The Long Wait 'tis Over! It's Finally Here! (My 200th Review!)
Written: Jul 14 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Everything?
Cons: The new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher (b!tch!), where's the Quidditch, man?
The Bottom Line: -
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| JiggyJay's Full Review: J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the ... |
Introduction
Finally! After a three-year hiatus, J.K. Rowling's phenomenon of a book series is back with a vengeance! It stormed into bookstores on June 21 with hundreds of people in lines at Barnes and Noble and Borders to get their own copy of the long awaited book. With over one million preorders of the gigantic book on layaway with Amazon.com, the book made one of the biggest grosses yet for the series (With the fourth book, The Goblet of Fire, making the most money). But now the question is being asked: was Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix worth the lengthy wait? In short, I think it was.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in the seven part series that spans all seven years of Harry Potter's school years at Hogwarts. With the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, being released in '99/'00, it steadily received a fan base, but completely broke through the restraints with the third book in the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and that's when I got into the series.
Many things have been said about The Order of the Phoenix especially on Epinions. "Oh, the book is way too long!", "The ending was soooo crappy!". What a bunch of crap (even though the reviews that all those many people wrote were really good, I have to disagree with them)! I thought The Order of the Phoenix was a great addition to the already totally awesome series. Things are explained and the events that happen in the book separate the men from the boys (and women from the girls).
First of all, it explains more of the back story of Harry's parents, it tells why some people become ghosts and why some people just die, it tells why Harry has to stay with his dreadful aunt and uncle, and it says why his scar is always hurting. J.K. Rowling also guaranteed that she kills off a main character (and that she cried when doing so, which I think is a bunch of bullsh!t) and I won't tell you who. She tries to trick you throughout the book with a bunch of the main characters being hurt so that you go, (example)"Crap, Hagrid just lit his fart on fire and burned his beard! I knew he was going to die in this book!". I think it was a great idea to trick you so many times .
I just have to tell you this before we go on: do not believe anything that you hear on the Internet or any of the rumors in message boards or chatrooms or websites because they are all complete CRAPOLA! I heard some completely crazy things before I got the book in the mail. Things like Harry Potter is related to Voldemort, Hermione (his friend) and Harry hook up, Ron sexually harasses a girl, and I have to say that they are all lies and that you shouldn't believe them. They are all preposterous ideas that are completely out of proportion and stupid to even imagine happening.
Plot
Harry Potter was a child when the dark lord, Voldemort, attacked is family and killed his parents but when something happens and Voldemort is destroyed and Harry gets a lightning scar, he has to live with his aunt and uncle and their little bastard of a son, Dudly, whom hate Harry's guts and keep his wizarding powers a secret until one day a half-giant named Hagrid comes into the picture and tells Harry everything on little Harry's birthday and he shortly goes to Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry, and meets friends and discovers that he's a big hero in the wizarding world because of his defeat of the evil He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
Now, fast forward. Harry Potter is 15 and he's become restless at his aunt and uncle's residence but thankfully soon, he heads over to his godfather (who's a supposed criminal and follower of Voldemore and was also the first man to break out of Azkaban, the wizard prison), Sirius's house where his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are waiting for him and he learns of a secret organization called "The Order of the Phoenix" (the title of the book...duh!) that want to stop Voldemort from gathering all of his Death Eaters (followers) and coming back into reign but in doing so, they have to convince the Ministry of Magic (the Wizard government) to believe that Voldemort is back and power hungry than ever.
As the days roll by, it's now time for the young people to return to the sacred place of Hogwarts where they meet their new Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher (I can't tell you why the school hasn't kept just one teacher, since it would ruin it for you of course), Professor Umbridge and they immediately hate her. She's a hog for the ministry and a spy that wants to get Professor Dumbledore (the headmaster of the school and the most powerful wizard alive) sacked and she's a total b!tch! Because it's fifth year, the students all have to worry about O.W.L.'s (a wizard exam) and at the same time, Professor Umbridge is neglecting to teach any of the students "real" Defense Against The Dark Arts, so Harry, Hermione, and Ron start a secret militia named Dumbledore's Army (D.A. for short) that's totally top secret. At the same time, Harry is having weird dreams that are unexplainable...
If you want more, get off your fata$$ and buy the damn book. :)
Longevity
Personally, I love long books because you get your money's worth and I love The Order of the Phoenix for being the longest in the series, but some problems have spawned. The Harry Potter books are children's books and children's books should not be this long. Kids might be intimidated by the longevity of the novel and might not tackle it nearly as quickly as with shorter books in the series like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets but I do understand why the last two book in the series have been longer: the plot is thickening. Voldemort is back and in full power and there are only two more books to write and J.K. still needs to fill us in on some more ideas. That's why she's cramming in so much stuff in the books. While I do love long books and especially this one, again, some people might not like it.
Characters
Harry Potter -- I've always enjoyed Harry Potter, but I do have to admit that he's mad a lot in The Order of the Phoenix almost to an annoying extent. He gets self-centered in some parts and just plain selfish. A lot of teenage angst. It reminds me of my time going through the thing that we like to call (whisper, whisper) "puberty". Anyway, he's pretty cool in this book being that he's much different than in the other installments of the series and he's no so innocent anymore.
Hermione Granger -- She's an annoying character whom I never really liked too much. Her SPEW thing (liberating house elves) isn't going too well and it's barely even mentioned in this book (along with minimal house elf interplay). She's more spunky than ever and is really rooting for her friends. When Ron gets to play on the school Quidditch team, she's there to cheer him on and I¡¦ve always thought that she was sort of a motherly figure to Harry and Ron and the most sensible and understanding person in the books, although SHE isn't too innocent anymore.
Ron Weasley -- Ah...Ron. Probably my favorite character in all of the books because he's totally like myself. He's humorous and really adds all of the comedy to the books with his "out-of-it"- style of thinking. He's gone through a major growth spurt in this book, so he's more mature and much taller than everyone else. What I enjoy most is that he's more realistic and has more in common with his two older brothers, the twins, Fred and George. This redhead is cool, but not too smart and hate homework, so he's exactly like me!
Professor Umbridge -- I put this hoe under the cons not because she's underdeveloped or because she's 2D but because she's just plain mean. I have never gotten frustrated or put into a bad mood by a book before until I read The Order of the Phoenix. Favoritism is a major factor in her personality along with just plain being nosy and rude. She was hired by the Ministry of Magic to see what's going on at Hogwarts and soon she's taking over the school and making new laws and has a huge grudge against Harry Potter and his friends. She¡¦s a major drag and a major old fat hag.
Cho Chang -- In the previous books, Cho wasn't a really big character, but now she is. She and Harry start dating briefly but things become difficult (Which I won't tell you about since it would ruin the ending for book #4) and she just turns in a macho b!tch. She cries often to an annoying extent and she just does these crazy head games with Harry that's hard to read about. She's paranoid and thinks that Harry and Hermione are dating secretly and that's a great factor in the problems of their relationship. I'm hoping more emotions will come out in the sixth book.
Quidditch!!!!!!!!
I'm a H U G E fan of the Quidditch chapters and parts of the book that Rowling dedicates to the book, bur I was really disappointed when I finished the book and there was only one brief Quidditch match with Harry in it and nothing else except when Ron is playing and Hermione and Harry leave with Hagrid to...do something. I'm really hoping that Quidditch will be a much bigger part of Book #6 because they are the most amusing and thrilling chapters to read.
It's Last Call! GET OUT OF HERE!
Well, the kegs are empty, the music has stopped, and our lips are dry, so I would guess that our little shindig has stopped. I'm glad that you read my review because I spent some time on this one. It's not lazy like all of my other ones. I'm just sorry that it took so long to post. After I finished reading it, I went back through it and wrote an outline of what my review should be so I could further help you all. This is my third HP review and my favorite that I have written and I'm really hoping that you buy this wonderful book because it's one of the best in the series and I think it was totally worth the wait. Five books down, two to go. Now, all of us fans can do is really savor all of the books we have now since pretty soon, Rowling is going to be done. Now please, Ms. Rowling, DON'T WAIT 3 YEARS TO RELEASE THE NEXT ONE! IT'S UNBEARABLE! Peace out, folks.
Jay
IT'S MY 200th REVIEW! HOPEFULLY, I'LL MAKE IT TO THE 300th MARK! THANKS FOR READING MY REVIEWS, Y'ALL!
Recommended:
Yes
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JiggyJay
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Member: Jason Haskins
Location: Portland, Oregon
Reviews written: 622
Trusted by: 297 members
About Me:
Finals = (Possible) Brief Hiatus--Will Try To Keep Up With My Readings/Ratings
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