Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

[dwndrgn]

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

I devoured this sixth and next-to-last volume of the Harry Potter saga in a matter of several hours; along with what seems to be at least half of the known population.

Harry Potter has become a teenager. Not only does he have to worry about saving the Wizarding and Muggle worlds, he must worry about school, sports and girlfriends.

At the end of the fifth book, we readers learn about a prison break from Azkaban. Clearly we knew that the Dark Lord was gathering his minions and preparing to remove any wizard who got in his way.

But, it is back to school for Harry and his friends. Harry is now the captain of the Gryffindor Quiddich team and must put together a new roster. The three friends also have new classes and a new professor to deal with. Add a healthy dose of teenage hormones , Draco Malfoy's antics, Harry's private 'lessons' with Dumbledore and the heightened security at the school and it's environs and you've got yourself a captivating story.

I won't say this is the best written book ever, as a matter of fact, in my opinion it had a couple of problems. However, it was enjoyable, fast-paced and well-worded. Rowling seems to have a knack for conversation - this isn't an author who's dialog sounds 'scripted' in the heads of her readers. She brings these characters to life, moves them through their world realistically and includes a fascinating mix of magic creatures, potions, wands, spells and mystery. For those dying to know, the author does reveal who the Half-Blood Prince is. I won't tell though , you'll have to find that out for yourself.

As for the few problems I had? I found a large passage at the beginning of the book to be completely unneccessary to the story. It seemed to have been put there just because. The only other issue I had with the author's work was the overdone repetition of a certain word later on in the story. Other than that and a typo that the publisher obviously missed, I enjoyed this book a great deal. I had a hard time putting it down while I was into it and will definitely be reading it again soon.

Enjoy!
dwndrgn

[Mayhs]

I have not read the book, but from what my friends have told me and my brother...its not a very good book...they say she(J.K Rowling) has lost the 'magic'...we could be wrong, but i think its a case of we are older now and find it less appealing.

oh yeh...gd review btw

[Hypes]

I actually really enjoyed the prologue of sorts with the PM. Though coincidental, it was intersected curiously with current events, in a way.

I'm about 2/3rds through the book, and though it's far from the best literary high I've had, there's little that can compete with being reunited with HP & Co for a few hundred pages.

[MoonLover]

I was disappointed by the book. Compared to the previous works, I found it to be too full of unnecessary dialogue. Teenage angst and pg rated snogging just don't do it for me, I suppose! A good portion of the book involves Harry suspecting Malfoy and the others disagreeing with his theories. By the hundredth "I think he's up to something", I was getting ready to drop the lot of them in the bog of eternal stench. The only real action has to wait until the final two chapters, and it's a long slog to get to them! Rowling has set up the next and final book quite well though, and I had no clues as to who the Prince was until it was revealed. But as a whole, I felt bored and restless as I was reading, which is not a good sign for me anyway. Certainly not something I'd want to read again.
Karen

[Alia]

Nice review Dwndrgn.

I personally loved the book and will have to admit, it's the best of all so far. I'm looking forward to the last book and am a little upset it's going be years before I can find out how it all ends.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. The witty humour JK Rowling displayed and the whole snogging thing was fun. The conversations excellently written. And it was a very easy delightful read, made me feel young again.

[Rane Longfox]

Rowling is getting better everytime she picks up a pen. Writing wise, at least. Her storylines are never the most impressive, and still not. still, at least in this book she had the bravery to partically ignore the strict guidlines that have been in her writing, like the school year... there was a lot less concentration on the lessons, and more on the actual plot, which was refreshing to see.

I anticipate book seven being huge though. To wrap up so many threads... wow.



*****SPOILERIFIC*****














And I'm very glad that another of the authors I read apart from Erikson has finally plucked up the courage to kill off someone so major to the storyline. Makes a refreshing change

[data]

Not a regular write in here, but here goes. Finished the book yesterday, since I was away in the week end, and the first thing my sister tells me is Dumbledore dies! Talk about a major spoiler and the excuse is that everybody knew about it.

So.... In some way the book failed to live up to my expectations but then I realised it is after all a children's book, and that is reflected in pretty much all the storyline and dialogue.. the continuous snogging.. feelings of jealousy.. fighting between friends.. But Rowling is a poor writer of emotions.

The title is also disappointing.. All that hype to find that it is Snape after all and that is blown is just one sentence " i am the half blood prince"!

The obssession with Malfoy seems a bit too much, although justified at the end. I keep thinking that there might be another twist in the end and that Snape would prove Harry wrong and the trust that Dumbledore put in him justified. We never found out why Dumbledore really trusted him (the explanation given in the book does't quite stack up). The logic is more kid stuff, rather than being rational.

The ending gives some clues to what Rowling wants Harry to do like chase up Voldermort but serioiusly? He can't do spells correctly and without the protection of Dumbledore and Sirius,he will be in deep trouble pretty soon....

[garreth Jacks]

How much did you lot pay of it

[Leto]

15 minutes on the Web.

[Winters_Sorrow]

I finished this book this morning and pretty much echo what's already been said - It was much better than book 5 and was an 'easy' read, in that at no point did I really feel I was forcing my way through it.

***SPOILERS***




As for the various revelations:
I didn't really see the point of the whole "Half-Blood Prince" thing - it seemed to be a dangerous distraction to what Voldemort & Dumbledore were up to and didn't really do more to advance the plot.

The death I saw coming quite a way off - there was almost a 'Top Gun' moment - "I'll tell you everything when we get back Harry....argh!"
However, did anyone else get the feeling that Dumbledore knew exactly what was going to happen?
Disarmed by a 16yr old? Please. I think Dumbledore sacrificed himself to put Snape in the Death Eater's midst - no questions asked. Snape is therefore perfectly placed to land the killing blow on Voldemort after Harry's got all his Horcruxes.

All in all, Rowling's got what she wanted - a nice fat book with lots appearing to happen and a nice cliffhanger ending to ensure similar hysteria when the last book comes out.

p.s. odd how Voldemort doesn't get a single appearance in this 600 page novel isn't it?

[Alia]

p.s. odd how Voldemort doesn't get a single appearance in this 600 page novel isn't it?

That is odd, and didn't even notice it until now.

Interesting theory on Dumbledore, btw, WS.

[Hypes]

Finished it a day ago and though it was enjoyable, I'm a bit disappointed as to what really happened in the book: nothing (apart from Dumbledore being snuffed, what else did really happen? Everything else is far too ambivalent to be conclusive, still). But a very good prologue to number seven, I'd say.

[Winters_Sorrow]

Originally Posted by Hypes

Finished it a day ago and though it was enjoyable, I'm a bit disappointed as to what really happened in the book: nothing (apart from Dumbledore being snuffed, what else did really happen? Everything else is far too ambivalent to be conclusive, still). But a very good prologue to number seven, I'd say.

I think that's been the trouble over the last couple of books, really.
Rowling's always said that she's know the ending of the story ever since she wrote the first book.
Possibly she's stretched it too far in an attempt to delve into her own mythology and has moved away from the core of the story (which is Harry vs Voldemort) a little. That would explain the relative meanderings of the last 2 books as opposed to the tighter structure of the previous.
I expect book 7 to be much more focused.

[NSMike]

Book 7 should be very interesting indeed - From the setup Rowling left at the end of this one, it looks like she's chucking the familiar structure of a typical year at hogwarts, delving into a new world, possibly in preparation for the "Post-Harry" (her term, not mine) part of her career as an author. Maybe we'll see Rowling take on some fantasy targeted at the audience that HP started with? Something a little more adult, perhaps? We know at this point that she's certainly not afraid to write about dark subjects. Any speculation on if she'll actually do this, or just rest on her laurels after HP, enjoying her multi-millionaire status?

[nemogbr]

No way that Dumbledore is dead. Good way to set up the next book.

I was going to buy it the day it came out, but found out that it was on sale that night at 1 minute past midnight.

So ended up browsing in the bookstore for another four hours.

Well, didn't guess who the half-blood Prince was until it was told to my face.