I finally finished Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix and I admit that I enjoyed it immensely. Adolescence creeps up on Harry with all the rage and force of a emerging pubic hair, leaving only a sullen and brooding 15 yr old with an attitude that would make most parents lock his sorry ass up in his room for the next two books! That aside, the adventure informs us that Harry's idealized father was a cocky prick and we learn why the greasy, slithering...er...Slytheryn Snape has a wand up his ass. The brilliant introduction of Dolores Umbridge (imagine Ursula the sea witch with a broom) is fascinating and frustrating, I was more intimidated by the examples of Umbridge's display 'extreme' passive/aggressiveness than I was Harry's nemesis the Dark Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle aka "he who must not be named", gasp! Luna Lovegood is a nice addition to the gang, flighty, self-assuredness and a quirky opposite to Hermoine Grangers studious seriousness. Good ol' Ron Weasly becomes a Quidditch Hero while Harry, suspended from playing, watches from the sidelines unaware that he will soon be enchanted and confused by his first kiss with Cho Chang and suffer yet another great heartbreak. Being a teenager sucks dude.
Harry Potter shouldn't be used as a study case for gender and or magic & the occult. This isn't brain surgery or rocket science, it is simply a story of boy wizard trying to get a grip on his life, his nads and future. The books won't change the world, but they will entertain you to all ends, and that is magic of a good book.
