Harry gets better and better! (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling)

Member Name: jamiebeck

Product:	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
Date:	20/09/09 (17 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lots more action in the finale

Disadvantages: none

I've just finished reading this book and I must say, I was enthralled from page one. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix sees Harry Potter battling to get over the events of the previous summer whilst in solitude from Ron and Hermione and everyone else at Hogwarts.

Soon enough we thrown into the story with Harry encountering reappearances from much loved characters of previous books - Mad Eye Moody, Professor Lupin and Sirius,. There are also a few new faces - Luna Lovegood (whose introduction I find rather pointless but I'm sure Ms Rowling has plans for her) and the wonderfully evil Dolores Umbridge. Of course there are the same old people in Harry and his gang of Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny and the hilarious Weasley twins, the annoying Percy, all the professors, good old Dumbledore and the loveable Hagrid (although poor Hagger isn't in it as much as I'd like).

The story, as with previous books, continues only weeks after the events ended in the last book, not to give too much away in case you haven't read Goblet of Fire but Harry has a very tragic experience which causes him to be very depressed and down. The story soon progresses and gets Harry off to Hogwarts but not before spending a bit of time introducing us to the Order of the Pheonix, a few new characters and an early test for Harry to overcome before he returns to Hogwarts.

The downs in this book for me, is the lack of quidditch (it is in there but not in the same circumstances as before) and the hugemongous annoyance of Professor Umbriddge, it is purely intentional of Rowling of course but I couldn't help wanting to yell out at one of the characters to hit her! I really do think the lack of reactions by some the characters were very testing for the reader. Unfortunately there isn't much of Hagrid, Snape and Dumbledore and too much Umbridge but when do we ever get to hear enough about our mysterious characters - namely Snape.

The highlights of this book was the constant sense of darkness and suspense, we are waiting the whole time for the return of Volder- I mean erm - 'he-who-must-not-be-named' and I tell you the wait is worth it. I cannot wait to watch the dvd and, of course, read the next book!

Summary: the war is coming....