Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[klawzie]

Holy. Crap.

That's really all I can say.

I got a decent number of hours of sleep last night (at least it was extremely comfortable and uninterrupted), and was awoken by the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had arrivedI set to reading it almost immediately. I believe I began reading at 10am and

Comments

[skoolmunkee]

I still think Snape is good. :) JK seems to enjoy putting the mindfuck on us, but there's so much ambiguity about Dumbledore's death (and so much leading up to it, in this book and others) that after a few minutes thinking about it... I can see it's obvious that Dumbledore had Snape under an Unbreakable Vow to kill him. (I don't know who their witness would have been, though.) That's why Snape had no problem promising the same thing to Narcissa. That's why Snape was so full or rage and revulsion at the end of the book. He probably was forced to kill the only person who meant anything to him in order to help kill Voldemort.

Some thoughts:
1. Dumbledore knew he had to die. He couldn't protect Harry forever, or else Harry would never have gotten the resolve he needed to kill Voldemort himself.

2. Dubledore trusted Snape implicitly, although they don't really say what it was in the book, it's true he would have been trusting Snape with his life with that Vow. He also could have made him promise not to harm Harry, etc. (Snape was even giving Harry pointers at the end?)

3. By letting Snape kill him, he's cemented Snape's position as a trusted Death Eater, letting him do whatever he's Vowed to do.

4. Dumbledore may not actually be dead dead. I think he died a bit easily, though probably due to knowing he had to die (and in front of Death Eater witnesses, for Snape). This means he had a plan to come back somehow- but it would ruin things if he came fully back. I don't think he simply faked his death- I think that he did die. Harry would lose his resolve and so on (nott o mention the resolve this would give other good guys). There is his portrait, but it can't do much other than spy or advise. The most farfetched thing that I can think of is that Dumbledore had a horcrux, too- in Fawkes, who can't be destroyed.

Other thoughts:

1. Harry Potter is Spiderman now *rolleyes* (She should just remove any romance from the books- Tonkin, wtf? Ginny was pointless, and R/H is just getting painful to hear about.)

2. REB is Regulus Black. Just like JK to mention a character once or twice in a book or two and then suddenly make them semi-important.

3. Fudge stole the locket from the house (Regulus was probably killed before he could destroy/hide it) and has sold it to someone somewhere. I believe they found a locket in OotP in the house.

4. Good for Fleur. :)

5. When Harry was given stuff in Fred and George's, I'd thought that they'd show up again in a tough spot to save him somehow. Instead the bad guys used them. Hoho.

6. In book 7 Dobby is going to take names and kick ass. He could probably take out just about anyone. (As much as I hate Dobby.)

Stuff I didn't like:

1. Well, the romance junk.

2. This whole book was pretty much all exposition for book 7. There have been a lot of things in the past... 2 or so books that readers should fully expect an explanation of, but none were in this book. She's going to have a lot to finish explaining in 7, as well as her little horcrux Zelda adventure and any showdowns with Snape and Voldemort (and whether Draco becoems good/bad). Book 7 better be enormouse and fantastic. Also Ginny should come.

3. This didn't really feel like a book or a complete story. It feels like the first half of book 7, or something. It wasn't as fun to read (even though I read it in about 8 hours). :( I missed hearing about their day classes and what other students were up to. There were really only a small handful of characters in this book.

4. Snape's explanation of being the half-blood prince was pretty shoddy. I can't see how that had any point at all, other than misleading the reader that it was Voldemort's book. It kind of just came out of nowhere. "Oh yeah, his mom's surname was Prince." eh??

[klawzie]

I still think Snape is good. :)

Me too! Still wouldn't want him as a teacher, but, yeah. ;)

Some thoughts:
1. Dumbledore knew he had to die. He couldn't protect Harry forever, or else Harry would never have gotten the resolve he needed to kill Voldemort himself.

I dunno about that, exactly. I mean, I don't think that was Dumbledore's reasoning, entirely. He already knew that Harry had the drive to do it. I do think that from a literary standpoint, this is true, though. The mentor must die before the hero will complete his quest, and all that.

4. Dumbledore may not actually be dead dead. [...] The most farfetched thing that I can think of is that Dumbledore had a horcrux, too- in Fawkes, who can't be destroyed.

But horcruxes are dark magic, as evidenced by Hogwarts having fewer mentions of them than Voldemort's name in their library. ;D And I can't see Dumbledore splitting his soul up after killing anyone - even a Death Eater. He has more respect for life than that.

The far-fetched theory I have heard (and kinda tentatively agree with) is that his animagus form is the phoenix (I have very vague memories of JKR confirming this, but I may have it confused with JKR confirming that his Patronus was a phoenix), so when he died, he literally became a phoenix and ran off with Fawks or something.

Several times throughout the series it's been said that Dumbledore will never truly leave Hogwarts until there's no one who is true to him there. I wonder if there's some sort of magic 'self' he left behind (not counting the phoenix-DD theory). I don't think he'd become a ghost, but he must have done something... There's also that mirror from book 5 that hasn't yet come into play, and JKR has already said it would...

There is his portrait, but it can't do much other than spy or advise.

Yeah, that made me curious. How did that happen? Most people didn't even know that Dumbledore was dead when the portrait appeared in the Headmaster's office. Some magic obviously tossed it up there, which begs the question: was the portrait pre-painted and just magically appeared upon his death - or do Hogwarts Headmaster portraits spontaniously get created upon the death of the Headmaster, at approximately the same age they were when they died/left the office as Headmaster?

Regulus Black

Definately. He's the only one who makes sense. And he'd be sort of the "past version" of Draco (like Ginny and Hermione are past versions of Lily, Hermione is a past Lupin, etc) - a badguy who isn't fully bad and redeems himself in the end by one last act of defiance vs Voldemort.

Fudge Mundungus stole the locket from the house (Regulus was probably killed before he could destroy/hide it) and has sold it to someone somewhere. I believe they found a locket in OotP in the house.

I think there was... I'd have to check, but I'm almost sure there was a locket. I'd say that since Mundungus fled, he probably does have it (obviously, not knowing what it is), but she'll probably write them searching the house anyway, once they figure out it's Reg who did it. Much angst will come from that search.

4. Good for Fleur. :)

Yeah, I wasn't sure what to expect from that. It was a good 50/50 that she'd reject Bill, but seeing as everyone was getting together in this book, I wasn't surprised at all when she stayed.

When Harry was given stuff in Fred and George's, I'd thought that they'd show up again in a tough spot to save him somehow. Instead the bad guys used them. Hoho.

That was very clever. ;D

part 2

[klawzie]

In book 7 Dobby is going to take names and kick ass. He could probably take out just about anyone. (As much as I hate Dobby.)

Y'know, re: Dobby. In book 5 he follows Umbridge's orders (orders he would never want to follow in the first place), and takes orders from Harry. In book 6 he says that he doesn't have to follow orders and can pick and choose whose orders to follow. D'oh, JKR.

But, yeah, he's totally going to kick the crap out of someone. But will probably die to become a sort of Houseelf martyr. Dobby is... loads better to deal with than any other Houseelf we were given large amounts of text with. (Kretcher and Winky, I mean. Not the Houseelf in the pensieve, who was very quiet and loads more bearable.) Not one of my favorite characters, but not one I really can hate either. Dobby's just an abused wife. >_>

Stuff I didn't like:
1. Well, the romance junk.

Aaahg. I mean, you know that I like romance, but this just felt sort of like, "Must throw in all the pairings I personally feel are the best, so people will finally stop asking me about them. Also, must make it clear that Lupin is not gay, here, have Tonks, she can be pretty when she wants." All the romance was rushed, painful, and in some cases, felt 'wrong'. While the Harry/Ginny thing was not my preferred pairing, I would have been fine with it if it weren't so... painful/wrong. Argh. And there was zero build-up to the Tonks/Lupin pairing. I was prepared for a Tonks/Bill finale.... Eh. (I've nothing against Tonks/Lupin, just feel it was just sort of tossed in to show that Lupin isn't gay.)

This didn't really feel like a book or a complete story. It feels like the first half of book 7, or something. It wasn't as fun to read (even though I read it in about 8 hours).

IIiiii... I dunno. There was so much information given to us to set us up for the finale of 7, and it did deny us some of the charm of the teachers, background students, the actual classes and etc that I did enjoy. But I liked the book. Read much easier than book 5, with all the wangst from Harry (not that there isn't wangst in this one, but it was bearable wangst). I'd probably place 6 in third place. 3/4 taking slots one and two (and switching in their ranking), 6, 5 (for the D.A. scenes), 1, and 2.

Snape's explanation of being the half-blood prince was pretty shoddy.

It was certainly very anticlimatic. I mean, "woooo, Harry's suddenly doing very well in Potions only... Snape wrote all the stuff in the margins so it was Snape helping Harry out, zomg! And it's like... "Okay, you had everyone frothing at the mouth to figure out who the HBP was, and built up an entire story around the HBP and his book and ... the Big Reveal is that Snape left his book in his classroom and Harry got ahold of it?" The book would better have been called "Harry Potter and the Hidden Memories" or "HP and the Call to Arms" - because the book wasn't about the Half-Blood Prince. The HBP was just a subplot that more or less went nowhere.

(and whether Draco becoems good/bad)

He'd almost have to turn out good at the end. At least in his final act before he bites it. He's become less stupid (re: the train scene) and really, less cruel, overall. Once he was given a purpose he cut out all his childish antics, didn't he? And I'm not sure that wasn't just due to his fear of his family being slaughtered. And love of one's family, because they are family, is a good trait, more or less, right? I have no idea what to make of the whole Draco/Myrtle thing. At a complete loss.