Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsToo many words, too little action, uninteresting characters
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 July 2003
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix should have really been titled Harry Potter and the Splitting Headache. After the two-hundredth time (in as many pages) of reading ‘Harry felt his scar searing and pulsing,’ I too was feeling like my head was going to explode. If there is a word to describe this fifth installement of the Potter series, it is repetitive. Harry has repeated headaches, the major situations are all the same as usual, there are continuous references to past episodes (no doubt intended to be helpful, as I for one cannot remember a single thing from the Goblet of Fire), and our hero succoumbs to continuous bouts of anger and teenage angst. Moreover, after more than 700 pages, the action does not progress too far and lots of loose ends are left to be resolved in the next volume.
The book is maybe intented to narrate the transformation that Harry must undergo as he grows, from child to teenager to young adult, his challenge to overcome personal, school and mortal-enemy difficulties to grow up. It doesn’t look to me as if Rowling has done a brilliant job here. Is she trying to portray Harry as a misunderstood, rebellious teenager, full of anger at a world that does not fully accept him? There is a little bit of teenage angst: big exams are getting near, I’ve got enough on my plate with my teachers and the last thing I need is to go an fight an evil wizard, and that’s it. Instead, he is just irritated by and made irritable by his headaches, so he shouts at his friends. And who could blame him? If you had the same problem everytime you sat down to study, you too would be yelling at everyone. But the attempt to cast Potter in a darker mood fails. Perhaps if he had shaved his hair, grown an attitude and started doing pot, or smoking cigaretters (morally far more reprehensible in these days), that’d be more credible. In contrast to Harry’s plight, Hermione and Ron appear as models of mental stability and good behaviour - their hormone levels haven’t shot up yet. Incidentally, our hero’s predicaments are not that related to affairs of the heart. Although the publicity portrayed this book as the one where Harry would discover love, there is little more than some confusion and relief that he does not have to worry too much about her. The love interest is secondary, but (credit due where credit due) it is not repulsive or too honeyed - The Order of the Phoenix remains an action and adventure book.
Whatever action there is, do not count on the mysterious Order to provide it. As far as I can tell, the Order consists of a group of Dumbledore’s faithful who spend most of their time in a hiding perform and then undertake secret missions, the nature of which is of course secret. It is never explained why the Order is so called, why it was established or what its purpose is, other than save Harry and his companions at the very last minute. One has the impression that it will be revealed later, in the forthcoming instalement. In fact, it is not only the Order that fails to deliver any action. Everything else fails to deliver any action. There aren’t any secondary stories, any subplots, any exploits of minor characters. There is just one lineal story and that’s it. Harry spends an awful lot of time being late with his homework and worrying about exams. Harry spends yet more time having headaches. Harry spends even yet more time being moody. Harry, Harry, Harry, but nothing really happens, the book moves at such a slow pace.
If the Order is a feeble literary device, Voldemort is here the worst villian you could think of. Simply pathetic. He does not do anything other than to give Potter headaches. For a genius of evil that has previously managed to terrorise the wizarding community, he cuts a less-than-impressive figure. His minions are also really bad, incompetent, almost cartoonish. A simple Protego spell learnt in the second year at Hogwarts deflects all their attacks.
Furthermore, what does Voldemort want? What is he waiting for? His plans are never explained, just as the Order is never explained. Virtually everything is left to be uncovered in the next two volumes of the story. Other questions - Why did Hagrid go to speak with the giants? Why was Dumbledore demoted? Why is the Minister of Magic out to get him? Why does Dolores Umbridge want everything under her control? - also call for patience. This entire instalement feels like a transition or an introduction to what’s to come. My gripe is that you don’t need nearly a kilo of paper for that. Sincerely, I find too little action, too few developments buried in the length of this story, and too uninteresting characters. I can only hope that things get better next time.