The fifth book in the “Harry Potter” series by J. K. Rowling, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is so much better than the previous one (which was the worst, in my opinion) in the series “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”! It is the biggest book in the series and yet manages to keep the reader interested throughout by various turns in the plot.
The biggest complaint I have against this series as a whole is the character of Lord Voldemort - apparently so feared by every wizard that they dare not take his name and refer to him as “You Know Who” or “He Who Must Not Be Named” or “Dark Lord” (by his followers). Yet whenever he tries to fight either Harry or Dumbledore, he turns out to be a total dud not lasting much in a fight and always beating a hasty retreat! Hello?
This is quite similar to the character of “Sauron” in “The Lord of the Rings” - you are made to think throughout the book that he is a terrible and most fearsome villian, but he also turns out to be a dud by the end.
To borrow Ananth's terms for analyses of movies, books, etc., these books score high on plot development but are abyssmal on characterisation.