[Jake]

For those who haven't yet finished the book... ahem.


I figured this thread was moderately essential so here it is.

I just stayed up until 3:30am for the second night in a row and have finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I don't really know what to make of it though. So, thread time.

First off a bit of a "shut up" disclaimer: I am a big sucker for Harry Potter books. I like them quite a lot. I can fully understand why some people don't like them, and that's fine, but if that's you, this isn't really your thread. Yes, it's clear that the books have the potential to be considered wholly unappealing by some, so pointing out that you don't like them (or worse, pointing out that for some reason your opinion of me is lowered because I have enjoyed reading a book that you for some reason dislike, refuse to read, are bored by, or are morally or politically or socially against) doesn't really serve any point other than raise your own self esteem a bit, so you can just PM those thoughts to yourself if you'd like.

For a few years as the first two or three books were coming out I was pretty pissed at the whole thing - I thought it was stupid as hell that everyone was going gaga over what to me sounded like a series of utterly trite Tolkein/Pratchett/Lewis/Favorite-fantasy-author-here ripoffs that people were only reading because they were for some reason "the popular thing that all the kids are reading." Fortunately my mom eventually coaxed me into picking up the first book, and it was burned through in a night, followed by the second and third over the following weekend.

To those who are familiar (possibly too familiar in some cases) with the Harry Potter books, it probably comes as no surprise that I was shocked to find out that they weren't so much standard watered down childrens fantasy stories as they were a gigantic single-thread epic coming of age story, with some genuinely creative fantasy inventions sprinkled around and wedged into all the corners. The Harry Potter books reminded me of a sort of boiled down and reprocessed epic version of the standout best parts of the kids comedy/action/adventre movies I grew up on in and around the 80's (Goonies, Adventures in Babysitting, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, yadda yadda yadda), where the characters, the lessons, the action, and the gimmicks and twist that keep the story unique from all the other ones like it all successfully play off each other to create a surprisingly fulfilling and resonant (but extremely fun and thrilling) story.

I read a lot of stuff. My personal (unfortunately small) library of books is pretty all over the place, from the cheeziest airport thriller/suspense novels to slightly offputting (but interesting) academic textbooks and essays that I've occasionally, mysteriously, bought to read "for fun" outside of school. Errrm I'm losing my point here. Anyway what I'm trying to say is, for some mysterious reason when I read Harry Potter books, they infect my mind. That isn't to say that I think they're somehow "so amazingly good" that they have this effect on my brain - I could name plenty of books I like more than the Harry Potter series - but there is something about them that just bores a hole into my mind and makes a home there. I am hesitant to admit this, but about every 4 out of 5 nights that I go to bed after reading a Harry Potter book, the scenes and characters from the book will infect my dreams. I wake up two or three times a night, and think to myself, "oh Jesus Christ, I was just on a Hogwarts adventure." It is as embarassing as it is inevitable. No other books, movies, games, music do this to me. It is weird. They hit me in a very weird way.

So with all that in mind, I found myself last night, at about 40 minutes past midnight, curled up on a friends couch with my newly purchased copy of Harry Potter 6.

That was a lot more than I intended to write.

What I mostly want to say about Half Blood Prince is that while I was pretty much owned by the first two chapters, I was sort of bored with the entire middle of the book as I was reading it. It, for the longest time, felt entirely on rails, like a huge bunch of padding that was simply going through the motions.

I felt, after the closing events of book five and the looming inevitable fact that the series has to end with book seven, that I was reading nothing but a bunch of filler. Yeah, the comedy Dursleys, Uncle Vernon is "bristling." Yeah new teacher, look at his eccentricies, his crazy mustache. Hagrid is upset, no he's actually crying, apologetic, and appreciative. Even the "mystery" that Harry is working on seems half assed - nobody in the book gives a shit. Worst of all, the parts that were usually really entertaining and full of goofy padding and subtle quips by Rowling (the classroom scenes, sporting events, banter between the kids, and most notably Diagon Alley) were completely barren. All they seemed to do in class was genuinely learn things, the sports stuff (which I don't usually like all that much, but it at least reads in a fast paced interesting way which is different from the rest of the story) seemed like an afterthought, the kids spent most of the middle of the book hardly talking at all and when they did they almost never exhibited any of the personality or charm that made them interesting to read in the first 5 books, and Diagon Alley which is usually packed with as much insanity and entertaining detail as Rowling can stuff in while avoiding becoming tacky (or at least, while avoiding becoming too tacky) was the most desolate dull thing I think I've read in a Potter book, with nothing but wandering around and closed up shops.

Given the events at the end of the book, I think that all of the gripes I had about the middle of the book were very deliberate choices by Rowling, but I still don't know if she pulled them off. Much like how the fifth book was basically a deliberate exercise in making both Harry and the reader spend a huge amount of time feel extremely frustrated and in the dark, the sixth book seems to be deliberately trying to make everything feel extremely desolate and bleak. I mean, I think Rowling deliberately took the fun out of a lot of things, but I think she failed to come up with a compelling thing to put in its place.

I don't really know what to say other than that. I mean, I was just sort of disappointed to discover that I was actually feeling bored with the middle of the book. I have been consistantly amazed that, in my opinion, Rowling kept things fresh and interesting through five books. The sixth one is the first time I ever felt like the story was just plodding along through the motions, without the "story has a life of its own" feeling the other books had.

Don't get me wrong, that feeling changed for me by the last third or fourth of the book (which I think I read without blinking, finished, and then put down quietly and sat around for a bit), and made me appreciate the earlier stuff a little more, but in the end I can't help but feeling a little emptier this time around than I did with Potters first five outings.

Anyway, what did you guys think?

[Jake]

I think I came off a little more negative there than I intended. I was just sort of put off by about chapters 3-10 or something (out of 30 chapters) but it climbed uphill steadily from there. And, of course, by "put off" I really mean "am not quite as entertained as I have been by the past Harry Potter books, but clearly still entertained enough to continue reading."

[Fairygdmther]

Jake - what a wonderful testament to a book series! Your enthusiasm is infectious and you gave it such a personal touch. Great review! I haven't yet read any, but I have books 1-4 sitting right behind me - just need to find the time to begin! The big selling point for me was your telling how the books "infect" you, and you dream in the story line for days afterwards. To me that is a sign of a very well written book, if it can capture you in this way. There are few authors that can acheive this "gripping" of their readers' minds - Stephen King comes to mind for me.

Despite your initial disclaimer, (offense is the best defense), I'm glad you took the time to write this - it is very compelling, and dispels any of the "it's for kids" kind of criticism.

Lynsie

[omloflump]

Here's my review:

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (terrible title, I know) is the latest in a seemingly endless line of second-rate children's fantasy novels by J.K. Rowling. The plot, as far as I could make out, concerned Harry's expulsion from the Hogwarts school which seems to have been caused by a suspicious misunderstanding. Determined to get to the bottom of the situation, the protagonist embarks on yet another journey and meets up with the eponymous Prince.

Tedious doesn't begin to describe it. There is a fifty page chapter that does little more then detail Harry Potter's preparations for bed, and information already given in the previous books is repeated at every turn. But what I found most disturbing about this book was a chilling section that is a clear allegory for September 11. In it, Harry and his friends set out on a hunt for the culprit responsible for burning down a section of their school and find him hiding in cave. A conversation ensues that serves no purpose other then to give Rowling a place to vent her ultra-right-wing views.

Even on the most basic level, the book is a failure. Take this passage, for instance:
"Harry turned and saw a huge man with a large cape and flaring nostrils and wide ears. Harry immediately started to run. The man chased him. Harry continued running. So did the man. Harry found daylight at last. The man also found daylight at last. Harry quickly hid behind a bush. The man couldn't find him."
And that's not even the worst of it.

J.K. Rowling currently gets paid $2000 dollars a word, no wonder the books get larger and larger every time.

[tabacco]

Originally Posted by Jake

Anyway, what did you guys think?

I think you should loan me the book

[lumi]

Originally Posted by omloflump

Even on the most basic level, the book is a failure. Take this passage, for instance:
"Harry turned and saw a huge man with a large cape and flaring nostrils and wide ears. Harry immediately started to run. The man chased him. Harry continued running. So did the man. Harry found daylight at last. The man also found daylight at last. Harry quickly hid behind a bush. The man couldn't find him."
And that's not even the worst of it.

I think that's kind of funny, actually.

[Jake]

Did you just make that up? I don't remember it being anywhere in the book. Also most people accuse Harry Potter books of being too left, not right-wing.

[Lucien21]

Just finished reading it.

Initial impressions

Man was this a pile of crap. It was nothing we havn't seen before in the other 5 books. It felt like the entire point of the book was a stop gap/ set-up for the 7th and final novel. I hope she breaks from the school formula and at last tries something different.

I was seriously bored by the 5th chapter and it never got any better.

Someone should teach her how to write death scenes. This is the second major one and like the Sirius death it emoted nothing. She also telegraphed who was going to die in both cases it was painfully obvious.

It felt like oh right he's dead, but on the other hand we have a wedding to plan. There was no emotional reaction at all from me or any of the characters.

I really hope with all the phoenix motives etc that she doesn't try the old Obi Wan/Gandalf trick of resurrecting Dumblebore. The "Death" by Snape was all part of the plan etc etc

There was just far too much blabbering. Although all the back story about Voldemort was vaguely interesting, but just another case of Potter standing around talking to death.

I mean do any of them actually do anything in this book. Hermionie does very little, Ron snogs alot, Hagrid is hardly in it, Draco's missing for most of the novel.

Overall

[Jake]

That's pretty much how I feel, except I really thought the ending was done well, and did a fair job of pulling the rest of the book back up out of the pit of nothingness it was busy wallowing in. But yeah, the entire thing sort of felt like an extended middle-of-a-Harry-Potter-book (which it was, since it's largely just a huge bridge between 5 and 7), which as we all know is generally the dullest part of any of them.

[syntheticgerbil]

Originally Posted by Jake

Did you just make that up? I don't remember it being anywhere in the book. Also most people accuse Harry Potter books of being too left, not right-wing.

It's that god damn liberal conspiracy!!!

[Jazhara7]

I liked it. I noticed that there wasn't as much action, but that was kind of welcome for me. Reading of them having completed their O.W.L.S. made me remember that I will get back my I.G.C.S.E. Scores in August...I'm scared.


Although I found that a great amount of the time was spent with them "abusing" people they did not like, and people coming up to them, saying "Harry Potter, I've got a message for you." ("You've got mail!"), I still think it was a lot better than the last book - I wanted to whack the "Woe is me!"-Harry around the head with the octavo, and tell him to get a grip, most of the the time (seriously, I was sad when Sirius died, for he was one of my favourite characters, but there's only so much you can grieve.)

When I read that Dumbledore is dead, I cried. I had seen it coming all the time, but something inside me didn't want to believe that it would happen, while at the same time I knew that there was no way around it, even if Rowling had wanted to keep him alive. It had to happen.

I am glad that we have seen more of him (the following covers the name of the character that dies, so if you haven't read the book yet, DON'T highlight it, and get out of here! )

Spoiler:

Dumbledore

than we have ever before, before he died.

However, I wondered if I am the only one that noticed, that again the "curse" on the DADA teacher post has proven true, for obviously Snape is not coming back to Hogwarts very soon. With Snape having been put into that post, it was obvious that *something* would have to happen, so that he won't be able to keep that post. And at the beginning it became pretty clear that that something involved either Snape going over to the Dark Side (*insert Imperial March here*), or his death. Still, I did not suspect *this*.


-

[Lucien21]

You didn't need the spoiler tags. You mentioned who dies a couple of sentances before it.

Besides the thread is about spoilers.



As for Dumblebore he will be back in the next book either as a ghost or as one of the pictures on the headmasters wall.

Mark my words.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

You didn't need the spoiler tags. You mentioned who dies a couple of sentances before it.

Besides the thread is about spoilers.



As for Dumblebore he will be back in the next book either as a ghost or as one of the pictures on the headmasters wall.

Mark my words.

First of all, what happened to your "I am a Tiger!" avatar?


Second, if she dares that, I think I'll kill her...or at least strangle her to near death.

She didn't bring Sirius back in any way, so why should she bring back Dumbledore?


What I *do* think might happen is, that the new painting of Dumbledore in his old office might play a role in Book 7. The paintings in Hogwarts seemed a lot more alive and intelligent than other magical paintings (for example the pictures of Harry's Parents, which only seem to wave). I mean, they even involved themselves in conversations, and you could adress them and tell them to do something (if they were willing to do so was another question).


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[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

First of all, what happened to your "I am a Tiger!" avatar?

You don't like Calvin

What about Dancing Hobbes instead.


I'm just playing around with my Avatar.


P.s Rowling made a big thing about the picure in Dumbledore's study moving and talking that I think Dumbledore will be in one of those pictures in the next book.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

You don't like Calvin

What about Dancing Hobbes instead.


I'm just playing around with my Avatar.

Oh, I do like Calvin. I was just wondering - the tiger was so cute! But dancing Hobbes is great too.


-

[RLacey]

Surely Dumbledore's painting will now have to play an Obi-Wan like mentor role?

As for the book, I thought it was better than the previous one, which was genuinely far longer than it needed to be. I also liked the fact that it wasn't just a huge fight with Voldemort (given that he never actually appears).

Genuinely better than the last book, I reckon. What I dislike is having to wait a few years now to find out what happens at the end ...

[BenjaminBunny]

[zen] I liked it. [/zen]

that's all I have to say.

[nordic_guy]

Well, it was definitely different from the previous five books, but I think it needed to be. I felt like this book was just a preparation for the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. Harry learns everything he needs to learn to be able to put the final pieces together, Harry's (second) mentor dies so Harry can face his enemy alone (which is necessary, of course), and everyone around him simply grows up.

I think that's why the fifth and sixth book for me is different from the previous four. The friendship between Harry/Ron/Hermione isn't that strong anymore. They seemed to be together in every scene in the first couple of books, but now they are kind of doing their own things. The romance this time felt a little forced, though. I had a hard time picturing Harry and Ginny's sudden relationship.

The most interesting thing was the relationship between Harry and the Half-Blood Prince. Snape even says at one point that he has never been able to learn Harry anything, yet he's the reason Harry gets through Potions that year. I think this relationship will be important in the final book. Harry might find it necessary to work together with Snape to defeat Voldemort.
Especially now that Snape has been so loyal to Dumbledore.

[Jake]

Good points about Snape. I suspect in the final book we'll see Snape either finally figure it out about Harry not being a shit like he thinks he is (or Snape will die), and we'll probably be seeing Harry save Draco's life, which will twist things up a bit. Also I expect Harry and Luna to become an item. Why did I suddenly just start rambling predictions off? Oh well, there they are.

[Lucien21]

Originally Posted by Jake

Good points about Snape. I suspect in the final book we'll see Snape either finally figure it out about Harry not being a shit like he thinks he is (or Snape will die), and we'll probably be seeing Harry save Draco's life, which will twist things up a bit. Also I expect Harry and Luna to become an item. Why did I suddenly just start rambling predictions off? Oh well, there they are.

Maybe the Star Wars rip-off will continue.

Snape is really Harry's father and Harry will convinve him he still has some good in him and Snape will kill the evil emporer Voldemort. As long as there are no Ewoks (dammit there are elfs)

Seriously though,

I can't see Harry and Luna as he told Ginny he had to stop seeing her so she wouldn't get hurt.

I don't think book 7 will take place at the school at all. Harry will be going around trying to destroy those soul fragments and then fight Voldemort but will die in the process.