non-spoiler Order of the Phoenix thread

Cafe Society
1

Got my copy on Saturday afternoon from Amazon. I’m currently about half-way through with re-reading Goblet of Fire so that I’m caught up on what’s going on and I hope to start reading the new one tonight.

I see, though, that a lot of you have already read it. I’m dying to hear some feedback! So tell me (without spoilers please!)

  1. Did you like it?

  2. Was it as good as the first four? There were so many rumors that Rowling was experiencing writer’s block, etc.

  3. Were you surprised by which character died, or had you guessed it?
    Can’t wait to start reading…

2

I’ve only read the first 15 chapters but I am finding hard to put down.

Initial impressions: I really liked the beginging of the book, the first 8 or so chapters about the inner workings of the ministry. After four books of the school it is cool to see her expanding the Wizarding world.

The school part is kind of boring, just the same old stress about classwork, homework, instructors, etc. but hints are there that it will pick up.

3

I’m at page 320, and can go no further unless B&N gets in more floor copies for me to read in the store, or until my family is done with their copy.

I’ve liked it so far, but Rowling’s perchance for dragging things out is starting to get on my nerves. It sometimes feels like all the usual whimsical stuff that was once a mainstay is actually just filler to heighten the suspense for the stuff we want to REALLY know about, and even at page 320 the entire book seems to be about keeping Harry, and the reader, in the dark even about very obvious and glaring questions, on top of which are piled even more new mysteries. No wonder the thing is 870 pages or so: at this rate, it’ll probably take that long just to find out trivial matters held over from the last book.

Still, it’s really filling out some of the characters nicely:

(this is not any sort of story spoiler, but it does talk about characters very vaguely, even 2 new ones, though again it reveals nothing about plot or their place in it)

Harry is less of a cipherous everyman (i.e., he feels and does more things outside the likely emotional scope of the reader, making him more 3-dimensional), Sirus’s character is revealed in much more depth, and we have a vile new woman who easily trumps Rita Skeeter in my abiding dislike for her. And Kreacher (sp?) is hilarious.

4

I read the book this weekend. I’d have to give it a B-, simply because Rowling is in terrible need of an editor.

The first 250 pages are incredibly tedious, which is unfortunate because, as Amp said, it explores entirely different areas of Rowling’s world than we’ve seen before.

I was most disappointed with her depiction of Harry. Sure, she’s got the whole “teen angst” thing down pretty good, but that doesn’t mean he’s supposed to run around like a complete moron. He makes more stupid mistakes than is plausible. Harry from “Sorceror’s Stone” wouldn’t have made this many mistakes. I think an editor really would have improved that quite a bit. Around page 300 he finally gets a clue and acts reasonably, IMO.

I’d rank “Order of the Phoenix” #3 of the HP series, with “Prisoner of Azkaban” at #1 and “Goblet of Fire” at #2.

As for the death, I had it spoiled for me, so I can’t quite tell you about that. Having known, though, I could see Rowling had laid a lot of traps for the reader, leading to many different possible outcomes to that particular answer. That’s all I reveal, in case I give too much.

The new characters are absolutely wonderfully written - Rowling’s strong suit. She beefs up Neville Longbottom and Ginny Weasley to my delight (I love those characters, and was really looking forward to them in particular). I’d really like to see a short-story collection from her between this book and the next, giving some sidestories/backgrounds on the peripheral characters. Hermione before Hogwarts, Neville’s parents’ death, James and Lily Potter’s wedding, etc. would be wonderful.

All in all, I think this book was designed to get the story some serious momentum. It’s trucking right along - I don’t expect a lot of twists and turns in the next two books, but I do see a lot of action in the future.

5

I didn’t necessarily think the first 250 pages were tedious, though I can’t compare them to what comes next, not having gone there yet. While we have to wait a loooong time for even hints at all the questions we have, there are still some pretty interesting things going on, and the characters are all definately more fleshed out, which is a great thing IMHO. And as contrived as keeping us away from the answers sometimes gets (made worse by the fact that the answers you do get are too often revealed via expository dialouge), it still works damn well to build suspense and anticipation.

I agree that Prisoner has been the best so far.

Thankfully, aside from potentially getting spoiled by some jerk on the forums, I don’t REALLY know who dies.

6

I’m at about page 500 or so. I thought much of the beginning was rather slow. Around page 300 or so (might’ve been earlier, I don’t have the book in front of me), I looked down at the page number and thought “I’ve read 300 pages and that’s all that’s happened so far?” Rowling’s taking more time to explain things, but it seems like she’s taking too much time in some places. But it’s started to pick up a bit. And I agree with Munch that she seems to be giving a number of different clues as to who will die (though I haven’t gotten to any deaths yet).

7

JerH, head over to the other thread and tell me where you think things picked up. For me, it was a single short line of dialogue by Harry. Things just clicked from there.