My favourite characters from the Harry Potter series have always been the evil characters, with the exception of Voldemort, mainly Snape, Lucius and Draco Malfoy. The Order of the Phoenix tended to make me re-evaluate my decision on that one. No, my definite favourite is Remus. He seems to be the only sensible realistic character out of the lot of them. Despite him getting hardly any pages devoted to him!

One basic complaint of the book: Rowling spent six hundred pages setting up the story. A fair amount could have been cut or shortened. And the build up and the climax of the book were so anticlimactic that I was left in my bed at three in the morning having read the last page thinking `was that it'? I know I am not alone in this feeling, many of my friends have said the same thing. In previous books Rowling almost spent too much time on the finale – look at the Goblet of Fire! The third task in the Triwizard Tournament and then the duel with Voldemort, getting back, and all the explanation from Barty Crouch Jnr. took bloody chapters upon chapters!

I thought the line drawn between good and evil in some cases was too fine in this book. Professor Umbridge I feel was slightly unrealistic, even for Harry Potter, especially in moments like when she tried to cast Cruciatus in front of a large party of people towards the end, And then she walks off only being chased by Peeves! The destruction of Umbridge I found fault with in particular. The whole business about the evil quill – which I still can't believe Harry didn't report, and also didn't stop his childish tactics in class to stop him earning more detentions – I found highly irritating seeing as at the end of the book nothing was mentioned about it. You would have thought either Ron or Hermione would have told someone – and if others were getting the same treatment, for example Lee Jordan, who surely would have told others around him, then that fact she got off scot free rather spoiled it for me. Of course, I could be totally wrong. She could get a re-appearance in the sixth or seventh book – but somehow I doubt it. The fact that Rowling repeatedly said she was not working under a deadline made me think `and what was the point of that'?

That Sirius died in a single line was a bit silly. It was so late by the time I was reading it it wasn't until half way down the next page that I realised something had happened to him and had to go back and re-read the `death scene'. And I already knew it was him who died as I'd flicked through the book to see who it was about fifty pages into the book. I couldn't believe my eyes when that was just it. And the fact that Cedric Diggory got more attention and a commemoration than Sirius Black did was unbelievably awful!!!!

What the hell was the point on Luna Lovegood? Ok, ok, so she could see the Thestrals, and her dad was editor of the Quibbler, but she still seemed to me to have a bit of an unnecessary part in the book.

That James Potter was painted out to be a bit less than the traditional hero made me smile – a real plus for J.K. But Snape's reaction! Unbelievable. A bit too unbelievable. If Snape had been working as a double agent, or at least a spy for the Order, then he would surely have got over a sixteen your old boy seeing him as the subject of a childish prank to save lives and giving Voldemort a hell of an upper hand. It is my belief that Rowling just wanted to appeal to her younger audience – Snape has always been her Hogwarts baddie and she had to make sure he stayed that way.

Dumbledore's explanation was too twisted and not long enough. It felt like there should have been another chapter of the stuff, a feeling further compounded by Harry's absence at the end of term feast. It was a real let down – especially as the promising blurb on the back cover and at Amazon – where Dumbledore says he will tell Harry `everything' was totally misleading. He didn't tell him everything! Hardly! Another criticism of Dumbledore – the fact he didn't tell Harry anything throughout the school year. Not exactly a wise course of action especially with Snape's reports of Harry's occlumency lessons. That Snape didn't actually mention he'd stopped giving them to Harry was again extremely unrealistic. Lives were at stake there.

What was the point of Hagrid and the giant? (In case you haven't noticed, my actual copy of OoP is upstairs and I've forgotten loads of names) Ok, it made the centaurs carry off Umbridge, but please! Far too much time was spent developing a storyline that didn't amount to enough. Very nearly pointless.

Rowling said in an interview she had made two basic mistakes in writing the books. One was that she'd got the name of the station wrong – it was Euston, not King's Cross, and that she'd made Harry too accepting and didn't ask enough questions. Well, it seemed that she went too far this book. Harry is angry for almost the entire book, at anyone who strays across his path – most of the time, pretty needlessly, and then wonders why he is making so many enemies and people are believing what the Daily Prophet are saying about him. It seems he spends so much time being angry and stubborn he seems to have forgotten he has a brain in his head.

That nobody in the DA actually took serious caution against the girl that betrayed them I think rather short-sighted of someone like Hermione. That was a set-up waiting to happen.

Percy Weasley! Rowling twisted his character to suit her purposes. To be honest, I doubt the Sorting Hat would have put him in Gryffindor with actions like that. A Ravenclaw or a Slytherin judging by his behaviour. Unless he's going to make a complete reform, which I do think likely, his actions in OoP are not the actions of a true Gryffindor, especially someone we used to know `so well'.

On the other hand, some things were extremely well done. To be honest, Voldemort's manipulation of Harry through his dreams and getting him to escape school and come down to London was so good! Of course, the whole Prophecy thing was a bit stupid, but you can't have everything. Harry shouldn't have brought Neville or Ginny down to London. Those two were again, accidents waiting to happen. That some Death Eaters were shoved into Azkaban, despite the sure shortness of their stay, gave me an odd quirk of satisfaction.

The Weasley twins…. Real gems, those two. And Ron and his Quidditch Saga, very enjoyable reading. And the inspections of the classes by Umbridge! Kept me hooked, that did! And every time I read the `hem, hem' I thought, `oh no! What's it going to be this time?' I did like that very much. When Umbridge first used the evil quill on Harry was so creepy! Very good writing!

Re-reading what I've written it seems like I didn't enjoy the book very much. And although I don't think it was quite as good as its two previous predecessors, it was still a Very Good Book. I have criticised large sections – but overall I did like it. I just can't find as many good parts that stuck out in my mind as the shortcomings did.

Overall: Not long enough, but still desperate for Book Six. Hope it doesn't take another three years this time.

Lestatian

There's my say. Interested to see others.