Rating: 
Summary: Excellent...but wait I think Ms. Rowling made a mistake!
Review: Ah, the world of Harry Potter. As usual the wonderful writings of Ms. J. K. Rowling held me under a spell, and I just couldn't put it down. I love the whole world that she's created, and because I'm an excellent reader for my age, I could handle the 4th book. My Mum and my Uncle have both read all the books and i agree with them that the books have become more difficult as the story countiues. But in it all it still remains and excellent novel with a thrilling plot twist. There is so much mystery and intrege, the whole plot is filled with lies, hate and a great many stunning surprises. One thing that I must give to Ms. Rowling above al others is her ability to keep things straight. Despite the fact that she discovered a large whole in the plot, and had to work 12 hour days for 2 weeks in order to finnish the book, JK's good writing skills (and I'm asumming good notes) kept every last detail straight...but I did notice one flaw. The end of the novel when Voldemort and Harry duel. The people and spells that came out of the Dark Lord's wand were supposed to come from the latest one and back. Well first there was Wormtail's hand, followed by Cedric Diggory, The old Gardener, Bertha Jorkins and then here I think is a mistake. First Harry's father came out of the wand, then Lily Potter. Am I mistaken but didn't Lily Potter die after James? So truthfully it should have been Lily and then James. Right? JK's simple and one time mistake perhaps were not noticed by many but I remember that at least. Well I'll excuse the flaw I Loved the book despite this.
Rating: 
Summary: Familiar.....
Review: I have given this book one star for just one reason: There isn't a zero star option! I am stunned by the rave reviews this book receives. I have read all four of the books in this miserable series, and have written a review on the first book (my opinion hasn't changed- that review is also a one-star). I'm not planning on spending money on these books anymore. In my experience, many of the people who love Harry Potter are the ones who will read a book only if they have a book report or summer reading to do. These books are for the people whose imaginations are impoverished due to lack of reading. As another reviewer put it, "The adults who like these books are the ones who didn't pay attention in English class." One other thing I've noticed is that this series should have a subtitle: The Lord Of the Rings. This book lacks originality. J.K. Rowling has tried and failed to write a book as great as The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. When Harry Potter #5 arrives on the shelves, leave it alone and pick this one up. You won't regret it! Another series of much higher quality are the Redwall Series, by Brian Jacques. Then, when you've finished with them, read the Sherlock Holmes stories, by A. Conan Doyle. Another series to read as soon as possible are The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. So, forget Harry Potter, and read good books like these!
Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
Review: Harry Potter is a Wizard who is in his fourth year at Hogwarts school for Witches and Wizards. Trouble always seems to find Harry and his two friends Ron and Hermione who are all in Gryffindor.(one of the houses in hogwarts) Out of all four of the books, this is the one that i enjoyed the most. It was full of adventure excitement and, like all of the other books in the series, danger!! This is a book for all age groups but beware- all books in the Harry Potter series are very addictive!!!!
Rating:
Summary: best book of the series so far...
Review: the day that this book came out, this book had high expectations from just about everyone and i hafta agree that it meets them and then some. in my opinion, it's the best book of the series as of yet. this book incorporates many past details from prequels (such as harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban),j.k. rowling is one of my favorite fictional authors because of this. and although because of that fact it's hard for readers to start from the middle of the series, it also makes it more exciting for dedicated readers. another admirable quality of this series is that adults can and do become caught up in the magical land as well as children. this book is, obviously, about our favorite kid wizard, harry potter, and a contest called the triwizard tournament. this tournament is completely and totally dangerous, causing the allure of it to increase. here, we also find that hogwarts is not alone in the world of magic as a school for young, enterprising wizards and witches. the catch is that hogwarts competes against the two other schools in europe in this story. beauxbaton is a snotty french school that consider beauty above all the best quality in the world (showing in the students, teachers, and school itself). durmstrang is the secretive school that has turned out the most dark wizards in history. and the goblet of fire is the impartial judge to choose the champions for the schools. our old friend cedric diggory is the hogwarts champion. "surprisingly", harry is chosen by the goblet of fire as the fourth contestant in the tournament, breaking rules here and there. the animosity toward him from just about the entire school is tangible. i'm sure that you can tell trouble is on the way. the evil voldemort gets mixed up in the whole predicament and more. but i'm not going to break out any more juicy details, you'll just hafta found out yourself. the only criticism that i can offer is that though the book is extensive, it doesn't offer as much magical description and wonder as before in the first books, but what else is there can a person think of that wasn't before? a definite and must read if you like this series.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book...Poor Technology
Review: So far, I have enjoyed this audio book immensely. JK Rowling and Jim Dale are an inspired team. However, I haven't gotten very far, because I am about to return my second set of tapes for serious tape malfunction. At least two tapes in each set of twelve that I have purchased were visibly twisted and bent and no whizardry could get them to function. Too bad. Bet the rest of the tapes are just as good in content and performance.
Rating:
Summary: Worst of a Bad Bunch
Review: Reviewer: maureen_dogbrekvast@hotmail.com from Orkneys After suffering having to read the first three of these mediocre, derivative and uninspiring books to my daughter, this latest instalment really plumbs the depths. At least half of the book is expendable and extraneous to the "plot", one can only imagine it being added as padding to distend this overbloated book even further. What little plot there is meanders to such an extent that any narrative momentum is lost. The dialogue is embarrassingly mediocre. The use of metaphor and imagery is rudimentary so say the least. Anyone who has read children's fiction widely over the last 30 years or so will recognise this smorgasbord of tried and tested fictional themes, little of its content being truly innovative or interesting. The continuing popularity of these books really is beyond belief.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful performance by Jim Dale...
Review: Jim Dale not only brings J.K. Rowling's words to life; he quite literally embodies them. His 100-plus voices are often uncanny and so distinct, you could swear that there had to be other people doing the voices. But it's all one person. Even the Weasley twins have distinct voices! Among my personal favorites are Hermione and Hagrid and McGonagall and Sirius...they are spot-on! But it's so easy to get lost under the spell of the narration...you really get the sense of Rowling's light humor, and Dale really gets the right intonation of the students' banter...I reckon that he must be a kid at heart. I'm not surprised to hear that he won a Grammy for this audiobook...I'm not embarrassed to say that as I listened to his audiobook of "Azkaban" toward the end, tears came to my eyes...he made Harry's fears and heartache so real...and the conclusion of "Goblet"...not only was it heart-wrenching to read (I read the books first of course), but Jim Dale makes it so much more immediate and compelling, that at one point, I had to stop the tape, it was too much to take. I highly recommend all of his audiobooks.
Rating:
Summary: No Words Can Describe How Much I Love This Book!
Review: As I said above, no words... And that's unusual, me being a writer. This book is by far the best yet, though 5 has the possibility of being greater. Story Of Book 5? The Death Eaters, it seems, have returned to the wizarding realm; someone's trying to kill Harry; and on top of all that, Voldemort's coming back! This is well written, as all the books are. As a writer I can appreciate this. By the way, Snape RULES in this book! BUY THIS BOOK! You won't be dissapointed!
Rating:
Summary: Rowling's Best...So Far
Review: Many readers complained that the beginnings of the book were worthless and that they could've done without them, but I disagree. What Rowling does in the beginning is set up the entire story and certain deliciously exciting parts such as the Quidditch World Cup scenes, which are definately suprising and un-put-a-downable. She also sets up the big picture in the book as in previous books, which features a climatic battle with Lord Voldemort, or as in book 3, an unexpected conclusion involving Harry's new godfather, Sirius Black, and the strange character Peter Petigrew. Other reviewers have also stated that the book is too dark and violent. It's dark, but only because Harry is maturing and things getting darker is sometimes what happens, especially in Harry's world, which is one filled with magic, danger, and wonder everywhere you turn. As for the violence, that comes with the darkness and sometimes you just have to deal with it. What else would you do in Harry's place with a menace like Lord Voldemort hanging around scheming and plotting new ways to kill him or use him as he attempted to do in this book? I for one would definately be petrified from fear, but Harry was courageous enough to stand up to the He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and even escapes (several times now), however narrowly, from the evil clutches of Voldemort. So violence is necessary here. Harry can't just let himself be killed. You can wish that Lord Voldemort didn't even tried to do something horrible to Harry, but if he didn't, he wouldn't be the evil archnemesis we know, would he? Besides, it's Rowling's story and so far I think she's doing an excellent job with it. As for the readers complaining that the Harry Potter books are not great in the literate world, I suggest you get checked back into realtiy. Not only are they immensely popular (as were literate greats Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, and Mark Twain, which I'm sure you all know), but are classic in their views of courage, coming-of-age, and when facing darkness. The style Rowling writes in is flowing and easy to follow. She isn't too heavy on description, though still pays close attention to detail where it really is needed. Instead of lavishly decribing Hogwarts or Diagon Alley over and over again as she had before, she elaborates on the character's feelings, which are by far more important. Although this is true, you aren't at all blind in Rowling's imaginative world. All you need is a creative mind, a handful of Rowling's descriptive sentences and you're there, watching the greatest Quidditch match take place, or crossing your fingers for Harry while he makes his way dangerously through the Triwizard tournament, or at the dreadful climatic battle, clasping the book hard as you become afraid to read on yet still wanting to know what happens next. Another complaint of readers was the useless dialouges between characters. They may be lengthy but if you really listen to the characters, you can see them mature right before you. Harry becoming more daring and brave with the Dursleys. Hermoine lightening up or stiffening at the subject of House-Elves. Ron still scared of spiders and considering himself poor, his relationship with Harry becoming shaky and then wonderful again. Their dialouge is not something skip over-most of the story's humor in them! With all these complaints, it looks like readers are trying to "grow up" and are forgetting the captivating magic of the actual story. Who really cares about the technical things or happenings in the book? I certainly don't. I just want a story. A story that will give me characters to love, hate, cherish, care, and want to know better. A story that will give the good characters an adventerous plot they deserve. A story with a delicious style. Rowling has served me that story. I should think that she has done the same for you. Stop complaining. Stop trying to pick at the book and critisize it. Instead, enjoy it like a book should be. If you didn't like it, don't ever read it again. If you miss it, then perhaps you like it after all. If not, fine, but I definately don't want to hear it. I'm sure other loyal Harry Potter fans won't either. I hope this has helped you. I also reccomend the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. They are a wonderful group of books and like Harry Potter, are sometimes misunderstood for their beauty and complexity. Happy reading.
Rating:
Summary: This book is sweet!!!!
Review: Harry is really cool. Our teacher read the first book to us while we were in school. My sisters read it too and they're a lot older. I've read all the other books too. The best thing about Harry is that he got me to read. Oh, and he plays sports like me!! Pete Miller
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