Attorneys of Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)

Description

I say to you all, once again--in the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies--just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…
• 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
• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts 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) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick 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.

As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or will it?

The fifth book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher--and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations (O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black-and-white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energized as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the marvelous, magical series. (Ages 9 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Reviews

Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-25
Summary: "as advertised"

I was very pleased with this order. It is something I will pass down to my grandchildren. I feel very fortunate to have found this book at this great price.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-08-04
Summary: "The best of Harry Potter"

My favorite of all the Harry Potter novels, because Harry really becomes an annoying, bitchy teenager in this one -- and yet, you still like him and want him to win. How do you do it, J.K. Rowling?

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-06-02
Summary: "An intence book that will keep you turning the pages"

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a superb novel. It is extremely well written with twists and turns around every corner. There was not one boring or dull moment in the whole book. It is a perfect read for any ages and I highly recommend every Harry Potter book.

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Rating: 5 / 5
Date: 2010-05-20
Summary: "Harry Potter 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"

Harry Potter #5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J. K. Rowling

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is a massive book, no doubt about it. It's long, it's heavy, and it's chock full of Harry Potter goodness. I've reread it several times, and enjoy it more every time - I think it's one of those books that just gets better and better. In all those readings never have I thought, "this book is too long." So maybe if you've tried it and not liked it, I urge you to give this book another try.

The tone of "The Order of the Phoenix" is much darker than previous Harry novels, and Harry himself is no longer the happy wizard-in-training readers have known. He's an angry, brooding, hormonal, struggling teenager, enduring his worst year ever at Hogwarts. For the Ministry of Magic refuses to believe that Voldemort is back, and has labeled both Harry and Albus Dumbledore as crazy.

The first month of his summer vacation was absolute misery: confined to Privet Drive, Harry heard nothing from the wizarding world about Voldemort. Only when dementors attack him, in the middle of Little Whinging, does Harry get thrown back into his world, but not in the way he wanted - for summoning a Patronus to defend himself, he's in danger of being expelled from Hogwarts.

But when Harry overcomes that hurdle, and the school year starts again, he's in for a nasty shock. The Ministry, afraid that Dumbledore may use his students as an army, decides to take control of Hogwarts. Dolores Umbridge is appointed as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and through a series of education decrees eventually becomes the headmistress of the school. She's one despicable character, who gets her jollies from sacking professors and making students thoroughly miserable. Her teaching is useless, as she and the Ministry believe in defensive magic only; she won't even allow students to practice counterjinxes or counterspells.

Umbridge isn't the only blight on Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts. He also has to deal with O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Levels, the exams fifth year students take that determine their future careers. The stress level is extraordinary, and Harry doesn't even have Quidditch for relief... And that's just the start of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

As I said at the beginning of this review, I really do think this book gets better each time you read it. The first time, you're reading mainly for the plot, but the second time you start to pick up on the subtleties and twists and turns and intrigue. Characters from previous novels such as Neville Longbottom, Professor Lupin, and Sirius Black are back, and they are all newly important in their own way. Bits of previous novels suddenly become more important as well, such as why Dumbledore wouldn't answer all of Harry's questions after his first encounter with Voldemort in "The Sorcerer's Stone."

My only real annoyance with "The Order of the Phoenix" is how Rowling described Umbridge as a toad over and over...and over and over again. I was really sick of it after what felt like twenty times. But that's just a personal quibble, probably due to how much I detested Umbridge. Such an evil rotter!

You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll be frustrated. Your opinion of some characters may change. You'll be hungry to know what will happen in the last two Harry books. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is an excellent read.

5/5.

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Rating: 4 / 5
Date: 2010-03-29
Summary: "Christian perspective on Harry Potter"

J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
(Bloomsbury, 2003)

Reviewed by Darren Cronshaw

It was an out of the way store and so we didn't have to wait as long as some customers did in more popular bookshops, but I lined up after 9am Saturday June 21 with other eager J.K. Rowling readers and purchased my copy of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I even got one of the specially-marked `DO NOT OPEN BEFORE 21st JUNE 2003' book boxes as a collector's item. Before last Saturday 195 million copies of Rowling's Books I-IV had been sold in 55 languages across more than 200 countries. With Book V there is more Harry Potter around - much more with its 766 pages and some 13 million books already printed - one million of them in Australia.

In this latest volume of Rowling's planned 7 book saga, Harry Potter and his friends do yet another year at Hogwarts School. There is a new teacher to hate, new tricks and antics to get up to, and new spells, games and fun that will keep readers intrigued for hours. The book has the most involved battle scene in all of the five books (involving about twenty witches and wizards attacking backwards and forwards). What most captures the imagination, though, is the challenges of growing up. Harry and his classmates are up to their 5th year 'OWLs' (Ordinary Wizarding Level exams), and Harry struggles with adolescence, self-esteem, teasing, longing for affirmation from a mentor, trying to figure girls out, cramming for exams, and losing someone close to him. At one point Harry thought he should have been chosen for a special responsibility (rather than a friend) and he worried anxiously, `Did this make him as arrogant as Draco Malfoy? Did he think himself superior to everyone else? Did he really believe he was better than Ron?' (p.151) Some Christians criticise Harry's situational ethics, but his struggles over decision-making are those that young (and old) can readily identify with.

Apart from adolescent struggles, there was concern after Book IV that the books were getting more graphically evil. Rowling admits her portrayal of evil is getting darker, and that this is necessary to show the true nature of evil (as bad and to be fought against). However, I found Book V to be not as dark as Book IV, but it did deal in more depth with dying and grief. These themes of death, grief, emotional struggle and appropriate use of power are not always neatly resolved but are definitely worth exploring in conversation with our children and with young people around us.

A key lesson that came through is the importance of pulling together. Whether on the Quidditch sport field or in the battle against 'He who can't be named', unity is important. When Harry accepted his destiny, he went to Hogwarts to learn and equip himself for the tasks ahead. This year Hogwart's Sorting Hat adds to its usual start-of-term song this warning to stand together:

Though condemned I am to split you
Still I worry that it's wrong ...
For our Hogwarts is in danger
From external, deadly foes
And we must unite inside her
Or we'll crumble from within (pp. 186-187).

Professor Dumbledore and others who are pledged to fight evil band together and commit to one another in the Order of the Phoenix. The Phoenix is a mythological creature that rises to life from its own ashes, and is known as the `resurrection bird.' The phoenix in the Harry Potter series has saved the life of both Harry and Dumbledore. The bird and its potential for new life is an appropriate symbol of their common struggle for a better world.

As Christians, we gather in resurrection communities that could be called a kind of `Order of the Phoenix' but are more commonly known as churches. I'll be exploring the themes from this latest book with young people in our church, and lining up again next year for Book VI.

Reviewed originally in Zadok Perspectives No.80 (Spring, 2003), p.24,