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Posted by: otter_patronus Mar 13 2008, 11:16 AM

I decided a while ago that Order of the Phoenix was my favorite Harry Potter book. Not only is it the longest and chock full of the Golden Trio that we all love, but I think it introduces many new elements into the series, including romance and the imminent threat of the reborn Lord Voldy.

I just wanted to know what y'all thought of OOtp as a whole, and to give us all a chance to take a look at it in the scheme of the whole series, just as a change for our usual digging for details.

Posted by: KerriB Mar 13 2008, 11:19 AM

Oh yes OOTP is definitely my favorite followed very closely by DH. I love all of the Weasley is our King parts!

Posted by: harrypottergeek2 Mar 13 2008, 11:56 AM

Definitely not: I enjoyed HBP, DH, and GoF far more than OotP; I might even put PoA ahead of it. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but it wasn't as good as the ones I just mentioned.

Posted by: GubraithianGryffindor Mar 13 2008, 12:30 PM

OotP was my favorite book for awhile, it has many of my favorite parts of the whole series (the DA, Harry's intervies with the Quibbler, Weasly is our King, Fred and George's grand exit, Ginnys "Well, that was a bit stupid of you," said Ginny angrily, "seeing as you don't know anyone but me who's been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels." line which made her my favorite character etc.), but now DH is by far my favorite. It is an absolutely amazing roller coaster ride.

Posted by: bibs the S.P.E.W supporter Mar 13 2008, 12:34 PM

though it is not my favourite i think it most of my favourite parts (comedy wise) are from ootp. i think it was one of the funniest

Posted by: JaneMarple9 Mar 13 2008, 02:00 PM

Order of the Phoenix is usually rated third of forth favourite, although my favourites always swap around. However, I really love to hate Umbridge, there is some fantastic comedy. Who could forget the ever so touching "Christmas on the Closed Ward" chapter and the dramatic ending?

Posted by: Sethtaylorsummer Mar 13 2008, 02:13 PM

For ages it was my least favourite book. Sirius was so depressing and angry Harry just got to me. But after discussing it in detail last book club I was awakened to its good parts and I came to understand both Sirius and Harry's emotions. So now it would be number 4 equal lol. But having said that I have to admit all the books are so closely aligned that apart from DH which is my favourite it's hard to separate them into which I like more.

Posted by: krystledm Mar 13 2008, 02:32 PM

OOTP was and is still my favorite. It was also my first as i was given it for graduation by my gramps. Took me a good while to finally open it up as i was raised by one of those crazy christains...

Anyway, i read it in 4 days then i got 4 and for christmas that year I got 1,2,3.

Posted by: Vazpucci Mar 13 2008, 07:48 PM

Hmmm... I wouldn't say It was my favorite. I like it a lot, and it did have a lot of humor. My favorites were COS, GOF, and DH. But... in all OOTP did have a lot of humor and a lot of emotion. I felt very mad and sad when reading that book. I'd have to say... it be my fourth favorite book.

Posted by: kendra.dumbledore Mar 13 2008, 09:29 PM

OOTP was my absolute favorite book until DH came out and now that is my favorite! But OOTP is a really close second!!!!!

Posted by: tonksgirl Mar 13 2008, 09:54 PM

OOTP has always been my top favorite, i dont mind all the "feelings" in it (sirius's crabby mood, harry's anger, the romantic tension thats starting to pick up...) i really enjoy it and think its the book that really introduces us into the whole LV/Harry battle stuff and its very well written, with twists and turns and great humor. the characters introduced are also awesome to read.... but its followed pretty closely by HBP and DH... then GOF and POA tie, then comes COS and then SS. so thats me.
and i think OOTP rocks.

Posted by: unicorn_lover Mar 14 2008, 12:13 AM

I love OotP! Its my favorite HP book!!! It used to be PoA, but I found it was a bit short compared to the next books. OotP became my favorite because of Luna Lovegood, the funniest scenes ever and the long, well-written plot. It surely made me understand and learn more about the HP stories. Things were also explained and some secrets were told. Its complete for me, with romance, a good plot and comedy in it.

I LOVE HP ;)

Posted by: dumblond-peppa Mar 14 2008, 02:19 AM

QUOTE(harrypottergeek2 @ Mar 13 2008, 11:56 AM)

Posted by: ibelieveinmagic Mar 14 2008, 09:31 AM

Hi there, new here - wanted to give my opinion on the matter as well...
I like OOTP, it showed us so much more in depth into each of the characters all the while they kept the sense of who we always knew/thought they were. Not to mention spending more time with new characters in other houses though not in bad light as usually the rivalry and annoyance of the students from any house but the trio's own was keeping us from getting to know them more(not complaining at all ). I enjoyed that aspect of it immensely - though I have to say that I am so excited about the Half Blood Prince being filmed right now that I just read it again and feel more toward that one - all in all I have to say my most enjoyment has been from the epilouge though.
Hope that made some sense to some of you... I usually don't say anything so we'll see how this goes

Posted by: otter_patronus Mar 14 2008, 10:11 AM

QUOTE(dumblond-peppa @ Mar 14 2008, 03:19 AM)

QUOTE(unicorn_lover @ Mar 2008, 01:13 AM)

Posted by: lirene Mar 14 2008, 02:47 PM

On the whole, I really did like OOTP, but it wasn't my favorite. However, the complexities of the characters truly stood out.

Posted by: Deathly Hallower Mar 15 2008, 01:38 AM

I don't think that OotP is my favorite, but it's definitely up there, maybe 2nd or 3rd? I liked the overall "dark" tone of the book. It made everything seem so much more serious. The corruption is just beginning and I like seeing that. The trio's problems weren't so small anymore, they had big things to deal with.

Posted by: winterborn Mar 15 2008, 04:45 AM

Ootp is actually my least favourite book, I think. Either that or it's GoF.
When I red it the first time and got to the whole Department of Mysteries-part, I thought "oh well, there's been happening so much this far into the book, I'll bet the ending will be extravagant!" But it never happened.

Posted by: aromal Mar 15 2008, 05:49 AM

definatily no no no..for me oop was the longest and most boaring book..the worst part was sirius dying and harry crying..n confusing too..i vote for gof and dh as my favs..

Posted by: monkee_appelz Mar 15 2008, 06:30 AM

QUOTE(otter_patronus @ Mar 15 2008, 01:11 AM)

Posted by: rowena r Mar 15 2008, 09:26 AM

QUOTE(ibelieveinmagic @ Mar 14 2008, 09:31 AM)

Hi there, new here - wanted to give my opinion on the matter as well...
I like OOTP, it showed us so much more in depth into each of the characters all the while they kept the sense of who we always knew/thought they were. Not to mention spending more time with new characters in other houses though not in bad light as usually the rivalry and annoyance of the students from any house but the trio's own was keeping us from getting to know them more(not complaining at all ). I enjoyed that aspect of it immensely - though I have to say that I am so excited about the Half Blood Prince being filmed right now that I just read it again and feel more toward that one - all in all I have to say my most enjoyment has been from the epilouge though.
Hope that made some sense to some of you... I usually don't say anything so we'll see how this goes

to Leaky ibelieveinmagic !

Your post definitely made sense. And I agree with you that OOTP showed us the characters in depth. I would say especially Harry. Even though the books are written from his viewpoint, we get to see Harry's thinking processes a lot more from the graveyard scene in GoF and it continued onto OOTP.

The way he coped with all the pressure and tension is beyond praise. OOTP made me love Harry more than before if anything. I put myself in his place and came to the conclusion that if all that had happened to me when I was 15, I'd have gone mad. It also brought me a lot closer to Dumbledore - another character I love to pieces. It gave us a sullen Sirius and a smilimg Remus and a bubbly Tonks and a wacky Luna. OOTP was also the first book I'd ever read that made me cry and that's something, for I'm regarded as a cold-blooded fish by my friends.

Posted by: Laura W Mar 15 2008, 09:47 AM

I'm not sure exactly how this fits into the conversation but, if it doesn't, just ignore it (smile) ...

One day in the late winter or early spring of 2006, in a coffee shop, a polite and intelligent woman in her late teens or early twenties was sitting beside a much older woman who happened to be me. This older woman (me) was (re)reading a Harry Potter book, which took the younger woman by surprise. She asked me if I was enjoying the book, which I think was HBP. She then made the comment that she herself enjoyed the first four books in the series, but not the fifth. She hadn't even attempted the sixth to that point, and had no great desire to.

Greatly interested in why she felt as she did, I asked what her problem with OoP was. After a few failed attempts to explain, she finally clarified her thoughts and came up with this: "I had really liked Harry in the first four books, but I did not like him in the fifth book. He was no longer Harry. He had changed too much and become a not-very-nice person; kind of mean even. I just didn't care for him any more, the way he acted, and found it hard to sympathize with him. He was one person in the first four books and another person in the fifth book." (I'm paraphrasing here, but you get the drift I'm sure.)


Laura

Posted by: rowena r Mar 17 2008, 09:15 AM

I know some people feel that way about Harry in OOTP Laura, and it amazes me. Not to sound uppity or condescending, but I have to say that such people don't feel the books. Many of my acquaintances - not friends mind you - talk about HP or read it as though it were yesterday's newspaper, and I simply can't understand how they do that.

Harry in OOTP was a troubled teenager who was battling not one, but many demons on many levels. In fact, I think he was very calm and level-headed most of the time considering everything that had happened and was happening to him. People just see the anger, they don't see what is behind it. People just see him scream at Ron, Hermione and Dumbledore, people can't or don't understand why he screams at them, and it mystifies me.

Anyway this is drifting into Capslock Harry now. There is a whole thread devoted to that.

One other thing about OOTP, I've known people who didn't want to read it because it was too big ! I actually thought they were joking when I heard that. The bigger, the better was my thought on the issue. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't judge normal people by nut standards. They'll always fall short of the ideal of the true fanatic on all counts.

Posted by: rushingwater Mar 17 2008, 08:56 PM

My favorite hp book is deffinantly the seventh one, because i absolutely love



a) snapes name is cleared
b) dumbledores past is reveiled
c) ron comes back, thus proving his loyalty to harry and hermione
d) TEDDY
e) Harry marrys Ginny
f) ron marrys hermione
g) nevil works at hogwarts

But i wonder... what happened to the dursleys?

Posted by: Arcalus Mar 17 2008, 09:13 PM

Order of the Phoenix,
1. The Order is re-formed
2. Harry Fights Voldemort
3. You meet Grawp
4. Fred and George form WWW
5. Umbridge gets Sacked
6. The DA is formed.
7.....the list goes on and on

Posted by: Oxymoronic Mar 17 2008, 09:17 PM

My favorite book in the series is still Half-Blood Prince for the simple fact that it was the one book that I could NOT put down, and the one book in the entire series (yes, even the last one) that demanded an emotional reaction from me at almost every turn.

I was completely enthralled with delving into Voldemort's past with Dumbledore and Harry, completely enchanted with all the light-hearted comedy and romantic elements, and completely devestated at the ending.

I can't remember ever laughing, crying, sighing, screeching and laughing some more with any other book in the series.

OoTP was so dark, and although Rowling's wonderful wit and sense of humor is woven throughout each of the books in the series, I just loved the fact that, between OoTP - and what I realized would be the dark and moving final book - we got sort of a respite of sorts and the mood throughout HBP was rather lighter. Despite the fact that the book also included sad elements.

And again, like I stated earlier, I found the bits and pieces of Riddle's past as it was put together quite, quite fascinating.

I LOVE that book!

Posted by: otter_patronus Mar 18 2008, 10:27 AM

QUOTE(rowena r @ Mar 17 2008, 10:15 AM)

One other thing about OOTP, I've known people who didn't want to read it because it was too big ! I actually thought they were joking when I heard that. The bigger, the better was my thought on the issue. Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that I shouldn't judge normal people by nut standards. They'll always fall short of the ideal of the true fanatic on all counts.

Posted by: Fayik Mar 19 2008, 02:01 PM

My favorite book in the series remains Goblet of Fire. Like the above poster, I went through many emotions through this book. IT was just like a rollercoaster, except 10x LESS scarier Anyway, so many parts of this book got the creeps out of me.

First of all, going with Harry through the different events in the Triwizard challenges..... I was freaked out. With the dragon, him going naked into the bathtub with that scary freaky ghost around him. I felt so embarssed for him. And of course, the ending. I remember it was like 1 AM and I was reading the whole ending, I couldn't even sleep. I was scared as he!! and I was just.... wow... creeped out. I also just found the whole book so interesting, there wasn't at ANY point where I was bored. What a marvelous, brilliantly written book. GO GOBLET OF FIRE!

Posted by: vandy Mar 20 2008, 09:20 AM

My favourite book is Deathly Hallows.........For one reason, all the unanswered questions were answered.......And may be because that's the only book which full of surprises......I mean, for all the other books I knew the plotline........Also, Harry names his child after SNAPE!!!!

Posted by: tryston009 Mar 20 2008, 11:13 PM

Even though OOTP is dark in it's content, I still think it's my favorite. I love how the Order is introduced (Tonks is my fav!) and the whole conflict between Umbridge and the students unfolds. Dumbledore's Army totally rocked and I could see myself training with them in the Room of Requirements.

As for Harry, yes his demeanor has changed a lot, but some of it is due to facing Voldemort in GoF and seeing Cedric die right in front of him. A lot of it is his feeling of being left out and possibly forgotten. He had no news from anyone over the summer between GoF and OOtP. He grew angry at Dumbledore (and a lot of other people) because he felt that they were avoiding giving him answers. He wants to live with Sirius, but can't do that either....a whole lot of things. I just love how JKR writes this book. And that's my opinion.

Posted by: syimishah Mar 24 2008, 10:45 PM

Actually, ootp is my least favourite book. i know it contains a lot of fun stuff but it wasn't fun reading it. But i like everything that happened in ootp; Umbridge, the order, snape's worst memory, harry being possessed, the battle at the ministry..they were all fun, but it was actually a bit tiring..my favourite is Goblet of Fire.

Posted by: Metamorphmagus_Werewolf Mar 25 2008, 12:10 AM

OOTP is my fave, it just has so much cool stuff in it.

But I don't really like Harry in it, just cause he's so angry all the time.

Posted by: abstracted Mar 25 2008, 01:40 AM

OotP was my absolute favorite!

I know a lot of people didn't like it because of how angry Harry was. But honestly, I expected something like that. I mean, every single year someone was trying to kill him--and this is BEFORE Voldy came back. Then, in his fourth year, some lunatic decides to make him run obstacles not just one time at the end of the year, but THREE times within the year while being watched by all of Hogwarts. And then, at the end, when he thought he would finally be done, he was rewarded by the worst thing possible--the resurrection of Voldemort and the death of a student.
...I'd go mad if I were him! No wonder he was angry all throughout OotP! Add in the antics of the dictator Umbridge, and Harry was ready to explode at any minute. Can you really blame him?

...er, anyway. I loved OotP just because SO many of our most favorite characters shone. Ron had his moments, Harry of course had his moments, Hermione rocked, Sirius rocked, even Rita was hilarious. Then, we FINALLY get to meet the rest of the school through Dumbledore's Army. Honestly, OotP was like our best spoiler for the Battle at Hogwarts. We got a hint of what the wizarding world is like.

Oh, and we got a glimpse of the Marauder era, AND we got to meet a bunch of people from the first Voldy War. The book had EVERYTHING you could imagine!

Posted by: Puzzlepiece Mar 25 2008, 04:57 PM

I hated OOTP as I was growing up/when it first came out. It wasn't until a few years ago, probably the year of HBP that I came around to it, and its now my FAVOURITE. I find that each time I read it, I like it more and more and more. Her humour in OOTP is at its sharpest, and ALL CAPS Harry doesn't bother me. It contains a little bit of everything and I can't imagine ever going back to disliking it.

Posted by: chloe from Pomerania Mar 25 2008, 08:45 PM

i am so glad other people name OOP as their favorite. it is still mine

Posted by: likemike Mar 27 2008, 08:31 PM

Its close but OOTP is my favorite, just above GOF

Posted by: ickle_snuffles23 Mar 27 2008, 09:48 PM

it's close but between it and DH, I think OotP wins for me. it's a wonderful story in itself. the characters begin to step into maturity, Voldemort becomes a threat, the MoM is corrupt, Luna comes in, and Umbride makes a crazy rule about there being 8 inches between students of opposite genders. but I won't go on and on.
I won't...
I won't...
I won't... *makes a face trying to not go on about how she loves OotP too much*

Posted by: Shalanarah Mar 28 2008, 10:04 AM

OOTP is my most favorite book. I'm surprise that a lot of people don't like it, like my best friend, she hates it. But for me, I LOVE IT! My number 1 book of all the series.
I love reading everything in it even though Umbridge part is very very frustrating and Sirius part is very very very very very very very sad...*sob* *sob*
My top reasons are:
- I love that Harry becomes a teenager with his mood swing at that time. It makes him real and hot...
- I love that there are a lot of Sirius in it. I know more about him and his personality, which i find myself more in love with him than i already am. Plus, we got to see him sing!
- I love the romance in there. They're teenagers. Come on!
- The humor in there is incredibly funny! It's such a dark book, yet such a funny book too.
- I love that the book is so thick that my hands get tire holding it. It is rich in details and i love that. I wish every HP book is as thick as OOTP!
and many many more! I love everything about it. OOTP is my all time fav!

Posted by: rowena r Mar 28 2008, 10:41 AM

QUOTE(Shalanarah @ Mar 28 2008, 10:04 AM)

I completely agree with you there Shalanarah ! some people have found it too long. I simply can't understand how anyone can find any HP book long ?!?! They seem too short to me. Though PoA is my total favourite, OOTP and DH are a close second. I came to love Sirius and Remus even more in OoTP, and that's why I love it more.
The part where Harry sits looking over the lake thinking of Sirius makes me cry buckets everytime.