The Verdict
Today I’m giving you my honest take on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, book five of seven, by J.K. Rowling.
Quick verdict. This is the longest book in the series, and it is also the angriest. I think it is one of the best of them. It is baggy, and Harry spends a lot of it furious, but it is about something real, and the payoff is huge. I give it four and a half out of five, and this whole review is spoiler free.
What It’s About
The book came out in two thousand three, and Harry is fifteen. It is the middle of a boiling summer, and he is stuck on Privet Drive with no news at all. He knows Voldemort is back. Nobody will tell him what anyone is doing about it.
Then Dementors turn up in a quiet suburban street, and Harry has to use magic where he should not. The Ministry of Magic wants him expelled. Soon he is whisked away to a secret headquarters, where he meets a group called the Order of the Phoenix.
Then the school year begins, and the Ministry insists that Voldemort has not returned. It says Harry and Dumbledore are liars. And it sends a new teacher to Hogwarts to keep an eye on them.
So the book is really two stories at once. One is about a hidden war that the grown ups are preparing for. The other is about a school that is being slowly taken over from the inside.
The book has thirty eight chapters, and by my count the text runs to well over two hundred and fifty thousand words. That is roughly three times the length of the first book.
Hogwarts Under Umbridge
Her name is Dolores Umbridge, and she is the heart of this book. She wears a fluffy pink cardigan and a black velvet bow, she has a girlish voice, and her office is covered in plates of kittens. She also clears her throat with a little cough, hem hem, just before she says something cruel.
In her first lesson, she announces a Ministry approved course. The class will read a textbook, quietly, and nothing else. Wands away. Harry argues, and she gives him a detention where he has to write lines with a special quill. I will let you find out what is special about it.
Meanwhile, decrees start to appear on the notice board, one after another. Each one takes away a little more freedom. The school slowly turns into a place where you cannot trust anyone.
And the other setting is the old family home that the Order uses as its base, Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. It is damp, dark and full of cursed leftovers, including a screaming portrait and a bitter, muttering house elf. Cleaning it out is oddly one of my favorite stretches, because it is funny and creepy at once. It is a very different kind of home from Hogwarts.
What Works
Three things work wonderfully for me.
First, the villain. Umbridge is not a dark wizard. She is a petty official with a smile, and that makes her far more believable. Lots of readers say she is the most hated character in the whole series, and I understand why. She never needs to raise her voice to ruin your day.
Second, the sense of students taking control. When the grown ups will not teach, the young people start to teach each other. It is satisfying, it is funny, and it gives the middle of the book a real spark.
Third, the supporting cast. This book introduces Luna Lovegood, who arrives on the train reading a magazine upside down, and who says exactly what she thinks. It also gives Neville and Ginny far more to do. The world feels bigger and more crowded, in the best way.
And a bonus fourth. Fred and George get a glorious, chaotic stretch of their own. When the school gets too oppressive, the twins respond with pranks and jokes, and I cheered.
Characters and Themes
Harry is not a nice kid in this book, and that is the point. He is fifteen, he is exhausted, and he is scared. He snaps at his best friends. He is certain that everyone is keeping secrets from him, and often he is right.
Dumbledore is distant this time, and Harry takes it badly. He barely looks at him for months. Meanwhile Snape is around more than Harry would like, and Sirius, who has to hide indoors, is restless and bitter in a way that feels uncomfortably real.
Hermione and Ron do a lot of quiet heavy lifting. Hermione in particular is brilliant here, because she keeps being right and gets very little thanks. Their friendship is tested, and that makes it feel earned.
The big theme is truth. What do you do when a powerful institution tells everyone you are lying? How do you stay sane when your own side will not trust you? It was written long ago, but it feels sharp today.
And underneath is a story about growing up, and about learning that adults are scared, flawed and sometimes wrong. That idea runs through the whole book.
Writing and Pacing
The prose is as readable as ever. Rowling has a gift for a funny line in a miserable moment, and the humor keeps the book breathing.
But the pacing is uneven. Harry does not even get on the train until chapter ten. There are long stretches of frustration, where Harry is told to wait and do nothing. If you love the series, those chapters are still fun. If you are tired, you may feel every page.
Rowling also likes a long, slow pile up of small injustices. They work, because you really do start to feel trapped, but they take time. The exams near the end are also a bit long.
Then, in the last quarter, the book picks up speed like a runaway train. It is gripping, and it hurts. For me, the slow first three quarters are the price of that last stretch.
What Doesn’t Work
I have a few complaints.
First, the length. In my opinion, a good editor might have trimmed fifty pages without losing anything, and the middle would have been tighter for it.
Second, Harry’s anger. It makes sense, but it is written in capital letters a lot, and a few of his rows with friends feel repetitive.
Third, a romance subplot that I found awkward. It is realistic, but it is not the part I came for.
And fourth, some of the build up is slow because we already suspect what the adults are hiding. You may be a step ahead of Harry, and that can be frustrating.
Fifth, a few side threads fade without much of an ending. With a book this big, some characters and plot lines get dropped for chapters at a time.
Content Notes
A few heads ups. This is the darkest book so far. There is bullying and cruelty by a teacher, including punishment that hurts, and plenty of fear and tension.
There are fights with real danger, and an overall sense of dread. The ending is emotionally heavy and deals with grief. It does not suit very young readers.
I would suggest about eleven and up, and I would prefer to see younger children read it with a grown up nearby.
The Scorecard
Here is my scorecard, out of five.
Story, four and a half out of five. Big and gripping, with a few slow patches.
Characters, five. Umbridge, Luna, Neville, and a prickly Harry.
Themes, five. Truth, trust and growing up.
Pacing, three and a half. The middle sags.
Ending, four and a half. It is powerful, and it sets up everything that follows.
That averages out to four and a half out of five.
Who It’s For
Read it if you have loved the series so far. Read it if you like stories where friends stand up to an unfair system, and if you do not mind a long, serious book.
Skip it, or at least wait, if you have not read the first four books, because this one leans on them heavily. And be careful if you want a light, cozy read, because this is neither.
A tip if the size scares you. Read it in big chunks over a couple of weeks, rather than a few pages a night. The slow patches go down much easier when you stay in the story.
And if you are a rereader, this is the book that rewards a second visit most, because you spot how much was planted early. If you want those details, my clues video goes through them, with spoilers.
Where To Get It
You can find links to the book and the audiobook in the description. The audiobook is a good way to get through such a long story, and the full length listen is a great companion for a long drive or a few quiet evenings.
Tell me in the comments, what is the longest book you have ever finished, and was it worth it? If you want to talk about how it ends, my ending explained video is next. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you in the next one.
