Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

*****

5 Stars/5

Warning, this review has spoilers for this book and the entire series.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the series and is one of the darkest in the series and hardest to read as it is so depressing. We can start seeing more of the puzzle pieces coming together and hints to what is coming, such as Petunia talking about that awful boy and the locket at Grimmauld Place.

Harry is depressed in this novel which makes reading this one not as fun as the previous books, and I do have to agree with Hermione and Lucius Malfoy that Harry does love playing the hero and it does start to grate on me. While I think their relationship is sweet and awkward I am not a fan of Cho as I think she is dull. Rereading this I had forgotten about Firenze becoming divination teacher. I feel very sorry for Neville, because I would much rather my parents died quick and clean than what happened to Neville’s parents and I feel he should have had more sympathy.

However two people I really don’t like are James and Sirius as they were jerks and while I don’t know if Snape was just as bad, they were bullies and it does not matter about their age, if anything bullying affects people the most at that age. Also they remind me of the boys at school who behaved very badly at school but always got away with it. On the other hand, I really hated Umbridge as she was the most relatable baddie in the series, and turns what is Harry’s only home he has known into somewhere he does not enjoy being.

One thing I never got is why the order never used muggle technology, for example phones, as it is much quicker than owls and Voldemort and his Death Eaters would never expect it. Also how did Harry get the marauder’s map as last we knew fake Moody had it and we never heard about him getting it back. Similarly, Harry should have been able to see the Thestrals since he was one year old when the first person he saw die was Lily, not Cedric.

While Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix is probably one of my least favourite of the Harry Potter series I still love it and would recommend it to anyone who has read the first four books.