I still have to finish these trivia questions for the Tiger... *sigh*
I've been listening to NPR podcasts again. They are Potter-crazy over there! Stories on Chinese bootleg Harry Potter, an story on Arthur Levine, even a piece on Wizard Rock. National Public Radio, people. This isn't... well, fine, they did have that bit about Soylent Green, but...
Okay, fine. They're a rather silly network.
Also: I want to criticize the NPR listeners for e-mailing so many Harry Potter stories, but then I look at what most of this week's posts have ended up being about. Fortunately, that streak ends... After this.
Thoughts on Half-Blood Prince:
- I said it two years ago, and I'll say it again today: when J. K. Rowling reversed the trend and wrote a Harry Potter that was two-hundred-odd pages shorter than the previous tome, it was not (as one might fear) a case of making the book's weight any less. It appears she just took away the cushioning, to be sure you really felt it when she walloped you.
- On the other hand: I didn't feel the mood of the school nearly so well as I did in other books. In Order of the Pheonix, Umbridge is always lurking about: her aura permeates the school. Here, though, I honestly felt like there was less fear at Hogwarts now than there had been in The Chamber of Secrets. And maybe there was; after all, the danger was closer when it was the basilisk. But the impact of dozens of wizards dying every month just didn't seem to affect the school's mood as much as a freaking year-long sporting event. It's understandable, really: like Fred and George, Harry is mentally finished with school long before he's out the door. But at times, the middle of the book seems far less cohesive than it should have been.
- That said: I think this is still my favorite. Because you don't read a book for the middle: you read it for the end, and the death of Dumbledore.. God. It's hard to say, but I think it works better than Sirius's death: the delayed shock, the, and at last, the hard, certain truth that Harry is, ultimately, his own best protector. It is just such a stark revelation. If you've been reading the same book that I've been reading, and you don't at least mist up over it... Well, God help you.
- Oddly, I'd sort of remembered Ginny and Harry ending their relationship in a "I'll come back for you" sort of way. On rereading, it seems sort of final. But then, Harry doesn't know that he'll be done with it, for better or worse, in less than eight hundred pages. So, still hopeful on that front.
- Snape: Just to get this out of the way, as far as I can tell the only thread which could leave Severus Snape guilty a traitor is this: Dumbledore would be wrong. By which I mean that, until now, Dumbledore's wisdom has never really been doubted. Which, thematically, is problematic. Even Dumbledore makes mistakes, and for some reason, not telling Harry Potter about the prophesy has never struck me as an especially terrible one. On the other hand, having Harry be wrong about Snape being evil is certainly a more important lesson to learn than having everyone be wrong that Dumbledore must be right when he says Snape is trustworthy, and every other shred of evidence, both thematic and factual, points at an exoneration when examined from a reasonably neutral frame of mind.
- Dumbledore is dead though. Of this, I'm more than convinced, and if he pops up again I'll be most put out even though I'll love every moment regardless.
- I don't care what Harry thinks on the matter. I like Slughorn.
- Draco... Draco is a bit of a problem. And while other people may be more curious about what become of Snape, I honestly feel like Draco's damnation or salvation is more uncertain. Because, for the first time, Draco here can't hide the chinks in his armor: before, the worst he ever proved was upset when Lucius was sent to Azkaban. Now, though, he is uncertain, and afraid, and is slowly coming to the realization that despite all his brave words and hatred, he doesn't have what it takes. Perhaps it's just that Dumbledore (unlike all the other people who he has it in for) never did anything to him. There is a chance at redemption. I hope he'll take it.
- Funny, isn't it, how Wormtail was on three freaking pages in the second chapter, and was never heard from again. It could mean nothing. But somehow, I don't think so. Especially given he's in the company of the other turncoat. There is something up with that.
- Things really escalate, hormone wise. Book Seven is going to have an orgy, hand to God. Mind you, by "Book Seven", I mean "half of the fan-fic resulting from Book Seven". Talking of which...
Alden's Idiot Ideas for Harry Potter Fanfic.
6. Harry Potter Must Die: It's no secret that Harry Potter has collected a number of enemies over the years. However, he aquires more than a few extra's over the course of Half-Blood Prince. Not Dark Wizards, though. Just students that, for whatever reason, hate Harry Potter's guts. For stealing their girlfriend, for not making Ron stay with them, for undermining their one chance to play Quidditch for Gryffindor, for not dating them, for letting their relationship fall apart, for... I'm honestly not sure what he did to get Zacharias Smith's goat, but it's apparent that something went wrong.
None of them want Harry Potter to die, goodness no. But... Well, Hogwarts is a dangerous place, after all...
This "fanfic ideas" idea was a terrible idea, and I apologize..