Author: J.K. Rowling
Released: June 2003
Harry is furious that he has been abandoned at the Dursleys' house for the summer, for he suspects that Voldemort is gathering an army, that he himself could be attacked, and that his so-called friends are keeping him in the dark. Finally rescued by wizard bodyguards, he discovers that Dumbledore is regrouping the Order of the Phoenix - a secret society first formed years ago to fight Voldemort. But the Ministry of Magic is against the Order, lies are being spread by the wizards' tabloid, the Daily Prophet, and Harry fears that he may have to take on this epic battle against evil alone.
Rating: 5 Stars
Positives: Oh my Rowling. Okay so I'm not going to beat about the bush here. Let's start off with character development. We get to meet the horrificaly despicable Umbridge, a close colleague of Fudge's, as our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and boy is she horrible. Soon she has the entire school under her control, she controls everything and even has the power to sack other teachers. She is a horrible nasty piece of work when she's acting on Fudge's orders, and she's even worse when she decides to do stuff under her own steam as well. Lets just say detention isn't a nice little trip into the Forest anymore, it's now a barbaric evening of torture. However as if to counteract the horrible entity that is Umbridge this book has given me a new found respect for Professor McGonagall. She is fighting everyone's corner, and seems to be the students' only hope against Umbridge. She even goes so far as to tell Umbridge that she isn't a competent Defence teacher.
Okay so now lets look at the story itself. Some of these chapters really didn't feel like they added much to the story, in fact you could probably cut around two hundred of the pages and still have a lengthy story that is worth reading. Now I thought that the last book was dark, but this one is a hell of a lot darker. Especially when you get to the end of the book, let's just say chapters thirty five and thirty six are a real treat. But as the story becomes darker we see the magic become more advanced, and this is a real treat. We even get to see a proper wizard's duel for once.
Oh and we see the trio becoming much more involved in relationships as well. Harry finally gets a shot with Cho, and Hermione is on hand to offer any advice that the boys need about girls. Which is something they need a hell of a lot of.
Negatives: Okay there is a particular death in this book at the end of chapter thirty five that had me in tears. I can see why Rowling has killed off this particular character, but I feel that perhaps maybe some lasting damage should have been done to one of the students who accompanied Harry to the Department of Mysteries? For all the students to escape relatively unscathed given that they were battling much older and powerful wizards than themselves is a little unbelievable. Especially when you take into account that these wizards are Death Eaters.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, yes I would. But you may need tissues for the end, as like I said I was reduced to tears.
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