Synopsis
Most critics and readers agree that HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX marks a turning point in J. K. Rowling's enormously popular series in that the story takes on a more mature, darker tone. Now 15 years old, Harry faces the downside of being the world's most famous wizard-in-training and must adjust to changes in his relationships with friends and mentors. He also learns something quite disconcerting about his deceased parents and begins to realize how his personal demons make him vulnerable to the evil Lord Voldemort. Further complications arise when Harry grows disillusioned with the government of the magical realm and begins to question the power of the authorities at Hogwarts. A film version was made in 2007, releasing just days below the final book in the series.

Details
Publication Date:	2003-06-01
Narrated by:	Jim Dale
Edition Description:	Unabridged

Size
Height:	8.3 in
Width:	4.3 in
Thickness:	2.8 in
Weight:	22.4 oz

Publisher's Note
There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?

Here are just a few things on Harry's mind:

• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey.

• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf

• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team

• The looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

. . . and of course, the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling's seven-part story, Harry Potter is faced with the unreliability of the very government of the magical world and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew, boundless loyalty; and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot, listeners will race through these tapes and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.

Industry Reviews
"With this book Rowling enters the realm of the coming-of-age novel. The children are fifteen. They have begun pairing and unpairing; moods swing; they see once-idealized adults more in the round. One of the restrictions of the novels has been how focused they are on the three friends, concentrating on the partiality of their experience and their abilities to reflect on it. Rowling makes it quietly clear that Harry's intermittent alertness to the dangers of his own gifts recapitulates the arrogance of his parents' generation, which came from self-assurance built on good looks, physical prowess, intelligent courage, and confident leadership. If, as Rowling wrote earlier, it is not our abilities but our choices which make us what we are, then this book revolves around the implications of choosing and the unforeseeable consequences of even our best decisions."
Times Literary Supplement - Ruth Morse (07/04/2003)

"Rowling cheerfully turns her own conventions on their ears, and the result is a surprisingly enjoyable ride....Rowling has managed to make Harry and his fate a bit less predictable, which, in the fifth of a seven-volume series, is a very good thing."
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books - Janice M. Del Negro (09/01/2003)

"All the qualities that marred the fourth book--the loping, uneven pace of a novel that seemed churned out rather than written--have evaporated. Indeed, the faux gothic horror of the fourth has been replaced by a return to the wonderful, textured writing of the three earlier novels. The novel does not have the frankly grisly scenes that were so disturbing in GOBLET OF FIRE."
USA Today - Deirdre Donahue (06/20/2003)

"One of the many things that makes Rowling's series so wonderful is that Harry, who started the series as an 11-year-old, is aging believably as each book covers a year of his life. And as his sense of himself expands, so do the books and the Potter universe."
Atlanta Journal & Constitution - Phil Kloer (06/20/2003)

"J.K. Rowling's great gift -- her ability to conjure a rich, teeming, utterly believable alternative world -- hasn't failed her....she has also let Harry blossom into a genuinely complex and persuasive character."
Washington Post - Elizabeth Ward (06/24/2003)

"Rowling favors psychological development over plot development here, skillfully exploring the effects of Harry's fall from popularity and the often isolating feelings of adolescence."
Publishers Weekly (06/30/2003)

"Is HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX as good as the other Harry Potter books? No. This one is actually quite a bit better. The tone is darker, and this has the unexpected -- but very pleasing -- effect of making Rowling's wit and playful black humor shine all the brighter."
Entertainment Weekly - Stephen King (07/11/2003)

"J. K. Rowling is the real magician....HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX is rich and satisfying in almost every respect. It also delivers a genuine apocalyptic shiver, as dated as Daniel in the Old Testament and Revelation in the New or the Dead Sea Scrolls and the poems of Blake."
New York Times Book Review - John Leonard (07/13/2003)