Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
 | Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) Date: 2005-07-21 16:53:06 — $16.99 — Book Rating: |
This is going to be more of a commentary than a review. So I don't give anything away to the innocent muggles who havent' read the book yet, I'm going to change the color of the text to match the background. To read, simply highlight the text:
This might be my very favorite book in the series. I haven't re-read it yet, but it might be better than Goblet of Fire. I loved the pacing (of course), and the character development. I couldn't put it down.
The whole time, I thought the Half-Blood Prince would be Voldemort. I was so convinced that I ignored the obvious possibility that it would be Snape. Having the Prince be Snape, I thought, was kind of a waste, but I can live with it. However, certain aspects of the book were surprising, but not in a good way.
We all knew Dumbledore had to die. But did Snape have to be the one to do it? Again, it seemed like such a waste to have him 'pull the trigger'. It was good to see Malfoy made into a sympathetic character, though. It also seems absurd that a wizard as wise as Dumbledore would trust Snape so unconditionally given what transpired. My prediction? It will turn out that Dumbledore set things up to have Snape kill him, because the poisoned potion would have killed him anyway. So later, Snape will prove instrumental in killing Voldemort, and Harry will have to reconcile everything that has happened.
As for the love stories, I thought they added a necessary element of lighter, funnier subtext to what was going on. Unfortunately, writing about relationships and hooking up clearly is not Rowling's strong suit. The writing of these elements was very cheesy; I especially loathed the 'monster within' analogy for Harry's feelings towards Ginny (I figured he would end up with either her or Luna). I'm glad to see that the sexual tension between Ron and Hermione finally boiled over -- and that Ron managed to get some poont from Lavender first (god, I'm a horrible person, aren't I?). Regardless, it was predictable but necessary.
RAB is definitely going to end up being Regulus Black, the wizard who was allegedly killed by Death Eaters. He is going to end up being a force for good when all is said and done. As for Harry's parting with Ginny, it ws SOOOOO Spider-Man! Ginny plays Mary Jane's role very well, does she not?
Overall, this was the darkest of the stories so far, and something tells me it's only going to go farther in that direction for the final story. The beauty of this story is that we have no idea whether there wil even be a Hogwarts school session next term -- and if there is, we have no idea whether or not Harry, Ron and Hermione will even take part in it. Using this book as an amazing setup, Rowling has set the stage for a wide-open conclusion.
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