Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix By: J.K. Rowling

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• Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5)
• Author: J.K. Rowling
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Publication Date: August 10, 2004 (2003)
• Pages: 870
• Genre: Fantasy
• Recommended Age(s): 9+
• First Read: 2006
• Source: Gift 
• Rating: 5.0 / 5.0 stars

**Contains Spoilers!!!**

This being the longest book of the series, I expected it to pack a punch. And it sure lived up to my expectations! I loved this book because it kept me turning the pages-and there are 870 of them-until the very end. There are even more new insights into the wizarding world and a bunch more character development so that I feel like I know Harry's entire soul or something like that.

I loved how long this book was. I really did, because there was so much plot development that went on and it never once felt slow to me. Two words though. Teenage angst. Harry's temper seems to always be just bubbling beneath the surface in this book and sometimes I actually laughed when he started screaming at people because he did it to the point of ridiculousness. But I suppose little Harry is growing up and needs to balance out all his hormones and all that fun stuff. It also probably doesn't help that Voldemort is barraging him with these dreams. But what can you do?

My favorite part of this book was the twins. Seriously. They are wittiest characters I have ever met and my favorite scenes are where they just completely go wild in Hogwarts with all their Weasely's Wizarding Wheezes merchandise. I love it. One of my favorite quotes in the book goes:

"Give [Umbridge] hell from us, Peeves. And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset."

That has to be the classiest exit out of school I have ever seen.

One of my other favorite parts of the book was the description of the wizard hospital, St. Mungo's. It was so cool to see how Rowling created a place that was both familiar and unfamiliar to the reader at the same time when she wrote the scenes about that place. I quite enjoyed seeing a particular professor again, though I did feel a bit sorry for him.

The most fascinating aspect of this book was when Harry delved into Snape's memory and saw that his dad was not the perfect person that Harry thought he was. That he and Snape had something in common. That people could change. I remember feeling very sorry for Snape indeed when I first read this book all those years ago and thought to myself just how weird that feeling was. Snape was supposed to be the bad guy. It's this memory that makes me realize once again just how complex of a character Snape is and the fact that he was in many ways, not that different from Harry.

And speaking of bad guys, I don't think that I've ever met anyone who I've hated more than Dolores Jane Umbridge. She is not a death eater, but an authority figure, yet I dislike her more than Voldemort (who is supposed to be the capital letter Bad Guy in this entire series) or any of his supporters. I think everyone hates Umbridge more than the dark wizard responsible for so many deaths because everyone knows someone like her. Rowling herself modeled Umbridge on a teacher that she once had, so there is a very real reality that we will all have an Umbridge in our lifetime. An authority figure who abuses their power and is inherently prejudiced against people or beings who are unlike her can be more evil than any death eater. After  all, as Sirius has wisely said,

"The world is not split up into good people and death eaters."

There is no one, I repeat no one, who can make the color pink and cute little kittens seem malevolent and foreboding. But that woman is in a league of her own. She makes the Plastics look tame.

A word about the movie. It was by far my least favorite of all eight movies. It simply did not do book justice. I wish David Yates had incorporated more of the book and did not change so much of the way events took place. I mean, the events he changed weren't even applicable in the long run so why change them?

But overall, it's completely worth it to read all 870 pages of this book! There is nothing better than coming back home to all your wonderful friends and this was what I felt as I read this book.