Did it really have to be THAT long?

I was wondering if anyone else found The Order of the Phoenix longer than it needed to be? Don't get me wrong, I LOVED Goblet of Fire and found it to be a real page turner, but I had to slog through most of this book to get to the end of it. I got the point early on that Uxbridge was a baddie and it didn't take endless sessions of Harry scratching his hand with "I will not lie" to get that point across. I also thought that, although the story takes place in the UK, too many basic freedoms of the students of Hogwarts were violated for they or their parents not to have Corneilus Fudge and his minions in front of Wizard's Court for violations of their civil rights or whatever they call them in the UK, or for Dumbledore to stand by and let those things happen in his school. I can suspend my disbelief so far to accomadate a story, such as magic & house elves, but not to the point where characters aren't acting like they should or without basic common sense, just to force in the plot of the story. Any one else have an opinion?

 

i think it did have to be that long because the story wouldn' t be a story then and you wouldn't get into it much i thought it was quite short personally and i hope the next one will be even longer.

 

I also think it had to be that long. The deeper you get into the story, and the more you get to know the characters, it needs to have more detail. It isn't just Harry, Ron, Hermoine any more, so there are way more characters to keep track of. And she also takes up lots of the book with them in classes which is also essential. I thought it was excellent, and I was disappointed when it ended, I wanted it to be longer.

 

I suppose so but most boarding schools notice but remember most students were in there dormatries at that time of the night and others in the common rooms so only the house ghosts and teachers are about really. and most of them wouldn't dare say anything with Umbridge about.

 

I don't know about anyone else, but for me, The longer the book, the better. I like books that take time to read. I think J.K.R. had to make it thatlong. It takes detail to fully descride life at a boarding school, not to mention all the other things going on.

 

ANyone who thought that the fifth book was too short is even crazier than I am. I think that there were some things in there that didn't need to be, but they still worked, I suppose. The only reason I read it in a few days is because I couldn't sleep one night and I read the book for I believe 6 hours straight.

 

I liked it long! there was more detail and it kept me occupied for a day!
I hope the next one is much longer.....much much much longer!!!

 

I completely agree with you, Aragorn. I finished The Order two weeks ago and I'm still trying to recover from a great disappointment that this book was to me. By the time I finished The Goblet, I almost went wild because I wanted to know everything that would come next and I bubbled with excitement when I heard the 5th book was going to be bigger. But the cold truth is: what's the use of having 700 pages if the same story could have been written using 500 or less? There are too many details that simply didn't interest me and didn't contribute to the main plot. The other books were great because the author was able to mix everyday activities at Hogwarts and a lot of mystery and adventure. And I was expecting The Order to be much more sinister, but it wasn't. There's too much repetition as well and some things are really unbelievable as you wrote about the students' rights and the evil Umbridge. I know it's a fantasy story which gives the author a lot of freedom, but some things are too farfetched like that whole thing at Umbridge's office when Harry's friends were able to escape and then Harry and Hermione getting involuntary help from the Centaurs, then the giant and then the flying horses! This part was very boring to me and I was fed up with the book already. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that something big was going to happen but then that prophecy thing: why did the members of the Order try to protect it so much if it wouldn't change the course of things anyway? I mean, Voldemort wants to kill Harry and he'll try to do it again and again, he doesn't need to know that he has to do it and he already knows that Harry has some power by now, because he escaped from death three times - it can't be just luck. All the answers I wanted were given but by the end of the book I was so tired of it that they didn't have any effect on me. I feel very sorry to write this but I believe J.K. Rowling lost her touch this time.

 

I LOVED the book! It kept me occupied and i wanted there to be more!!

 

The problem I found is that OoTP lost the fun of the other books. Since Harry was having a hell of a time almost all of the book, it seemed too serious. Yes it needs to get more so when they are getting older but I enjoyed the other books far more than this one.

All through the story I wanted to jump in the pages and strangle Umbridge though. Anyone else have that problem

 

I think that Goblet of Fire dragged more than book 5. Book 5 seemed to have a steady pace and there was always interest. With book 4 it seemed like there were lulls in between the tasks that just werent that intersesting. Just my input on the matter..

 

It felt short to me

 

The Order of the Phoenix was a good length-more book for your money-let the fans sift thru the first really stream of consciousness book JKR has written. I like it that the editors at the publishing house had more of a hands off. The book was almost painful, was actually, to read. By the way, Akasha, that sig of yours is the absolute best ever. That is all said perfectly, the way I feel, was it a quote?

 

Unless I miss my guess, that's from The Books of Magic, by Neil Gaiman.

 

Yes, it's from the books of magic indeed.

Neil Gaiman is wonderful

 

Well, personally i think this book was the best of the saga. It was absolutely amazing, heartbreaking, fun, sad, and all that together. I loved it. The only part I felt as a waste of time was that part of Grawp... It was bored, i think Hagrid needs a kick in her giant @ss.
Luna Lovegood is my new favorite character. Oh, and I forget to say that I cried like a child when my beloved padfoot died. That was the biggest mistake of JK Rowling!!! Why she killed him, WHY???? I'm still in denial. *cries again*