2003; 870 pages. Book 5 (out of 7) in the “Harry Potter” series. New Author? : No. Genres : Fantasy; YA; Adventure. Laurels:
Winner - 2004 Oppenheim
Toy Portfolio’s “Gold Medal”; Winner – 2003
American Library Association’s “Best Book for Young
Adults” award. Overall Rating : 9*/10.
Once again, Harry Potter can’t wait for school to begin
once again at Hogwarts. That’s mostly
because once again he’s spent the summer with the Dursleys, his aunt, uncle,
and cousin, all of whom are Muggles, and all of whom are irritated by his presence.
Harry’s also in a prolonged funk because it seems like all his wizardly friends, fellow students and
professors have for some reason stopped communicating with him.
It’s almost as if they’re deliberately keeping him in the dark about
what’s going on.
That could be
life-threatening for Harry. The evil Lord
Voldemort got loose last year, and Harry barely survived his encounter
with him. It would be helpful to know
what foul deeds Voldemort is currently up to, and what the wizards are doing to restrain him.
But maybe you don’t want to know,
Harry. Yes, you're stuck for the summer
in the non-magical world of Muggles, but at least that’s someplace where evil
minions don’t tread.
Until now.
What’s To Like...
Harry Potter and
the Order of the Phoenix continues two trends in J.K. Rowling's mega-popular series: the books
keep getting longer and the tone keeps getting darker. I view both of those as plusses, not minuses. The paperback version I read clocked in at 870
pages, a hefty tome for the recommended reading age of 8-12 years (grades 4-7), which, for the record, makes it the longest book in the series. And tone-wise, just about anything that can go wrong for Harry does so.
There’s a slew of plot threads
to keep readers turning the pages. Some of these are: a.)
Harry finds himself facing expulsion from both Quidditch in particular and Hogwarts overall, b.) Hagrid has gone missing, c.) Mrs. Figg, Mrs.
Weasley, and Aunt Petunia are all acting a bit strange, d.) the Ministry of Magic is sending someone to
evaluate every professor at Hogwarts, even Dumbledore, and not even Snape has a
secure job, e.) why can Harry (and several others) see ghost creatures, f.) more
importantly, why is he in such a crappy mood, even after he’s back at
Hogwarts, and most importantly, g.) what’s
Voldemort got up his sleeve?
There are some fresh faces to
add to an already lengthy Cast of Characters.
Most of the members of the Order of the Phoenix were new to me including the fascinating Nymphadora Tonks. New student Luna “Loony” Lovegood is a great
add to Harry’s circle of friends, and Cho Chang infuses just the right touch of a prospective romance to 15-year-old Harry’s life.
The vocabulary is delightfully “English” (prats, gits, hosepipes, berks, skiving, etc.), but the punctuation and spelling are in “American”, which is the ideal combination for American
readers. It’s always fun to learn new
phrases and words used across the pond, three of which are listed below. I think we Yanks need to start using “Wotcher” in our daily lingo.
As usual, there are a bunch
of new beasties, spells, and gadgets for the reader to marvel at. We
won’t list all of them here, but my favorites in each category were: thestrals, disillusionment, and skiving snackboxes. I finally figured out who Padfoot and Prongs
were; years ago I had some blog acquaintances who had adopted those names.
Everything builds to an exciting and memorable climax, with lots of wizards and witches casting lots of
spells and counter-spells at each other. The ending is spread out over three chapters: one for the fighting, one for explanations,
and one for an epilogue. The plans of
the baddies are thwarted, but most of them will live to fight another day. The good guys will regroup and mourn their
losses.
Kewlest New Word ...
Taking the mickey (v., phrase) : affectionately teasing of making fun of someone.
Others:
Wotcher (British
greeting, slang); “Chuck us
another Frog” (I never did figure out what this meant).
Ratings…
Amazon: 4.8*/5, based on 21,936
ratings.
Goodreads: 4.50*/5,
based on 2,603,071 ratings and 44,161 reviews.
Things that sound dirty, but aren’t…
“Wand still in your jeans?
Both buttocks still on? Okay,
let’s go.”
Excerpts...
“Excellent,” said Lupin, looking up as
Tonks and Harry entered. “We’ve got about
a minute, I think. We should probably
get out into the garden so we’re ready.
Harry, I’ve left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry-“
“They won’t,” said Harry.
“That you’re safe-“
“That’ll just depress them.”
“-and you’ll see them next summer.”
“Do I have to?” (pg. 54)
Even by Harry’s low standards of
Divination, the exam went very badly. He
might as well have tried to see moving pictures in the desk-top as in the
stubbornly blank crystal ball; he lost his head completely during tea-leaf
reading, saying it looked to him as though Professor Marchbanks would shortly
be meeting a round, dark, soggy stranger, and rounded off the whole fiasco by
mixing up the life and head lines on her palm and informing her that she ought
to have died the previous Tuesday. (pg.
717)
“You can laugh! (…)
But people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering
Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!”
(pg. 262)
Those Amazon and Goodreads
ratings listed above for Harry Potter and the Order
of the Phoenix are simply phenomenal, but I nevertheless found a couple
nits to pick, albeit nothing of importance.
If you avidly await the annual Quidditch matches at Hogwarts, you might be disappointed here. Gryffindor’s initial game is presented in
glorious detail, but all the others get kind of glossed over.
I was a bit surprised how
little the titular Order of the Phoenix impacted the story. Yes, they supply some “magical muscle” for the
final battle, but the faculty at Hogwarts could’ve done the same
thing. However, I suspect that they
will play a bigger role in the next two books in the series.
Finally, I failed to note any new puns introduced. A couple of oldies, such
as “Diagon Alley” and the “Pensieve”, crop up again, but if there were
any new ones, I missed them.
But I pick at nits. Overall, Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix is a fine addition to the series, and if you don’t believe me, check
out those more than 44,000+ reviews that people have thus far left at Goodreads.
9 Stars. There was a three-year gap between the previous book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (reviewed here) and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Do you think that any readers might have gone through “Harry Potter withdrawals” during this lull? Well, when this book was finally published, it sold five million copies in the first 24 hours. Wowza.
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