A Little Less Conversation, A Little More Action, Please... (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling)

Member Name: CaptainD

Product:	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
Date:	16/07/05 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fantastic finale

Disadvantages: Too much teenage angst and not enough action

The fifth book in the highly popular Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the biggest yet, weighing in at 766 pages. Unlike the previous books, there is no attempt here to make it a stand-alone book – you really need to have read the previous books to understand what’s going on here, or at least to understand the relevance of the events as they unfold.

The “Order of the Phoenix” is the name given to the group of wizards who fight the rise of the Dark Lord, Voldemort, who (thanks to the Ministry of Magic and the newspaper, The Daily Prophet) most people in the magical community are convinced is still in the death-like condition he was forced into 15 years ago. He lost most of his powers and his physical form when an attack on Harry Potter aged 1 (after Voldemort had killed his parents) went wrong. However the 4th book of the series (Harry Potter and the Goblet f Fire), Harry saw with his own eyes that Voldemort was back. Corneleus Fudge, head of the Ministry of Magic, refused to believe it and has since been discrediting both Harry and the Headmast of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore is known as probably the most powerful wizard of his generation and “the only one Voldemort was ever afraid of”, and has been Harry’s staunch ally for the first 4 years of his attending Hogwarts school. However, the Ministry now views Dumbleore as their main threat, while Dumbledore himself refuses to as much as look at Harry these days, leaving him feeling extremely angry. When he finds out about the Order of the Phoenix but is still denied more information, that anger grows, and in several places in the book appears to overwhelm him and distance his friends from him. Not only that but the Ministry, after trying to get him expelled from Hogwarts, have placed their own teacher at the school and keep passing legislation to control it and force Dumbledore out…

His friends, the impetuous Ron and studious Hermoine, do not of course abandon him, but have trouble helping him keep his anger under control. Various members of the Order including Harry’s godfather, Sirius, try to help but have their own reasons – or orders – from keeping details from him. Adding to Harry’s frustration are his failed attempts at a relationship with a girl he’s liked for at least the past year, and then there are the attempts made to circumnavigate the fact that the lessons in “Defence Against the Dark Arts”, which given the current situation should be the most important, are now rendered useless by the new teacher, Miss Umbridge, and the new Ministry-approved curriculum… not only this but Hagrid, the half-giant Gamekeeper and teacher for the Handling of Magical Creatures, has been off on a secret mission and disappeared… and still nobody will tell Harry what’s going on!

The majority of this book is really devoted to getting over to you just how frustrated and angry the eponymous hero is getting, and it succeeds perhaps too well… as readers we are also kept almost completely in the dark for the majority of the book. This isn’t helped by the fact that the blurb on the back of the book starts of with this quote:

'Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses. “It is time,” he said, “for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry. Please sit down. I am going to tell you everything.” '

With anticipation built to a fever pitch by this (after all, this is what we’ve so far been waiting four novels to find out!), we don’t get to this part of the book until 95% the way through it, and our frustration has built to a level comparable with the main character’s frustration. It’s not that what happens up to then is boring by any means, but the action scenes are pretty scanty among the many pages of teenage angst, which isn’t the most enjoyable thing in the world to read, even if it is often funny. Rowling’s writing shows a sharp appreciation of human nature, making her characters believable, and there’s more observational humour than in the other books. This can’t quite save the ponderous pacing of most of the book completely, but it does help to carry the story along, which relies mostly on character development and intrigue rather than action and plot. This change to Rowling’s style really doesn’t suit her writing that well, and there were even occasions when I was tempted to skim a few paragraphs rather than read them properly. The overall storyline is still compelling, but it takes far longer to get to the key points than it needs to. When we get to the final set piece, the writing is as vivid, exciting, and involving as in any of the earlier books, perhaps even more so, but it’s somewhat a case of too little, too late.

Overall this is still a good book, though perhaps my least favourite of the series so far. Despite this it’s still worth more than an “average” rating, but definitely not “excellent”, notwithstanding the fact that it doesn’t really hold up as well as the others as a stand-alone novel (which you might expect considering its length). Completely essential to fans of the series, of course, but slightly disappointing. However I’m still very much looking forward to the next book!


As always, thanks for reading.

CaptainD

Summary: Essential reading for Harry Potter fans, but a little disappointing. Rousing finale though.