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

[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

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

[skoolmunkee]

Thanks for fixing my Fudge. :) I did write that around 3am or so.

1. Draco

He was probably just using that bathroom because he knew no one went there. He could have used the Room of Requirement, but maybe he wanted someone to comfort him a bit rather than be all by himself. I don't think anything's "up" with them (beyond what Myrtle may think), he was just a stressed kid who realized he bit off more than he could chew and was afraid of the consequences.

I think his parents are going to be killed by V. I think that will turn him to Harry's side (even though he may hate it).

2. HBP

I kind of think that the books are almost as much about Snape as they are about Harry. The HBP revelation at the end was pretty lame, but it does make you think that maybe the book is about Snape. Certainly Snape is the most complex character, and she's not been very forthcoming about why Snape does what he does. Although the books are about Harry, I feel like by the end of it, we'll have learned the most from (and feel the most strongly about) Snape. He

[emminou]

Drive-by comment:

Something is going to have to happen in book 7 that forces him to really shape up. Otherwise we're going to see a pretty anticlimatic ending.

They'll be standing there, locked in the final battle... which will, for one reason or another, be in a darkened room. Panicking, Harry will struggle to remember a spell, any spell, as Voldemort draws nearer. Finally, he'll cry: "Lumos!" and VOldemort, startled, will tumble to the ground crying, "My eyes! My beautiful, beautiful eyes!"

The End

[klawzie]

Will write out a reply where I'm coherant later - too tired right now to really think much. >_>

So I link you to a funny post about the Ships in HBP: LINK. The original post is interesting too. This is also to save this link for me for later. >_>

[pebbles12300426]

Good book. Finished it the Sunday after. In my opinion, it wasn't her best. I enjoyed reading the 5th book better, not just because there was more to read, but I felt like she put more detail and effort. With this onw, it felt a little like she rushed it, just to get it on the presses and out to the fans. However, on her official website, she said herself that she's never been more satisfied when finishing a book than she has with this one. But, enough about that. It was a very good book, and I'm excited to see what happens next, especially now that Harry won't be going back to Hogwarts (how will he become an auror if he doesn't take his N.E.W.T's?).

[klawzie]

In an interview, JKR implied that he might not ever become an Auror... of course, that might have just been her being coy. ;) But he possibly might go to Hogwarts anyway, or if Hogwarts does close until the whole Voldemort thing is over, then perhaps he'll be able to come back and do it that way. Assuming he doesn't die, of course.

[pebbles12300426]

Of course! :)