I pretty much agree with you on all those points, although I'd probably need to reread OotP before passing judgement on the last. I do think the pacing did seem a bit off in HBP -- Horcruxes might have been brought in a bit late for my liking, and the Tonks thing came out of nowhere on my first reading. PoA is still my favourite overall and probably will continue to be so.

And so true about the Death Eaters and about pairings as well. Finding out more about Voldemort's background was interesting, at least partially because it managed to humanise him without making him any less 'evil'. As for the Death Eaters, people seem to keep confusing Draco and Lucius with Spike. Must be the bleached blond thing...