[First read: 2003. Four stars. 
 Second read: 20th February, 2016. Two stars.] 
 Read as part of The Infinite Variety Reading Challenge, based on the BBC's Big Read Poll of 2003. 
 I was looking forward to this book for one and only one reason: Luna Lovegood. I don't remember much of the book from when I first read it all those years ago, and most of my memories were definitely from the film only, but I have to say it was incredibly disappointing in many ways. 
 The writing during the series has definitely improved since The Prizoner of Azkaban, which you'd expect with the fifth. I suppose since the length of each book has almost tripled since the first book, that should have had to be the case. However, despite the improvements to the writing, I still can't see much improvement to the story as a whole. 
 We're getting more characters (more diverse characters) but I still find that most of the bad-or just the ones were supposed to dislike-ones are all a little ugly or fat. As if to say, this is how you know who're you're supposed to like and who you're supposed to hate. Whilst I know these books are aimed primarily at children, I don't find this a good excuse. Children aren't that stupid. 
 Ron and Harry haven't changed much since day one, either. They're both gotten themselves an awful lot of hormones, which happens to anyone, unavoidable, and Harry was super annoying in this one (though, whilst I find that understandable considering how he feels that he might be more like Voldemort than he would like, there was no need for so much caps lock) but I haven't noticed any kind of change in either of them that you'd expect by the fifth book. Hermione, however, seems to change almost every book. At first I enjoyed this change, and whilst I would agree that in general girls change at a faster rate than boys do, it still feels like overcompensation. 
 And now we come to Luna. I thought it was odd that she just turns up and becomes quite an important character from the off, but she was also incredibly flat in the book. I didn't realise that Film Luna had had a bigger impact on me than Book Luna did, and in fact I'd go far as to say that I didn't enjoy Book Luna at all. Not because she was weird, or odd, or picked on, or a little aloof, but because she was just a "There" character. Yes, we get she's weird, but it feels like that's the only reason she was there. 
 The story has a whole didn't keep me all that entertained, either. It felt like a repeat of, well, all the other books, with just a bit more death thrown in. I like that the books are getting darker, but I don't think just adding death really counts. I feel like the moment of falling in love-or even just like-with this series like I was when I was twelve has passed by and it won't come back. 
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