Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling > Reviews

Advantages: Absorbing read
Disadvantages: Bit big and long for some kids / ages...

...all summer. However, what Harry is about to discover in his new year will turn his world upside down…” Not the best synopsis, but let’s face it – this book was a winner when it was only in it’s suggested phase. Wow, wow and thrice wow. The fifth instalment of the wonderfully successful series by J K Rowling about a young boy who finds out his true self when he’s 11, and is thrust into the parallel world of wizards, witches, spells, potions ... Read review

Advantages: Something to do
Disadvantages: Failed to keep me captivated

...include much background information to Harry Potter as it will just sound like I’m droning on and on and repetitive for those that have read my previous op’s. Unsurprisingly, the book again opens up with Harry staying with his only living relatives, the Dursley’s during his Summer Holiday. Harry has never enjoyed coming back here because the Dursley’s never hid the fact that they thought looking after Harry was a burden ... Read review

Advantages: Everything!
Disadvantages: Nothing really, though in hardback this book is very heavy!

...lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. "It is time," he said, "for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything." Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is desperate to get back to school and find out why his friends Ron and Hermione have been so secretive all summer. However, what Harry is ... Read review

Advantages: compelling plot, imagination-overload!
Disadvantages: none

Harry Potter is, as surely everybody now knows, a young wizard who attends Hogwarts School for witches and Wizards. He is, however, not just any young wizard teen. He is the only person to have survived a direct attack from the most feared wizard of his age, Lord Voldemort; he is the boy who lived. First killing his parents, Voldemort turned his wand on Harry, only to feel his spell backfire and destroy his own body. Harry was left with a scar on ... Read review

Advantages: funny, great plot
Disadvantages: first 200 pages a bit boring

If you’re as obsessive about Harry Potter as I am, you’ll be well aware that the fans of J.K. Rowling’s hit series of novels had to wait three years for the fifth installment; “Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix”. Book Four, entitled “Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire” was published in July 2000, and in the time that passed between then and June 21 2003 (the release date of Book 5), I heard all ... Read review

Advantages: It isn't by Jilly Cooper
Disadvantages: It isn't by George Orwell

I started reading the new Harry Potter book whilst on a number fifty-two bus, but I didn't unwrap it from it's crinkly little plastic bag and just throw myself in. I kept it in the bag, hidden from the world, for a few minutes, and then read a chapter. Then I put it back. And let the first chapter swill around, savouring the flavour that a fever of anticipation had caused. I'm not one to bath in fever pitch anticipation but even I had to admit: "the ... Read review

Advantages: I still enjoyed the story
Disadvantages: Big anti climax

...the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, is nothing I have witnessed before. JK Rowling said she felt under real pressure to write the book, and at times she found it very difficult. I wondered whether the book would live up to the previous four, or would she have rushed too much to provide the magical tales she has before. Before it was even released, we knew that one of the characters would be killed off, and the odds changed on a daily basis ... Read review

Advantages: Many fresh ideas are rolled in.
Disadvantages: The weakest book in the series.

...the unprecedented success of the Harry Potter series, children’s novelist J.K. Rowling has good reason to be in shock. Rarely has fictional literature been met with such hype and hysteria. In the most recent instalment of the seven part series, which was released on June 21 this year, Rowling proves that she still possesses a flair and wit that will no doubt keep readers captivated for generations to come. On the day of reckoning it didn’t matter ... Read review

Advantages: The wait is finally over and some important questions are answered
Disadvantages: Quite a few tiresome passages instead of action; no idea how long until the next instalment

...read Books I-IV in the Harry Potter series is looking for primarily one thing in the pages of "The Order of the Phoenix": answers (oh, and some good action, yes). Why did Lord Voldemort, the most evil wizard ever to have risen to power, try to kill Harry as a baby-leaving him orphaned and sporting a prominent scar on his forehead? How did his parents come to have so much gold stashed away, essentially securing his financial future? What is greasy, ... Read review

Advantages: Entertaining. Enjoyable. Heroic. Examines emotions and politics.
Disadvantages: Plot a bit thin. Not as fast-paced as earlier books.

Harry Potter. Have you heard much about him lately? Have you read the odd opinion about him? I thought so. The release of the fifth instalment of J. K. Rowling’s immensely successful Harry Potter series brought new levels of hype to our already hype-ridden world. Usually I can’t see what all the fuss is about, but this time, having read the previous Harry Potter tales, I joined in with the excitement. So much so in fact that I bought my copy of ... Read review

Advantages: We get to find out the next instalment of Harry's adventures
Disadvantages: Not as exciting as I'd hoped

...the purchase) of my new Harry Potter book, ordered some 6 months previously on Amazon at half price (£8.49 compared to the usual price of £16.99 for a hardback). I don’t normally buy hardback books, but this reduction, even when postage was added on, seemed like a bargain, especially when I had been waiting some two years to read the fifth instalment of Harry Potter’s life at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Just to give ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping, enjoyable, and it's HARRY POTTER!
Disadvantages: Unsatisfying ending

...year, and this book sees Harry in his fifth year. If you have been living under a rock, the Harry Potter series is about, you guessed it, Harry Potter! Up to the age of eleven, he had no idea he had any magical powers. Then, on his birthday, a half-giant comes and whisks him away from his miserable existence at his aunt and uncle’s house, into the strange new world of Hogwarts, a wizarding school. He is famous throughout the wizarding community ... Read review