Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Rowling, J. K., and Mary GrandPré. 2004. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Scholastic Paperbacks.
Rating:
8
Summary:
Same recipe but now Harry has an attitude
The book begins with Harry back in his Aunt and Uncle’s house on Privet drive and of course he is being tormented by them. But he is actually suffering a worse torment from his wizarding friends – no news. For some reason he has not been privy to any news – no letters from Ron or Hermione, no newspapers, nothing. Before he finds out what is going on Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by dementors and it is only by Harry’s quick action in summoning his patronus that they are saved. Of course his Aunt and Uncle are furious, but soon enough that doesn’t matter as an advance guard of wizards comes to get Harry and take him to the secret hideout of The Order of the Phoenix, which happens to be in Harry’s godfather’s parents’ house, Grimmauld Place. The Order of the Phoenix is a group of wizards who oppose Voldemort and is headed by Dumbledore.
As it turns out, Voldemort desperately wants to get a hold of Harry. Having regained his form in the last book, Voldemort is now gathering his forces, The Death Eaters, and is hot on Harry’s trail. The reason – a secret prophecy that should explain how Voldemort can kill Harry, because he knows that until Harry is dead he won’t be able to gain control of the wizarding world.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Magic is undergoing some major changes. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is for some reason very jealous of Albus Dumbledore, the head of Hogwart’s, and refuses to believe him and Harry that Voldemort is back. Also, Fudge feels threatened by Albus and wants to get rid of him. As a result of the ill feelings between Fudge and Dumbledore, Fudge appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher for Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge, who is really nothing more than Fudge’s lackey and definitely out to get Dumbledore out of power at Hogwart’s. Of course Umbridge turns out to be a real ninny that no one but, well, a real ninny could like. She causes problems with just about everyone and really seems to have it in for Harry and his friends, in large part because she sees them supporting Dumbledore.
But Umbridge isn’t just meddling with the politics of Hogwart’s, she also refuses to actually teach the students anything about defending themselves; all they do is read theory books. Hermione, who is generally on the side of the professors, actually raises a stink about this and finally finds a way around it – she has Harry start teaching a secret group how to defend themselves. The group and what they’ve been taught comes in very handy later on.
Harry has also been experiencing some very weird dreams. He keeps seeing the same hallway and door. Then the hallway, the door, and the room beyond it. Then, well, you get my point – it keeps going deeper and deeper. Eventually he reveals this when he sees Mr. Weasley, Ron’s Dad, bitten by a snake in a dream. But it isn’t a dream – Harry is actually seeing through Voldemort’s eyes. Their confrontation when he was a child has left him with the ability to share Voldemort’s vision occasionally, but this also means that Voldemort can enter Harry’s mind.
When this is revealed, Dumbledore instructs Harry to begin taking classes in Occlumency, or mind control. The only problem is that the expert on Occlumency in the school is Professor Snape, who doesn’t get along with Harry at all. It is actually finally revealed why he doesn’t like Harry during the training when Harry slips a look into the pensieve where Snape stores the thoughts he doesn’t want Harry to see during the training – Harry’s Dad was a real jerk to Snape when they were at Hogwart’s.
All of this is leading up to the final confrontation, which is really just the last couple hundred pages of this massive volume. Harry sees a vision of Sirius Black, his godfather, being tortured by Voldemort to reveal the location of the prophecy which is stored in the Ministry of Magic. Because Professor Umbridge has driven out Dumbledore and closed off all communication with the outside world, Harry only has one choice left, he has to go the Ministry of Magic himself to save Sirius. Of course Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and a couple of other students prevail upon him to let them come with him.
When they arrive they find that it was actually a trap and that Voldemort’s Death Eaters are there lying in wait. What ensues is a ferocious battle between the kids and the Death Eaters, with some of the members of the Order of the Phoenix arriving just in time to save the kids from certain death. But even the members of the Order of the Phoenix are unable to stop the Death Eaters. The battle goes so bad that Sirius ends up being thrown through a portal that means certain death. The Death Eaters seem on the verge of winning until Dumbledore arrives and quickly takes control. But in all of the commotion the prophecy, which was stored in a glass bubble, is dropped, broken, and can no longer be heard.
Dumbledore, having taken care of the Death Eaters, then ventures out to find Voldemort where they engage in battle. Voldemort eventually escapes bit Dumbledore comes out of the battle unscathed as well. A couple of good things have resulted from the battle – Fudge arrives in time to see Voldemort and is no longer able to deny that he has returned and the Death Eaters that were fighting the kids, including Draco Malfoy’s father, are caught.
Eventually it is revealed to Harry by Dumbledore, who witnessed the original prophecy, that the prophecy foretells that either Harry will have to kill Voldemort or Voldemort will have to kill Harry – it is inevitable. Harry, not sure what to make of this, is then sent home from Hogwart’s to Privet Drive for the summer. It is also explained why he is supposed to stay with his Aunt and Uncle, within that house he is protected from Voldemort because of the Potter blood that runs in the family.
Review:
With that lengthy summary, I’ll keep my comments to a minimum. Of course the book is good, but it is different in a couple of ways that some people may not like. First, it’s not as funny as the first books were. Rowling has had a pretty good sense of humor in the past, but she doesn’t let it out of the bag very often in this book. Second, Harry, who has always seemed to be a pretty cool kid, turns into a very annoying teenager in this novel. He is constantly yelling at people, is impertinent and inconsiderate, and doesn’t seem to want to take advice from anyone. If teenagers are really like this (which I don’t seem to recall from my own childhood, but you’d obviously have to ask my parents about that), then I don’t look forward to the days when I have teenage children.
The only other problem I had with the book was that there was a lot of buildup for a rather weak ending. Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to finally see Dumbledore and Voldemort finally have at it, but it was surprisingly short and not very creative for a battle between the two greatest wizards alive. Also, the whole battle between the kids and the Death Eaters was pretty repetitive – the kids only know one or two spells and the Death Eaters don’t seem to know too many more than that. For finale-like confrontations, they were a let down. I was expecting massive explosions, fireballs, strange creatures, elementals, etc… Something more out of Dungeons and Dragons or Lord of the Rings, but instead I got animated statues and paralyzing spells. For a 900 page book to spend 700 pages just building to a climax only to have it be ‘so-so’, doesn’t make me very happy. Admittedly I read the book over a two-day period (it was all I did those two days, true), so I don’t feel like I wasted too much time (I was on vacation), but I would have liked a better climax.
Overall, Harry Potter fans will like the book. Following suit with the last book, this one is darker and seems more geared towards at least teenagers and adults than the original books. There is a lot of character development but only minimal adventure in this novel. It seems like most of the action takes place away from Harry, which makes the novel a little bit boring. I liked it, but I don’t think it is my favorite book in the series.