Sirius Black

after all the build-up, it was almost an underwhelming event. I really don't see Sirius as a major player ... sure we knew him more than Diggory and he is essentially Harry's family, but he still seems to be a suppporting role to me. loved how Rowling played with the reader at the beginning with Mrs. Weasley and the boggart.

I feel like the focus of the series has shifted as others have said. The action took a backseat to a lot of emotion. I liked the treatment of Harry - I've always felt his personality was lacking any draw. The teenage rebellion did get a little irritating after a while, but his emotions seemed more realistic than ever before.

My biggest problem with the book (so far, I do need more time to think about this) is that even though Harry's character is interesting, Ron and Hermione seem to be unimportant. They were described as "Ron and Hermione" so many times that it almost seemed as if they were collapsed into one character.

I had a similar reaction to the death. Sirius is important, but I don't have the same attachment to him as the rest of the "candidates." (I was heartbroken as the pages left were dwindling and it seemed like there was a huge focus on Neville.)

Hermione

rebellion thing really gets old after a while. I spent the first half of the book thinking,"wow, Harry's reallying being a dick." Harry seems to spend most of the book either thinking everyone else cannot possibly imagine what he is going through, or screaming at them that they cannot possibly imagine what he is going through (I guess this is typical puberty stuff, but still ...) As for Ron and Hermione, they do seem to blend into the background a lot, and I thought that the plot point of making them prefects (or Malfoy for that matter) really wasn't explored. Occasionally they were tasked with some new duty, but it didn't make as big of an impact on their student lives as I thought it would.

Harry's second night of detention from that bitch!

Ron will be the new keeper

I found it amusing that Neville was "screwed" by the prophecy as being the one who was unworthy to be destined to duel with Voldemort until one or the other dies.

I was annoyed that Ron and Hermione had been reduced to "playing their roles", which seemed to be little more then disagreeing with each other about what Harry ought to do. Weren't they supposed to be important characters?

What bugged me the most was that everyone was behaving totally differently than they did in Goblet of Fire, even though technically Order of the Phoenix picks up on 4 weeks after GoF leaves off. Everyone seemed to have undergone a personality transplant overnight.

I was personally hoping that Umbridge had gotten trampled to death by the rampaging centaurs. I'm not sure why, exactly, J.K. Rowling felt it necessary that she be allowed to live at the end.

As a character, I liked Sirius Black but I found that by the time he died, I was too busy reading as fast as I could to get to the end and find out about the damn prophecy. Maybe the second time I read it, the death might have more emotional impact.

Ultimately, I thought it was a good book, even though somehow at 900 pages it felt rushed, as if J.K. Rowling was in a hurry to tell us everything before the end. I now anxiously await books 6 and 7 when Harry and Voldemort fulfill the prophecy.

Even though the "death" didn't affect me as much as I thought it would, J.K. had me thinking someone different was going to die every couple of chapters .

It was great that Fred and George really got the opportunity to shine in this book. I absolutely agree about Ron and Hermione unfortunately being demoted to bit players.

Sirius' death made sense as it is an easy conflict and does not knock out a crucial character. I had hoped that Rowling would take a chance and kill Dumbledore. That would have added a real sense of urgency.

I thought the action and plot kept the book moving along very well. I was always upset when I had to stop reading for one reason or another. It was really quite a smooth and easy read.

Obviously, the character development is good with as much detail as Rowling put in. Some of the dialogue went on and on in some cases, but it allowed the reader to formulate a better impression of the character. Some details were, in my opinion, a little too much. For example, the chaper on the O.W.L.s was certianly insightful, but reading about each test and some of the questions and responses could have easily been whittled down. I got the impression as I was reading it that Rowling was trying to string it out so it would fill a 20 page chapter.

As I was reading, I got the impression that this was huge massive reunion. Almost every character in the previous 4 books were re-introduced. (In fact, what characters weren't???) Even Dobby and Lockhart were back in the picture. Some of it felt a little forced.

Potter's behavior may have been typical of adolescent behavior, but it was VERY irritating -- all the anger and the whining, and the self-pity. I felt like slapping him a few times. Yes, probably realistic, but I didn't like it.

Umbridge was about as irrating at Lockhart. Do any of you know any person in real life that is THAT irritating??? Man alive! Rowling really knows how to write irrating characters, that's for sure. It would have been much more satisfying to the reader to kill her off in a very violent manner than to have her live. But this is a children's book, I guess.

Which is why Rowling is very careful about who she kills. She must be getting a lot of "advice" from those around her saying "do this" or "don't do that" or "that would be inappropriate" or "that's too occult like" or "children will be reading this" and so forth. I don't know if any of this affects her writing, but maybe it does.

Which leads to the death. The "red herrings" were interesting. I really did think at first that it was Mr. Weasley. I continued to read and then thought it was going to be Hagrid who was in poor health. Then I thought it would be Mrs. McGonagall after being hit by those 4 stuns. Then I thought about the kids and figured it might be Neville.

The actual death of Black evoked very little emotion from me. The reason was that the red herrings had more impact than the actual character who died. It was a letdown. Plus the placement of the death was at a time when I was so interested in finding out other information that I didn't let the death sink in at all.

I WISH the death was much more emotional. I was looking forward to a sappy death scene when Hagrid died or when Hermione slipped away or when Dumbledore whispered his last breath, "Remember Harry, help will come to those that ask, even in death," and he keels over and dies. I felt as if the death of Black was a cop out on Rowlings part as if she were not brave enough to kill a major character. But even the death of Black could have been done with SO MUCH more impact, I wonder why she chose to disinfect it.

I'll end this. I did enjoy the book. It was good read. My favorite book, at this juncture, is still book 3 -- The Prisioner of Azkaban, however. I'll be interested to hear what others think.

I just finished reading it about an hour ago. I feel completely drained.

I enjoyed the book immensely and thought I would through out some of my thoughts:

* Harry was pretty annoying at the beginning. But it felt very real. I was very impressed with Rowling's insight into the teenage mind. It brought back memories of thoughts and feelings that I had also had in the difficult transition from childhood to adulthood. While it was annoying, I also found it fascinating.

* I liked the dynamics between Harry and Cho. Some of them felt like they were ripped right out of my own life. I was impressed that Rowling not only depicted Cho's point of view well, but she was also able to describe Harry's "male" point of view pretty accurately.

* Ron as keeper. I'd disagree that Ron and Hermione were relenquished to "background characters". I really enjoyed Ron's character-arc as keeper.

Anyway, that's all I can think of now. I'll have to let it all sink in a bit more.

With all of his whining, Harry was reminding me of Luke Skywalker in the Episode 4. (No clue about what this means for his relationship with Cho)

I thought going into the book that Neville would die & it really seemed to build up to that point, so Sirius dying was somewhat of a shock. But it was just that - a shock. Not emotional. Didn't really make me miss him at all.

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron exclaimed loudly.

"We're not going to use magic?" Ron ejaculated loudly.

Finished it yesterday, I thought it was really good, Harry's constant attitude did get a bit annoying in the beginning but i got over it. The new defense teacher i completely hated, got she was such a bitch, i once had a teacher similiar to that, but not quite that bad. I honestly thought Percy or Lupin would die, but I liked Sirius. I Cant wait till the next book, should be interestng, i never knew the divination teacher had such an important role sort of, guess she kind of started everything

That was my thought too. Rowling really seems to be hammering home the family thing, with the Weasleys' problems and the bit with Petunia being part of the spell (which really helped explain why he kept going back to the Dursleys). I've wondered why nobody ever rattled the Dursley's cages before about mistreating Harry. Anyways, the death of Sirius may not affect us much, but Harry is going to be a lot different down the road, esp since he was somewhat responsible. And I thought it was hilarious when Hermione brought up the whole "playing the hero" bit. Kinda acknowledging to the readers that some of the events are a little farfetched.

- Harry being an arrogant little bastard. I think JK succeeded there. He certainly became an airhead didn' he?

-Harry and Cho kissing and Ron's reaction--bullseye.

-the introduction of The Order as they entered the Dursley's house was great. I could totally picture it in my mind and there was really a sense of urgency

-the whole book had a very dark, foreboding sense about it. something just gnawing at the back of your brain reminding you that there IS something bad happening in the magical world and those who are "in the know" are really on edge about it. My heart was actually racing from the time they were caught by Umbridge in her office to their arrival at the Department of Mysteries.

-Just as I was thinking, "this book needs more Snape", BAM. Occlumency. And his reaction to Harry's cryptic message was awesome.

-Ron gets the spotlight kinda. Getting prefect and keeper in the same year. I agree that his prefect duties were never really explored, but then again Percy was also one so I guess it really isn't all that interesting. I liked his character arc in this one. He's always been my favorite since Sorcerer. WEASLEY IS MY KING.

-Fred and George. Oh my goodness Fred and George! I loved that there were TONS of them in this one! I think their escape is my favorite part of the book. That was just awesome.

-Ginny. She's come a long way from the smitten little girl in Chamber hasn't she? Even got a boyfriend before Hermione! Damn. I wonder if what she said about Dean and her was true or it was just to rile Ron more.

-Percy. He really IS the world's biggest git as stated by Ron. I wonder what happens to him. Does he come back to the Weasley household?

-Luna Lovegood. I'd hit it.

-Dumbledore's Army! [mature]I wonder, what if you were at Hogwarts with your girlfriend and you REALLY needed a place to...you know...would going to the seventh floor be helpful?[/mature]

-Hagrid. Man, by the time he took the kids to see Grawp, I was actually hoping he was the one to be killed off. Just sooo stupid.

-Sirius' death...I dunno. Like the others, I never really considered him to be THAT much of an important character. I was really sad though when Harry saw the mirror...if only he'd seen it sooner...I think that was the whole point anyway. His death really was put into the "thick of things" intentionally that you'd just gloss over it cuz you were worrying too much about everyone else. Then there was the Dumbledore/Voldermort duel which just made you totally forget about it 'til that moment when Dumbledore explains everything to Harry and when he sees the mirror...that's when it starts to sink in how much better (or worse) off Harry will be from now on.

-HATE Umbridge. I have to disagree to the comparison to Lockhart. While they were both annoying/irritating, at least Lockhart's kind was of the amusing kind. Umbridge was just a big old bat. The centaurs should have just done a jig on her ass.

-Where the hell was the Ron and Hermione romance???? Nothing! Just a few jealous looks on their faces is what we get. You'd think that with Harry and Cho going at it, Hermione would kinda have the guts as well to throw some bones to Ron or give him some hints or something...Oh well...maybe cuz they were too busy being Prefects. Or cuz it was O.W.L. year. I was really looking forward to it though.

-What's up with everyone calling each other "mate"?

-I didn't like the way the action was written in the Department of Mysteries. I don't think it's one of JK's strengths. Or maybe cuz I was just reading it too fast.

*I agree with some that mentioned a different tone to this book, there is a very strong sense of impending danger, and things seem much more hectic.

*Harry's anger: it bugged the crap out of me, but it's perfect; it has to be there. Any adolescent in this position would be mad as hell and act the same way, to write it otherwise would be fluffy garbage. Even if you end up not liking Harry at times, thats fine, you don't have to like Harry to like the book. If you are a mature adult, you shouldn't and probably wont like Harry's reaction because you should have learned from your own experiences growing up that behaving this way doesn't get you anywhere. The anger is also necessary to feed the theme of anger/hate vs love, and making the choices in life for one or the other. My only hope is that Harry grows up fast because it is hard to stand him being a pissed off little bitch much of the time. But it is important that he does go through this behavior, or else JK would just be feeding us garbage kiddy stories.

*Sorry, but Ron and Hermione just aren't as important to this portion of the story. Oh well. They got plenty of time, and by mid book they were around most of the time. Being that they are all 15 now, their relationships are changing and they aren't just hanging around together getting in adventures. Harry has a lot going on emotionally and mentally (like a few mentioned, this book is much more psychological). Because of this he is distancing himself from his two friends more. He isn't confiding each and every little secret to them. He spends more time alone. Since the books are told from Harry's point of view, we are going to get less Ron and Hermione. I enjoy the characters, but the story needs to go this way to get where it is going.

*As for Fred and George, it was awesome to see them rip loose several times. They really were able to shine, and their departure really was one of the greatest moments in any of the books.

*My favorite part has to be when the Ministry is trying to bust Harry for starting the D.A. and Dumbledore just laying it down for them. Dumbledore reminded me why he is my hero; this scene is awesome. He takes out 4-5 guys, tugs his Phoenix and disappears. Now THAT is badass!

*Death of Sirius Black. He was really one of my favorites, if not my favorite character. I agree, it happened so fast it was hard to really feel it. I too expected a drawn out, sappy, "don't go" scene with whomever the unlucky person was going to be. I really would have rather it been Hagrid, who I also like but not as much as Sirius. I wasn't very effected by the loss though, until Harry got out the mirror. I definitely teared up at that point. I had been curious what it was that Sirius gave Harry to contact him. I don't think JK Rowling decides who to kill based on public reaction, but instead on how her story is supposed to go. I don't think she went "oh people would be sad if I killed Hermione so I'll kill Sirius instead". Everything seems well thought out and planned to me, so if Sirius kicks it its for a good reason. And it is already presenting interesting emotion for Harry.


*One of the only things I was disappointed in was the duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. I was ready for an all out brawl, wizard style when I saw the illustration for the chapter. To me, this was the big battle of this book, and it ended too quickly. But if thats the way the story has to be... there it is. I was also disappointed we didn't get deeper into the psychology of Snape. I thought that part was incredibly interesting, I hope we see more in the next book. I was also looking forward to learning more about Harry's parents, Lily especially. Again, next book hopefully.