Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling (2003, Unabridged, Compact Disc)

I can only imagine the kind of pressure J.K. Rowling faces when she sits down to write a Harry Potter book.

Though she's said she worked out the whole seven-book series on a fateful train ride she took in the late '90s, she couldn't possibly have imagined that the series would turn into this: midnight bookstore parties, record print runs, and a generation of children (and adults) hanging on to her every written word.

"This" has now reached a new apogee with its fifth entry, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the longest (870 pages) and most dense (more characters, more complexity) book of the series.

And Rowling once again pulls it off.

Harry's adolescent funk
"Phoenix" begins in the usual place, the Dursleys' house at number four, Privet Drive, in Little Whinging, England. The Dursleys, Harry's guardians, have become more frightened of Harry's magical abilities -- and the now 15-year-old Harry, having sunk into an adolescent funk of bitterness, anger and self-pity, is more than happy to keep them guessing.

But Harry soon has bigger problems. Once he's back at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he's treated as a pariah by most students for his insistence that the evil Lord Voldemort is back -- and, indeed, played a role in the death of a student at the end of "Goblet of Fire."

Only a handful of professors and Harry's close friends -- among them Hermione and Ron -- support him.

Harry also struggles with the series' latest villain, Dolores Umbridge, a condescending representative from the Ministry of Magic who assumes a leadership role at Hogwarts. The students' psychological battles with the odious Umbridge are the best parts of "Phoenix," and Rowling writes them with a wicked zest.

Rich imagination
"Phoenix" does have its problems. The book starts running out of steam before the climactic battle, and that battle itself -- full of noise, flashing spells and wand-handling straight out of a grade-B Western as produced by Jerry Bruckheimer -- is the most poorly constructed scene in the book.

Rowling also engages in a stylistic tic, the paragraph-ending ellipsis, that seems to have become more popular with thriller writers. (It's all over Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," too.) Is something wrong with the humble period?

But those are minor issues in the face of Rowling's rich imagination and robust writing. The scope of Potter's world seems boundless; Rowling has added new characters and new locations, and added layers to those already existing. Potter's world, though fantastic, seems utterly believable.

That's doubly true of Harry himself. Rowling doesn't make Potter into an unblemished hero. Instead, he's a classic conflicted boy-man, struggling with issues both large (the death of both parents, fighting an evil power) and small (love, relationships and his own wildly changing hormones). He may not be as much fun as he was in Book One, but he's become more realistic and sympathetic.

Well, when he wants to be. After all, he's a teenager.

Recently, a friend asked me if Potter was worth the hype. I'm not sure if anything is worth the hype that the modern entertainment industry produces: overblown publicity machines for works that will vanish in a weekend.

But if anything is worth the hype, it's Harry Potter. The books enrapture children, entangle adults, and are full of wit, wisdom and wonder. Who could ask for a more magical experience?

This was the only book in the Harry Potter Series that I would not rate Excellent. I feel that she finally fell into the "middle book funk" that plagues so many other book writers and movie producers.

My theory on avoiding the "funk" is to provide the characters a few clues they can work for and give them some small victories to show they are at least making progress for their pain. It worked in JK's other books, so why she chose to change her formula here is beyond me. The only "victory" won here is that the wizarding community finally knows Voldermort is back. Small consolation, since those that can do anything about it (the Order of the Pheonix) already believed Harry.

The Mininstry of Magic, in an attempt to keep Harry Potter quiet, assign Delores Umbridge to the school. I would call Umbridge worse than Voldermort in many respects. Voldermort kills for the pleasure of killing, but is generally quick and painless about it. Once he sees the fear in his victim's eyes, he is satisfied and finishes them off. Torture is used to either get information from his victim or to make a point to his underlings. Inflicting pain for sport was something his underlings did.

Although Umbridge is never specifically mentioned as being a Death Eater, loves to leave people in perpetual misery. In particular, she bans Harry Potter (and the Weasley twins) from Quiddich and locks their brooms up. She also has a magic pen that, when used, prints the words in blood on the paper and etches the words on the writer's hand. These scars remain on Harry at least to the end of the 7th book. Just to keep people on edge between these major attacks, she produces an endless array of Ministry approved prohibitions and takes it upon herself to micromanage every teacher in Hogwarts. She threatened firing just about every staff member at Hogwarts at one time or another, except for Filtch (who loves her changes).

What Voldermort and Umbridge do have in common is a desire to impress their idea of a perfect society on others. The fact that their ideals are based on the genetic makeup of people, and therefore impossible to change, does not phase them at all. The obvious solution is to banish or kill those who don't measure up.

But this evil is not why I gave this book a low rating. The heroes, Harry in particular, never fully grasp what what is happening and are completely unable to stop it. Figuratively speaking, they are little more than test dummies and take whatever is given to them.

There were only two times that Harry and Co took a stand and the both backfired disasterously (three if you count the Weasley twins revenge, but that was short lived and had no lasting affect). The first was when Harry formed Dumbledore's Army, which resulted in Dumbledore being fired. The second was when Harry rushed to save Sirious Black from Voldermort. I won't say how that one ended for the sake of those that haven't read it yet, but suffice to say it caused the only regret Harry had in any of the seven books.

There is a difference between suffering and sacrafice, and this book was all suffering. No good came out of what Harry went through, either in this book or the sequels. However, in order to get the full effect of her last two Harry Potter books (which I think are the best in the series), reading this book is a must.

John Holland-author of The Necklace of Terrersylvanous

Jim Dale does a fantastic job narrating these books. Each character has a particular voice and it never gets confusing as to who is saying what at any given point. He also does an excellent job of matching the overall tone of each book, lightest in the first and becoming more serious as the series progresses. The Order of the Phoenix is fifth in the series and has a darker tone than the previous books but nothing out of keeping with the age of it's protagonist and intended audience (approximately 15 yrs.). The themes of abuse of power in OotP make it the most uncomfortable book in the series for me, personally, to read but there is still no better word to describe it than "fantastic". I highly recommend the entire set, both printed and audiobook versions.

I purchased this Audio book set about a month ago, having already read the books, and wanting to share the book with my daughter. I love that in each volume it is the same reader, so that you get used to the different voices he uses for each character, as well as his reading style. It's a great way to sit down as a family and share reading. Just pop in the cd's, and the kids can read along with the CD's, helping to not only enrich their lives through reading, but aiding them with pronunciations, learning new words, and guiding them into a world of imagination.
I find that the new versions you find in stores are a bit pricey. Also, I was hoping for a bit more from the CD's when first listening to them, possibly some sound effects to make it more real, and I do find that some of the reading seems akward, as in not fitting what is happening at the time of the story (i.e. someone is extremely excited, but their words are spoken as if they have not a care in the world).
Overall, I would recommend this to anyone with a love for reading, and would also recommend this to anyone just getting into reading themselves, or reading along with the family, as a great tool to jumpstart the imagination and enter a world of excitement and innumerable possibilities.

I actually bought this book on CD for my husband, who is extremely busy with school and doesn't have time to read anything other than textbooks. The movie is coming out this summer, but he wanted to read the book first, so I purchased the set of CDs for him to listen to on the way to and from school. He enjoys listening to the CDs as it gives him a small break from the monotony of studying textbooks all the time. He has mentioned that it is only one person reading on the discs and some of the voices he uses for the characters are not what my husband expected to hear, but other than that he loves listening to the book. I would recommend buying any of the Harry Potter books on CD or tape if you're interested in the series but don't have the time (or patience) to sit down and read the books.