As I said Monday, details are part of what makes fantasy work. The details of setting in urban fantasy. The details of how magic works. The quirky social customs and interactions of a magical society.
J.K. Rowling is really good with details. I think it’s one of her strongest assets. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (cover by Mary Grandpré, all rights with current holder), for example, we have an account of the Order and Harry cleaning out Sirius Back’s old house: “Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox …. They found an unpleasant-looking silver instrument, something like a many-legged pair of tweezers … There was a musical box that emitted a faintly sinister sinister sound when wound … a grandfather clock that had developed the murderous habit of shooting heavy bolts at passersby.” These aren’t just details, they’re great details, vivid details. The story doesn’t need them to work, but they make it a much stronger tale.
There are other details throughout the story, from the descriptions of the Ministry of Magic to Hedwig’s cage starting to smell because it hasn’t been cleaned out. Even though Rowling’s prose style isn’t spellbinding, catching the details makes me slow down and read carefully.
Despite being another door-stop book, this has much fewer slow stretches than Goblet of Fire. We have the Dursleys being even nastier than usual, Dementors showing up, the Ministry of Magic taking over Hogwarts, Voldemort invading Harry’s mind and the final all-out battle between “Dumbledore’s Army” and the Death-Eaters. We have a more sympathetic look at Snape’s backstory, a much less sympathetic take on Harry’s dad, and an explanation why Dumbledore had to leave Harry with the abusive Dursleys (I wonder if I’m not the only reader bothered by that), which relieves a little of Harry’s growing teen frustration. Lorna Lovegood debuts, and we get a lot more background on Neville; another thing I like about Rowling is that she gives a lot of characters their own story arc.
One thing that does annoy me is the state of journalism in the wizarding world (something that admittedly is of more interest to me than the average reader). The Daily Prophet seems to be the equivalent of the USSR’s Pravda, printing whatever news the government tells it to print. The only alternative for journalism is the Lovegood family paper, which appears to be modeled on the National Enquirer tabloid (I do however like the idea that even in a world of magic, there’s still ridiculously absurd bullshit). Even though it plays a large role in the story here, the rest of the book is good enough I’m willing to overlook it.
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