I've finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and I have to talk about it and none of my friends particularly want me to spoil it for them, so I'm putting it here. So, if you haven't read it yet. Don't read this.
Seriously. Don't read this if you don't want to be spoiled. I debate most of the book. I reveal who dies, what happens next, and who the Half-Blood Prince is. So if you haven't read the book Don't Read This.
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Alright, if you're still reading obviously you want to be spoiled, so here goes...
I really liked this book. Not the best in the series, but I liked it better than Order of the Phoenix, that's for sure.
I'll admit it, it took me all of fifteen minutes to flip to the back and find out who died. I wasn't even remotely surprised since I had been predicting Dumbledore's death since I heard that a major character was going to die.
I was surprised by how much the idea bothered me. I started crying then and it took me a few minutes to get back to the book and then when I actually got to that part--I sobbed.
I also never for a million years predicted any of the stuff with Snape. I honestly thought he was a good guy, on Dumbledore's side. The idea that he could murder Dumbledore. Just wow.
I think the fact that Snape did it bothers me even more than the fact that Dumbledore had to die. Which sucks by the way.
And also when I was debating who the "Half-Blood Prince" was, his name never crossed my mind. Not even as I was reading the book and we saw how good the Prince was with Potions.
Let's see, what else is there?
Can I say how much I hate the idea of Ron and Hermione? I know it's inevitable, but it bugs the Hell out of me. I actually prefer the idea of Ron/Lavender as disturbing as that is and not just because I want Hermione and Harry together. I just hate the idea of Ron and Hermione.
However, the Harry/Ginny stuff was actually kinda cute. I'm not crazy about this pair, but they could grow on me. If they actually got to end up together. Which I don't think is likely--I don't think Harry is ending up with anyone.
Weirdly enough, Hermione actually kind of irritated me in this book and I actually liked Ron for the first time since Prisoner of Azkaban (even then he was never one of my top ten favorite characters). Which is really weird and off kilter, since I normally adore Hermione and despise Ron.
I love the idea of Tonks and Remus. That's actually pretty cute.
Not only was I right about it going to be Dumbledore that died, I was also right about the reasoning.
Well sort of, I said it was because it would leave the wizarding world in a grim place, but I also commented that Harry also needed to be in a place where there was no one to stand between him and Voldemort and that seems to have been J.K Rowling's reasoning for Dumbledore's death: "And Harry saw very clearly as he sat there under the hot sun how people who cared abuot him had stood in front of him one by one, his mother, his father, his godatherher, and finally, Dumbledore, all determined to protect him; but now that was over. He could not let anybody else stand between him and Voledmort; he must abandon for ever the ilusion he ought to have lost at the age of one: that the shelter of a parent's arms meant that nothing could hurt him. There was no waking from his nightmare, no comforting whisper in the dark that was safe really, that it was all in his imagination; the last and greatest of his protectors had died and he was more alone that he had ever been before."- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, page 601
I'm also more convinved than ever that Harry is going to die in the seventh book. Just the general attitude of the character, plus a few things that were said in the book.
I'd be thrilled if I was wrong, but I really think I'm right his comment to Dumbledore near the beginning of the book: "look at Madam Bones, look at EmmelineVance... it could be me next, couldn't it? But if it is, [edit] I'll make sure I take as many Death Eaters with me as I can, and Voldemort too if I can manage it."- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, pages 77-78
Of course, I might be totally off base with that one and I would be thrilled if I was. I want Hary to get married, have a bunch of kids and live to a ripe old age. I just don't think it's going to happen. Mainly because of the way he's being portayed in the later books.
I think that's about it for the first reaction. I can't believe there's going to be an entire Harry Potter book with no Dumbledore. I'm still in shock over that.
I love these books, though they are starting to depress me. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts to share once I've given the books a second reading (and a million more after that). These were just my initial impressions.
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