Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Unlike its predecessor, the protracted length of the Order of the Phoenix is justifiable and it was nice to be able to settle down into the now comfortable cadence of JKR's writing for the duration. She's really found her footing in this book and the clarity of her vision for where the characters are heading is firmly established.

This is the first book in which it feels like she knows how all of this ends, and we just have to trust her and enjoy the ride. A pervasive sense of foreboding creeps in throughout the writing, and it becomes apparent that we are being ushered towards something big, beyond the confines of The Order of The Phoenix. I'm eager to find out what it is, and also to discover if there's a five star read in this series. Some tighter editing to get rid of the frustratingly silly errors that are still cropping up in the text would definitely push the next book towards that.