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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5)

by J.K. Rowling, Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)

4.42 of 5 stars 4.42 · rating details · 1,339,609 ratings · 17,279 reviews

Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friends Ron and Hermione have been very secretive all summer and he is desperate to get back to school and find out what has been going on. However, what Harry discovers is far more devastating than he could ever have expected...

Suspense, secrets and thrilling action from th ...more

Paperback, 870 pages

Published August 10th 2004 by Scholastic (first published June 21st 2003)

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

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Nov 28, 2009 Jess Michaelangelo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: series, fiction, young-adult, favorites, fantasy, own

I cried like a little baby. J.K. Rowling really starts taking the series down a darker road in this book. She is so talented at character development, and it really shines in this book. Here, Harry is 15 years old, and for most of the book, he's whiny and self-centered, just like a typical teenager. I also adore Dumbledore's role in this book--his conversation at the end with Harry put me to tears. Rowling did an amazing job with the character of Umbridge...never have I hated a fictional charact ...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Caris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dear Amazon,

Congratulations on your recent acquisition of Goodreads. It is a good purchase, a meaningful one. It’s like buying someone else’s grandfather’s house. Or a classic car someone else rebuilt. You know it’s a quality product because a lot of folks really sunk their hearts into it. For a lot of us, it’s been a labor of love. We’ve spent years carefully cultivating this community that you were lucky enough to buy.

This occasion reminds me a lot of one of my favorite books, Harry Potter and ...more

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Jan 07, 2015 Kassidy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, favorites

SO many feels!!!
I really love this book. The plot and world gets so complex, and I'm very happy to get answers and explanations at the end!
This one was a crazy, scary, and ... frustrating.. (Umbridge) ride, but still so fun.

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Jul 10, 2011 Diane ϟ [ Lestrange ] rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks, young-adult, 2011-reads, reviews, surely-i-ll-never-forget-book, fantasy, favorites, books-to-movie, own

Interview with JK Rowling...

Stephen Fry: Can we settle an important question?

JK Rowling: Yes.

Stephen Fry: How do you pronounce your last name?

JK Rowling: It is Row-ling. As in rolling pin.

Stephen Fry: So if any of you hear someone pronounce her name “Rohw-ling”, you have my permission to hit them over the head with — not with Order of the Phoenix, that would be cruel. Something smaller, like a fridge.

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Jul 25, 2014 Nour Sharif rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, books-i-own, english

Edit #2: 25\7\2014
So I came across this article today, and for some reason, it made me happy!! I feel evil *evil laugh*
http://mea-news.net/en/index.php/2014...

Edit #1: 8\3\2014
It has been four months that I posted this review. And so far I have received great feedback. Thank you everyone for your support ^^
Remember, this is not a benign cause.

I know that I have neglected the subject of the new Goodreads policy a lot recently, and I ought not to have done that. You see, I wasn’t very free re ...more

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Dec 14, 2014 Raeleen Lemay rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, own, boarding-school, read-more-than-once, movie-or-tv, fantasy, people-with-powers, made-me-cry, 2014

Re-Read in December 2014 for Harry Christmas To You

ok. I will start by saying that this is one of my least favorite books in the series, and that isn't because it's bad, BECAUSE IT IS DEFINITELY NOT. It's mainly due to the fact that I hate Umbridge more than words can translate, and having to read about her so much just infuriates me, rather than giving me warm fuzzies the entire time I'm reading.

That being said, here are some of my thoughts on the book:

-mention of Regulus Black near the beginni Re-Read in December 2014 for Harry Christmas To You

ok. I will start by saying that this is one of my least favorite books in the series, and that isn't because it's bad, BECAUSE IT IS DEFINITELY NOT. It's mainly due to the fact that I hate Umbridge more than words can translate, and having to read about her so much just infuriates me, rather than giving me warm fuzzies the entire time I'm reading.

That being said, here are some of my thoughts on the book:

-mention of Regulus Black near the beginning of this book. I've noticed particularly during this re-read that J.K. Rowling tends to mention characters a book or two before they will have any importance to the story. She seriously knew what she was doing while writing these books.

-it's so weird to think that Sirius is related to Narcissa and Bellatrix! Sirius is such an amazing human, and he was born into a terrible family, which is pretty true of a lot of people. Just because you come from something/somewhere terrible, that doesn't mean you can't be different and be good.

-Ron and Hermione becoming prefects is just so great. Surely there would be a better candidate in their year to be the male prefect, yet Dumbledore chose Ron. Why? Because Dumbledore knows that Ron always feels worthless in comparison to his five older brothers, and him becoming prefect was enough to make him feel like a winner at something. Dumbledore is cool like that.

-Quite often I forget that St. Mungo's exists since it's not in the movies at all. Here, we get to see Neville's parents, as well as Gilderoy Lockhart (who is adorable now and not at all annoying), and I WISH THAT WAS IN THE MOVIES.

-it sucks that Harry was banned from playing Quidditch this year, as I LOVE Quidditch. and Harry was so sad because of it, which made him cranky and quite insane. HOWEVER, I love that Ginny took over for him as Seeker. I feel like Ginny has grown up so much already, and it's particularly in this book that I grew to really like her. She's so much better in the books than in the movies.

-In the epic fight near the end of the book, NEVILLE IS SO BADASS. If you ever think that Neville isn't brave until the last book, you are wrong. He was throwing himself at Death Eaters and Stunning the shit out of everybody. It was awesome.

-As usual, lots of information was revealed in the last couple of chapters of the book. This particular book reveals A LOT of stuff that most people were probably wondering about whilst reading the other four books, as well as information that you probably didn't even think of. I love how many answers we get in this one.

I THINK THAT'S IT FOR NOW. I have a lot of feelings, so I might add more later. ...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Annie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: tried and true Harry Potter fans

Shelves: almostcrapbutnotquite

hrrmmpp.
This is my least favourite of the Harry Potter series, and almost borders on the "don't bother". It is saved only by the virtue that it is a Harry Potter book and moves the series along to the still yet unknown finale.
My issues with it:
- deals with complex social/political problems in a simplified, extreme, and dichotomous manner
- characterisations are too easy/lazy- all good or all bad (with the exception of Snape who's good/evil intentions are yet unknown), all courageous or cowardly, ...more

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Dec 04, 2014 Navessa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Seriously, don't read this review if you haven't read the books.

The biggest compliment I can think to give an 870 page book is that I wish it had been longer. I wish this had been longer.

This book has always been my favorite in the series. Up until it, Harry’s story had been filled with light. Yes, yes, there were some tough parts, yes, yes, some darkness tinged the edges of the previous one, but honestly, that was a pretty happy book compared to this. Good still triumphed over evil, our hero ...more

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Jul 24, 2013 Inge rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, main-character-is-cool, villain-rocks-my-socks, children, all-time-favourites, faeries-and-elves

4.5 stars

Dear Dolores Umbridge,

(view spoiler)

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Aug 12, 2011 Manny rated it 2 of 5 stars

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Sep 29, 2013 9 3/4 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favourites, own, reread, signed

Harry Potter changed my life. If I hadn’t read Harry Potter when I did I would not be the same person today. What I am today, in a part is due to Harry. I cannot really say enough to make you understand how much Harry Potter means to me.

The copy I own is not signed by J. K. Rowling but it is signed by Daniel Radcliffe!

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Jul 18, 2007 Keely rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, contemporary-fiction, novel, reviewed, contemporary-fantasy, uk-and-ireland

This is my favorite installment of the quintessential modern bildungsroman. Nevertheless, it has its problems, familiar to any reader of Rowling's.

She never seems to gain control of her writing, which spirals out into thousand-page doorstops filled with unimportant side characters and rambling plots. The story is moved along by arbitrary plot devices, often magic. Instead of using the magic to make her world seem more strange and wondrous, she uses it to cover up plot holes. Why write a consiste ...more

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Oct 22, 2007 Carmen Maloy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommends it for: Everyone

What stands out in book 5:

* Harry's outburst to his friends at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. A combination of frustration over being kept in the dark and fear that he will be expelled fuels much of Harry's anger, and it all comes out at once, directly aimed at Ron and Hermione. Rowling perfectly portrays Harry's frustration at being too old to shirk responsibility, but too young to be accepted as part of the fight that he knows is coming.
* Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge. Rowling shows her What stands out in book 5:

* Harry's outburst to his friends at No. 12 Grimmauld Place. A combination of frustration over being kept in the dark and fear that he will be expelled fuels much of Harry's anger, and it all comes out at once, directly aimed at Ron and Hermione. Rowling perfectly portrays Harry's frustration at being too old to shirk responsibility, but too young to be accepted as part of the fight that he knows is coming.
* Harry's detention with Professor Umbridge. Rowling shows her darker side, leading readers to believe that Hogwarts is no longer a safe haven for young wizards. Dolores represents a bureaucratic tyrant capable of real evil, and Harry is forced to endure their private battle of wills alone.
* Harry and Cho's painfully awkward interactions. Rowling clearly remembers what it was like to be a teenager.
* Harry's Occlumency lessons with Snape.
* Dumbledore's confession to Harry.
* Harry yet again loses another loved one.
* We meet Hagrid's brother and come to love him as much as Hagrid does.
* We learn more about the destiny of Harry and Voldemort.
* We also see first hand how destructive government can be when predjudice, ignorance, and pride are at the helm. (i.e. Fudge and Umbridge)

Amazon Review
As his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry approaches, 15-year-old Harry Potter is in full-blown adolescence, complete with regular outbursts of rage, a nearly debilitating crush, and the blooming of a powerful sense of rebellion. It's been yet another infuriating and boring summer with the despicable Dursleys, this time with minimal contact from our hero's non-Muggle friends from school. Harry is feeling especially edgy at the lack of news from the magic world, wondering when the freshly revived evil Lord Voldemort will strike. Returning to Hogwarts will be a relief... or will it?
The fifth book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series follows the darkest year yet for our young wizard, who finds himself knocked down a peg or three after the events of last year. Somehow, over the summer, gossip (usually traced back to the magic world's newspaper, the Daily Prophet) has turned Harry's tragic and heroic encounter with Voldemort at the Triwizard Tournament into an excuse to ridicule and discount the teen. Even Professor Dumbledore, headmaster of the school, has come under scrutiny by the Ministry of Magic, which refuses to officially acknowledge the terrifying truth that Voldemort is back. Enter a particularly loathsome new character: the toadlike and simpering ("hem, hem") Dolores Umbridge, senior undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, who takes over the vacant position of Defense Against Dark Arts teacher--and in no time manages to become the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, as well. Life isn't getting any easier for Harry Potter. With an overwhelming course load as the fifth years prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels examinations (O.W.Ls), devastating changes in the Gryffindor Quidditch team lineup, vivid dreams about long hallways and closed doors, and increasing pain in his lightning-shaped scar, Harry's resilience is sorely tested.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, more than any of the four previous novels in the series, is a coming-of-age story. Harry faces the thorny transition into adulthood, when adult heroes are revealed to be fallible, and matters that seemed black-and-white suddenly come out in shades of gray. Gone is the wide-eyed innocent, the whiz kid of Sorcerer's Stone. Here we have an adolescent who's sometimes sullen, often confused (especially about girls), and always self-questioning. Confronting death again, as well as a startling prophecy, Harry ends his year at Hogwarts exhausted and pensive. Readers, on the other hand, will be energized as they enter yet again the long waiting period for the next title in the marvelous, magical series.
...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Wile rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've been told this was the most difficult to read of the series and I found it to be true. Harry is full of teen angst and spends a lot of the book furious (and being quite infuriating) at the fact that nothing is happening, and that when things do happen, he's not allowed to be involved. Of course not being allowed do things should never stop a boy like Harry Potter from getting involved - except that amazingly it does.

This book isn’t really so much about Harry Potter, but about all the other ...more

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Dec 26, 2014 Maureen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reread in December 2014 for harryxmastoyou

This one took me so long to get through because of so many things coming up but it was still great! I feel like as the books get later there are so many things I forgot were in there that weren't in the movie, like the fight scene at the end is TOTALLY DIFFERENT. I really loved this book this time around.

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Sep 22, 2014 Jason Koivu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

Why won't I let myself give this more than 3 stars?! I want to, I really do, but my cursor-moving finger won't budge! Let's investigate the whys!

Length - This is the longest book in the series. I love the Harry Potter series, so I should want more of it, right? I don't know, sometimes a lot is too much. Rowling did her best to pack a lot into this one and it feels too bulgy. If this was carry-on luggage, TSA would make her check it for going over the size limit.

Dolores Umbridge - What a great e Why won't I let myself give this more than 3 stars?! I want to, I really do, but my cursor-moving finger won't budge! Let's investigate the whys!

Length - This is the longest book in the series. I love the Harry Potter series, so I should want more of it, right? I don't know, sometimes a lot is too much. Rowling did her best to pack a lot into this one and it feels too bulgy. If this was carry-on luggage, TSA would make her check it for going over the size limit.

Dolores Umbridge - What a great evil character she is, isn't she? Quite the bitch. And the kicker is she's supposed to be on the good side! I like a well-crafted, dual-natured character as much as the next reader, but I do not like when characters are made to be so blind to what's going on that it's beyond belief. Umbridge's absolute unwillingness to believe in the return of Voldemort is trying to say the least. She's Hitler-esque at times. That's fine, a little over the top, but fine. But she cares sooo very much for the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts, or at least in her position there, that one would expect her to do her due diligence in investigating any threat to her own power and interests.

Sirius Black - Now, this one's on me. I LOVE Sirius Black and I really wanted to see the development of a strong bond between he and Harry. Since book three I'd been waiting for some Black/Potter tag team action. I wanted to see them hanging out, doing Uncle/Nephew kind of things. That's not quite how it played out. Oh well... It's nobody's fault but mine that I let this missing aspect get me down. Still, a book review is subjective and so I must admit a personal bias that affected my overall enjoyment.

Harry's Yellow Fever - That's so racist! Okay, now that I've got that out of the way... I was disappointed when Harry's love affair with Cho Chang went south. I liked the relationship. It was complicated. It was difficult for him. It could have made for a fine romance. But no, Rowling had other ideas - very British ideas, like "keeping it in the family". Frankly, Harry's eventual attachment to Ginny Weasley felt too close. I mean, Harry and her feel almost like brother and sister. Plus she's a ginger. Eeeewww.

I could give Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix four or even five stars and there are reasons I might drop it as low as two. So, let's give it a very strong three and be done with it! ...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Mike (the Paladin) rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Wonderful book...only complaint I ever heard was it was too short. Still the emotional toll of this book is heavier than the ones before and it is more a young "adult" book than a "youth" book. As I've pointed out before, the original "generation reading these books had more time to mature between the publishing date of each book. Now they can be bought all together. Harry goes through some amazingly tough times (and doesn't handle some of them too well). Read these books before you simply turn ...more

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Oct 20, 2014 Nandakishore Varma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: off-topic-reviews

Below is the Off-topic review, seriously tongue in cheek.

I have reviewed the series as a whole, here.

OFF-TOPIC REVIEW

No, this review is not about the book. I have not read it, but I may read it in future.

This is about a similar situation here on GR: I call it

MANNY RAYNER AND THE ORDER OF THE HYDRA

The good Word Wizard, Manny, is on the warpath against the evil "Am..." - er, sorry - "The corporate entity which shall not be named". This incredibly evil being, compared to whom Lord Voldemort seem ...more

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Feb 27, 2009 Crazy Uncle Ryan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-that-rock, books-i-own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well, I know that for the last three books the story of how I read them has been less than epic but fear not, the story picks up a bit from here. Summer 2003 came along, I had just graduated from college and I was anxiously awaiting the release of the fifth Harry Potter book. I was so anxious in fact that I actually fell for and spread around the story that volume 5 would be called “Harry Potter and The Green Flamed Torch.” Not one of my prouder moments. As soon as the book became available for Well, I know that for the last three books the story of how I read them has been less than epic but fear not, the story picks up a bit from here. Summer 2003 came along, I had just graduated from college and I was anxiously awaiting the release of the fifth Harry Potter book. I was so anxious in fact that I actually fell for and spread around the story that volume 5 would be called “Harry Potter and The Green Flamed Torch.” Not one of my prouder moments. As soon as the book became available for preorder I went to my college computer lab (which I mysteriously still had access to) and ordered my copy online. Unfortunately, I failed to order it from an online store that would deliver it on the day it came out. It would be shipped on the day it came out.

As it turned out, my brother got married the weekend of the book’s release. The wedding was on Friday and the book came out on Saturday. Saturday morning my sister, brother-in-law, my niece and I all got in their car and started heading home. We pulled off the highway into the first major town we could find and started driving around looking for a Walmart® so they could get their copies of the book. Finally, we spotted one and my sister and I started cheering like crazy people. My 1-½ year old niece stared at us with a very confused look on her face as she wondered what in the world Crazy Uncle Ryan and mommy were doing. My sister and her husband both bought copies of the book and we started back out on the road. As we drove we took turns reading out loud and as Harry was sitting with Luna and Neville on the Hogwarts’ Express we pulled into my apartment complex. They left me there and I was stuck without a book. I watched countless friends reading the book over the next few days. I expressly forbad them from telling me anything about what happened as I checked the mail every single day wondering when my copy would actually arrive. During that wait a nice girl I knew let me borrow her copy one evening as she told me she was not going to read any more that night. I ran back to my apartment with the book under my arm cackling fiendishly and I read as much as I could knowing that I would have to return the book the next day. All in all, I ended up using three or four different copies before I finished reading this book. I then didn’t see it for at least a month as I loaned it out to several friends to read.

There were several times during this book that I get really frustrated with Harry. These times involve him loosing his temper with Umbridge. So many times I just found myself shouting at the book telling Harry to control his temper and not yell at her again. That woman is the DEVIL! I can’t think of any character in the whole series that I dislike more than her and I include Voldemort in that. It’s no wonder that Rowling named her Dolores Umbridge. The name “Dolores” comes from the Latin word for pain. “Umbrage” (yes, Rowling changed the spelling for the name) means “anger or resentment caused by some real or imagined wrong.” That certainly describes her attitude and outlook accurately. “Umbrage” can also mean a shadow. She certainly is a dark presence that seems to brood over people.

This book also contains what I think are the two most powerful and moving scenes in the series. Neither of which, incidentally, made it into the movie version. The first of these is the scene in St. Mungo’s where we see Neville visiting his parents. That scene along with the battle in the Department of Mysteries should leave no doubt in any reader’s mind that, in spite of the fact that he is rather clumsy and awkward, Neville is extremely brave and absolutely belongs in Gryffindor. The second is the scene at the end after Sirius’ death when Harry rages at Dumbledore and their subsequent conversation. You finally see all the anger and sadness that had been building up inside Harry since the end of book 4 come out and we all FINALLY get the answer we had been waiting for so long as to why Voldemort came after Harry in the first place. That’s a very good scene.

Of course, one of the coolest parts in this book, if not in the whole series, is the wizard’s duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. I love how Dumbledore is dueling the most feared dark wizard ever and keeps calling him Tom and speaking to him as though he we still his teacher and Voldemort is nothing more than a misbehaving student. That and the scene where Dumbledore tells Fudge that he has no intentions of going to Azkaban and than proceeds to knock out everyone is his office and disappears with Fawkes in a flash of fire just make you realize that Dumbledore is the most awesome wizard ever.
...more

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Jan 30, 2014 Liz* rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: yes-a-thousand-times-yes, adventure, amazing-heroines, author-we-should-be-friends, awesomefest, badass-hero, badass-heroine, character-development-ftw, fantasy, ghost, j-k-rowlingland, magic-dust, male-pov, read-2014, unputdownable, young-adults, le-feels

"[Love] is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature."

Luna is so sweet, I love every time she speaks. There's so much wisdom in her and you don't even know it.

You bet your sorry ass he's back and you and a-hole Perry can go and hide now...

This woman was seriously fucked up.

Still, I don't like bullies.

Book Ginny is amazing. Movie Ginny is criminal...

That ending. THAT ENDING. And only Dumbledore can say: it was all my fault because I ...more

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Dec 11, 2014 Laz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: tear-jerkers, books-i-own, classics, childrens, young-adult, sci-fi, all-time-favorites

Each time I start an HP book I'm blown away by how much each and every book is better than the last one.. <3

From the very beginning of the book, just like Harry, I was mad at Dumbledore cause he really seemed to ignoring Harry, which as a fact he was, but then at last when Dumbledore told Harry the reasons why he had been acting so distant I couldn't help feeling sorry for Dumbledore and the fact that instead of stopping Harry from shouting at him or shattering his office he egged him to do ...more

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Apr 30, 2014 Jo ★The Book Sloth★ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: magic, favorites, fantasy, paranormal, non-romance

So... I'm at my mother's house and there my old paperback edition of this book sits, taunting me, challenging me to read it for the hundredth time. How can I resist Harry??

This is my least favourite book in the series because Harry acts like a self-righteous jerk but it is still one of the best books I've ever read. And the end always makes me cry like a baby.

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May 19, 2013 Nina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, ya-pnr, owned, hp, 5-star, read-in-2013

I bawled my eyes out during the last fifty pages. I cried for almost an hour. I went to sleep at 1 AM with a headache, tachycardia and a slight fever. ~~I'm being perfectly Sirius.~~ Oh God, no, that was so lame. I'm sorry, guys.

Aaannyyywwayyyy, this book shot my expectations through the roof. It's like J.K. Rowling keeps getting better, but to do this she needs to smash my heart to pieces that get smaller with every book.
For example, right here she has created my #1 Most Hated Character Of All Time I bawled my eyes out during the last fifty pages. I cried for almost an hour. I went to sleep at 1 AM with a headache, tachycardia and a slight fever. ~~I'm being perfectly Sirius.~~ Oh God, no, that was so lame. I'm sorry, guys.

Aaannyyywwayyyy, this book shot my expectations through the roof. It's like J.K. Rowling keeps getting better, but to do this she needs to smash my heart to pieces that get smaller with every book.
For example, right here she has created my #1 Most Hated Character Of All Time (tie with Dan from SF, but that's a whole 'nother rant): Dolores Umbridge. Now, I swear, if I'm not developing this, it's because I know I would go on and on and on for about three Word pages.
Close on her heels is Bellatrix Lestrange, whom I'd probably hate more if I'd spent more time with her. Thankfully, I didn't, because I would have set the book on fire. She did the one and only thing that could have made break down, and I did - big time.
Another character that I used to hate is Snape, but now I think I actually love him a little bit. For one, he was bullied - by none other than (view spoiler), which explains a lot of things. (I know, there's probably around three people left in the entire world who haven't read this book, but you never know who might come across this.) For two, he's way more complex than he initially seemed. His involvement in the Order left me flabbergasted - not the simple fact that he was a part of it, but the way he acted. He was still an asshole, because that's just who he is, but he was badass too.
Mrs Weasley made me so mad with the way she tried to keep our heroes in the dark about what was happening and to control them. She has wonderfully good intentions, I know that, but you can't expect me to tolerate the way she treats these guys. They're fifteen, after all, and they've been through things more dangerous that anything she has ever faced.
I also got to hate James a little. Which is something I enjoyed like crazy, since I couldn't believe him as perfect as he was pictured in the first books. He was a conceited, insensitive bully, to put it plain and simple. And even though I would have liked not to like him, I'm still going through that phase where I'm impressed by the cool guy. Lily, on the other hand, was amazing. She actively loathed James, and that made me want to hug her. She's completely different from what I had imagined and I definitely hope we'll get to see more of the young Marauders, Lily and Snape. Yes, him too.
Oh, and hey! I was pretty pissed at Dumbledore, too. He's a bit of an idiot, to be honest, but his explanation in the end made everything so much better... and it made me cry so much harder. (Oh, God.) He's finally human now, isn't he? He has feelings and does stupid things. And he's badass, too. I finally got to see him in action!
For the first time ever, I felt more than a vague annoyance with Peeves - I actually liked him. Although he shows it in a particular way, he loves the school, guys! He's a brat, but he loves it, and he'd even do what people tell him to protect it.
Cho: such a girl. Get a fucking grip, bitch! Though it's good that she managed to put Harry off her, because now he's free to look for someone more worthy of him. (This is half ironic, but not quite. I have a bit of a hero worship thing going on here.)

But do you know why I still loved this book so much it hurts? Because all of this stuff up there rings true. Not in the oh-yes-finally-this-character-is-not-that-perfect way, or in the there-need-to-be-villains-in-every-book way (and anyway at least half of the characters I wanted to beat up were not villains); for the simple reason that there are idiots and jackasses everywhere, all the time. They might have good intentions, they might simply be too stupid to understand the consequences of their actions, they might just be cruel, but they're there. I mean, you have no idea of how many people I would love to kill daily.

A weird thing: despite the number of "finally"s and "for the first time"s that appear here, which hint that I should be satified with this book, I still crave more. Unexpected.

---

I don't know where to fit this in the text, so I'll leave it down here. (Yes, I still haven't mastered the art of writing a coherent review. If you can call the rants I write reviews.)
I have a never-ending and ever-growing admiration for Fred and George, because they're hilarious, brave and (okay, let's see if you can guess this one... [because self-deprecation is the weapon of the incompetent]) badass, but I'm getting more and more curious about Lee. I don't even know why, I just want to see more of him. ...more

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Apr 20, 2009 Rachel rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 29, 2011 Priscilla rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ugh.. my heart. So.. heavy.

Quick thoughts:

1. Really intense and dark.
2. Fantastical spells, jinxes, and charms. I love magic.
3. I want to know more about Moony, Padfoot and Prongs.
4. Writing is superb, invoking intense emotions. I almost cried .___.
5. Now I know why Weasly is my king :)

A month to finish?! T__T I do not like that.

Full review soon.

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Nov 10, 2014 Shandra {The Happy New Mrs} rated it 5 of 5 stars

Initial thoughts: Holy wow!! That was by far the most emotional book in this series!!! This was an amazing book, but filled with so much unhappiness. Poor Harry... Review to come.

Review:

Actual rating: 5 solid, I-Hate-Being-A-Muggle stars!!! No story spoilers.

This series is one of those that I find impossible to review. Almost everyone has read them, and they've been reviewed a million times over. So really, what is there for lil ol' me to say?!

I'll give you some of my quick thoughts and feelin ...more

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Feb 01, 2008 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, harry-potter

Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of days, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as an unnamed member of the Bush administration.

So, how long until we can get this Rowling woman into Gitmo?

I mean really, have you read this book? It's an 800-page diatr Since pretty much everyone I know has read these books, I figure reviewing them is pretty pointless. But with the new book coming out in a couple of days, I have to go through them beginning to end. To make the reviews more entertaining, I will be doing them in a variety of unexpected formats. For this review, I will be writing as an unnamed member of the Bush administration.

So, how long until we can get this Rowling woman into Gitmo?

I mean really, have you read this book? It's an 800-page diatribe encouraging children to not only question authority, but to actively disobey it! I mean look at what we have here - there's a magical government that is responsible for to oversight and management of magical folk in Britain. Now I'm not entirely sure how this organization works, but I do know this - where there is a government, there is authority, and that authority must be there for a reason. No matter how much you may disagree with it, you have to understand that everything those in authority are doing is for your benefit.

It pained me to see how the character of Dolores Umbridge was treated in this book. She single-handedly tried to bring order to Hogwarts and steer it from the liberal-free-thinking path to destruction paved by that long-haired hippie Dumbledore. And what did Umbridge get for her hard work? The Medal of Freedom? No! She got carried off by a pack of wild centaurs. How is that right? Moreover, what kind of example is that setting for American children?

Now I don't care if Rowling wants to cripple a generation of readers in Britain. Go ahead, it's not like we need them anyway. But with these books becoming so popular in the United States, there is a very great danger that her insidious brand of rebellion and individualism will infect our children as well, and where will that lead us? Into howling chaos, that's where! Our children will see their favorite characters being disobedient and rebellious with no consequence, and it won't be long until they're thinking they can follow their example. If we let them, our children will become just as uncontrollable as the little monsters in this book.

I urge you, if you have children, not to let them read this book. It will do nothing but damage that will take years to undo. All you parents need to do is remind them is that there are people in authority - like yourselves - who know what is right for them. They just have to listen, not question, and obey, not understand.

I just hope that this trend doesn't continue in the next couple of books. Personally, I'd like to see all those kids locked up and that Muggle-hugger Dumbledore thrown off a parapet or something. The sooner Hogwarts comes back under Ministry control, the better everything will be. ...more

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Jan 05, 2014 Shelby *wants some flying monkeys* rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2014, favorite-series

I started these books thinking I some what liked Harry Potter's story. I mean I had watched the movies. How much love could you expect a 44 year old woman to give to a children's book? I never imagined how these books would cast a spell on my heart and mind. I have slowed down in my reading of them just because I know the end of them is near and I know I'm going to shed some tears.
You think if you've watched the movies you know these stories...not. These books are just completely and utterly ma ...more

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Jun 26, 2007 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars

After reading this book for a second time, I've decided to dock it a star. It's still a good book, very well written, but I have some grievances to bring to Ms. J.K.'s attention:

(SPOILER WARNING!!!!)

At 870 pages, it is very laborious to get through this tome when every other sentence brings a new disaster/ problem for Harry. Drama is fine, but to this level at this length is just overdoing it. Starting with the dementor attack in the first few pages and continuing through Umbridge's evilness, a After reading this book for a second time, I've decided to dock it a star. It's still a good book, very well written, but I have some grievances to bring to Ms. J.K.'s attention:

(SPOILER WARNING!!!!)

At 870 pages, it is very laborious to get through this tome when every other sentence brings a new disaster/ problem for Harry. Drama is fine, but to this level at this length is just overdoing it. Starting with the dementor attack in the first few pages and continuing through Umbridge's evilness, all the way to Sirius' death (which on second read seems tacked on and unnecessary). What makes Four and Six so good is that they retain the sense of fantasy wonder that drew so many readers to the series in the first place. The Triwizard Tournament (4) and the Horocruxes (6) were just plain cool. The tournament was a fun story element and set up what is thus far the most important few chapters in the series. The horocruxes presented a great plot for the whole book and gave a basis for where the series is actually going to head down the stretch.
But what was there in 5? There is a bare minimum of quidditch, dumbledore's army is a very minor part, the Grawp storyline is total filler, the whole thing with the department of mysteries isn't all that engaging until the climax, and then ends with a silly prophecy (Why doesnt Voldemort just steal harry's wand, tie cinder blocks to his legs and throw him in the lake?) and a much-too-quick duel between Dumbledore and Mr. Riddle. There's just not enough fun in this book. Although i did like how the Cho subplot was dealt with.
And then at the very end, after all the doom and gloom, Rowling drops the ball on giving a glimmer of happiness. When Harry leaves the train platform, some of the Order is there, including much of the Weasley family. But where is Percy? Now that nobody is denying that V-thug is back, it would have been the perfect opportunity to show that Percy is back with the "good guys" without having it be overblown and sappy.
This book is probably the most confounding of the six so far, since when you look back at it, after nearly 900 pages and seemingly so much going on, there was very little substance as far as the big picture goes:
Fudge now believes Dumbledore. Sirius is dead. Is there really anything else that happened in this book that matters? Umbridge was just there to be the cunty character that Rita was in 4, and doesnt figure into 6 at all. Occlumency seemed interesting, but it ended with Harry giving up and us learning that Snape doesn't like Harry or his dad (really????).
This rant could all end up negated if certain aspects get flushed out in 7. This happened in 6, when it turned out the diary in 2 wasn't just a cheesy little contrivance. We shall find out soon...
...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Callista rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-more-than-once, five-stars, favourite-characters, magic-slingers

First read in 2003; re-read in 2006.
I know some people who complained about Harry being so angry in this book, but I think he has the right to be. He’s traumatized over Voldemort’s return and Cedric’s death, very few people believe he’s telling the truth about Voldemort, and he’s being kept in the dark by the people he trusts and cares about. The formation of Dumbledore’s Army is enjoyable because it finally gives Harry a chance to take on a leadership role, and his fellow students get to learn First read in 2003; re-read in 2006.
I know some people who complained about Harry being so angry in this book, but I think he has the right to be. He’s traumatized over Voldemort’s return and Cedric’s death, very few people believe he’s telling the truth about Voldemort, and he’s being kept in the dark by the people he trusts and cares about. The formation of Dumbledore’s Army is enjoyable because it finally gives Harry a chance to take on a leadership role, and his fellow students get to learn valuable skills that the foolish Ministry of Magic, deep in denial, won’t teach them. Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Luna also all really start to bloom throughout this sequence of events.
However, Rowling doesn’t skimp on exploring the consequences of human faults and weaknesses, and her characters make some truly painful and tragic decisions. Dumbledore’s distancing himself from Harry, Snape’s and Sirius’s inability to let go of the past, the adults’ failure to impress upon Harry how very important it is that he shield his mind from Voldemort, and Harry’s own impulsive tendency to leap to his loved ones’ defense all combine and result in terrible outcomes.
To top it off, making everything worse, is Umbridge, the bureaucrat from hell. I’ve heard it said and agree that for most of the book, Umbridge’s evil, deluded ways upstage the danger of the Voldemort situation. There she is, centre stage, literally torturing children in the name of following the rules. I love everyone’s attempts to outmaneuver her. The way McGonagall especially deals with Umbridge is priceless, and the Weasley twins’ fireworks assault and final departure are fabulous.
I wanted to dock this book one star for a long time because of the way certain plot twists broke my heart, but I have to give Rowling credit for creating such a complex, nuanced story and such interesting, believable characters. If she didn’t do such a good job, I wouldn’t care so much about what happens to the characters.
...more

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About J.K. Rowling

See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she ch See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books. ...more

More about J.K. Rowling...

Books by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Harry Potter, #7)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter, #4)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter, #6)

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