This review contains some spoilers for the first four books in the Harry Potter series.

How would you feel if everyone thought you were whiny, puffed-up, insane, a wild liar and just generally dangerous? If people you considered friends all of a sudden stopped talking to you or began treating you as if you weren't quite normal? And what if at the same time no one seems to talk to you, no one will give you any information, and you're stuck living with miserable people who'd as soon scream at you as let you have anything to eat. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter gets to find out. It isn't pretty.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix starts as all Harry Potter books start - with Harry living on Privet Drive with his mother's sister, her husband and their son. All of the Dursleys hate Harry but they don't quite seem to treat him as badly as they did before they knew he was a wizard. Now they mostly lock him in his room with all of his books and other school things. Oh they scream a bit when he gets an owl letter, but for the most part they seem to leave him alone. Unfortunately so does everyone else. Apart from a few short cryptic messages from friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and even more mysterious messages from godfather Sirius Black Harry has no contact with the outside world. He's taken to listening to Muggle newscasts in hope that he catches some tidbit related to the wizard world. But mostly he gets frustrated and angry. Why won't someone, anyone, tell him anything? Everyone else seems to know what's going on.

Then Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by two dementors and Harry uses his patronas spell to ward them off, breaking the rule that forbids students to use magic outside of school. Harry immediately gets an owl telling him he's expelled and that they'll be coming to break his wand. Then things get really weird. Just as the Dursleys try to toss him out, Harry's warned not to leave under any circumstances. Soon another owl comes belaying the expulsion and setting up a formal hearing. Then the Order of the Phoenix arrives.

The Order of the Phoenix is comprised of old teachers and others who are sworn to defeat Voldemort including Remus Lupin, the real Mad Eye Moody, all of the adult Weasleys except Percy, and quite a few others. Harry is quickly relocated to their headquarters where he finds Sirius, the Weasleys, and Hermione in residence.

But once they arrive, life doesn't get any better for Harry. Dumbledore seems to be avoiding him. No one will really tell him what's going on. And to top it all off, Hermione and Ron are named Gryffindor prefects. Harry feels left out and mistrusted. After all he's faced Voldemort three times already in his young life. If anyone can handle the truth, he can. Yet he's not even trusted enough to be named prefect.

In truth the first half of the book is filled with a whiny, argumentative, quick-tempered rebellious Harry. Although this fits the situation and probably his age, this Harry is still quite different from the Harry we've met before. Oh sure, he had his moments of pique and certainly was never perfect, but this Harry doesn't have any of the humor or good natured appeal of the younger character. It's difficult to make the adjustment.

Part of the problem is that Harry, long held up as all that is good and right by the press, has been vilified all summer. He's been seen as wild, unmanageable, power hungry, and at least somewhat off his rocker. This image is being cultivated by the Ministry of Magic who are determined to quash any and all rumors of Voldemort's return and see discrediting both Harry and Dumbledore as a large part of this effort. This book is as much a war between the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic as it is an effort to destroy Voldemort.

Hogwarts is very different this year too. The Ministry of Magic is closing in, appointing one of its higher ups, Dolores Umbridge, as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. She will not countenance any indication that Voldemort has returned and feels the proper way to learn about defense is to read about it from a book. As the book progresses she grabs more and more power, becoming the focal point of the schism between the ministry and Dumbledore and his cadre of long-time teachers. Umbridge is a true tyrant and the book really shines when Umbridge is at her worst.

Yet with all the differences, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix still follows the same general formula laid out in the previous books. It's filled with characters from previous books and there are a lot of nods to little details we've seen before. Snape still hates Harry and Harry still hates Snape. Hagrid still shakes off major bodily injury as an expected part of daily life. Hermione's still a know-it-all. Other characters, surprisingly, don't show up. Fleur Delacour supposedly accepted a job teaching at Hogwarts yet we never see her at the school.

Everyone is more tense, the tone is a lot darker. The plot's a bit more convoluted and the resolution of the battle with Voldemort a bit confusing. Although I lost myself in the book as I did with all of the Harry Potter stories, I found this one the hardest to swallow on whole. Harry wasn't as likeable, Sirius wasn't as likeable, and many of my favorite characters had precious little page time. I still enjoyed it very much and recommend reading it, but you may have to read certain sections two or even three times before you figure out exactly what happened. To add to the confusion we only get to see the information Harry gets to see and for most of the early book we're all being kept in the dark.

Harry mellows a bit as the book wears on, seems to meld more into the boy we've come to know and love. I found myself liking the book more and more the further I read, in part because of Harry's transformation and in part because the sections of the book that take place at Hogwarts are quite well developed and well written. The end falters a bit, mainly because the denouement with Voldemort and the Death Eaters is a bit difficult to follow. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is by no means a perfect book, nor even as good as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but it's still, for the most part, a jolly good read.

Recommended: Yes