Those Brits Don't Mince Words

From a Telegraph review of the new Harry Potter movie:

"The fifth volume of the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was by common consent the worst book to emerge from the pen of J K Rowling.

There were too many sub-plots, it was relentlessly miserable and the first character who really mattered both to the reader and to the hero was killed off."

The Potter books tend to all blur together in my mind. I do believe, though, that The Order of the Phoenix also included long episodes of magical housecleaning at the beginning of the book, which were pointless, though I rather liked them. And there was a page that introduced at least three new characters who weren't used very much, which an editor probably would have done something about if s/he'd been working with anyone other than J.K. Rowling. And then there was a final, very powerful image, of Dumbledore carrying a character out of the woods. Except that the book isn't called Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, you may recall.

I agree that the only character who mattered to me in the whole series was killed off in The Order of the Phoenix, pretty much just to make me miserable. I mean, I don't even care about Harry. You won't see me shedding any tears if Rowling sends him to wizard heaven.

I'll be p.o.ed if she offs Ron or one of his siblings, but only because of what it will do to his parents. Though, here is my prediction--that brother of his who is a priggish bureaucrat and some kind of baddish guy (though I can't recall exactly how) will buy the farm redeeming himself. I've been saying that for years, so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

Anyway, I wasn't planning to go to the new movie, and recalling the book hasn't done anything to change my mind.