drgnlv's Reviews (823)

The fascinating thing about the last Harry Potter book is how much she refers back to the six previous novels. Every story, every adventure, and everything that the Golden Trio did and learned in the previous six books play a part in them defeating Voldemort. It is a tight, desperate fight that they almost lose, but because they had visited the Chamber of Secrets, the Shrieking Shack, Aragog's lair, the Room of Hidden Things, and Dumbledoor's pensive in the previous books, they knew where to go to get the things they needed to defeat Voldemort. Elements of the previous books come up in many ways throughout the novel and, for the second half of it, Rowling deliberately ties the story back around in a neat bow, having her heroes revisit places from the previous books and even ending her story with Harry at the Hogwarts Express. After seven books, the ending is a masterstroke of storytelling, bringing the adventure back to the beginning, which the main characters equipped at last to expunge evil from the world, and then ending the whole story at the beginning. This is how Harry Potter's world continues to feel like it lives on, rolling through history in a circle that never ends. This is a beautiful ending to my favorite series of all time, and Rowling proves here that she is one of the greatest authors of our time.

The difference between this book and the fourth one is striking. Reading them back to back for the first time ever, I was shocked at the difference in writing style. I've always disliked the fifth book because of its morbid portrayal of Harry, but I had never realized before that this difference is actually caused by an utter shift in Rowling's narrative prose. While the fourth book felt weighty and full of innumerable scenes and actions, most of the most memorable scenes are actually told in summary-style. While Harry spends months preparing for the Triwizard tasks, we as the reader are actually only communicated his struggles through a summation of his efforts and glancing glimpses of scenes. In comparison, the Order of the Phoenix is told almost completely moment by moment. There is one section regarding the D.A. meetings which skips over the particulars of all the classes, and another perhaps when Harry is struggling through meetings with Snape, but for the most part we are given in-depth descriptions of trivial scenes and lingering looks at Harry's worries and feelings. Never before has J.K. Rowling been so explicit in her description of Harry's interiority, and I wonder if she made this shift to indicate a maturation of her protagonist from child into adulthood. However, the change is quite jarring when reading this story back-to-back with its predecessor, especially when considering how only a month passes between the two. I'm sorry, Rowling, but I don't believe that much change can happen in only four weeks. Anyway, this latest re-reading of the Harry Potter books has convinced me of something I already believed, but had no basis for-- that the fifth book is the least likable of all the Harry Potter series. I'm just glad that now I know why.