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Dark times have come to Hogwarts. After the Dementors’ attack on his cousin Dudley, Harry Potter knows that Voldemort will stop at nothing to find him. There are many who deny the Dark Lord’s return, but Harry is not alone: a secret order gathers at Grimmauld Place to fight against the Dark forces. Harry must allow Professor Snape to teach him how to protect himself from Voldemort’s savage assaults on his mind. But they are growing stronger by the day and Harry is running out of time…

I have such mixed feelings about this book right now. Well, something must be right because it only took me a week to read! I tried to force myself to read 100 pages a day so I could get through it quick, but I can’t believe it actually worked. That has to say something about how the book did make me want to read more.

We have to face facts here. And of course, this book is mega long. 800 pages long. And in so, so many ways, it really felt like it. Another fact we have to face is this – not much happens. At all. In parts, I would go as far to say I got pretty comfortable, with how slow it was. For so much of this book, I was setteled far into my seat rather than perched on the edge of it.

“The mind is not a book, to be opened at will and examined at leisure.”

I also have to admit something. Harry kind of got on my nerves. He just becomes a little…ungrateful, especially of his friends. I know he has his reasons and his difficulties, but some of the outbursts he had at Hermione and Ron were so unnessecary.

But I have to say, I did still really enjoy this book for many reasons. Yes, it was a lot slower in pace than the first four, but it’s just different. I also felt that it was a lot easier to get into than the fourth, just because it was more of a flow from the fourth to the fifth book than from the third to the fourth.

And I can’t ignore that Rowling did do something pretty clever, whether she meant to or not. She left us wondering, dropping hints, clues and situations throughout the book, and led up to this massive thing at the end. She used 600 pages to make 200 pages of awesomeness.

“Thoughts are not etched on the inside of skulls, to be perused by an invader. The mind is a complex and many-layered thing.”

I’m so torn about this book, because it’s definitely the first HP book I’ve had real issues with. But it’s also one I’ve found easy to read and I can’t deny, enjoyable. There were just so many layers within this massive story that impressed me. And I loved that. So although I really felt, before I started writing this review, that this book would be a four-star…I just have to give it a 5. Because no matter what niggles, this book is pulled back by an amazing ending that really won me over.

★★★★★

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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