| Author: J.K. Rowling Review By: Anshuman Nagpal Grade: 6 |
Harry Potter and Order of the Phoenix is yet another magical and an enchanting book written by JK Rowling. It is the 5th book in the series of Harry Potter and got published for the first time in Great Britain in 2003 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
The book, like all the books in the series, revolves around the character, ‘Harry Potter’.
Harry Potter, along with his two best friends, turns 15. At the end of the 4th book, Voldemort gets back his full body, and does not need to live off as somebody else to survive. His arrival, in the fifth book, affects Harry quite severely: he starts having nightmares, and his mind seems to be controlled by Voldemort himself. As a result, Harry appears shaken up, and his attitude towards everything sees a change.
However, before the start of the school year, one incident where Harry saves Dudley, his cousin, from frightening dementors that changes his life.
The Ministry accuses him of performing the spell outside of Hogwarts ignoring the fact that he did that to save somebody’s life. Students at Hogwarts too look at him in disgust as they read the rumours written about him in the newspapers. In the meanwhile, the Ministry ignores Dumbledore’s warnings about the arrival of Voldemort, as ‘lies’, and the Minister of Magic doesn’t believe him.
A new ‘Defence Against the Dark Arts’ teacher from the Ministry arrives in Hogwarts. She is not received well by the students and faculty alike due to her boring, regimental, and devilish disposition. Despite that, she gets promoted to being ‘High Inspector’ and later to the post of the Headmistress before she finally gets kicked out of Hogwarts.
The events unfolded in such a way that they all led Harry to defeat Voldemort for the 6th time in a row. Since Harry and the other students were not learning anything in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Harry, along with Hermione and Ron, gathered some of their friends and formed a group named Dumbledore’s Army (DA), in which Harry would teach him extraordinary hexes, spells and jinxes they had never known before. Harry took his nightmares to an advantage and saw Voldemort’s plan to kill him. He led some members of the DA to a mysterious department in the ministry, fought off death eaters, destroyed the thing which Voldemort needed to kill Harry with. With the help of Alastor Moody, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and many others, they were able to escape, and return to Hogwarts to attend the ‘Grand Feast’. Later, he went back to the Dursleys’ house knowing why he had to stay there, and what would happen if he didn’t.
It is an excellent book if one does not get intimidated by looking at its size. Although there were some tragic incidents that happened in the book, there were humorous and heart-warming moments as well. For instance, Harry was able to spend more good time with Sirius, his godfather, and he became part of the order of the phoenix, a secret team of wizards and witches trying to stop Voldemort from taking over the world. The book also introduces a new, yet unusual character, Luna Lovegood, who despite her oddness, helped Harry to stop Voldemort and his death eaters in the mysterious department in the ministry. The book makes use of the magical world to its full capacity and talks about worlds we had never seen before in the prequels. The story seems so real, that sometimes, one feels like one is actually there, playing a character in the story. It is full of figurative language and utilizes onomatopoeia to portray the story and create an impact on the minds of the readers.
The only flip side that I see of this book is the number of pages it holds! It may happen that one may not be able to sustain the same interest one started reading the book with, especially when one is not in the habit of reading thick books!
Overall, the best book in the Harry Potter series. Looking forward to reading the next in the series soon.
