HBP Spoilerific.
I LOVED this book so much. I pretty much loved everything about it. The storylines, and the twists and turns that lead us to the final chapter were a fantastic. The story arch to the final book was also magnificent. The forthcoming climax is already too enthralling and exciting to stand. I’m hoping that’s the reason for my weird feeling right now. I can’t pinpoint what is causing it; the idea having to wait God knows how long for the final installment, my awkward grief at Dumbledore’s death, the fact that everything has changed now, I’m not sure. But once I let the sadness over Dumbledore pass, I really want to read the book again already (it definitely will not be the two years I let pass before reading OotP again).
My only criticism is that I do feel (and apparently she_runs_away75 agrees) that there were parts of the book that seemed somewhat rushed. I was already shocked at the paltry 652 pages of the book. But there were so many things that were just not up to her usual standard: There were very few classes in this book. You would especially think that DADA would have been featured as Snape had finally received the post he desired. Every other class was missing two (except maybe potions) and their importance since they were NEWT classes. There was an overall lack of Snape and McGonagall. Those scenes containing classes, and the teachers seemed to be too brief lacking JK’s usual detail. I miss Quidditch. The last three books have been woefully light on Quidditch games. I miss the chapter long, vividly described games of the first three books that got you so involved you felt like you were watching a real game. Now she either finds a way to have Harry not play or the game is done in a couple of paragraphs, and if we’re lucky, pages. Too many paragraphs in this book began, “over the next several weeks…” or “over the next few months…” So everything was speeding in triple time. I can’t help but think of how exceptional the book could have been with the hundreds of pages that seem to be missing.
I’m going to kind of bullet point the rest of my comments/observations for a quicker read (and I’m to spaced to write a cohesive exposition):
You know, for some reason I didn’t notice all of the spelling and grammatical errors in this book. That is so weird.
Upon reading about the collapsing bridge in the first chapter I said, “Damnit, this woman has an incredible ability to open up my head, reach in and pull out my worst nightmares. The only thing she hasn’t written yet, one of my biggest fears, is zombies. Thank Gaawd.” I’ll be damned if not three chapters late the explanation of Inferi comes into play. SONOFABITCH! I cry witch on J.K.! So I was shaking and whimpering during that lake scene. *shudder*
I had a fleeting moment of hope when the door opened to “Cissy” and the physical description of the man sounded like Sirius, even though I new it was Snape when they were running on the embankment, I couldn’t help but hope beyond hope that something great happened. Hopes dashed. I was sad.
The title of Chapter Five: An Excess of Phlegm is so funny to me because of my work situation. I almost fell off the couch laughing.
Pg. 186 - ‘Malfoy looked the same as the time Hermione punched him.’ Uh, no. She didn’t punch him in the book, she slapped him. She punched him in the movie. Tsk.
Ahhhhh!! I have been waiting for Ron and Hermione since the second book! This was such a freaking tease. It should have happened because now she’s going to have to waste precious time stopping the story and back tracking so that R/H finally get together.
I loved Ginny and Harry’s storyline. Even though it was weird because I couldn’t get the eleven-year-old Ginny out of my head when she was kissing Harry. Going back to the rush through thing, there was not enough time spent on them. They got together than a few weeks later she’s sitting at his feet and then everything else goes down. There should have been a lot more time devoted to exploring their relationship and how Ron was dealing.
Oh my God! If at all possible my love for Harry grew 1000 times throughout this book. I love the set he grew since Sirius’ death and how he wouldn’t take shit from anyone. He had some really great retorts too. I especially loved his confrontation with Narcissa early on in the book. And the Felix Felicis/Quidditch chapter was freaking fantastic! I was so scared that he actually did it and I was so mad because he’s smarter than that and he proved me right. It was fun to read.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but Harry seemed really well adjusted this book aside from the higher level of smart mouthness after suffering such a huge loss. He was so angsty in the 5th book after watching Cedric die and I thought he was going to be over the edge this book and he actually seemed to have pulled back from it. Though there are several reasonable explanations, I still found it a little odd.
Ginny and Hermione have mean streaks in them that I love. They make sure you think twice about crossing them.
I liked that Fleur truly loves Bill. I think we were all scared that she'd run. The wedding should be interesting.
Before even getting the book I was thinking about their ages and how they should be in that stage of concentrating on their love lives and relationships and I wondered whether JK would realize that as well. I think she did. This book was such a hormone fest that I couldn’t help but guffaw at the Gryffindor password becoming Abstinence halfway through the book. (Was it just me or were there other vague allusions to sexual relationships in this book? This book was very Soap Opera to me!)
*slaps Lavendar Brown around* Ron has been best friends with Hermione for 6 years, did you really think that was going to immediately change because he was dating you? Silly little girl.
I didn’t start liking Snape in this book, but I liked his character much more as he was made so much more dimensional. Even with his absence throughout the book. Trying to ferret out to whom his loyalties lie made him a lot more interesting especially after the second chapter. It was no surpise he was the Half-Blood Prince. I wish that could have been explored more in the book, but since it was at the very end I’m hoping it’s featured in Book 7.
Am I the only one who thinks that R.A.B is Regulus Black?
What really bugged me about Harry in this book was his lacking the desire to properly arm himself. He should have kept on with learning Occlumency knowing that his enemy is a master of Legilimens. He also should have seen the invaluable importance to learning to perform silent incantations as well.
And what about Percy still being such a prat to his family? He is so ridiculous.
I thought it was funny no one wanted to believe Harry about Malfoy and Snape. You would think that by now they would trust his instincts.
I was so proud of myself when reading through Harry’s lessons with Dumbledore. I was able to keep up with the memories and put everything together like 7 steps ahead of him.
I, of course, knew from the beginning of the book Dumbledore was going to die. As I started reading the book I said the exact same thing Harry lamented at the end about suffering the loss of all of those who became loving parental figures to him. As with Sirius in OotP, I went on and on throughout the book about how much I love Dumbledore so I knew that sealed it as well. As well as the fact I thought he was going to die in OotP (as you all know I never, ever expected Sirius’ death, so I was not prepared for that at all). So I tried really hard to prepare myself for it to happen. Didn’t do me a whole lot of good. I got teary as Harry fed him that poisoned liquid from the basin. I cried when he died to the end of the book and was still crying an hour later. Then I was sad a good chunk of the day today. I know, I know, but I was attached to the character. Now my two favorites are dead, it’s hard to think about.
Severus Snape…I am so on the fence about him. Of course my initial reaction was KILL KILL KILL, but I think we’re going to have to reserve judgment of him until we get the rest of the story. I feel there is so much more. Whether he and Dumbledore had an understanding as they discussed what was going on with Malfoy all year, or if Snape knew what Dumbledore wanted from his uncharacteristic fear and pleading, or if Snape is just plain evil and is a traitorous double crosser who deserves his painful death. We’ll have to see. But Dumbledore trusted him completely, and there had to be a better reason than Snape confessing regret for having sent his master to murder a baby and kill Lily and James. Dumbledore was smarter than that, there had to be something else that we don’t know about yet. I do feel bad for him if either of the former two scenarios are true, living with killing Dumbledore and the hatred brought upon him by the magical community will not be easy.
I’m wondering if JK is making Harry a sort of Shakespearean Hero archetype. The loss, the revenge, the catharsis are all occurring. I just hope this ends without the hero’s tragic demise.
It is going to be so weird that the final book is going to be in a different format. We’re so used to it following the school year timeline and now they aren’t returning to Hogwarts. It is so thrilling and scary.
It’s entirely possible that this is only the first wave of musings on the book, I apologize in advance if there is something else I think of that I MUST post. Oh and sorry about the typos, I’m too lazy to go look up the correct spellings.