Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
So I've been working at Nordstroms, and on Friday I had to work from 11 am to 9 pm. This seriously cut into my waiting on line for HBP. I went directly from work to the sidewalk of the store where I bought HBP. Oddly enough, it was just me (in my lawn chair) and another (empty) lawn chair. The other person usually beats me to the store, and as she is friends with the owner of the store they impressed her into labor. As I was sitting in my chair, and enjoying just sitting after standing on my feet for 9 hours, I noticed there was a news truck. So for about two hours there was me sitting in my lawn chair, and the camera guy and news guy sitting in their truck, and an empty lawn chair. So around 10:30 the news guy asked me if I was camera shy, I said no, and I was interviewed on the 11 o'clock news!
It was pretty exciting.
I managed to finish the book on Saturday night after reading for about 2.5 hours after getting the book. I, unfortunately, had to be at work at 9:30 the next morning, so I couldn't read it through.
My thoughts on the book?
HOW DIFFERENT WAS IT?!?!?!?!
I had to say, after reading the chapter titles, I knew that Dumbledore was the one who died (White tomb? Come on....) but never suspected SNAPE as the half-blood prince. Wow. I was with Hermione on thinking it was a girl though. I really was sure the HBP was going to be a girl.
So many awesome things. One thing I liked is that she referred back to GoF sort of. Remember that line, You have the choice between doing what is right and doing what is easy? I was thinking of that the whole time Harry was using the potions book.
I loved the back stories that JKR included. We now know why the DADA position is cursed, we know more about Harry's mum, we know which mugggles know of the wizarding world, we know who the new minister is, we know Harry's alligence, we know Snape's parentage, we know Draco is slightly evil and really pathetic, we know that Dementors breed (which really freaked me out when I read it- that's such an evil line JKR, I need to know more!!!), we know about Voldemort's past, we know WHY VOLDEMORT DIDN'T DIE!!! (That part really got me!)
Also, no Hogwarts next year?!?! Did not see that coming. I especially liked how obviously Ron and Hermione were willing to come with Harry on his quest. Think about what that means for Hermione. She's willing to drop SCHOOL for him. That's friendship right there when you consider her character.
And what's friendship without love? The Ron and Hermione relationship was so well done- especially Harry's comments on how far girls are willing to go for revenge. I loved how both Ron and Hermione bumbled around, and yet Ron is still in the dark (though I'm not sure how long that will last). The Harry/Ginny relationship was built nicely too (loved that Harry was grateful Ron wasn't a legimancer) but I don't think the ending was satisfactory. I knew that Harry wasn't likely to stay with Ginny given the situation, but I'm not sure how I feel about her accepting it. I think I expected more resistence (but then again, who knows what JKR has planned for 7). I liked that Ginny knew what he was going to do. In my mind, the only way I can understand her letting Harry go after not giving up on him for 6 years is that she understands what makes Harry tick. I think she might realize that Harry has to go after the Horcruxes, because that's Harry. I do have a sneaking suspicion that Ginny may be tagging along on this quest.
Speaking of tagalongs, how sad was the line about how only Neville and Luna still regularly checking their DA coins because they were the ones who missed it the most? I felt really bad for both of their characters then. After the Ministry of Magic incident, I had expected that Neville and Luna would be included in more trio activities. I do think that both of them will be important for the next book- there's more to both characters than we've seen so far.
Also, heroes. Harry now is alone in the world. Yes, he has friends, but no adult figures to count on anymore. Think about it. Dumbledore was the last real adult with any power over Harry's actions. The Weasley's, Lupin, Tonks, McGonagal- all are in his peripheral life. They influence him slightly, but none have really shown Harry the same dedication that Sirius or Dumbledore showed him. Harry now has no choice but to grow up in book 7. Afterall, he now has a quest to go on!
Speaking of, how awful was it when the fake Horcrux was revealed? I honestly started to sniffle. After all that!
Dumbledore's funeral brought tears to my eyes. It was such a beautiful and moving chapter- you have normal life going on, groups of all people gathering together to celebrate the life of an amazing man. The merpeople chorus was a beautiful tribute. But I'm still uneasy about Dumbledore's death. Who's side is Snape on? Harry was harping on Snape and Malfoy the entire book, which i thought was really annoying because they didn't seem to be doing anything- but then he was right. Snape willingly took an unbreakable oath to kill Dumbledore if Draco was unable to. He essentially sentenced Dumbledore to death. Dumbledore was pleading at the end. It was so heartbreaking that passage. Harry seeing his powerful mentor helpless and pleading for his life, and he can't even scream. At this point it's hard for me to believe Dumbledore that something in Snape is rooting for the right side.
Why did (sob!) Dumbledore trust Snape so much? We now know that it was Snape who heard the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort- but not what made Dumbledore think Snape was on their side. And this is what confuses me. JKR has a habbit of making her readers think one thing, and then completely turning it on its head. I can't even predict how this is going to go...
It was pretty exciting.
I managed to finish the book on Saturday night after reading for about 2.5 hours after getting the book. I, unfortunately, had to be at work at 9:30 the next morning, so I couldn't read it through.
My thoughts on the book?
HOW DIFFERENT WAS IT?!?!?!?!
I had to say, after reading the chapter titles, I knew that Dumbledore was the one who died (White tomb? Come on....) but never suspected SNAPE as the half-blood prince. Wow. I was with Hermione on thinking it was a girl though. I really was sure the HBP was going to be a girl.
So many awesome things. One thing I liked is that she referred back to GoF sort of. Remember that line, You have the choice between doing what is right and doing what is easy? I was thinking of that the whole time Harry was using the potions book.
I loved the back stories that JKR included. We now know why the DADA position is cursed, we know more about Harry's mum, we know which mugggles know of the wizarding world, we know who the new minister is, we know Harry's alligence, we know Snape's parentage, we know Draco is slightly evil and really pathetic, we know that Dementors breed (which really freaked me out when I read it- that's such an evil line JKR, I need to know more!!!), we know about Voldemort's past, we know WHY VOLDEMORT DIDN'T DIE!!! (That part really got me!)
Also, no Hogwarts next year?!?! Did not see that coming. I especially liked how obviously Ron and Hermione were willing to come with Harry on his quest. Think about what that means for Hermione. She's willing to drop SCHOOL for him. That's friendship right there when you consider her character.
And what's friendship without love? The Ron and Hermione relationship was so well done- especially Harry's comments on how far girls are willing to go for revenge. I loved how both Ron and Hermione bumbled around, and yet Ron is still in the dark (though I'm not sure how long that will last). The Harry/Ginny relationship was built nicely too (loved that Harry was grateful Ron wasn't a legimancer) but I don't think the ending was satisfactory. I knew that Harry wasn't likely to stay with Ginny given the situation, but I'm not sure how I feel about her accepting it. I think I expected more resistence (but then again, who knows what JKR has planned for 7). I liked that Ginny knew what he was going to do. In my mind, the only way I can understand her letting Harry go after not giving up on him for 6 years is that she understands what makes Harry tick. I think she might realize that Harry has to go after the Horcruxes, because that's Harry. I do have a sneaking suspicion that Ginny may be tagging along on this quest.
Speaking of tagalongs, how sad was the line about how only Neville and Luna still regularly checking their DA coins because they were the ones who missed it the most? I felt really bad for both of their characters then. After the Ministry of Magic incident, I had expected that Neville and Luna would be included in more trio activities. I do think that both of them will be important for the next book- there's more to both characters than we've seen so far.
Also, heroes. Harry now is alone in the world. Yes, he has friends, but no adult figures to count on anymore. Think about it. Dumbledore was the last real adult with any power over Harry's actions. The Weasley's, Lupin, Tonks, McGonagal- all are in his peripheral life. They influence him slightly, but none have really shown Harry the same dedication that Sirius or Dumbledore showed him. Harry now has no choice but to grow up in book 7. Afterall, he now has a quest to go on!
Speaking of, how awful was it when the fake Horcrux was revealed? I honestly started to sniffle. After all that!
Dumbledore's funeral brought tears to my eyes. It was such a beautiful and moving chapter- you have normal life going on, groups of all people gathering together to celebrate the life of an amazing man. The merpeople chorus was a beautiful tribute. But I'm still uneasy about Dumbledore's death. Who's side is Snape on? Harry was harping on Snape and Malfoy the entire book, which i thought was really annoying because they didn't seem to be doing anything- but then he was right. Snape willingly took an unbreakable oath to kill Dumbledore if Draco was unable to. He essentially sentenced Dumbledore to death. Dumbledore was pleading at the end. It was so heartbreaking that passage. Harry seeing his powerful mentor helpless and pleading for his life, and he can't even scream. At this point it's hard for me to believe Dumbledore that something in Snape is rooting for the right side.
Why did (sob!) Dumbledore trust Snape so much? We now know that it was Snape who heard the prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort- but not what made Dumbledore think Snape was on their side. And this is what confuses me. JKR has a habbit of making her readers think one thing, and then completely turning it on its head. I can't even predict how this is going to go...