Rating: 
Summary: Harry is growing up
Review: First of all, let me start by saying I love all the Harry Potter books. I'm 34 and I've read each one cover to cover as soon as it was released. Harry's fifth adventure starts off in the those hazy days of summer that all of us can remember. Lying around the house with nothing to do. Except Harry has it tougher than most of us did. He's trapped with the horrible, unbearable Dursleys. Fortunately, Harry has started becoming his own man, coupled with an unforeseen event, Harry is luckily reunited early with his friends and unofficial family. The book is a little slow at first, as we are reacquainted with a lot of the old characters and some new ones. There is trouble afoot in the wizarding world and for once, it resembles ours. Wise adults make mistakes. Teenagers experience rebellion. The order of things is undermined. Harry has to live not only with his celebrity but also gets a taste of infamy. But by the time the characters start their 5th year at Hogwarts, the story really picks up. Harry has to deal with the disbelief and lack of support around him, including what he feels are unfair reactions by those he trusts. And for the first time, Harry has to actually pay attention in school. The dreaded O.W.L. levels are going to take place at the end of the year and a substantial amount of his time is spent in preparation. There's some Quidditch, Hagrid's tragic-comic adoption of yet another dangerous creature and the best villain yet; someone relentless, treacly sweet and full of boundless malice. This book is more ominous than its predecessors; you can almost feel the dark clouds approaching as the lines are drawn between good and evil wizards and their allies. There is death, surprises, quite a bit of humor (courtesy of those deliciously wicked Weasley twins), and for Harry, a dawning comprehension about what his role is and the skills he'll need to face Lord Voldemort. Although this book is over 800 pages long, it's still a quick read. Rowling is a very clear writer: there is no confusion of characters, locations are mapped out, details are vivid but not overlong or flowery and there are quite a few surprises. I'm looking forward to the 6th installment and I hope it is all and satisfying as this one.
Rating:
Summary: The next great adventure
Review: This new chapter in the Harry Potter collection will not disappoint you. At 870 pages it is still a quick read and seems shorter than it really is. While it may not have as many action scenes as Goblet of Fire, it has more in the department of character development. This book seemed to be much more about friendship and how important it is to stand united. In this new story we see just about all the characters from the previous stories. We see much more of Fred and George Weasley, Nevielle Longbottom, Sirius Black, as well as some brand new characters. I grew rather attached to these characters and it struck me harder than I thought it would when one of the characters died. The dialogue is excellent of course and is often funny. This book had more humorous lines than any of the others and in my opinion had the best dialogue. The action scenes in this book were albeit, very well done, yet not as intense as in Goblet of Fire. To get to the action scenes of the book you'll have to wait until to the end. And, more importantly, you will wait until the end to find the answer to the question that began in the first story, why does Voldemort want to kill Harry. This story was really well done, but I did not enjoy it as much as the previous installment, The Goblet of Fire. But, do not let that stop you from reading this book. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you will enjoy it. More importantly if you're not a Harry Potter fan, read these books, you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: J.K. Rowling has far outdone herself. Brilliant, absolutely brillant.
While Book 5 is darker and more severe than the last 4 (yes, someone dies, no, it is NOT Harry), there is plenty to keep the ball rolling. It's delicious that some things you expect to happen really don't, and others that you think aren't going to happen do. Rowling also adds a lot of twists, including plenty of near-death experiences that run down the list of people you expect to die. She also incorporates some less important characters from the last few books-take, for example, Firenze the centaur-and gives them more importance.
And of course, everyone from the past is back again, from Professor Snape to Dumbledore to Cho. It was great to see that the students were as worried about the O.W.L.s as I was about my SAT.
Also, Rowling puts more snap into the characters, especially Harry, who is definitely a little more, for lack of a better word, vicious-throughout the book, I kept wondering if I was that rude at 15.
But with all the twists in the plot, and the ending, you soon forget your worries. The book wraps around you like a blanket, and won't let go until you're done. I didn't put it down, even in Latin class-and that's a lot for me.
But overall, the buzz was more than expected, and it was met with the greatest answer of all. I expect many more will be reading books 6 and 7. I can't wait. I highly, highly recommend it for everyone, ages 8 to 108.
Rating: 
Summary: Magical!
Review: Harry Potter and his friends are growing up and facing increasing challenges, not the least of which include the mysteries of a girl's mind. The issues are darker and far more political. Friendships are a bit rockier and there are more secrets. Harry finds out more about adults in his life - they are imperfect and make mistakes. Once again, J.K, Rowling has written a tight, fast moving story, rich in detail and characterizations, with enough mystery and suspense to make it difficult to put down despite its 870 pages and 38 chapters.
Rating:
Summary: The best out of all of them!
Review: this book had me gripped from beginning to end. i couldn't believe how enraptured i was in every single word. JK Rowling's style of writing is fluid and undaunting. i love how seamlessly she mingled the darkness and the humor and how accurately she captured the growing maturity of harry potter. harry's frustration with dumbledore's virtually ignoring him is, instead of bottled up, acted out to the point where he is screaming at his friends. this frustration is a pivotal part in the book and so well conveyed by Rowling. the darker tone and mood was an expected and welcome change to her previous books and the underlying sense of danger and peril throughout made the last hundred pages a race to find out what would happen next. the addition of many new characters as well as the return of old favorites made the story richer and more readable as well. lupin, sirius, and moody were colorful and lively in every way. dolores umbridge as the new DADA teacher added a new level of evil to the mix -- the type of evil that can be found in people who come from places that are usually associated with trying to fight it, namely the wizard government, the ministry of magic. the revelations in this book are many and will surely drive the final two (sniff, only two left) to a stunning and satifying conclusion. this book is stocked with heavy themes that have been festering since the sorcorer's stone that perhaps younger readers cannot pick up on, but truly makes the older potter fanbase more riveted to the series than it ever was. i know i couldn't put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: Evil is back???
Review: To be totaly honest, I was rather disappointed. I just missed, the spellbinding, pageturning tension of the four previous books. Harry Potter being a blooming teenager is not very convincing. The plot is dragging, almost predictable, thera are to many sidelines and the conclusion not much of a suprise. Of course, Harry Potter and the other characters need to develop, THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX is about ignorance, trust and changes, but nobody seems to communicate or even care any more. The characters run in circles, their actions make no sense at all ,nevertheless, everything falls into places in the end.
I can't say I did not enjoy reading this book, but I expected much more. There was not to much new stuff to discover, some things I was really looking forward to find out about.
Rating:
Summary: Too much teenage anst . . .
Review: Don't get me wrong this is still a very enjoyable read but to tell the truth I got a little impatient with Harry's continual temper tantrums. I mean I know he's 15 now and smack in the middle of the teenage anst period, but he seems to be the only one among the students unable to control himself. I've always liked the character before. He's been more or less typical of his age but always with a little something special - loyalty, bravery, nobility - that sets him apart and makes his showdown with You-Know-Who at the end of each book triumphant and believable. This time he comes off as a jealous, conceited know-it-all who can't believe he's not number one all the time. Maybe that's a little harsh, but I can't tell you how little I liked Harry in this book and how much it spoiled the story for me. I'm really hoping he'll get over it before Book 6.
Rating:
Summary: Just As Good (If Not Better) Than the First Four!
Review: Order of the Phoenix goes deeper into the wizarding world, showing the reader places they've only heard about. Harry doesn't even arrive at Hogwart's until page 200. The death that Rowling dreaded came to me as a shock and I know it will have SERIOUS reprucussions in the next two books. The characters are changing, too. Harry's dealing with a lot of angst. ALSO, a big shocker about the character of James Potter.
Rating: 
Summary: I think Harry got wrapped up in the movies
Review: I loved Harry Potter with great adjectives and awesome stories but this one turned out to be a little differant. Harrys books were writen in a way that you could of really enjoyed but this one was a differant story. J.K. Rowling's used to have great sentences and terrific plot. This one has choppy sentences and words that i tried to look up and found out that arent even real.This book didnt explain anything that happended and whent on confusing me and my friends.(also harry potter fans)I thought this book was horendously terrible and boring. I still dont understand why many things in this book happened. With choppy sentences and imcomprhensible story line this book became boring and pointless really quick. If anything avoid this book J.K. Rowlings became to invouled in the movies. This book be came a 600 page paperweight with alot of pointless word and crude illustartions.i bother getting this book i give it a 1 because it dose have somethings that are written well. This book dose become repeatative and reapeats things from the first, second, third and fourth. If you want a good book i suggest Holes with great adjectives and things come back to haunt them or help them its just a terrific book. Get Holes and enjoy and get Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5). Enjoy (holes that is)
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars
Review: This book was good, but i felt it could have been better. It didnt flow as well as the other books, it just seemed choppy. The story line was relatively good, but i was half way thorugh the book before things began to pick up and I was interested. And another thing, while i understand that Rowling is English and this story is set in England, there are words that I just didnt understand, ie "mickey?" I'd seriously like someone to explain to me what that means, also In this book, she calls the sweaters they get a christmas time "jumpers", when in the last 4 books it was sufficient enough to say sweater. I know she was inder tremendous pressure to finish ths book, but like I said before, it just didnt flow. Also, the ending wasnt as good as "Goblet of Fire" or any of the other books, where I hung on to every word and highly anticipated the next book. Dont get me wrong, I am a huge HP fan, but I felt this was not Rowling's best work. Better luck next time
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