18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
Stephen Fry is Magical...
Rather than focusing on the merits of the book itself, this is a review of the Cover to Cover production featuring Stephen Fry. Having listned to all of the previous installments as read by the great man, I finally bit the bullet and shelled out the almost £60 for the latest chapter. And boy, was I not dissapointed!
28 hours after it began I have just reached the end...
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Not bad, but not great
The third and fourth books were my favourite of the series so far, but Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix isn't bad, although it baffles me how these books can still be looked upon as books for very young children. With Harry and the gang at the ages of fifteen and sixteen, hormones etc. are kicking in and there are also some patches which very little kids might...
Rather than focusing on the merits of the book itself, this is a review of the Cover to Cover production featuring Stephen Fry. Having listned to all of the previous installments as read by the great man, I finally bit the bullet and shelled out the almost £60 for the latest chapter. And boy, was I not dissapointed!
28 hours after it began I have just reached the end of the Order of the Phoenix (I spread that out over 3 weeks, I couldn't quite manage one sitting!). Stephen Fry is truly amazing providing significanlty differnt voices for each of the many characters contained within the book. For me Fry is Hagrid! It is easy to get swept up in his telling of the tale, its almost addictive, you may find yourself having listned to 3 cds in a row, and at 75 minutes per CD this is no mean feat!
Even if you have read the books (and in this case I had) go back to the beginning and buy his reading of the Philosophers Stone. Lie in bed at night, turn the lights out and enter the world of Harry Potter through a different door...
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There has been a distinct strain of bemusement in reactions to this book. It's as if people recognize the features of the first four books - the cracking plot, great characters, hilarious episodes - but sense that there is something, well, a little bit different about this one.
And they'd be right. Because this is a more mature, more serious, more political book than the previous volumes in the series. The problem is that people don't like to recognize the fact that books are political. Especially children's books. Many adults are absolutely desperate to read their favourite kid's classics as fluffy, cutesy, comforting works, which have no engagement with their "real" world. So when a text like this comes along, which mixes contemporary satire with fantastic and magical elements, they become slightly uncomfortable.
The problem for this type of reader is that it cannot be denied that this book deals with some highly contentious current issues. Most obviously, it's a satire on government regulation of secondary education. But it also has some serious things to say about action and appeasement, about truth, narrative and the press and, above all, about cultural imperialism.
For example: the house elf plot. In book four this seemed to fizzle out into acquiescence in the "naturalness" of their oppression. But in book five it becomes the lynchpin of an impassioned argument for respecting difference. The central image of the novel (cleverly used by Bloomsbury on the back cover) is the statue at the Ministry of Magic - look out for Rowling's rather wonderful description of Harry's reaction when he first sees it. From a distance, it looks great, but closer to, Harry is able to see all of its weaknesses as a representation of the different magical beings. Measuring the extent to which it falls short of his own personal experiences of other "races", Harry gains an insight into the ideological work which the statue performs. Art, in this novel, is political. It's a real "Tom Brown" moment, - the fact that Harry's adventures have taken him outside of the normal confines of the wizarding world enables him to achieve an important insight into the workings of inequality.
Similarly, there are other elements which one wouldn't expect to find in a fluffy children's novel - in particular, Rowling's trademark treatment of pain. Few children's authors can write about the suffering created by death and loss in children's lives with such pathos. But here we also have a darker side of pain, the operations of torture and sadism in the actions of both Umbridge and Belletrix. Rowling manages to achieve the impossible, dealing with such subjects in a manner suitable to the youth of her readership, while maintaining a sense of their deeply disturbing nature. And while the much-hyped death of the "major character" is understated, Rowling uses it to ground Dumbledore's extraordinary view, which could come straight out of Dickens's Christmas books: that it is suffering which acts as the ground of humanity.
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I am constantly amazed by the depth and strength of J.K.Rowlings writing. Even in the first book of the series `Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone`, when the writing was simpler and more geared to Harry`s then age-group, there were complexities visible to older readers. As the characters have aged so has the style and content changed and, as Rowling herself says, become darker. No longer does every book end on a more or less happy note. The violence, torture and death of an adult world are beginning to impinge on Hogwarts and to increasingly affect Harry and his friends. On an emotional level too the characters are changing although there is always the typical J.K.Rowling wit and humour! She has the gift of a quality writer for creating a vivid picture with the perfect choice of just one or two words. Obviously she`s not infallible but any mistakes she makes tend to relate to small oversights in the plot or background which in the context of the whole really don`t seem to matter. `Order of the Phoenix` is, for me, the best book yet in every sense of the word. The others were each valuable in their own way and this one is simply the result of a natural progression - it needs the others for the development of plot and style - but Rowling is now really showing the power of her writing. Without going into detail for those who have not yet caught up with the series I can still say that there are scenes in `Goblet of Fire`and Òrder of the Phoenix` which contain so much tension and action that it could be difficult to maintain but she never lets your attention flag. The recording of the books is done with as little disruption to the story flow as possible. The crucial thing, though , with the recorded version has to be Stephen Fry. He is absolutely brilliant! I can`t imagine anyone replacing him and I hope he`s already signed up for the rest of the series. His interpretation of the different characters is amazing. One word of warning though - once you`ve listened to him reading the books you`ll never be able to read them yourself without hearing him. The power of his interpretation just makes you appreciate Rowling`s writing more. A perfect match! Once The Half-Blood Prince`has been published the next thing I shall look forward to is Stephen Fry`s recording of it.
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Harry is eagerly awaiting his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The holidays are no fun stuck with his Muggle (non-magical) relations. Why does he have to spend every summer with them anyway? He hates it and the way he is constantly mistreated by them.
He has been miserable ever since school broke up, with worry over You-Know-Who's return at the end of the fourth book. He's also missing his friends, Ron and Hermione, who have been sending him cryptic letters full of hints at secrets they can't or won't reveal.
Then to top it all, someone wants Harry dead and has sent Dementors after him, magical creatures that suck the happiness from a person leaving them only despair and madness. Harry has to use magic to get rid of the creatures, (in front of his cousin Dudley) but then he gets in trouble with the Ministry of Magic for using magic outside of school and in front of a Muggle too!
Harry thinks that things can't surely get any worse, but he would be wrong...
Oh, I loved this book. It was a darker book than the other four, but I still enjoyed it. Here was a Harry who was getting so fed up at everything the world had been throwing at him for the past four years and he snapped. I'm not surprised at all, and he still remained sympathetic, even though at times his temper flared so often it was a wonder he had any friends left!
You bristle at all the unfairness heaped upon him, especially by Professor Snape and
Professor Dolores Umbridge (the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher), who was appointed by the Ministry and she wasn't a favourite with the staff either.
Not only has Harry to take all this abuse from his teachers, it's his O.W.L. year (Ordinary Wizarding Levels), he suffers horrible nightmares and visions of his friends' deaths and the newspapers are hinting that he has gone mad and is unstable. Maybe a stay at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies may be in order?
We discover a few new characters in the book, as well as some secrets from old ones, which keeps the suspense going. Although the overall tone of the book is dark, there are some welcome moments of comic relief.
Is it a good book? Put it this way, the book is over 700 pages long and I read it in one day. I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next. Nothing on television was as interesting as finishing the book that night!
I'm eagerly looking forward to the next installment of Harry's adventures!
Reviewed by Annette Gisby, author of Drowning Rapunzel and Shadows of the Rose.
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Harry Potter is now a phenomenon. Who would have predicted 4-5 years ago that youngsters would be clamouring for a hardback book numbering more than 750 pages making it the fastest selling novel of all time?
Book 5, The Order of the Phoenix is the next stage of Harry's journey from uncertain and unhappy childhood to fully-blown adult hero. But his journey is not an easy one, for as this installment opens he is unpopular and mistrusted by almost the entire wizarding fraternity, victim of an all-too familiar press-campaign to besmirch his previous good name.
If you're already a Harry Potter fan, chances are you've already bought this. If you're not then it would be unwise to read The Order of the Phoenix without having read books 1-4 first. JK Rowling litters the text with references back to her previous novels, and the impact of certain key moments would be greatly reduced if you aren't familiar with her characters and world (and that most definitely means the BOOKS, not the film versions, to which she makes few concessions).
As with the fourth book The Goblet of Fire, Rowling presents us with an extended sequence before Harry and his fellow-pupils reach Hogwarts. Unlike the overlong and frankly rather tedious Quidditch World Cup chapters in the previous novel, however, the episodes building up to and containing Harry's trial are quite engaging, and serve to introduce a significant number of new characters.
Unfortunately the extended page count does not mean an increase of action in The Order of the Phoenix, and to be brutally honest this book is the slowest paced yet of the series. While the third novel The Prisoner of Azkaban is the most wholly satisfying, this is just good in places, there being three or four stand-out chapters. The rest is often overlong and overwordy and readers will not miss much if they skim through some pages.
The Ministry of Magic, headed by Cornelius Fudge takes a central role in this book. Rowling is unafraid here to call into question the motives and methods of politicians and the media, a bold move which allows older readers to make useful parallels with the real worlds and which could even encourage younger ones to develop an open-minded attitude to what they see and hear on TV and in the papers.
It is interesting to note that while the characters of Harry, Ron, Hermione et al are now aged fifteen, their behaviour and attitudes haven't really changed that much since they were eleven. They are still worried about House points, scoff chocolate frogs and swop cards, and think that owning your own joke-shop is the pinnacle of unorthodox achievement. And there's nothing wrong with that. Rowling's principal readership will be several years younger now than the characters they are reading about and will have no problem identifying with their feelings and priorities. The prospect of Harry and his pals undergoing a more realistic adolescent transformation into unsociable and unlikeable brats is enough to make this reviewer shudder with apprehension.
The love-story between Harry and Cho is tastefully handled, and again is more akin to what might happen between younger readers than genuine 15-16 year-olds. And Rowling avoids the anticipated outcome quite slickly, with Hermione's deconstruction of their disastrous date something of a master-stroke on the writer's behalf.
The much-heralded death-sequence is effectively handled, and Rowling slyly foreshadows it with a series of 'death-moments' involving almost every other key-character in preceeding chapters. Though whether the character involved will be resurrected despite what Nearly-headless Nick tells Harry, remains to be seen. My money would be on some kind of later involvement in the remaining books.
Of the regular characters, Hagrid is kept almost entirely in the background, while we are allowed some pretty revealing insights into Snape's past. We also find out what the adolescent James Potter was really like, a complexity Rowling has built into the storyline which makes Harry question his previous hero-worship of his dad.
Finally a word on the new characters. Umbridge is easily identifiable as the sort of teacher every school has at least one example of, and the mutiny against her by staff and pupils alike is staggeringly effective. She stands alongside Gilderoy Lockhart (who makes a cameo appearance-- hooray!) as one of Rowling's best creations. Tonks is underused but has potential to be a key figure (and another positive female role-model) in the remaining books in the series.
Overall I enjoyed reading this book, but feel it could have lost 200-300 pages without compromising either the characterisation or storyline. The sequence in which Dumbledore takes responsibility for the DA and the moment when the Weasley twins leave Hogwarts are genuinely uplifting and memorable. Dumbledore's revelations towards the novel's end of the link between Harry and Vol- sorry, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named set up the remainder of Harry's journey and point to a potentially very dark conclusion.
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J K Rowling has yet again produced a very readable and engrossing book. It should prove as big a hit with Harry Potter fans as the previous books in the series though how well it will appeal to the younger reader I am not sure as this book is a lot 'darker' than the previous ones. Harry is now 15 years old and has become an angry, moody teenager, very different from how he has been portrayed previously. At times it is difficult to like him and his behaviour can be downright annoying. However, Rowling has sympathetically portrayed the 'angst' of teenagers and the difficulties of growing up whilst still managing to weave a captivating story and maintaining the magic that is Harry Potter. Favourite characters are still around as well as some new ones including the truly horrendous new 'defence against the dark arts' teacher, professor Dolores Jane Umbridge who proves unpopular not only with the pupils of Hogwarts but also upsets the majority of the staff. Harry learns more about his past in this book and also discovers why he has to spend holidays with the Dursleys even though they obviously don't want him and he also grapples with the difficulties of his first romantic relationship.More of Professor Snapes past is uncovered and certainly explains some of his antipathy towards Harry. As readable as all the previous Potter books, I would highly recommend this one.
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I am one of those sad adults who buy the Harry Potter books for themselves. Two years we've all had to wait for this latest episode in the life and times of the world's most popular teen wizard. Now that I've actually recieved and read my copy I can testify that it was indeed well worth the wait.
The magic of Joanne Rowling's escapist, fantastic, hidden world is here in spades with the attention to detail that I've come to love and expect. The story contained within the book is reassuringly gripping and satisfying as a stand alone adventure. The major attraction, however, is the deepening of the overall story running through the series. I take my hat off to Rowling's planning of the books as the seeds planted in earlier books start to develop here. I don't wish to give anything away that will spoil the exhiliration of discovering the history of events with Harry. Suffice to say that the discovery IS exhilirating in a can't-put-the-book-down, feeling blown away rush of emotions.
Rowling really has pulled it off again with The Order of the Pheonix. Enid Blyton, J.R.R.Tolkein, C.S.Lewis et al eat your hearts out.
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This is the fifth instalmet of Harry Potter and until Harry Potter and until the Deathly Hallows is published this summer it is also the longest.
It is important to point out that to really appreciate this book you should read the Goblet of Fire because it is more or less a continuation from that. Though many may beg to differ, I think this is the best book of the lot. Admittedly there are some unneccesary storylines and it can be slow paced at times, but there are so many complicated twists and turns in the stories it is easily forgiven.
I loved the scene early on in the book with Harry and the dreadful Dursleys discussing the wizarding world. The way J.K Rowling draws you into Harry's world is nothing short of genius.
The wizardry and magic become second place to the superb characters and storylines that ordinary people (or Muggles) like us can relate to. Despite having spells, sorcery and fantasy running through the tales it is still set in our world and you're bound to come across characters you've known or met in your life. Professor McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, even the nefarious Dolores Umbridge are all believable characters.
After a few hours reading you will be fully absorbed into the world of Harry Potter. You will care about the characters, feel injustice of the Ministry of Magic and not want to put it down.
The Order of the Phoenix delves into the pasts of other characters such as Professor Snape, James and Lily Potter (Harry's parents), even Professor Trelawney the not very good Divination teacher. The relations between seemingly far apart characters in the story are also revealed and pay particular attention to Sirius' family tree. His cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa are to become very prominent in the series.
It can be quite difficult to keep up with the tortuous nature of the characters and what happened to who and side stories. However the character who is most notable in this (for being horrid) is the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic Dolores Umbridge. She is simpering smug and reallly very cold and unscrupulous. The scenes involving her and Professor McGonagall are brilliant, as is Hermione's who gets rather rebellious in this book.
It's true however that actual action is not as frequent in this book. The emphasis is more on secrets and relations between characters. If you like the magic and heroics part to Harry Potter then you'll probably prefer one of the first three books. I myself think that this is an essential read.
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An outstanding return to the magical world!, 29 May 2004
By A Customer
In his return Harry, who has always been a bit of the hero is now accompenied by a group of equally bold friends. After his duel with Voldermort in the last book, and struggling with disbelieving witches and wizards, Harry encounters another close shave with his arch enemy, but with more suspense, description and tragdedy. The trio, Harry, Ron and Hermione are, this year, accomponied by the bumbling Neville, Ginny and also a new character, Luna Lovegood.They meet 'Loony Lovegood' on the train, who, in turn, develops an obsession with Harry. Another new character to join the book is, yet another enemy, Professor Umbridge, who gradually makes her way up through the ranks of teaching to new headmistress. Everyone dispises her, and she makes Harry's life especially difficult in this year at Hogwarts. Harry has a huge challenge ahead of him, to try and work out the Lost Prophecy, and to stop Lord Voldermort from getting to it. Voldermort tricks Harry into coming to him, which results in a huge tragdedy which, I feel, will leave Harry a large hole in his life. Afterwards, Dumbledore has a shocking revelation for Harry that will have you reeling. Although facing Voldermort is challenging, and he has a loss to cope with, Harry also has to await for his OWL's exams' results, which are important exams, like GCSE's to us. Overall, I think that the books are getting better as they go along. I enjoyed the fourth book and it was pleasant to find the fifth even more thrilling and enjoyable. These books are a credit to Joanne Rowling's imagination, and I am so grateful for her magical world of Harry Potter, as it is a great book for all generations! Well done to her, and if/when this book comes out on film it will be tremendous, but for the meantime, I await impatiently for the release of the third book on film!
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Despite taking a little while to get started, The Order of the Phoenix is unarguably the best Harry Potter yet. We see Harry during adolescence and can identify with some of his actions. His relationships to his friends and Cho Chang reflect a great deal about his character and a sense of what a person with his experiences goes through. Most importantly, however, i believed that the book was a very accurate reflection of the power of the media (Daily Prophet), the ignorance and naivety of politicians (Ministry of Magic), the manipulation of the media by the Ministry, and the lack of preparation for what could turn into a war (Voldemort's return). The book is more than just a children's story, it brings out elements from the real world and emphasises the dangers of naivety. After reading the first hundred pages, the story is also a fast, irresistable read due to its high action. Revelations of Harry's past further complete his story and we also learn more of Snape and Sirius.
Overall, an excellent read, by far the most mature and valuable of all Harry Potter books.
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