Pam's Book Log

26 June, 2003

I'm an old hand at reading multibook series, and I speak from experience when I say that all too often, a series hits a peak, then declines in quality once the author becomes successful (*ahem* Wheel of Time *ahem*). I admit that I've been worried that the Harry Potter series might take such a turn. After all, Rowling is richer than the Queen, so it'd probably be awfully tempting to skate, rather than work hard to make each book as good as it can possibly be. I'm happy to say that the fifth book in the series shows no sign of the author resting on her laurels; it's quite possibly the best one yet.

Quick plot summary: Voldemort has risen again, as witnessed by Harry at the end of the previous book. However, the wizard community is in serious denial about the return of the Dark Lord. The conflict between the in-denial faction (led by the Minister of Magic) and the much smaller getting-prepared faction (led by Dumbledore), and how it plays out at Hogwarts, forms the central plot of the book.

Thematically, this book is about growing up: the differences between being a child and being an adult, and the loss of innocence which is an inherent part of the transition. Harry learns that "the world is not cleanly divided into Death Eaters and good wizards," that the adults he admires are imperfect and fallible.

Rowling's done a good job of maturing her characters: Hermione, Harry, Ron, Neville, the Weasly twins, et al are all recognisably the same people who first appeared in Book 1, but they're also recognisably growing up. They're more confident, acting rather than simply reacting, and becoming part of the wider world outside of school.

Spoilers:

Dolores Umbridge: Worst. Defense. Teacher. EVER. I'm thoroughly disappointed she didn't get killed by the centaurs.

The mystery of Severus Snape continues unabated. We still don't know why he originally quit the Death Eaters, or why Dumbledore (and Voldemort, as of the end of Book 4) is so sure he wouldn't ever go back. We don't know what he's doing now for the Order of the Phoenix, although it apparently has something to do with getting information on the Death Eaters' activities. Has he, in fact, pretended to return to Voldemort? Why would Voldemort believe it? Maybe it has something to do with Occlumency? It occurs to me that Snape's position as head of Slytherin House is probably helpful in this respect, spying on the parents through the students.

Hermione's always been smart, and she's got the book-learnin' down pat, but in this book she reveals herself to be a freakin' genius. She thought up and organized the extracurricular Defense class, covering everything from recruiting a teacher to ensuring secrecy. She understands media relations. She's got a better grasp of human psychology than any 15-year-old has any right to have (evidenced by her play-by-play dissection of Harry's terrible Valentine's Day date, and her facile manipulation of Umbridge in the scene at the end). She immediately sees through Voldemort's gambit at the end, and is the only one to caution Harry against running off half-cocked. She's smart, but she's not one of those obnoxiously omnicompetant characters who never screws up. She's not perfect, but her mistakes grow out of youth and inexperience. That girl has a bright future as Minister of Magic, if she wants it. She's come a long way from the little girl who ran off to the bathroom, crying, because two boys criticised her for being swotty.

Hm, now that I think about it, the close friendship of Harry, Ron, and Hermione has had a huge positive effect on Hermione and Harry, giving her the confidence and support to reach her full potential, and preventing Harry from becoming another Snape or Voldemort. It's not clear to me that Ron has benefitted similarly, in the sense that it's helped him become a better person than he would have been otherwise. Then again, Ron has a family he can turn to for support, in a way that neither of his two best friends do.

James Potter, age 15, was a total dick. Yeesh.

Dumbledore is a total badass. It's a good thing he's on our side.

New characters: You've just gotta like Tonks. Luna Lovejoy-- could be interesting, although I am not really sure what to make of her.

Good things:

It was nice to see that Ginny Weasley grew a personality during her time spent relatively off-stage in Book 4. Actually, it looks like she might be the heir to Fred and George.

Neville Longbottom is coming along nicely. Good to see that he's not afraid of his own shadow, any more.

They've definitely toned down the British-American "localization." They're still calling the Philosopher's Stone the "Sorcerer's Stone," but Order of the Phoenix contains such Britishisms as "budgerigar," "Alice band," "bogies," and "snogging."

I like the way the "Prophecy" works. I absolutely hate predestination, and this prophecy is not only vague, it's indecisive and completely lacking in determinism: it gives some necessary conditions for a particular outcome (Voldemort's final defeat) but those conditions are by no means sufficient.

Bad things:

Slytherin house is still completely evil. I was kind of hoping to see some sort of diversity develop at some point, but AFAICT they're all a bunch of gits. At least Rowling has finally addressed the problem inherent in Hogwarts' house system, especially their practice of putting so many of the bad seeds in close proximity to one another. The Sorting Hat acknowledges the problem, even if nobody else does. Talk about an echo chamber. Incidentally, have we ever been told what happenned to Slytherin (the guy)?

What the hell happened to Percy? I mean, he was annoyingly officious as a student, but he was nothing like the complete ass he's become since graduation, abandoning his friends and family to pursue his misguided ambition.

It's going to be YEARS before we find out how Harry did on his OWLS! Wah!

As far as other reviews go, I agree almost completely with this one (John Hummel at Gameforms, a video game website!). I'm not sure that Chad read the same book I did, but he certainly has a different perspective. Here are Kate's first impressions, which are full of plot-ruining spoilers (so don't read if you haven't read.)