Book Review: Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Harry Potter #5), by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (Harry Potter #5), by J.K. Rowling
★★★★★ and ♥

Synopsis: There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it’s haunting Harry Potter’s dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?
Here are just a few things on Harry’s mind:
• A Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• The looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams
…and of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In the richest installment yet of J.K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.
Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.
Though think runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back
In A Sentence: Hello, my name is Lisa and I’m a Potterholic….

My Thoughts: I’m finding it interesting to read the plot synopses from my original copies. I didn’t remember what was written in the book flaps, but re-reading them is bringing back some memories!
I remember when this one finally came out. That 3-year gap between book 4 and book 5 was absolute torture. I read all the earlier books multiple times, to the point where my Goblet Of Fire copy was experiencing some broken spine trouble. So I must say my brother and I were both extremely excited on release day of The Order Of The Phoenix. One little problem though: we only had one copy to share between the two of us. So we compromised by reading one chapter at a time and then handing it over to the other when the chapter was done (yeah, that stopped working after Chapter 4).
This book became my new favorite in the series. I loved how Harry Potter and his friends rebelled against the tyranny of Professor Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge, and the plot kept me on the edge of my seat with every page. And the characters! I loved Luna Lovegood’s strangeness, and I really liked how Ginny and Neville were given stronger roles in this story, with a chance to come out of their shell a bit more than before. It’s amazing how J.K. Rowling was able to portray the various emotions of a teenager and manipulate your own emotions at the same time as you’re reading. Reading this novel became a roller coaster ride of feelings; you would find yourself happy, sad, excited, scared, or shocked with every page you turned.
And the climactic scene at the Ministry of Magic! Oh my God! I might have been re-reading this for the umpteenth time last night, but I still get that feeling of disbelief and shock, just like the first time. It really is an intense scene, a true testimony of how much Rowling’s writing style had matured since the first book.
I still really love this story, and I will always recommend this read, although at this point, if you haven’t read the previous books already, you had better read them now, before you try this one out! And if you only read the first three stories, but got bored, don’t give up! I swear, from book 4 onwards, these stories become more and more young adult, and are more likely to pull at your heartstrings than the previous books. Happy reading!


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