This could be difficult, but I'm going to tell you everything that's great about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, without revealing a single thing that takes place.

First off, it's brilliant. Every word on every page rings true to the story, to the characters and to what you know in your gut has to happen, even when it's not what you want to happen.

Harry and the Scoobies
Rowling's ability to plan a story arch is incredible. She makes Joss Whedon look like a bumbling intern when it comes to crafting a plot over several installments and making all the pieces fit together beautifully. (Disagree? Tell me that you didn't watch the Buffy finale saying, "What's up with the necklace saving their asses, when it wasn't even part of the plan? And why didn't Willow make them all slayers before sending them into the Hellmouth with the über vamps? And what about the whole 'She won't choose you' warning to Dawn from Joyce?" So. Many. Holes.)

I remember being impressed in books three and four (which you should really re-read to get the most out of book five) that tiny details embedded in the first two books turned out to be significant parts of the story line. Other writers wouldn't show as much confidence in their readers, particularly young readers, to remember the small bits of information necessary to put everything together, but as far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most satisfying parts of her stories.

Now that I know how it works, I find myself clinging to details of what someone wears or says or buys, thinking that sooner or later one of them will be significant, and yet I was still blindsided when Rowling weaves an off-handed comment from two books ago into a pivotal moment of realization for the characters.

Tuck In and Have a Go
One change I noticed in Order of the Phoenix, which also shows some confidence in readers, is that much of the British slang and terminology has been left alone, when it could have easily been rewritten to make things easier for us Yanks. It makes the characters feel more real though, as British teens are certainly more likely to yell, "Oy! Blimey!" or "She's bang out of order," than, "Aw man, that really sucks." Cheers for that, Jo.

In the past, Rowling has used events in the wizarding world to parallel horrors in our own world, making them all the more frightening because they aren't imaginary. You don't have to use magic to see the comparison between the use of house elves to slavery, or the desire of the Death Eaters to weed out Mudbloods (those who aren't full-blood wizards and witches) to Nazi ideals of ethnic cleansing.

This time around, she seems to be taking shots at government. The ministry is led by a nervous man who sets rules and regulations that are just as ridiculous as, I dunno, the Patriot Act perhaps? He refuses to listen to reason and goes blindly forward, doing exactly what common sense should tell him not to do. (He'll never rid the world of evil-doers this way, tisk tisk.) Is Rowling talking about Tony Blair, or our own W., or just government in general? It's unclear, but with every act of incompetence she creates, I imagine she gets a small, well-deserved smirk of pleasure.

Growing Up, Moving On, Getting Snogged
As Harry and his friends are in their mid-teens now, Rowling makes a point of letting us know that they've grown up, emotionally and physically. There are the usual bouts of rebellion, depression and mood swings, hormonal issues, (and I think I have a hopeless crush on Ron, now that Oliver Wood is gone), but there are also changes in the social structure around Harry and his friends and acquaintances.

In their first year, all it took to be friends was a common love of Quiddich and the sharing of some chocolate frogs. But things become more complicated as you grow up. People discover their own beliefs, they take up new interests and activities, and friendship becomes more complicated. These kinds of cliques and divisions of friendship could form in any kind of school, anywhere.

It's like when you've been friends with someone since junior high and then your junior year of high school she decides to be a cheerleader and the squad only lets her on because she can do the splits in mid-air and they don't really want to be friends with her, but she's not really friends with you anymore either because she has all these other new responsibilities now so instead of sitting with the band at football games she's down on the field with her little rah rah buddies and you wonder how you were ever such good friends in the first place. But, uh, there aren't any cheerleaders at Hogwarts. You get what I mean.

And when it comes to showing growth in her characters, all of her characters, Rowling proves why she needed 870 pages. A lesser author would leave us with several undeveloped, one-dimensional side characters, but Rowling won't hear of it. Neville Longbottom is a prime example. He could easily be nothing more than the class klutz, easy to laugh at and dismiss, but we learned in book four that like Harry, Neville's parents were attacked by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. They weren't killed, but were instead tortured until they went mad and were put in an institution, forcing Neville to live with his grandmother. Harry feels a kinship with Neville once he learns this, so when Neville's spells and potions go horribly wrong, you want to laugh, but your heart breaks for him as well. Yet Rowling won't let Neville be a charity case either, as his courage comes out in spades when necessary.

The lesson of the book, just like the lesson you learn growing up, is that you don't always get a happy ending. Sometimes friendships and relationships just don't work, and sometimes even the adults who are supposed to know best about things, use bad judgment themselves. Then again, you should never count anyone out, because people can surprise you. Nobody in Rowling's world is infallible, but very few are pure evil. Stupid maybe, but not evil.

The only downside to book five? The long wait we now have for book six.

This article is part of Newmoanyeah's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Week.