8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
A disappointed fan, 2 Oct 2003
By A Customer
I would have given the first four books 5 stars. However, I feel the Order of the Phoenix is just not up to the same standard - it is too long and drawn out. Some may claim that this is just character and plot development but I feel that it just slowed the whole story down and that some of it is just "fluff" to pad out the book (so that it can be sold for a higher price?). Maybe this apparent "fluff" will be justified as necessary preamble for the next 2 books. For me the story was too flat with the action concentrated into a few pages at the end. With the other four books I couldn't put them down - with this one I couldn't wait to finish it so that I could get on and read something more exciting. I hope the next book is a big improvement.
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7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Too long, nothing new happens with Voldemort, and, 20 Aug 2003
By A Customer
A boring prophecy that we all could have figured out ourselves.
Has Rowling lost her muse? Goblet of Fire was fantastic. I couldn't wait to read Order of the Phoenix. But I was disappointed in the lack of editing, the lack of action during the school year, and the lackluster ending. Even the death at the end was non-emotional, sort of catatonic. It was a long way to go for nothing new at the end. No imagination in the prophecy.
I was rather disappointed. I rate this book one star in its relationship and comparison to the prior four.
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix should have really been titled Harry Potter and the Splitting Headache. After the two-hundredth time (in as many pages) of reading ‘Harry felt his scar searing and pulsing,’ I too was feeling like my head was going to explode. If there is a word to describe this fifth installement of the Potter series, it is repetitive. Harry has repeated headaches, the major situations are all the same as usual, there are continuous references to past episodes (no doubt intended to be helpful, as I for one cannot remember a single thing from the Goblet of Fire), and our hero succoumbs to continuous bouts of anger and teenage angst. Moreover, after more than 700 pages, the action does not progress too far and lots of loose ends are left to be resolved in the next volume.
The book is maybe intented to narrate the transformation that Harry must undergo as he grows, from child to teenager to young adult, his challenge to overcome personal, school and mortal-enemy difficulties to grow up. It doesn’t look to me as if Rowling has done a brilliant job here. Is she trying to portray Harry as a misunderstood, rebellious teenager, full of anger at a world that does not fully accept him? There is a little bit of teenage angst: big exams are getting near, I’ve got enough on my plate with my teachers and the last thing I need is to go an fight an evil wizard, and that’s it. Instead, he is just irritated by and made irritable by his headaches, so he shouts at his friends. And who could blame him? If you had the same problem everytime you sat down to study, you too would be yelling at everyone. But the attempt to cast Potter in a darker mood fails. Perhaps if he had shaved his hair, grown an attitude and started doing pot, or smoking cigaretters (morally far more reprehensible in these days), that’d be more credible. In contrast to Harry’s plight, Hermione and Ron appear as models of mental stability and good behaviour - their hormone levels haven’t shot up yet. Incidentally, our hero’s predicaments are not that related to affairs of the heart. Although the publicity portrayed this book as the one where Harry would discover love, there is little more than some confusion and relief that he does not have to worry too much about her. The love interest is secondary, but (credit due where credit due) it is not repulsive or too honeyed - The Order of the Phoenix remains an action and adventure book.
Whatever action there is, do not count on the mysterious Order to provide it. As far as I can tell, the Order consists of a group of Dumbledore’s faithful who spend most of their time in a hiding perform and then undertake secret missions, the nature of which is of course secret. It is never explained why the Order is so called, why it was established or what its purpose is, other than save Harry and his companions at the very last minute. One has the impression that it will be revealed later, in the forthcoming instalement. In fact, it is not only the Order that fails to deliver any action. Everything else fails to deliver any action. There aren’t any secondary stories, any subplots, any exploits of minor characters. There is just one lineal story and that’s it. Harry spends an awful lot of time being late with his homework and worrying about exams. Harry spends yet more time having headaches. Harry spends even yet more time being moody. Harry, Harry, Harry, but nothing really happens, the book moves at such a slow pace.
If the Order is a feeble literary device, Voldemort is here the worst villian you could think of. Simply pathetic. He does not do anything other than to give Potter headaches. For a genius of evil that has previously managed to terrorise the wizarding community, he cuts a less-than-impressive figure. His minions are also really bad, incompetent, almost cartoonish. A simple Protego spell learnt in the second year at Hogwarts deflects all their attacks.
Furthermore, what does Voldemort want? What is he waiting for? His plans are never explained, just as the Order is never explained. Virtually everything is left to be uncovered in the next two volumes of the story. Other questions - Why did Hagrid go to speak with the giants? Why was Dumbledore demoted? Why is the Minister of Magic out to get him? Why does Dolores Umbridge want everything under her control? - also call for patience. This entire instalement feels like a transition or an introduction to what’s to come. My gripe is that you don’t need nearly a kilo of paper for that. Sincerely, I find too little action, too few developments buried in the length of this story, and too uninteresting characters. I can only hope that things get better next time.
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I was so happy when "The Order Of The Pheonix" came out, I thought it would be another great book in the wonderful Harry Potter series, I was wrong. First of all "The Order Of The Pheonix" is way too long and drags on about unimportant things throughout the book. Second, My favorite character dies (who remains nameless) which was the most dissapointing ascpect of the entire book. This book reads like a bad sequel. J.K Rowling could have done A LOT better. I really hope the sixth on is better than this garbage!!!!
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I'm quite relieved to see that amongst the Amazon readers there are a fair few who were as disappointed with this book as I was.
I read this installment of HP around the time that it came out, and was sitting on the London Underground when I got to the end. One of the other passengers had been watching me avidly, and when I closed the book, eagerly asked me what it was like.
"Alright" I said. Looking back though, I don't even think it was that good.
It seems that following on from the Goblet of Fire, JK felt she owed her readers a mighty wedge of a read. I for one was initially delighted at the size of the book, and was looking forward to hours of entertainment.
However, after a few chapters I started to tire. Enthusiasm was still high, but I was beginning to wonder if anything was actually going to happen.
A few chapters later I was bored. It's at least a dozen years since I was last tempted to skip chapters of a book, and in this case I'm sorry that I resisted the temptation. Even when I got to the last chapter I was hoping against hope for something exciting or interesting or funny to happen. Where was the tension, the excitement, the anticipation?
I wonder whether I'd have enjoyed this more had it been the length of some of the earlier books. Perhaps... but even at 200 pages I think the whole plot lacked the intrigue that kept my attention in the earlier books.
For the next installment I'm hoping for a little less family picnic and a lot more magic.
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I was waiting for this book so eagerly and I was properly punished... it was just awfully annoying and boring. Harry was so tiresome and ridiculous that his behaviour almost made me wish Voldemort caught him! And beacuse of his stupidity he lost his godfather. If I wasn't sorry for Sirius (NOT for Harry though) I would have felt it served him right. His arrogance in thinking he can save Sirius and a bunch of well-trained wizards will not be able to do anything ... It is just too much. His least positive feature that really made me dislike him is that he envied Ron of being a prefect. That was also conceited and so mean. I could go on and on about the negatives of Harry and this book but I would abuse the time of the readers, just as HP 5 did!
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What happened here then? The first few chapters were like someone else had written them! And then it got slower and more bleak, and then even slower... and bleaker.. and slowerer... bleakerer... and I kept hoping it would lighten up, but it didn't. I felt like the sun was stuck behind the clouds. I stopped reading it in October because it wasn't what I like to read, and was taking me tooooo long to finish each chapter and I'd slowed down to a couple of paragraphs each day, and then even less. Now that I've finally finished it I just wanted to say it was hard work and although it's definitely not my favourite of the five, the other four are still very good. It had its moments that were good - like the full stop at the very end. That was the best bit of the whole book! There are plenty of other books worth looking at, and I get annoyed when people get all defensive about Harry Potter and his adventures. They can't all be good, and this one simply wasn't. Maybe the next one will be, though? I liked the first Artemis Fowl book more than this, and of the Artemis series that was the one I liked least of all. I even prefer the Northern Lights/Subtle Knife/Amber Spyglass ones more than this, and those bored me to sleep - and still do if I think about them too much. You can't really go wrong with Douglas Adams for entertaining yarns, or maybe Tolkein if you're feeling conventional. Someone's already said try The Guardian Of Time or The Odessa Stone, and everyone should because they are really good - I read them while not reading The Odour Of The Phoenix. Terry Pratchett's worth a look as well, but sometimes he gets very wordy. To get back to the point, the fifth HP is pants, the other four are much better, and I'm pleased to tell the world I have finally, finally, FINALLY finished it!
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This has none of the action or mystery of the last Harry books. The characters are annoying and the writing is mundane. Who wants to read about Harry going from one class to the next or that he has to revise. By all means include these events but dont devote 500 pages to them. It seems that JK Rwoling is so confident with her product that she feels that she can write any drivel and the public will buy it whole-sale. The public deserve better!
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Having been gripped by all the previous Harry Potter books i was compelled to buy the new addition. I was however extrememly disappointed. The first 400 pages were a complete waste, i kept reading on thinking its going to get started any minute but it never did. Harry's character was not appealing in the slightest. The booked lacked any real plot and didn't do any of the characters any justice. There is no incentive to read the next book after this atrocious installment.
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I was so looking forward to this book being unleashed, but I absolutely crawled through this miserable year at Hogwarts. Where has the likeable, unwilling hero gone? And where has all the magical wonder of life at a school for wizards disappeared to? It's incredible that a massive book set in a world of magical wonder can be such a miserable trudge, and JK Rowling has achieved a literary feat which is quite deplorable. I wonder if she fell out with her editor, because this great big door-step of a book needs an axe to be swung through about 400 pages. Actually, it also needs about a year's more work putting in as well. I would say that this volume tells us that the author is becoming really fed up with Harry and his world, and is quite happy with all the money so far. I dread to think what she's got lined up in the next one, but whatever that might be, I won't be in any rush to find out.
And what's the deal with the female characters? Yet again the hate-figure is a woman. In this case, she's loathsome and takes over the school to pour the most vile poison into the story, and mess up the lives of the characters. Last time a vile reporter was the pain the neck. Apart from one blinkered teacher and the irritating Mrs Weasley, the only main female is Hermione who seems to be there simply to do Harry and Ron's homework - and be a real Lisa Simpson style know-all. How embarrassing. And as for Cho, the great love of Harry's life... what a waste of time that all was - and yet again, a female character comes across as a real pain.
I remember having a laugh and talking at great length with some friends about the likelihood of Ron being the character who dies, and we were all convinced the Grim Reaper was going to get him. Or even Hagrid, or perhaps Hermione, or even Dumbledore. We had about a billion theories worked out, family trees, future purpose etc but what a monumental disappointment! How on earth did JKR keep a straight face when she told the cameras in the pre-release hype that she "actually cried" when the character had to die? Don't blink or you'll miss the great event in the book! And as for the stupid addition of the magical mirror which Harry happens to find afterwards... oh spare me!
One a more positive note, here's a recommendation - try The Odessa Stone by C C Chambers, or maybe The Guardian Of Time as well. They both made me laugh, and even cry at more than two or three bits - and why? Because I grew to care about the characters as much as the characters care about each other. And Linda Beaufort is a far more positive, barmy character than any number I could mention from any of the five Potter treks. I read them both after a friend started raving like a loon about them - plus I couldn't make head or tail of the plots from her deranged rambling! I didn't think they'd be any good because I'd never ever heard of them, but I've read The Odessa Stone three times now, and I'm still enjoying Linda and Avalon's world, and I'm still spotting back-references and little quotes! So I've relegated Order Of The Phoenix to the bottom of the pile, and have a new favourite! Viva Linda Beaufort! Oh, and not forgetting Bob and Andie, either!
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