Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter, Book 5)
There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?
It's not just the upcoming O.W.L. exams; a new teacher with a personality like poisoned honey; a venomous, disgruntled house-elf; or even the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Now Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.
Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.
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Community Reviews
If I could rate this book more than a 10 I would! It’s my favorite book in the series. The other have been good but this one has soooo much in it! I also love the movie series and now I think this movie should have been in 2 parts. So much was left out that I think is crucial information to the series.
As expected, this novel is the darkest readers have been exposed to the wizarding world that Rowling created.
Following the return of Voldemort in the previous book, Harry has been left alone with his nightmares all summer, while the wizarding world slanders his name and convinces the world he is a liar. After being attacked by dementors, Harry is rushed to his friends, where he learns a group of witches and wizards and working to bring down Voldemort. As he returns to school, Harry finds the Ministry of Magic have infiltrated the building, in an attempt to reduce any threat they think Harry may pose, so he creates and teaches a group of students to teach them how to protect themselves against Voldemort and Death Eaters, which they need, as they face Death Eaters whilst trying to retrieve a highly important prophecy.
One of the most realistic parts of this novel, is that Harry is allowed to show clear signs of trauma and PTSD. Throughout the book, he is irritable and has a short temper with everyone, including those he loves. There are clear symptoms of trauma that Harry displays, without glorifying it, as they are clearly causing him distress and resulting in him isolating himself from others. However, Rowling is sure to show the consequences of this actions, and show that while he is valid in feeling them, the way in which he is taking his anger out on others, is not okay and characters are quick to remind him. Given that this is a children's book, it is nice to see a display of PTSD that children can understand and empathise with.
As one of the big themes in this book, is exploring Harry's trauma, it is clearly one of the darker books in the series, which is interesting to see a darker perspective on the wizarding world, which we have previously had such positive perspectives of.