fantasy

I was rather disappointed by this book, as the ending did not surprise me much, unlike the previous books. For anybody who has read the previous books, he/she should have easily guessed the prophecy - wasn't it the pounding point in the previous four books?! Overall, I feel that it was a winded way to deliver a simple prophecy that all of us knew before reading the book.

On a separate note, Rowling portrayed Harry's in a more angry tone than a lot of us have gone through in our adolescence. Such anger, lack of deliberation, and endless rash decisions make one wonder whether Harry does possess what Dumbledore said that Harry has in abundance. I found that quite unconvincing.

Additionally, I found that Rowling overemphasized the heroism in Harry and failed to give due credits to Hermione and others for their loyalty and teamwork. For example, Hermione continued to amaze me with her knowledge and skills, and without her, Harry might not have bothered with Daily Prophet and a lot of other sources. I would think that by cutting down on Harry's self-pity and developing other characters more, Rowling would have made the book much more intriguing.

This latest volume in the Harry Potter series is well written, clever, and approaches profundity. The author dives in depths only hinted at in the third and fourth books. All of the adolescent characters have matured in a believably awkward way. Harry's feud with the new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher is suggestive of the bureaucratic hubris and petty tyranny that vex us Muggles, too. She is very much the book's real villian, loathsome and power-hungry, but in a scarily mundane way. This Harry Potter, unlike the others, is complex and difficult. The protagonists are often unsympathetic, (am I the only one who keeps liking Snape more and more?) surly, and foolish. It's hard to see the sweet brave orphan of the first book in this one's insufferable teenager. The book's only disappointments are Dumbledore's post-climactic explanation of events and a certain lack of emotional depth regarding Harry's relationship with the character-who-dies. This is Order of the Phoenix's emotional zenith, however, and merits careful reading.

I'm a huge fan of the horror genre and am a huge King fanatic, but I couldn't resist reading this book after seeing the Third film. I'm 17 and I found unbelievable that these books are aimed at 9-12 yr olds. The vocabulary is fantasic and Ms Rowling is quite an inticing writer.
I should have read the fourth book first, that's a little advice for the rest of ye, because now I know the general outcome of that book - so I think I'll wait for the fourth film rather than read it.
Anyway, being such a huge King fan, I can't help comparing different writers to him. He is - to me - the best writer in the world, just just at horror but at everything, and I found J.K Rowling right up his alley. She's brilliant, the book's brilliant, cant wait for the film!!! :-)