Arguably my least favorite of the Harry Potter books but only because of the plot, not the writing or the story. I actually like a fair amount of it, but the rest leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth. It's still a great book, and I'm not sure what could be done to make it more palatable. It's not like the 5th movie which I consider a total waste of technology that does nothing more than add confusion to the scene. This book does advance the narrative and helps the story to progress, although I really don't think that the end goes well with the beginning.