Rating: 
Summary: wow...
Review: This book was just amazing. J.K. Rowling is by far the best writer out their. She is just a genius. I started this book with high expectations and when I was done I was in awe at how good it was. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix explained a lot that we all were questioning, like, 'Why did Voldamort want to kill Harry?', amoung many other questions. I suggest this book to everyone because it's just....a masterpiece. Needles to say I am really looking forward to the sixth book in the series. Hopefully, all of us eager fans won't have to wait to long.
Rating:
Summary: Holy Harry Potter, Batman!
Review: Wow.Thanks to the goodness of summer vacation I was able to finish the 5th installment of the Harry Poter Series in only 2 1/2 days. Quite a feat for me. This goes to show how spellbinding this book really is. Harry Potter is the naieve, innocent little wizard. He now struggles with great frustration, anger, rebellion, and grief. The author really takes you along and makes you feel everything Harry feels until the very last page. I was also very happy to see Harry's godfather, Sirius Black was a more prominent character in this book, as he's been my favortie since the third. The emotions throughout the book were very strong and I have to admit, it did make me cry. This was truly the best book I've ever read. I know I'll be reading it again. It's just a shame I'll have to wait for the next.
Rating:
Summary: OMG
Review: OMG I just finished reading this book last night, it was sooooooo good. I laughed, I cried, and in the end it left me wanting more. Thought the book is 870 pages, its seems to fly by, trust me if youre a fan of harry potter you MUST read this, and well, if youre not, you MUST read it. This has to be the best Harry Potter book yet. Oh, and the death thats really close to really will really shock you, im NOT going to tell you who it is, you have to read it yourself. I cant wait till the 6th book!!! Well have fun reading it, and if you ever want to discuss it with me, you can use Aol Instant Messanger to talk to me, my screen name is Snax212. Have fun reading.
Rating: 
Summary: good, but a bit out of character from the others
Review: I just finished it. I really liked the book. Many things that we had been wondering about in previous books was explained, and it felt like the real action was actually beginning. Umbridge was the best villan that has been introduced to the series yet. However, I understand that Harry is suffering from teen angst,considering all that he has gone through, but the amount of anger he consistently showed got old as the book went on. I know things can only get more difficult for him in the future, but I hope he can sort out his rage a little better in the sixth installment which I'm looking forward to.
Rating:
Summary: It was worth the wait!
Review: I received the book Saturday morning from Amazon (Who get high marks for their Saturday delivery!). I finished the book yesterday because I couldn't put it down after page 178. The book was well worth the wait and would have received 5 stars from me, however there were some ridiculous mistakes that should have been caught during at least the final edit. There aren't just a couple of run on sentences and missing verbs, it was rampant. Knowing that not everybody has read the book yet, I'm only going to say this about the plot: there were some things that should have been tied up at the end that never were. Namely, it was the ultimate fate of Umbridge and whether or not the Ministry of Magic would be able to exert as much control over Hogwarts, which was a major theme in this book. I really enjoyed the book and I'm sure that J.K. Rowling will let us know in the next book the fate of Umbridge's less than successful tenure at Hogwarts. If you're not done with the book yet, call in sick to work tomorrow and finish the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Changing the Formula
Review: I enjoyed the book, however, I found that the plethera of new characters coupled with the change of the standard formula for the plot was quite an abrupt changed. Admittedly, I understand that perhaps Rowling was trying to show some of the interaction between Harry and Voldemort and their personality 'switching' however, there are moments within the book that I feel are untrue to the characters within. Harry, Dumbledore, as well as Hermonie and Ron all seem to be a bit out of step. One could attribute this to adolesence, however, they seem jumbled within a plethera of new characters, settings and situations. Instead of excellent character development and a steady rise of plot, Rowling throws new people at us like baseballs hoping we'll catch them as they whizz by within the plot. Harry is exceptionally unlikeable at times in the book and it is never sufficiently explained why he is acting the way he is acting. Also, the 'death' in the book seems pointless (not to mention over-foreshadowed) except in contrast to poor Cedric in the last book. In short, I think Rowling is fortunate that this is a middle book she can 'coast' on - she never would have sold the massive amounts of copies she did with the first book with this level of writing.
Rating:
Summary: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix
Review: Although i will not go into the plot of the book so as not to ruin it, I will start of by saying that before I read it, I heard too important excerpts from the book. The first, " Someone will die..." and the second, 'Dumbledore saying to Harry, "I am going to tell you what I should have told you five years ago." These of course both came true in the book. The book was great, I laughed, I cried, (I know, Im a sap), the whole nine yards. My favorie characters are Fred and George Weasley, and they put on quite a show, and Harry uncovers new things about his father, and most importantly, why Voldemort tried to kill him. At of all five of the series, I would probably say the 4th is my favorite, then the 5th, 3rd, 2nd, then 1st. I do recomend this book for all ages, and for those who enjoy fantasy books like I do.
Rating:
Summary: Potter goes Owl Postal
Review: Harry's back again and this time things have changed. A seemingly noticeable change is Harry's mood. Gone is the curious and helpful boy. Instead, Harry has changed to the teen-angst stereotype with A LOT of anger. But who can blame him. He's been attacked by everyone from Voldemort to the Minister of Magic and even his own friends. Yet still, no-one's telling him what is going on. We can see the rift between Dumbledore and Fudge rapidly increasing as Fudge sticks the absolute baddy, Dolores Umbridge in the role of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who, with the help of the Ministry, takes over the school (literally!) I found myself cheering for the guerilla style tactics of the D.A and everyone, including Hermione's total disregard for authority. Parallels between this section of the book can be drawn to Orwell's Animal Farm. You can see that with the insane amount of legislations banning this and that passing through the Ministry and directly affecting the students. The mood is generally dark, from the action packed beginning, to the absolutely adrenaline-pumping conclusion. However, the Quidditch matches with Ron as Keeper were generally amusing with the whole "Weasley is our King." Fred and George triumph in this book as they act the absolute funniest, especially with their host of new Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes merchandise. I finished the book within a total of 16 hours. Not because I wanted to shatter records, but because the book was that freakin' EXCELLENT. Rowling triumphs here as the plot takes a serious twist with the death of a main character, but if I revealed who, everyone would kick my [tail]. The best book of the series, I'll leave off with one of THE BEST quotes I've heard: (Fred & George Weasley) "GIVE HER HELL FROM US, PEEVES!"
Rating:
Summary: waiting for the next hogwarts express
Review: i must say that this book was very good. it took me a total of 15 hours to read. i read it from 9 in the morning til midnight on the 21st after getting it at the midnight release date. it was so great. i dont think that i will ruin the book for everyone, since i only do that to my best friend Rachel. my favorite installment is still the prisoner of azkaban, but this one was as inthralling as all of them. jk rowling is amazing. i love the way that she makes us care for harry and his friends, but then we have to stand idlely by as they wonder into danger.
the group becomes more rebellious in this tale, and that makes me identify with harry even more. i am going to be 19 soon, but i feel i have just begun my rebellion. harry potter makes me realize that there are times when rebellion is good, but then there are times when it is not needed. i dont think that harry potter is finished doing its magic on me. i dont think it will be for a long time. the whole series will be required reading for my children when they grow up. i grew up reading books and then got out of it. i never had a playstation or video games. i lived in the fantasy land of my imagination. only last year did i get back into reading thanks in large part to harry potter.
parents, let your children read these books instead of being mindless machines. they will thank you later.
i dont think that i can sing anymore praises of harry potter at the moment as i am the first to review it and there will undoubtedly be many many more reviews to come.
cant wait for the next train ride back to hogwarts.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, but....
Review: Great book, but a slight disappointment compared to books 3 and 4. For a 870 page book, looking back, there were not many revelations that I had gotten in the habit of learning from reading the 3rd and 4th books. This is why I feel that the 5th book is to the 4th book as the 2nd book is to the 1st book. You know a book is awesome if you are reading 400 pages a day. But for it's length, I guess I was just disappointed in the fact that nothing really new was learned. What makes up for it is awesome, and I mean AWESOME action scenes. The last 200 pages blew my mind. I was a bit disappointed in the 'major character death' because it didn't happen in some heroic fashion, but in a manner of being cocky. I love the new, depressed, angry Harry, it adds a bit more spice to the book. Not much love interest going on this one, hopefully things will begin to develop in book 6. The 5th book does not really tell you what to expect out of the 6th book like the 4th book did for the 5th book. In a way I am grateful because this book had more closure and will make the wait less painful.
|
