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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Ok... I know, most of you may feel that the Harry Potter series is just for kids. I would like to recommend the entire series. It is honestly an entertaining read, and it pissed off a whole bunch of christians. This latest installment in the series is actually an incredible story. As the Books has progressed and our hero, Harry Potter has aged, and the books have been written for a progressively older audience.
As this piece opens, Potter has reached 16 years of age and all of the angst of teenage years has been amplified by harry's ample problems in the Magical World. Oncee again, He-who-shall-not-be-named has made an appearance. Although, this is becoming a bit formulaic... summer ends, he goed to the school, has problems with classes, and you know who appears. This one follows the formula, the character developement and the chaos that ensues before the end of the book actually makes it seema s though it is not formulaic, and the loss of a beloved character makes this, in my opnion, a must read.
Added: Sunday, July 13, 2003
Reviewer: Feral
Score:  
Related Link: ![]() the Official Harry Potter website
Hits: 1152
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Posted by Shade on Aug 20, 2003 - 11:09 AM
My score:
I totally know what you mean about the change in characters, and the teen angst did get very hard to take, but overall I really felt that the development of Harry, Hermione and Ron was amazingly well done. My biggest complaint on that end was that it seemed so abrupt that they all went from "kids" to "teens".
Overall I think this book opened up more questions than it answered, but if we trust that Rowling will be coming out with the next one at some point, I'm ok with that. I just hope that one of those questions is all about the "friend close to Harry" and that it will be answered well in the next book. I really liked the friend!
And Tonks does totally rock. |
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Posted by Psychopixi on Aug 12, 2003 - 09:47 AM
My score:
I agree with Mono in that I've developed the characters in my own head, and through reading quite a bit of fanfic, and getting used to the terrible trio again, through J.K.'s eyes was quite odd.
The book was very good, though I also felt it wasn't quite up to the standards of Goblet of Fire. Angsty!Harry was quite interesting, but by the end of the book I was rather annoyed at him, and thoroughly ticked off with Umbridge. I was loving hating her.
The one character that I was positively in love with was Tonks. Also, as for the 'death of the character close to Harry' I'm in denial over that. I guess it was just too *unproved* - they never showed a body, or anything like that. It was almost down played - "yep, they're dead, let's move on now..." I'm hoping that s/he isn't really dead. I could go on, but it would spoil the book for those who haven't read it yet. |
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Posted by Monolycus on Aug 09, 2003 - 01:38 AM
My score: 
I had a very hard time enjoying this book as much as I did the previous books in this series, and it took me some time to put my finger on precisely why. While it was not Ms. Rowling's fault that it took as long as it did for this book to finally see print (she had a child, fought a lawsuit and supervised the first two Harry Potter motion pictures), it took long enough that many of us formed our own attachments to the characters. By the time this book finally came out, many of us had made the characters "our own" in our own minds (The Harry and Hermione and Ron I feel I know are not the same Harry and Hermione and Ron other people feel they know). That being so, I spent a good deal of time reading this book and trying to remind myself that it is not apocryphal fan fiction; That these are the same characters that I have been hoping to read about again.
I have always been impressed with Ms. Rowlings uncanny ability to keep her continuity straight and she always manages to tie all the loose ends (many of which I had forgotten in the course of being absorbed in her narrative) together by the end. This latest installment felt a bit, well, rushed to me. Without revealing any plot devices, her treatment of some characters seemed a bit more slapdash. Dumbledore, for example, who has been becoming progressively more enfeebled as the series goes on, is in inexplicable top form again. The Marauder's Map, which was lost at the end of Goblet of Fire, mysteriously shows up in Harry's possession again without a word of explanation, and the famous "death of someone close to Harry" (the identity of whom I will not reveal) seemed kind of... gimicky.
This has not been my favourite book so far in this series (it will probably grow on me as time goes by), but a "bad" book by J.K. Rowling is still much better than most of the literature (children's or otherwise) currently on the market. All of my criticism aside, I would still not hesitate to recommend this series. |
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