Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

In which...

We get used to the world after Voldemort Is Back.

Highlights:

• Rankling injustice: This is the Teen Angst Book of the series, but Harry's adolescent frustration is only the beginning. He happens to be at the center of a confusing and unfair whirlwind that Rowling depicts vividly enough to inject much of Harry's angst right into the reader. See: Dolores Umbridge, irresponsible media, incompetent leaders, aloof Dumbledore. Plus Tonks is annoying.
  
• McGonagall vs. Umbridge (supremely enjoyable; well done, Rowling)
• Harry & the D.A.
• Harry & the truth about James Potter (i.e. he was kind of a d-bag)
• The Longbottoms
  
• Exit Fred and George Weasley
• Bellatrix Lestrange
  
• Harry & Sirius (still can't believe it)
  
• Harry & Dumbledore (in the penultimate chapter, Dumbledore answers (most of) Harry's questions, and throws in the most beautiful and devastating explanation for why he didn't make Harry a prefect: "I must confess...that I rather thought...you had enough responsibility to be going on with."

This book never stands out in my mind as one of my favorite in the series, but, as my highlights list proves, it includes lots of the series' greatest moments and developments. For some reason I always look back on it as "The one where they're stuck cleaning out curtains at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place."

But it's much, much more than that. Of course.