harry potter and the half-blood artist formerly known as prince
Got my copy at around noon yesterday from Amazon. Unfortunately, I left for the beach five minutes later. Then there was a bunch of traffic. Then we ended up picnicking in Endor Samuel P. Taylor Park. Then it was too late to go to the beach. Then we got gelato. Then we came back to my house, swam in the pool, watched N's DVD of Braveheart, because he felt that Miche and I were missing pieces from our souls for not having yet seen this film. (Well, I'd seen half of it.) Then we decided to break out Toy Story. Then Toy Story 2. I crashed sometime around Woody, Jessie and ...the horse...running on that record player. Woke up when N and Miche left, and even though it was 2:30 AM by then, started to read while lying in bed. Fell asleep after 80 odd pages, woke up at 4 AM and actually went to bed afterwards. Woke up at 10:30 this morning to an empty house, read a bunch, was interrupted by Dadmac's arrival and demands that I be functional and fix my lappy, among other things. Dadmac left, I continued to read, continued to attempt to fix my lappy. Mommac came home with co-workers, I was very anti-social and stayed in my room until I finished the book at 10 PM, exactly. At which point I finally came out of my room and warmed up a piece of leftover pizza from yesterday. Luckily the people were gone by then.
All in all, I think I read it faster than I did Goblet of Fire, which I read straight from noonish the day it arrived, to 4 AM the next morning.
Ron's handlebar mustache.
ZOMBIES.
Regulus A. Black. (Which I SO got after like, two seconds of mulling over "Borgin? Burkes?")
Tom Riddle. Oh, you know I love young Tom Riddle, I adore the very attractive embodiments of evil (The Lone Power, anyone? HOT.) and seeing his path to power was just all over fucking awesome and creepy at the same time.
People have pointed out how fluidly JKR has written Harry maturing. And I loooove it. It's no secret that he's my absolute favourite character, and while I love his angry angry struggling boy in OotP, HBP brought this sureness and...badass quality to him that's just lovely. His defiance of Rufus. Oh boy.
It's also no secret that I really don't favour Hermione and Ron as a couple. But while I was being petulant in the beginning of this book, rolling my eyes at every hint JKR gave (as she's been impressing into our heads since the first book, yes, I know), by the end it morphed into something I didn't really mind and could appreciate from a distance. A Van Gogh. (Clueless reference in a Harry Potter post. Interesting.)
And then there's Ginny, whom my sister and I were declaring "A PIMP!" after we had both completed OotP. But then there came Harry/Ginny, as I kinda assumed would happen...but the actual happening of the 'ship was rather out of the blue. Somehow she turned from one of my favourite characters to someone I wouldn't hesitate that much to call a Mary Sue. Their break-up, however, was too Spider-man for its own good. I was laughing. A lot.
The scene in the cave was verrrry LotR (the Dead Marshes!, also Gollum's cave in The Hobbit), with a shade of Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone, and of course, every zombie movie ever. (Note: Zombies make everything AWESOME.)
Draco. Well, the fangirls will never be happy with what JKR does with him, but at least she made me actually interested in him.
Remus/Tonks. (OMF, I almost wrote Remus/Tanka.) Raise your hand if you kinda like that 'ship. Great. Now Tonks has tankas in my head, and it will never be the same.
I almost made a ranty post about how JKR only writes in black-and-white, but then I thought a bit and realized what with all the evidence, Snape is still my super-spy professor, and he did not double cross Dumblydorr. "I AM NOT A COWARD" made me tear up like whoa. He's a fucking prick, but he is not a coward and he was carrying out the D's final wishes.
By Grabthar's hammer... by the Suns of Morvan... you shall be avenged.
And when I start quoting Galaxy Quest, I know it's time for me to abandon this post and finishing re-reading OotP (which is what I was doing all Friday), so I can re-read HBP soon and hopefully, have more coherent thoughts then. And hopefully then I will be using my lappy, instead of my family's Paleolithic Mac. I hate typing on this keyboard.
Nitwit. Blubber. Odment. Tweak. (DUMBLEDORE YOU CAN'T DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.)
PS. Thank you JKR, for less Hagrid. You are very nice.
PSS. I still think I like all the desperation of OotP better. There's nothing more heart-swooning than McGonagall shouting, "I will make you an Auror if it's the last thing I do, Harry!" Which she so does not say, she says it much better. But I think you know what I mean.
PPSS. Slughorn was slimy, but I still like him.
Now, to get the torrent for Battlestar Galactica's "Scattered". Or just rewatch it a bunch on my TiVo, cos I'm lazy.
All in all, I think I read it faster than I did Goblet of Fire, which I read straight from noonish the day it arrived, to 4 AM the next morning.
Ron's handlebar mustache.
ZOMBIES.
Regulus A. Black. (Which I SO got after like, two seconds of mulling over "Borgin? Burkes?")
Tom Riddle. Oh, you know I love young Tom Riddle, I adore the very attractive embodiments of evil (The Lone Power, anyone? HOT.) and seeing his path to power was just all over fucking awesome and creepy at the same time.
People have pointed out how fluidly JKR has written Harry maturing. And I loooove it. It's no secret that he's my absolute favourite character, and while I love his angry angry struggling boy in OotP, HBP brought this sureness and...badass quality to him that's just lovely. His defiance of Rufus. Oh boy.
It's also no secret that I really don't favour Hermione and Ron as a couple. But while I was being petulant in the beginning of this book, rolling my eyes at every hint JKR gave (as she's been impressing into our heads since the first book, yes, I know), by the end it morphed into something I didn't really mind and could appreciate from a distance. A Van Gogh. (Clueless reference in a Harry Potter post. Interesting.)
And then there's Ginny, whom my sister and I were declaring "A PIMP!" after we had both completed OotP. But then there came Harry/Ginny, as I kinda assumed would happen...but the actual happening of the 'ship was rather out of the blue. Somehow she turned from one of my favourite characters to someone I wouldn't hesitate that much to call a Mary Sue. Their break-up, however, was too Spider-man for its own good. I was laughing. A lot.
The scene in the cave was verrrry LotR (the Dead Marshes!, also Gollum's cave in The Hobbit), with a shade of Susan Cooper's Over Sea, Under Stone, and of course, every zombie movie ever. (Note: Zombies make everything AWESOME.)
Draco. Well, the fangirls will never be happy with what JKR does with him, but at least she made me actually interested in him.
Remus/Tonks. (OMF, I almost wrote Remus/Tanka.) Raise your hand if you kinda like that 'ship. Great. Now Tonks has tankas in my head, and it will never be the same.
I almost made a ranty post about how JKR only writes in black-and-white, but then I thought a bit and realized what with all the evidence, Snape is still my super-spy professor, and he did not double cross Dumblydorr. "I AM NOT A COWARD" made me tear up like whoa. He's a fucking prick, but he is not a coward and he was carrying out the D's final wishes.
By Grabthar's hammer... by the Suns of Morvan... you shall be avenged.
And when I start quoting Galaxy Quest, I know it's time for me to abandon this post and finishing re-reading OotP (which is what I was doing all Friday), so I can re-read HBP soon and hopefully, have more coherent thoughts then. And hopefully then I will be using my lappy, instead of my family's Paleolithic Mac. I hate typing on this keyboard.
Nitwit. Blubber. Odment. Tweak. (DUMBLEDORE YOU CAN'T DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.)
PS. Thank you JKR, for less Hagrid. You are very nice.
PSS. I still think I like all the desperation of OotP better. There's nothing more heart-swooning than McGonagall shouting, "I will make you an Auror if it's the last thing I do, Harry!" Which she so does not say, she says it much better. But I think you know what I mean.
PPSS. Slughorn was slimy, but I still like him.
Now, to get the torrent for Battlestar Galactica's "Scattered". Or just rewatch it a bunch on my TiVo, cos I'm lazy.