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Submitted by John 
(Feb 15, 2004)

Quickly approaching 35, finishing a doctorate, and multi-tasking on a daily basis, one would not think that I would have time to follow the life of the boy wizard, Harry Potter. Think again! I fell in love with the texts back in 1998 when the first volume was released and the love has deepened ever since. The latest volume, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," is as much a story about the struggle between good and evil as it is the story of Harry's coming of age. At the end of Book IV, the dark side of the wizarding world started to emerge as more personal and more realistic, both for Harry and the reader. In book V, the fictive face that J.K. Rowling puts on magic becomes more complicated, personalities and friendships continue to evolve, and the love and sympathy that one feels for the characters deepens immensely with the turn of every page. Harry's power and pain are stretched to the limit as he redefines many of his relationships through his experiences of love, loyalty, persecution, and deeply personal grief. Ultimately, Harry emerges from this brilliant tale, his destiny in clear view, to love and fight another year at Hogwarts. With highest praise and great anticipation, I anxiously await to see how year six at Hogwarts will unfold in Harry Potter VI.

Whilst J.K. Rowling is not Jules Verne, her stories have more life than any others I have read, and what's more just because you can write great doesn't mean you're story is going to be great. Rowling pulled it off with Order of the Phoenix. Few stories can accomplish what it did, even in the HP series. What disturbs me is the ratings given by others that read the book. Let me set the record straight. The Order of the Pheonix will make you want to throw the book against the wall many times; will make you beg J.K. to throw you a bone, something, anything to stop the constant struggle. It will make you cry you're eyes out. That doesn't make it a bad book at all, just intelligent. This is part of what makes it a masterpiece. Just because you don't like something that happened doesn't make it anything less.

As Harry matures in Order of the Phoenix, so does J.K. Rowling mature over the course of the entire series. The plot, while engaging, is not the equal of any of the other books in the series; the writing, on the other hand, is unparalleled. J.K. Rowling has taken her (rather large) cast of established characters, and without contradicting ANY of her previous work, taken them in new and different directions, especially the Holy Trinity of Harry, Ron and Hermione. Like Ender's Game, Order of the Phoenix has numerous layers of allusion and deeper meaning, but can still be read at "face value"- except it may prove more disappointing as the plot is a little more pedestrian than the plots and devices of her other books.

The fifth book of the Harry Potter series is great, with many twists and turns unexpected to the reader. However, I think that it is a bit too brutal and twisted around a world of fantasy, which is absurd when compared to real life. Many parts of the story actually are reflect similar situation of the World now such as Voldermort, which actually, together with his death eaters, are terrorists of the magical community. I recommend this book for light reading and entertainment but not for educational purposes.

I know giving a middling review seems harsh, but I do this for a reason. Maybe, in the past 4 years of Harry's Life, I've gotten accustomed to him being the star, and life at Hogwart's being wonderful, if dangerous. And I GUESS that the reason I rated it this way is because of what actually happened in the book.
I love Rowling and the way she writes. I think that without Harry Potter, I would never have made it through boarding school myself. But the Events that took place at Hogwards in the 5th year, my Lord!
I give this book a middling review mainly because I myself am torn. Happy to see someone else in the limelight, yet repulsed and violently angree to see someone disrespect Dumbledore (or Dumbley-Dorr as I've taken to calling him Thanks to Mme. Maxime!)
Also, I would like to say that if you enjoy screenplay's like "The Crucible" You'll like this book. It's chock-full of inuendo that can be related to current day politics, and for that I commend her, because most children won't notice it, but the adults and mature teenagers will.
And So I give this book a 3. Because "Toad Lady" is the best and worst thing to happen to Hogwarts. Well, the worst so far. It's just....the INJUSTICE of it all! Jeeze! I can't wait for the next one!

Amanda