Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Book Review
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Young adult, fantasy, supernatural
My rating: ★★★★☆
Release Date: Published 20th November, 2015 by Pottermore
Format: Audiobook, 29 hours and 37 minutes
What did I think?
(Edit (03/02/2020): I changed my rating to four stars.
I listened to the audio book and I’ve been thrilled with the Stephen Fry audio (over the series, actually). I think he does a wonderful job of bringing everyone to life, and he’s a delight to listen to.
Tip: If you want to skip me talking about the length then scroll down to paragraph starting “I nearly gave this four stars….”. (Edit: Nope…I actually did give it four.)
However, it was twenty-nine hours’ worth, though. Yes, 29. Had a read the book, it would have been over 800 pages. Now, there is nothing wrong with long books, except that I’m not overly keen on them. ‘Why read it then?’ you ask. Well, because I live with a Harry Potter fanatic and had gone a decade never reading the series myself (I watched the films ☺️) but I decided I was going to. I have been enjoying them, actually. Very much. However, I’m still shocked by the length.
I asked rhetorically several times at home while listening to it: ‘Why is it so long?’ I had to stop though, because our Harry Potter fan was getting upset. Criticisms of Harry Potter are tricky. You have to be careful. I can understand that because I’m obsessed with True Blood (the TV series) and following this, the Sookie Stackhouse Series on which True Blood was based. I can get a bit precious with them sometimes.
Before I move on, someone recently said to me ‘you just like shorter books because then you can increase your reading count quicker’ and I had to disagree heartily. I also don’t like short books that much. Look, it may not be a healthy attitude but my preference is medium-sized novels. The difference is that with short books, being shorter, I have a lot less time to whinge about them.
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I nearly gave this four stars, but the story overall was actually worth five. So five it is, along with Harry Potter books two, three, and four.
There is no doubt Rowling can write. This was a terrific instalment to the Harry Potter series from start to finish. It had the Dursley’s at the start, and I love that. Good God, they’re an awful bunch (Poor Harry) but don’t worry The Order of the Phoenix will give you a lot more to get upset over.
By January 13, I posted this Goodreads update: “Umbridge. I hate her. Hate. What kind of person messes with someone’s owl? Ffs!” Yes, I was pretty annoyed about her.
On January 21, I posted: “Umbridge is so awful. She’s wreaking havoc at Hogwart’s! Get her out!!! 🤬”
There was a fair amount of swearing going on in my household during the reading of this. Almost 100% because of that nasty, pink covered woman. You will hate her as well. I’m certain of it.
One thing I must mention is that Harry is quite the crank in this book. I get it in a way. He’s had some really shitty things happen to him. Many, in fact. The poor kid lost his parents, he’s got that hyper focused, evil, buffoon after him all the time…plus he’s a teenager. It was understandable but even so I got a little peeved at him.
Despite my qualms on the length I didn’t get bored, and the novel explained a lot of things in its final chapters. I appreciated that.