Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
SPOILER ALERT - DO NOT CLICK CUTS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ HP&tHBP
All about Severus Snape. Skim down if you have the incredible bad taste not to like him an inexplicable lack of interest in him. So, he killed Dumbledore, and it came as a wonderfully brilliant surprise. If you got spoiled for that, hunt them down and kill them. I spent the whole book thinking they'd meant Harry (I know, thick). This really is Snape's book. Oh and the title should make the HP/SS shippers happy since it's essentially Harry Potter and Severus Snape, er, but yeah, moving on...
Okay, the way I saw it is there are three possibilities here:
1) Death Eater all along.
2) Had become a spy for Dumbledore, but having done the Unbreakable curse decided pragmatically that it was far better for Dumbledore to die than for both himself and Draco to die.
3) He's undercover, and when Dumbledore was pleading with him it was because they'd cooked up this plan and Snape couldn't quite bring himself to do it, so Dumbledore was telling him to get a backbone and just do it.
With 1, I can't get too excited about this. It fits, and is probably the most likely. If this is the case he's unlikely to change sides again, and he'll die in the next book, and I will mourn.
Of the three, I tend towards 2. After all he's a Slytherin, and while he's brave, he's also very pragmatic. This does seem the most interesting because what does he do now? Can he go back to Voldemort, and convince him that if he didn't do it, Draco would have, so V shouldn't kill Draco? Most likely, now he has to hide from both sides, with a sulky Draco in tow. Dude, he's so not going to enjoy book seven. Although I've got a nasty feeling that if this is the case, then his ultimate fate in book seven will be to redeem himself by sacrificing his life for the Trio. Of course it still leaves the question open as to whether he was genuinely trying to help Draco kill Dumbledore, or to dissuade him. And Draco and Snape are so linked now. Snape's not going to let him die, having saved him by killing Dumbledore himself. And Draco's all grown up and morally ambiguous himself, which obviously means I now like him. Crying in the boys' lavs. Aw. ;)
As for the third possibility, I guess here we're heading for wishful thinking territory. It would be fascinating, and I'd kill for it to be the correct solution, but I just kinda doubt JKR will go there. The evidence doesn't really point there - though we know that Snape can act - we have it pointed out to us in the second chapter by Bellatrix, so he could be faking the loathing. Although there was something, but I can't put my finger on it. Reread required. Reread of earlier books too is necessary though, in any case, for me to try and argue this one, and actually I need to reread anyway. Oh the hardship... ETA: Oh, the way Snape was still fairly clearly teaching Harry, while cursing him, was probably what I was thinking of.
Oh, and nobody was surprised that it was Snape who overheard the prophecy that led V to James and Lily, were they? Also he's a good DADA teacher, and Lily was good at Potions, which nobody had ever told Harry before. I wonder why. Is there some sort of association between Snape and Lily that nobody wants Harry to know about?
And now for the non-Snape bit:
Firstly I was so reading this with my mouth open. Very, very gripping. Obviously, I love Snape. And Harry too, besides the Ginny-fancying, that is; I mean, *cough* 'the beast inside him'. Ha - are we sure Ginny didn't slip him a love potion? But 'You don't have to call me sir'. Hee. And I love that Harry was taking special classes from Snape all year, without realising. And Snape's a damn good Potions teacher without all your little prejudices, Harry, huh? He was also reading Snape in bed. *snicker* Oh, right this is the bit that's meant not to be about Snape... Okay, also loved the Ron/Lavender (Hee, 'Won-won'), and didn't hate the Ron/Hermione. It worked, anyway. In the writing sense I mean; obviously the relationship won't. They fight waay too much. And Luna - I want more Luna, dammit. Ooh, and Tom Riddle, as a little boy - Dumbledore's pretty thick, but, not to have realised he'd take more than just a bit of watching. Creepy, creepy mind-controlling kid. And I like that the last scions of the house of Slytherin were living in squalor. His mother though wasn't very strong magically and his Dad a muggle, so where did all his powers come from. Come to think of it the same holds for Harry: he shouldn't be nearly as bright as he is (given in his case lack of early nurture rather than genetics). Perhaps adversity in early childhood increases the expression of magical powers?
The horcruxes are a good setup for the next book. And RAB? I've seen a couple of early reviews browsing LJ, and the consensus seems to be that it' s Regulus Black, which I didn't think of, but seems to fit, and promises to be very interesting in the next book. The zombies presumably will have a bigger part in the next book, since they seemed to be hyped quite a lot considering their anti-climatic appearance.
Oh, and Draco mending the Vanishing cabinet the twins stuck Montague in, because Montague learned about its link wiih the Knockturn Alley cabinet and thus helped Draco in his assassination plans. So, there's already one thing the twins have done that's helped the other side. I wonder if there'll be more. I really don't like the twins (though u-no-poo made me laugh, as did the girls and Harry calling Fleur phlegm - Hey, I'm 12). They're dangerous, oh and Malfoy also used one of their products in the fight too - the darkness one. The love potions are pretty creepy too, actually. And the gnome on top of the Christmas tree gave me the heeby-jeebies. I hope they get their come-uppance in the final book. Also on Weaselys. Poor bloody Percy. It must have been a horrible family to grow up in.
Only thing I didn't like in the book was all the attention given to romance. It got a bit boring. And I'll admit Remus/Tonks put me in rather a sulk. Not just because of Remus, but because it was such a disservice to Tonks's character. She's an Auror, yet she spent the whole book ill because of unrequited love, wtf JKR? Anyway the whole 'one golden day' (puke) because of a wedding weakened the ending for me. I think she'd have been better off leaving it a page earlier. I don't really want weddings and romance and rays of sunshine. I want the final fight, and the quest. And that, judging by this, promises to be a humdinger of a final book.
All about Severus Snape. Skim down if you have the incredible bad taste not to like him an inexplicable lack of interest in him. So, he killed Dumbledore, and it came as a wonderfully brilliant surprise. If you got spoiled for that, hunt them down and kill them. I spent the whole book thinking they'd meant Harry (I know, thick). This really is Snape's book. Oh and the title should make the HP/SS shippers happy since it's essentially Harry Potter and Severus Snape, er, but yeah, moving on...
Okay, the way I saw it is there are three possibilities here:
1) Death Eater all along.
2) Had become a spy for Dumbledore, but having done the Unbreakable curse decided pragmatically that it was far better for Dumbledore to die than for both himself and Draco to die.
3) He's undercover, and when Dumbledore was pleading with him it was because they'd cooked up this plan and Snape couldn't quite bring himself to do it, so Dumbledore was telling him to get a backbone and just do it.
With 1, I can't get too excited about this. It fits, and is probably the most likely. If this is the case he's unlikely to change sides again, and he'll die in the next book, and I will mourn.
Of the three, I tend towards 2. After all he's a Slytherin, and while he's brave, he's also very pragmatic. This does seem the most interesting because what does he do now? Can he go back to Voldemort, and convince him that if he didn't do it, Draco would have, so V shouldn't kill Draco? Most likely, now he has to hide from both sides, with a sulky Draco in tow. Dude, he's so not going to enjoy book seven. Although I've got a nasty feeling that if this is the case, then his ultimate fate in book seven will be to redeem himself by sacrificing his life for the Trio. Of course it still leaves the question open as to whether he was genuinely trying to help Draco kill Dumbledore, or to dissuade him. And Draco and Snape are so linked now. Snape's not going to let him die, having saved him by killing Dumbledore himself. And Draco's all grown up and morally ambiguous himself, which obviously means I now like him. Crying in the boys' lavs. Aw. ;)
As for the third possibility, I guess here we're heading for wishful thinking territory. It would be fascinating, and I'd kill for it to be the correct solution, but I just kinda doubt JKR will go there. The evidence doesn't really point there - though we know that Snape can act - we have it pointed out to us in the second chapter by Bellatrix, so he could be faking the loathing. Although there was something, but I can't put my finger on it. Reread required. Reread of earlier books too is necessary though, in any case, for me to try and argue this one, and actually I need to reread anyway. Oh the hardship... ETA: Oh, the way Snape was still fairly clearly teaching Harry, while cursing him, was probably what I was thinking of.
Oh, and nobody was surprised that it was Snape who overheard the prophecy that led V to James and Lily, were they? Also he's a good DADA teacher, and Lily was good at Potions, which nobody had ever told Harry before. I wonder why. Is there some sort of association between Snape and Lily that nobody wants Harry to know about?
And now for the non-Snape bit:
Firstly I was so reading this with my mouth open. Very, very gripping. Obviously, I love Snape. And Harry too, besides the Ginny-fancying, that is; I mean, *cough* 'the beast inside him'. Ha - are we sure Ginny didn't slip him a love potion? But 'You don't have to call me sir'. Hee. And I love that Harry was taking special classes from Snape all year, without realising. And Snape's a damn good Potions teacher without all your little prejudices, Harry, huh? He was also reading Snape in bed. *snicker* Oh, right this is the bit that's meant not to be about Snape... Okay, also loved the Ron/Lavender (Hee, 'Won-won'), and didn't hate the Ron/Hermione. It worked, anyway. In the writing sense I mean; obviously the relationship won't. They fight waay too much. And Luna - I want more Luna, dammit. Ooh, and Tom Riddle, as a little boy - Dumbledore's pretty thick, but, not to have realised he'd take more than just a bit of watching. Creepy, creepy mind-controlling kid. And I like that the last scions of the house of Slytherin were living in squalor. His mother though wasn't very strong magically and his Dad a muggle, so where did all his powers come from. Come to think of it the same holds for Harry: he shouldn't be nearly as bright as he is (given in his case lack of early nurture rather than genetics). Perhaps adversity in early childhood increases the expression of magical powers?
The horcruxes are a good setup for the next book. And RAB? I've seen a couple of early reviews browsing LJ, and the consensus seems to be that it' s Regulus Black, which I didn't think of, but seems to fit, and promises to be very interesting in the next book. The zombies presumably will have a bigger part in the next book, since they seemed to be hyped quite a lot considering their anti-climatic appearance.
Oh, and Draco mending the Vanishing cabinet the twins stuck Montague in, because Montague learned about its link wiih the Knockturn Alley cabinet and thus helped Draco in his assassination plans. So, there's already one thing the twins have done that's helped the other side. I wonder if there'll be more. I really don't like the twins (though u-no-poo made me laugh, as did the girls and Harry calling Fleur phlegm - Hey, I'm 12). They're dangerous, oh and Malfoy also used one of their products in the fight too - the darkness one. The love potions are pretty creepy too, actually. And the gnome on top of the Christmas tree gave me the heeby-jeebies. I hope they get their come-uppance in the final book. Also on Weaselys. Poor bloody Percy. It must have been a horrible family to grow up in.
Only thing I didn't like in the book was all the attention given to romance. It got a bit boring. And I'll admit Remus/Tonks put me in rather a sulk. Not just because of Remus, but because it was such a disservice to Tonks's character. She's an Auror, yet she spent the whole book ill because of unrequited love, wtf JKR? Anyway the whole 'one golden day' (puke) because of a wedding weakened the ending for me. I think she'd have been better off leaving it a page earlier. I don't really want weddings and romance and rays of sunshine. I want the final fight, and the quest. And that, judging by this, promises to be a humdinger of a final book.