So I finally finished book number one in my little challenge.  Took me forever.  This is a reread for me, but I didn't remember a lot of it seeing as how I read it the day it came out in twelve hours, and didn't glance at it after that.  

The review's a bit rough, and I will probably add more to it later, but I wanted to go ahead and get it out. 

Rating- 9 out of 10.  

SPOILERS

In Order of the Phoenix, Harry and the gang are starting their fifth year at Hogwarts.  There's a new, evil DADA teacher; everyone's denying that Voldemort is back and thinks Harry is a attention-seeking crackpot; and, on top of all that, the fifth years have their O.W.L tests which could decide their future career paths.  

Harry has received very little news from Ron, Sirius, and Hermione over the summer, and the letters they have sent are very vague.  Finally, after a run-in with dementors and a sort of expulsion from Hogwarts, he is taken to a hideaway in London.  There he learns what Lupin, Sirius, Mad-Eye Moody, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and a few other new characters have been up to- running a secret group called The Order of the Phoenix.  The Order is set up to guard Harry and hinder the return of You-Know-Who.

Once Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to school, they have to deal with Professor Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher installed by the Ministry to keep an eye on Dumbledore.  The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, is so paranoid that Dumbledore is trying to usurp him and become Minister that he gives Umbridge unlimited authority to make any changes she wants, causing trouble for students and teachers alike.  

Harry's scar hurts a lot, and he realizes that he's tuned into Voldemort's emotions, so whenever You-Know-Who is extremely happy or extremely angry, Harry knows.  He even starts to have dreams in which he seems to inhabit Voldemort's body and can see what Voldemort is doing.  This knew ability helps Harry once, but mostly just leads to tragedy. 

Really Good Stuff (since almost all of it is just plain good)

The entire plot is amazing.  Rowling is so inventive.  I just can't imagine how she keeps everything straight.  The book lasts forever, but every scene packs a punch, whether it moves the plot forward, reveals character, or just plain entertains.  No dull moments here.

Professor Umbridge is one of the most dastardly villains in print, in my opinion.  What she makes Harry do during detention- twisted.  And when the teachers start defying her- truly hilarious. 

The Weasley twins make a more prominent appearance.  Now that they've got the money for their joke shop, they start creating hilarious products such as the Skiving Snackboxes (I think that's what they're called) that make you just sick enough to get out of class, and once you're out, you can pop in the antidote and enjoy a relaxing hour off.

We get to see James, Sirius, Lupin, Lily, and Snape as teenagers, a real treat, especially since Rowling shows them in a surprising light.  This is a problem I've had with the HP books since the beginning.  Most of the secondary characters are either bad or good; there is no in between.  Snape was really the only one who had any depth.  Now we see that maybe James, Sirius, and Lupin aren't the saints everyone makes them out to be.  It's a refreshing change from just all good or all bad.

Bad Stuff

The tragedy at the end could have been so easily prevented if Harry and Dumbledore had just communicated with each other.  Sometimes I just wanted to yell at them to talk already!  Such a waste.

Harry's such a whiner sometimes.  I know it's all about him being a teenager and acting all angsty like teenagers do, but really, suck it up.  (of course I understand that he has had to deal with major crap, but it's frustrating when a lot of his teenager-ness screws everything up)

Harry and Ron are so slow on the uptake.  Hermione has to explain everything to them.  When Umbridge makes her little speech at the start-of-term feast saying that she's from the Ministry and is there to make changes, Hermione has to tell Harry and Ron that that means she's there to mitigate Dumbledore's power.  They don't understand anything for themselves.  I would think that after four years of scary, evil things happening to them, they would learn how to read into situations a little better.

The Weasley twins, though around  a lot, are still interchangeable.  I wish Rowling would give them more individual personalities.  

Malfoy is such a prat.  After getting into Draco/Hermione fanfiction (fanfiction.net and RestrictedSection.org are two great fanfic sites), and seeing his personality in those stories,  I can't stand to see what a sycophant Rowling portrays him as.


Overall an amazing addition to the series.  This is definitely my second favorite (right after Prisoner of Azkaban).  I couldn't stop reading it, and when I had to put it down, I kept thinking about it, and counting down til I could pick it back up again.





Next up- I think it'll be Be Mine Tonight by Kathryn Smith.