Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5) by J. K. Rowling, Mary GrandPr? Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $5.18 You Save: $4.81 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.69 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5)
Book Review: Absolutely fantastic!
Summary: 5 Stars
Rowling continues to amaze with her presentation of this complete world she has created. This installment lives up to the previous four, but parents of young children should definitely read it first to determine if their child is old enough to handle it. The conflict becomes more intense, and the 'big event' that was well-publicised before publication is very disturbing. A wonderful read for older children and adults. I'm off to read it again!Book Review: Doesn't live up to expectations
Summary: 2 Stars
One word: disappointing.When comparing this book to the other four of the series, this one seems to have much less major action and a lot more backstory. All the other books have had a main plot and the backstory of Voldemort and the scar. This was just Voldemort and the scar. It seems to me that the honourable J.K Rowling was running out of ideas. Also, it feels like she tried to make Harry too real, there is too much angst in the story and he behaves, while perfectly realistically, nothing like himself in previous books. He is very stressy and has violent mood swings. This could have been an excellent book, however, I cannot say that it lives up to either the hype it received or the standard of the series it is in.
Book Review: Darker, more powerful, just as rewarding
Summary: 5 Stars
At fifteen years old Harry Potter is no longer the bespectacled moppet of the earlier books. He is a stroppy, angsty teenager forced by circumstances to grow up just a bit too fast. However the book retains the same magic as the others - a magic that kept me reading for about thirteen hours more or less solidly, in fact. For make no mistake, this is a big and complex book. Not too complex - people underestimate kids - but certainly challenging, especially for younger readers. The book starts with a bang and grows dark in the middle as injustice, indignities and failures are heaped upon Harry without any apparent redress, (I had to break here for a while, and found it hard to start reading again) but events lighten up as he responds and adapts to his circumstances and finds new inner strength and new resources among his friends and allies.
A familiar message from Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings - the important of acknowledging and conquering your inner rage and hatred - is becoming a central theme. The themes of courage and tolerance are, as always, absolutely core, but the theme of resistance and even rebellion against authority, albeit corrupt, unfair and cowardly, sounds a new and more adult note.
A number of new characters include one of the most unpleasant and least redeemable personages ever to grace the pages of a children's book. No spoilers, but perhaps this character is a little too close to home and a little too unpleasant. The button of the reader's righteous indignation is pushed just once or twice too often, I think.
The book does have flaws, the greatest of which is that there is just too much going on. Some characters are underused and some subplots could just as easily have been left out. Those who have read previous Harry Potter books may well find themselves suspecting absolutely everyone's motives and analysing every throwaway line in an attempt to second guess the author. In the end, however, this is a deeply readable and very powerful book which I would highly recommend both for children and adults.
Book Review: Thanks, Amazon, for the early owl!
Summary: 4 Stars
This book isn't the rollercoaster ride of excitement that was Book 4, more a slow build up to a dark night of the soul for Harry Potter. In general the tone is bleaker and more serious - Harry's a troubled teenager struggling with exams, girls and the fate of the world and the laughs are few and far between. Some new characters are introduced, at least one of whom promises to be interesting and the threatened death is fairly unexpected. One of the best parts for me was learning more about Snape and why he is who he is.Hagrid is absent for about half of the book, and Dumbledore only comes to the fore in the last quarter. Harry is forced to be be more self reliant because of this.Book Review: Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
I recived this from Amazon on the morning of release (21.06.2003) and sat down to read....forget the hype, forget the sceptics - this book starts and once you're into the first chapter you wont want to put it down because the story just begins to run with you and you dont want it to stop.Harry is growing up and since the return of Voldemort at the end of the Goblet of Fire, and the reaction of a disbeliving Minister of Magic the battle lines are being drawn and not everyone is standing in the places you think they will. This leads to conflicts between friends and between what needs to be done and personal life, and exam hell to boot.
The new defence against the dark arts teacher is anyone's worst nightmare (and no it's NOT Snape).
Without putting in a 'spoiler' for anyone who hasn't read it yet, yes J.K does kill off a favourite character and it's someone
who will be missed. At the same time two other well loved characters fly off into the sunset.
This was well worth waiting for.....if you haven't got it yet read it it's worth every second.