovely, enjoyable book anyway, and I can't wait for the next book to come out.
Rating:
Summary: Not Sated - - -- -
Review: I feel like I just ate a small portion of my favorite food and I know that can not have more for ???? I feel compelled to chat about the book a bit: For me, the best aspect of the book was the character development (and likely set-up for greater things to come) around Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom---these two have both lived through some scary and tough things as children and they are shoring up nicely ---I thought that Ginny on the Quidditch team was more significant than Ron's joining which was announced pre-publication. I am glad that she is not being stereo-typed as a "weaker little sister" needing protection. I also like the obvious (this is a kid's story at its core) message about unity and banding together across school "houses." The second generation of the "order" story line (the D.A.) is more suited to the younger audience for the series. Some parents thought that Book IV was too scary for their elementary age kids (me included)but I frankly found Book V to be less so. Dissappointing for some adult readers (me included), but more in keeping with the original tone of the series. I won't spoil who the "killed off" character is, but I have to say that I think it was a good choice. The books needed the sense of how seriously dangerous these "adventures" are---and there was not much a future for real contribution from this character unless other circumstances were to be changed around alot. It was disturbing going through the book in one sense because Harry really has NO HAPPINESS in this book. While less scary, it borders on something more appropriately labeled "dark"--I kept wanting a bit more comic relief, but artistically it was probably the right choice to have less humor here. Still, it's a page turner to the end, and I will be waiting for the chance to sign up for my next installment.
Rating:
Summary: Overwhelmed
Review: Despite having waited three years for this book, I must say that it is the best in the series so far. At this point, you learn a lot of new things about the Magical World and you get to see Harry start making a hard transition through adolescence. My favorite parts about the book were the new character, Tonks; the Weasley Twins (as always); and how I'm starting to see everything fit into place. This is such an important book in the series because it is now not just a handful of seperate stories, its a long story with an extremely complicated plot line. I can't *wait* for the next book!
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Absolutely amazingy...
Review: Well I just finished listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix last night and I have to say I was impressed. Throughout the series I have been worried J.K. Rowling would have trouble keeping here stories interesting and fresh, but every time there is fantastic and new events which Harry must overcome. Harry is now a 5th year student at Hogwarts and he faces more danger than ever before due to the fact that "he who must not be named" is back. I am looking forward to seeing how J.K. Rowling ties in the next books. Listening to the book on audio is a fantastic way to feel like you are in the story. I felt like I was practicially standing right next to Harry as the story progressed. I was sort of one of the gang in a way I guess :-). I would recommend this book on audio to anyone. Small children may be scared at parts but most of the book will be fine for them. Read or listen to Harry Potter! I really think most anyone will enjoy these amazing books...
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Summary: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Review: It was a long wait, but it was worth it. Book 5 is a worthy continuation of the series in that it allows the characters to grow and change without betraying who they were in the earlier books. This story has more danger, more anguish, than the others, but it reflects the darkening situation with Voldemort's reappearance on the scene. The action is fast-paced, and there are not many dull moments in this year of Harry's life--and there are some that make him rethink his view of Hogwarts as his personal Utopia. He deals with things that aren't nice, aren't fair, and that don't seem to have solutions...in other words, the real world. As a mother, I'd be wary of allowing a young child to read this one alone; parents need to read it, too, in case there are some personal issues for their child that they should be ready to discuss--including the death of someone close.
Rating:
Summary: I didn't think it could get any better...
Review: I was afraid that my hopes were too high when I finally received my copy of the Order of the Phoenix. I was quite mistaken. Rowling has managed to create, yet again, a mysteriously wonderful story all the while allowing her readers to acquaint themselves more dearly to her colorful characters. With an honest look at adolescence and the emotional rollercoaster that comes with it, Rowling's character development in this book is astonishing. The only thing about this book that left me disappointed is the fact that I will probably have to wait two more years to find out what happens next.
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