Half Blood Prince and Shihad. Who was responsible for that scheduling?!
I bought the book at 11am. The queue wasn’t all that large and nothing really happened in it. I forced myself to finish my re-read of OotP. I finished it about 12:30 sitting in a coffee shop. There were tears but not nearly as many as when I read it the first time. I headed home, purchased some Cookies and Cream ice cream and then I read, and didn’t stop till 7:30 rolled around and I had to go to Shihad. I had about 150 pages to go.
Shihad were fucking fantastic live. Highly recommended, well worth the ticket price and every bit as good as their reputation as an awesome live band. Just, really, really, really good.
I was going to go into town but decided that listening to crap music would just ruin the experience for me. So after checking in with people at work, I headed home to finish the book.
“….” Pretty much sums my reaction up actually.
With 150 pages to go I was ready to call this book just a set-up book, and it was, really, but fuck, fuck fuck, those last 150 pages.
I honestly don’t know what to think. My mouth is still kinda hanging open … and I’m not sure whether that means I liked or not.
Before those last 150 I was disappointed really. The book felt flat to me and not quite there. There were still some lovely and humorous touches but in the end I just felt like it was all setting up Book 7, and it was, but still, I didn’t see a lot of that coming.
Draco not being able to do it. I saw that.
Snape doing what he did. Didn’t see it at all. Him being the Half-Blood Prince I did sort of see (though the book date threw me into thinking it wasn’t him) but to betray them like that? I believed Dumbledore, I really did. Harry is not the word’s greatest judge of character, especially with Snape, or so I thought.
Is there a possibility for his redemption? I’m sure fandom will find a way and I still think there might be something to Dumbledore’s faith in him, I really do. We're not finished with Snape and god, I really hope not. I need this to have layers.
Dumbledore was doomed from the get-go as he was just being too damn useful. We all knew it was coming. I liked him in this, I really did, even if he did feel a little weird to me; probably because we saw him so damn much. He learned from his mistake … and made another one. I think.
I was so happy to see Hagrid walk from those flames though. If only because it made Harry that little bit happier.
This was quite a big ‘fuck you’ to certain areas of fandom. Not that I believe JKR actually meant it that way, but damn, Snape = 'evil', Draco = redeemed, in a way but not really, Harry/Ginny = canon, Ron/Hermione = canon and well, Remus/Tonks = canon.
Guess which one of those caused me to yell ‘fuck’ really, really loudly when I read it at 2am? Yeah … it’s actually not bothering me as much as I thought it would. I think the reaction was mostly out of shock. And plus, my mind has already started skewing it make it all about holding onto Sirius anyway (hey, I didn’t say I wasn’t slightly deluded) and well, it doesn't really preclude Sirius/Remus. I did feel for both of them during the book (Remus and the flames, and gah) and I can’t dislike Tonks and after all they've been through… just, couldn’t you have left it ambiguous, Jo?! Must everyone be paired up with somebody else like that?! Vent over. I'm happy Remus might be happy.
I walked home from Shihad, with those fun 150 pages still to read, really thinking that my little corner of the HP fandom wasn’t going to be affected all that much other than Sirius = probably dead and Remus = talking to werewolves, angst, angst. My bad.
And yeah, I think he really is dead. I’ve accepted it. Though why he needed such a damn ambiguous death, I’ll never know. Yeah, I have a smidgen of hope. So, most of me has accepted it. Although, not so much with the mourning in this book, which I was a bit miffed about.
As for the other ‘ships. I’m not a big Trio shipper. I never have been. I had a slight preference for Harry/Hermione but I honestly think I would have been happy if none of them hooked up with each other. The Harry/Ginny didn’t annoy me other than the fact that fandom has made it so cliché. Ginny has a backbone now and in the end, I was happy to see Harry happy. Ron/Hermione was always going to happen and I think you might as well say that it has. To be honest, I’m indifferent. Though damn did I feel sorry for Harry being the middle of their fight.
There were some nice H/R/Hr vibes though, and well, the ending. Yeah.
As for Harry/Draco. Well, there’s one slash ship that might actually be happy. ‘He was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy.’ ‘I need to know what Draco Malfoy is doing inside you.’
Harry, is wonderful. He really is.
McGonagall, still rocks. That conversation with Neville (who we needed to see more of) was great.
Luna is cute.
The first two chapters were very random. I liked them, but they were random.
R.A.B? Anyone else think Regulus, because I sure as hell did, though I don’t know how plausible that is. Probably not very.
I can’t compute this. I need to sleep on it. I’m just stunned and awe-struck and not in ‘this was fantastic’ way, but in a ‘wow, I can’t believe you just did that!’ way.
Randomly? Someone is going to get real upset the word ‘slut’ appeared in a ‘children’s’ book.
Yeah. Those are really disjointed thoughts.
I'm going to sleep. I'm tackling everyone else's take on it tomorrow.
Edit: Or not. Kinda wish I had though. My brain really annoys me.
Shihad were fucking fantastic live. Highly recommended, well worth the ticket price and every bit as good as their reputation as an awesome live band. Just, really, really, really good.
I was going to go into town but decided that listening to crap music would just ruin the experience for me. So after checking in with people at work, I headed home to finish the book.
“….” Pretty much sums my reaction up actually.
With 150 pages to go I was ready to call this book just a set-up book, and it was, really, but fuck, fuck fuck, those last 150 pages.
I honestly don’t know what to think. My mouth is still kinda hanging open … and I’m not sure whether that means I liked or not.
Before those last 150 I was disappointed really. The book felt flat to me and not quite there. There were still some lovely and humorous touches but in the end I just felt like it was all setting up Book 7, and it was, but still, I didn’t see a lot of that coming.
Draco not being able to do it. I saw that.
Snape doing what he did. Didn’t see it at all. Him being the Half-Blood Prince I did sort of see (though the book date threw me into thinking it wasn’t him) but to betray them like that? I believed Dumbledore, I really did. Harry is not the word’s greatest judge of character, especially with Snape, or so I thought.
Is there a possibility for his redemption? I’m sure fandom will find a way and I still think there might be something to Dumbledore’s faith in him, I really do. We're not finished with Snape and god, I really hope not. I need this to have layers.
Dumbledore was doomed from the get-go as he was just being too damn useful. We all knew it was coming. I liked him in this, I really did, even if he did feel a little weird to me; probably because we saw him so damn much. He learned from his mistake … and made another one. I think.
I was so happy to see Hagrid walk from those flames though. If only because it made Harry that little bit happier.
This was quite a big ‘fuck you’ to certain areas of fandom. Not that I believe JKR actually meant it that way, but damn, Snape = 'evil', Draco = redeemed, in a way but not really, Harry/Ginny = canon, Ron/Hermione = canon and well, Remus/Tonks = canon.
Guess which one of those caused me to yell ‘fuck’ really, really loudly when I read it at 2am? Yeah … it’s actually not bothering me as much as I thought it would. I think the reaction was mostly out of shock. And plus, my mind has already started skewing it make it all about holding onto Sirius anyway (hey, I didn’t say I wasn’t slightly deluded) and well, it doesn't really preclude Sirius/Remus. I did feel for both of them during the book (Remus and the flames, and gah) and I can’t dislike Tonks and after all they've been through… just, couldn’t you have left it ambiguous, Jo?! Must everyone be paired up with somebody else like that?! Vent over. I'm happy Remus might be happy.
I walked home from Shihad, with those fun 150 pages still to read, really thinking that my little corner of the HP fandom wasn’t going to be affected all that much other than Sirius = probably dead and Remus = talking to werewolves, angst, angst. My bad.
And yeah, I think he really is dead. I’ve accepted it. Though why he needed such a damn ambiguous death, I’ll never know. Yeah, I have a smidgen of hope. So, most of me has accepted it. Although, not so much with the mourning in this book, which I was a bit miffed about.
As for the other ‘ships. I’m not a big Trio shipper. I never have been. I had a slight preference for Harry/Hermione but I honestly think I would have been happy if none of them hooked up with each other. The Harry/Ginny didn’t annoy me other than the fact that fandom has made it so cliché. Ginny has a backbone now and in the end, I was happy to see Harry happy. Ron/Hermione was always going to happen and I think you might as well say that it has. To be honest, I’m indifferent. Though damn did I feel sorry for Harry being the middle of their fight.
There were some nice H/R/Hr vibes though, and well, the ending. Yeah.
As for Harry/Draco. Well, there’s one slash ship that might actually be happy. ‘He was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy.’ ‘I need to know what Draco Malfoy is doing inside you.’
Harry, is wonderful. He really is.
McGonagall, still rocks. That conversation with Neville (who we needed to see more of) was great.
Luna is cute.
The first two chapters were very random. I liked them, but they were random.
R.A.B? Anyone else think Regulus, because I sure as hell did, though I don’t know how plausible that is. Probably not very.
I can’t compute this. I need to sleep on it. I’m just stunned and awe-struck and not in ‘this was fantastic’ way, but in a ‘wow, I can’t believe you just did that!’ way.
Randomly? Someone is going to get real upset the word ‘slut’ appeared in a ‘children’s’ book.
Yeah. Those are really disjointed thoughts.
I'm going to sleep. I'm tackling everyone else's take on it tomorrow.
Edit: Or not. Kinda wish I had though. My brain really annoys me.