Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince [Spoilers]
Or; "How I realised that the titles of these damn books are so trivial to the actual plot, it's almost meaningless"
I'll be fair and admit, I'm a sucker for the books, and I've enjoyed the films. That's as far as my appreciation of it all goes. I've never dressed up like a character, and I'm open about how damnably awful book 5 was. 600 pages of padding, an info dump and a character death no-one really saw coming, or cared about.
So were any of my theories about how Rowling would twist 6, as she has done so famously in the past, and create something truly magical, or would it sink and die like it's predessor.
Infuriatingly, it's halfway between both.
What I admire about the novels, is that whilst every book bar 4 has stuck to a quite rigid structure, but with that has come various changes to the landscape around which these take place. It echoes that of our real world, from a happy joyful post cold-war Western world, to one where fear and terror strikes and paranoia ensues, the wizard world has descended as our own has, but before you think Rowling's pushing a political agenda (Which, to be fair, she is with ol' Rufus, the PR Obsessed new Minister of Magic) she lets her game drop, and things start to, quite poorly, yo-yo around.
Thankfully, the book is devoid of a lot of the padding that blighted the last two. No, what the law this time is fitting all of the necessary contrivances into the 600 pages of novel that set the stage for the final conflict. When I was discussing the book with a friend, prior to opening it, I had stated that this would either be the staging ground for the finale, leading to little, if any actual events, or that it would be "The Shit hits the fan... Part 1 of 2). Whilst some shit hits some very big fans, you can see that this is as resolute a conclusion as would be necessary. In fact, were this the seventh novel, it would be an ultimatley satisfying and wonderful ending (We're left not on a cliffhanger, but, like all the best "event" episodes, with the way paved for something truly special to follow. If I had to compare the second half of the book, it would be to Babylon 5's "Severed Dreams", espescially with that final, ominous shot of the Ministry of Truth poster over Sheridan's shoulder.
I digress. What many will find, is whilst the book remains pacy, the format bounces between scenes of Harry and Dumbley discovering more about Tom Riddle (the boy) [Yes, these Pensieve adventures should have started *at least* two books ago] and the age old "OMG MALFOY IS UP 2 SOMEFIN!!!!!", and sadly, Rowling was determined to include every single plot strand necessary to work to the finale, meaning that everyone's reluctance to listen to Harry nearly drives you to throw your face into a wall. It's a classic case of Season 10 of X Files Scully. After having *everythign* short of a Vampire Space Alen Robot Giant anally rape her, she's seen more proof than most people would require to convert them to Scientology (Insert random wacko cult joke here) yet she's still a sceptic.
The novel's final hundred pages offer the best, it has everything you would want from a Harry Potter book, mutant zombies in a water-fight, a huge action piece set around Hogwarts, romance, danger and revelations. Sadly, Rowling doesn't have the prose chops to carry these off in sufficient detail, and instead of being gripped when X event happens (As a good comparison, anyone who owns "Inteference II - The Hour of the Geek" will see how these should be handled, they're skimmed over, lacking in detail and efficacy.
Rowling is joyously mindful of her own contiunity, which means that a lot of little objects, characters and moments from previous books are mentioned, and for good measure, because they serve to please the little fanboys and girls, and prove that she's so well understanding of both audience and subject matter, but sadly chooses to throw in several rather childish plotlines, espescially about the characters interactions, that throw them back to the emotionally retarded 12 year olds they were years ago.
Snape, if you don't care already, is revealed to be the half blood prince, even though it reveals nothing, or even matters a damn, considering the book essentially just tells him how to do a little better a potions. Yeah. Still, his treachery still doesn't ring true, and sadly if he *really* is child-chewingly evil, then why go to the enormous trouble of *not* taking Potter with him? I just think that this is Rowling dropping the ball. Really, if she had been around as I finished the book, I'd have looked up at her and merely said "Shit or get off the pot, love".
Sadly one of the other things you won't see is a lot of the secondary characters. I had been theorising since book 4 that Neville Longbottom would turn out to be the chosen one, having had such a parallel existence with Potter, and that would be Rowling's final, beautiful twist. Sadly much of the development of the character that we had seen in book 5 (Notice how when Rowling needs material, she just starts to flesh out the secondaries, but when it's all story, we go back to just the primaries?) and so, almost everyone else remains as flat background.
ALl in all, it's an entertaining book, that will leave you gagging for resolution, or not, but since it's as likley that I'll start fancying the dead that someone who reads this will not have read the book, you'll all have read it.
Final, quick-fire thoughts.
- Ginny Weasley was a hero-worshipping giggly teen, and suddenly within 50 pages, Harry's fancying her?
- Dumbledore dies, and yet, the first thing the teachers discuss is if the school remains open or not.
- How awesome is that final chapter? Espescially the last pages' worth. If Rowling is any good, she'll open 7 with Harry on his own, fighting more zombies, just like in a Bond movie.
- I seriously can't wait for the film, because this is the most visual of them all. It's also the most adult by a country mile. Whoever they get to direct those scenes of action, better be good.
- Zombies!
I'll be fair and admit, I'm a sucker for the books, and I've enjoyed the films. That's as far as my appreciation of it all goes. I've never dressed up like a character, and I'm open about how damnably awful book 5 was. 600 pages of padding, an info dump and a character death no-one really saw coming, or cared about.
So were any of my theories about how Rowling would twist 6, as she has done so famously in the past, and create something truly magical, or would it sink and die like it's predessor.
Infuriatingly, it's halfway between both.
What I admire about the novels, is that whilst every book bar 4 has stuck to a quite rigid structure, but with that has come various changes to the landscape around which these take place. It echoes that of our real world, from a happy joyful post cold-war Western world, to one where fear and terror strikes and paranoia ensues, the wizard world has descended as our own has, but before you think Rowling's pushing a political agenda (Which, to be fair, she is with ol' Rufus, the PR Obsessed new Minister of Magic) she lets her game drop, and things start to, quite poorly, yo-yo around.
Thankfully, the book is devoid of a lot of the padding that blighted the last two. No, what the law this time is fitting all of the necessary contrivances into the 600 pages of novel that set the stage for the final conflict. When I was discussing the book with a friend, prior to opening it, I had stated that this would either be the staging ground for the finale, leading to little, if any actual events, or that it would be "The Shit hits the fan... Part 1 of 2). Whilst some shit hits some very big fans, you can see that this is as resolute a conclusion as would be necessary. In fact, were this the seventh novel, it would be an ultimatley satisfying and wonderful ending (We're left not on a cliffhanger, but, like all the best "event" episodes, with the way paved for something truly special to follow. If I had to compare the second half of the book, it would be to Babylon 5's "Severed Dreams", espescially with that final, ominous shot of the Ministry of Truth poster over Sheridan's shoulder.
I digress. What many will find, is whilst the book remains pacy, the format bounces between scenes of Harry and Dumbley discovering more about Tom Riddle (the boy) [Yes, these Pensieve adventures should have started *at least* two books ago] and the age old "OMG MALFOY IS UP 2 SOMEFIN!!!!!", and sadly, Rowling was determined to include every single plot strand necessary to work to the finale, meaning that everyone's reluctance to listen to Harry nearly drives you to throw your face into a wall. It's a classic case of Season 10 of X Files Scully. After having *everythign* short of a Vampire Space Alen Robot Giant anally rape her, she's seen more proof than most people would require to convert them to Scientology (Insert random wacko cult joke here) yet she's still a sceptic.
The novel's final hundred pages offer the best, it has everything you would want from a Harry Potter book, mutant zombies in a water-fight, a huge action piece set around Hogwarts, romance, danger and revelations. Sadly, Rowling doesn't have the prose chops to carry these off in sufficient detail, and instead of being gripped when X event happens (As a good comparison, anyone who owns "Inteference II - The Hour of the Geek" will see how these should be handled, they're skimmed over, lacking in detail and efficacy.
Rowling is joyously mindful of her own contiunity, which means that a lot of little objects, characters and moments from previous books are mentioned, and for good measure, because they serve to please the little fanboys and girls, and prove that she's so well understanding of both audience and subject matter, but sadly chooses to throw in several rather childish plotlines, espescially about the characters interactions, that throw them back to the emotionally retarded 12 year olds they were years ago.
Snape, if you don't care already, is revealed to be the half blood prince, even though it reveals nothing, or even matters a damn, considering the book essentially just tells him how to do a little better a potions. Yeah. Still, his treachery still doesn't ring true, and sadly if he *really* is child-chewingly evil, then why go to the enormous trouble of *not* taking Potter with him? I just think that this is Rowling dropping the ball. Really, if she had been around as I finished the book, I'd have looked up at her and merely said "Shit or get off the pot, love".
Sadly one of the other things you won't see is a lot of the secondary characters. I had been theorising since book 4 that Neville Longbottom would turn out to be the chosen one, having had such a parallel existence with Potter, and that would be Rowling's final, beautiful twist. Sadly much of the development of the character that we had seen in book 5 (Notice how when Rowling needs material, she just starts to flesh out the secondaries, but when it's all story, we go back to just the primaries?) and so, almost everyone else remains as flat background.
ALl in all, it's an entertaining book, that will leave you gagging for resolution, or not, but since it's as likley that I'll start fancying the dead that someone who reads this will not have read the book, you'll all have read it.
Final, quick-fire thoughts.
- Ginny Weasley was a hero-worshipping giggly teen, and suddenly within 50 pages, Harry's fancying her?
- Dumbledore dies, and yet, the first thing the teachers discuss is if the school remains open or not.
- How awesome is that final chapter? Espescially the last pages' worth. If Rowling is any good, she'll open 7 with Harry on his own, fighting more zombies, just like in a Bond movie.
- I seriously can't wait for the film, because this is the most visual of them all. It's also the most adult by a country mile. Whoever they get to direct those scenes of action, better be good.
- Zombies!