Review -- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
After the first four books in the Harry Potter series arrived in rapid succession there has been quite a wait for book five. It seems unlikely that anyone in the "civilized" world was not aware that the book was recently released.
Books four and five are noticeably longer than the earlier books, at 600+ and 700+ pages respectively. Whether longer is better is not clear - there's no obvious padding in the later books and there is always lots going on.
Anyone who enjoyed the earlier books will enjoy this one. It's very much in the same vein. In fact, Harry Potter books are starting to follow a standard pattern:
- Harry is living with the Dursley family. Everyone is horrible to him he's not allowed to use magic, despite the temptations. He can't wait to get back to Hogwarts,
- Term starts and Harry & co. are whisked back to school.
- At school the teachers who like Harry still like him. The teachers who don't, don't.
- Lessons are hard, Quidditch is cool, Hermione is a swot,
- Weird stuff happens,
- Dumbledore is enigmatic,
- Harry resolves to sort it out (with the assistance of "& co."),
- Risky situations are encountered and then either avoided or dealt with,
- Harry proves himself to be a top bloke,
- Oops, end of term.
- Back to the Dursley's.
Perhaps I should write the next book - a few million would come in handy...