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Harry faces touble in the Order of the Phoenix
Reviewed by CLS from Johannesburg, South Africa on 22 June 2003
1852 of 3777 people found the following review helpful:
Harry Potter’s life is hell from almost the first page to about the last in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (hard copy 766 pages). The Order of the Phoenix is a secret organization of Dumbledore and other grown up wizards, which Harry and his friends cannot belong to. This didn’t stop him of having to fight off Dementors while still with his family for the summer, resulting in getting him in trouble with the Ministry of Magic and facing a disciplinary hearing to get expelled from Hogwarts. The Ministry still does not believe Voldemort is back, so they placed a token teacher in the form of ProfessorUmbridge for Defense against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. She taught them nothing except reading their textbooks, but her Educational Decrees and tyranny creates a lot of corrupt tension. Harry and some fellow students take matters in their own hands and start their own (forbidden) secret association, the DA, Dumbledore’s Army where he shows them practical Defense skills. These come in handy when he and some of them faces Voldemort and his Death Eaters in the climaxing fight at the end to save the Lost Prophecy. Not only does Dumbledore has to go into hiding, Harry also faces other minor crises such as not being chosen for Prefect, a life ban from Quidditch, painful detentions, extra lessons with Snape and the death of someone very close to him, before they managed to convince the Ministry that Voldemort is really back. Oh and then there is also the few snippets of his love life with Cho…
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Nuwe Harry Potter boek stel nie teleur
Reviewed by Unknown from Cape Town on 04 September 2003
1616 of 3340 people found the following review helpful:
Vir my is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix en Goblet of Fire die lekkerste twee Harry Potter boeke. Hoekom? Want daar is eenvoudig meer in die boeke. Hulle is langer, wat hulle baie meer volledig maak. Nie langdradig nie; dit het meer diepte en is beter afgerond.
En dit is dan ook wat dadelik vorendag kom: die diepte van JK Rowling se vertelling. Al die hoofkarakters in Phoenix word baie meer deeglik ondersoek as in die voorafgaande boeke. Harry word voorgestel as 'n tipiese tiener met al die gepaardgaande probleme en veranderinge wat tieners ervaar en aan gewoond moet raak. Ook Ron en Hermione se karakters word baie vollediger ondersoek.
In die vorige vier boeke is daar baie punte aangeraak wat eers nou in Phoenix meer aandag verkry. Die ware karakters van Harry se ouers, Harry se verhouding met Cho, en die rede waarom Voldemort destyds vir Harry wou vermoor, om maar drie kort voorbeelde te noem.
Die boek tel twee maande na die gebeure in Goblet of Fire op en spring weg teen 'n ongelooflike pas wat Rowling met gemak handhaaf deur die hele boek. Ek moes myself forseer om nie te veel op 'n slag te lees nie sodat die ervaring darem so 'n bietjie uitgerek kan word. Rowling prop belangrike inligting in elke sin in.
Order of the Phoenix is baie donkerder as sy voorgangers. Die stryd tussen Harry en Voldemort word al hoe meer uitgelig - en die emosionele impak wat dit op Harry laat word baie goed oorgedra. Die kwota sosiale kommentaar word ook opgestoot. Ek begin al hoe meer oortuig word daarvan dat die Harry Potter boeke lank al nie meer 'n kinderreeks is nie.
Ek is jare gelede laas klassifiseerbaar as 'n kind gewees, maar Phoenix het dit reggekry om die hare op MY kop te laat rys by tye. Maar dan dink ek terug aan kinderverhale soos Hansie en Grietjie, en ek besef dat ons ook destyds as kinders blootgestel is aan donkerverhale, maar tog het ons heel orraait uitgedraai.
Order of the Phoenix is 'n soliede lees en 'n goeie byvoeging tot die reeks. Uiteindelik bly daar nog net een ding oor wat ek kan sê oor dié boek: na amper drie jaar se wag, en ondanks die geweldige opspraak wat wêreldwyd rondom sy bekendstelling gegons het, stel dit nie teleur nie.
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Badly Written
Reviewed by Mr Ray Kinsman from Johannesburg, South Africa on 23 June 2003
1464 of 3051 people found the following review helpful:
In the previous books, the author held you in suspense. The ability to explain 2-3 things in a sentance was the norm. The fith book is a waffle,waffle,waffle. The spelling mistakes are numerous and the only reason you keep reading is because of the story line from the previous books. For the first 600 pages, the depression Harry is going through is pertrayed by the depression I am sure the author is going through.
All in all a very disapointing book for a wait of more that three years for its release.
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OotP comes bearing gifts!
Reviewed by Mr Steve Ball from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on 07 July 2003
1170 of 2491 people found the following review helpful:
In the world of storytelling, Mrs Rowling is undisputably the Queen Mother. Her latest novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, does not put one foot wrong to this reader.
The fifth book (of a total of seven) begins with Harry, once again, enduring no small amount of misery at the Dursley's hands. The only difference this time is that he chooses to stand up to them. Look out for the pace of the book in the first three chapters - those with pacemakers, beware!
In OotP, Harry begins to show signs of adolescence (read: temper flares) which mainly acts to his detriment at the Dursley's and Hogwarts. One of the most difficult feats in writing is to write in character; seeing as the character would see, thinking as the character would think and so on. Mrs. Rowling manages to pull this off so deftly you would believe that she has a teenager directing the dialogue!
A very interesting new character is Professor Umbridge, whose tyranny causes much uproar within Hogwarts. If this character is a yardstick against which we may judge Harry's future opponents, we may predict that Harry's next two years are not going to be all that rosy!
One of the most noticable changes in this book are Harry's mood swings and a sense of gloom (which may have been derived either from the fact that I knew one of the characters would die, or perhaps that I had to wait for 12 days for my copy). Harry also battles with a far more unpredictable and (some would say) sinister force in this book - girls! Keep an eye out for Harry's first real date - ready, steady, cringe!
Mrs Rowling has managed to capture an adolescent teen's angst (from Harry's point of view) while still telling a story full of maturity, depth and, dare I say it, magic :)
Let's just hope that book 6 doesn't keep us all waiting long!
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