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At last, I finished reading it....
People told me I was crazy when I said that I was going to resist my urge to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until my vacation in mid-August. But I was determined to do it--and I did! Given my voracity for the previous five, I had no doubt that no more than two days of sea, sand, and a comfortable beach chair would knock it out for me.
Alas, almost three weeks after beginning it, I just now finished this morning. Bobby called me to supper last night with three pages left to go, and my frenzied evening of peeling strawberries, doing laundry, and catching up on email/LJ meant that I couldn't finish it. So I brought it to work and read the last pages while waiting for my computer to boot this morning. (State computers, like workers, are unbelievably slow.)
It is hard to give a completely unbiased assessment, as I naturally overhead many conversations about it and got people's impressions before even buying it for myself. On top of that, someone at Nerd Nite leaked that Dumbledore died. No big deal...I didn't know who killed him. Then, one morning, when my radio clicked on and woke me up, the stupid morning show DJs had this dumbass kid on who said, "And then Snape killed--" before they cut her off, saying, "Don't tell people!"
Well, you dumbasses, some of us didn't want to read the entire book knowing that Snape was, in fact, evil, and perhaps, you should have followed your own advice and not played that phone conversation!!! I am not dumb: I know that in this enlightened era where our biggest fear is the f*** word or accidentally seeing someone's breast on TV, that there are plenty of delays and that listener calls are recorded in advance. So why did they play it? ARGH!!!
But now the ending was thoroughly ruined for me.
Nonetheless, I found HBP a disapppointment after the earlier books.
The first two chapters dragged interminably for me. Harry Potter didn't even come into the story until Chapter 3, and while--being a writer--I appreciate the difficulty that serial stories present, I was so dulled that I actually thought, "If this doesn't get better, I'm abandoning it altogether." Yes, I know that Rowlings had to put the readers into context, to catch them up with happenings in the world and remind them of what had happened in previous books, but it all struck me as rather forced and graceless.
In Chapter Three, I started to get into it more because Harry entered the scene, and he is the reason we read the book, right?
But it dragged in the middle for me too:
1) Way too much snogging. Way too much teenaged drama. Yes, I understand that the characters are at *that* magical age, but I love fantasy novels for their ability to take me away from the real world. I have always delighted in the world that Rowlings creates. I love hearing her descriptions of things and events unique to the wizarding world. I love the detail she goes into about the students' classes and the kinds of magic that they use. I love trips into Diagon Alley.
If I wanted to read about girls and boys making out and getting jealous and huffing off in tears, no offense, but I would pick up a Sweet Valley High and forget about Quidditch, Defense of the Dark Arts, and Potions. Whlie I appreciate that character romance is necessary in most novels--and I am not unwelcoming to the idea in HP--I felt as though the teeny-bop drama was overshadowing the other conflicts. If Hermione stormed away from Ron one more time...if I had to hear "Won Won" or imagine teenaged characters wrapped around each other in the Common Room.... The other conflicts strike me as underdeveloped, given the attention that is given this. Considering Harry's affinity for Defense of the Dark Arts and the fact that Snape teaches the class in this book, I feel that this conflict was wholly underdeveloped.
2) Slughorn never strikes me as real as the other professors and the other characters, which is odd, because he seems like he should be the most complex. Nonetheless, he seems like he should be central to the book--after all, he told Voldemort about Horcruxes--but he strikes me as being a very shallow character. I never liked the guy, and I feel like I should have. He was too transparent. His obvious favoritism of certain students should have been more subtle, in my opinion. Given the subtlety with which other characters are developed and presented, Slughorn struck me as a wholly unlikeable Character in a Can™.
3) I hate to say it, but I found the trips into the Pensieve to learn about Voldemort's past to be rather bland. Voldemort's history is so cookie-cutter: abandoned by his parents, grew up in orphanage, exceptionally gifted and irrevocably evil. Evil characters do nothing for me. I wanted to see some conflict in Voldemort, some reason for becoming evil. (Versus just being an orphan. I know people who have been through this country's excuse for a foster care system, and they are not evil. I believe it innate, and Voldemort just needed an excuse.) Snape has always been a sympathetic character to me because of the way that Rowlings showed the hands reversed, with James Potter & Co. as the tormentors and Snape as the sympathetic one. But Voldemort is disappointingly one-dimensional, and I believe that a character who forms the crux of a story should never be that.
4) And that brings me to Snape. Well, Snape's role in the story was ruined for me, but I must admit to being disappointed. Why? Because all of the "good" characters have now turned out good, and all of the "evil" characters have turned out evil. Given Snape's history, I have always empathized with him. Despite his torment of Harry, I found it hard to hate the guy. I really didn't want all of his "good" deeds to be in service of a foul end.
I realize that my gripes mostly pertain to how I would do the story differently. This is a downside of being a writer, I guess, that it is hard to enjoy a story without analyzing it like an author at the same time. But I never felt like I wanted to change the earlier books.
All in all, I think this book took on too much. It was bulging with conflicts, and none of them (save the damned Ron/Lavender bit) got the attention they deserved. Here is a run-down:
1) The Pensieve and Voldemort's past
2) The Horcrux dilemma
3) Dumbledore's hand
4) Avoiding Slughorn
5) Harry's suspicions about Snape and Malfoy
6) The Room of Requirement
7) Harry's feelings for Ginny
8) Ron/Lavender and Hermione's jealousy
9) Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
10) Hagrid's anger that they missed his class
11) Hagrid's dying/dead spider
12) Harry is Quidditch captain
13) Classes, studying, and the usual rigmarole--did anyone notice that in this hardest year, less attention than ever was devoted to talking about the students' classes?
14) The Bill/Fleur marriage
15) Tonks' depression/changed Patronus, etc.
16) The Death Eater's influence on the community
17) Scrimgeour's request of Harry
18) The necklace/poisoned mead
I realize that a lot of these conflicts tie in together, but there are so many threads going on that none are consistently pursued to completion. Perhaps that is part of the point--to show how much distraction there is in a world gone mad and in Harry's life--but then there are small, distracting conflicts that accomplish no real purpose but seem to be in there merely to continue including plotlines with a certain character or theme. Like Hagrid. Like Quidditch.
I feel like, coming away from this book, that I have no new enlightenments about the world Rowlings has so exquisitely created.
I could go on for hours more, but I'm not going to. I did like the book--parts of it were downright funny and wonderfully enjoyable--but it was too peppered with dull bits to really *love* like I loved the others, particularly the last two. I thought Dumbledore's funeral was handled well. The bit about the song of the Phoenix was perfectly done. And the line about Harry's fear of the funeral because he didn't know what he'd see or experience was so poignant and true--it was only ten years ago that I went to my first funeral, my uncle Wodie's, at the age of fourteen--that it made me want to cry for him.
As it was, I didn't cry, but that was mostly probably due to that obnoxious kid and the stupid radio morning show.
People told me I was crazy when I said that I was going to resist my urge to read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince until my vacation in mid-August. But I was determined to do it--and I did! Given my voracity for the previous five, I had no doubt that no more than two days of sea, sand, and a comfortable beach chair would knock it out for me.
Alas, almost three weeks after beginning it, I just now finished this morning. Bobby called me to supper last night with three pages left to go, and my frenzied evening of peeling strawberries, doing laundry, and catching up on email/LJ meant that I couldn't finish it. So I brought it to work and read the last pages while waiting for my computer to boot this morning. (State computers, like workers, are unbelievably slow.)
It is hard to give a completely unbiased assessment, as I naturally overhead many conversations about it and got people's impressions before even buying it for myself. On top of that, someone at Nerd Nite leaked that Dumbledore died. No big deal...I didn't know who killed him. Then, one morning, when my radio clicked on and woke me up, the stupid morning show DJs had this dumbass kid on who said, "And then Snape killed--" before they cut her off, saying, "Don't tell people!"
Well, you dumbasses, some of us didn't want to read the entire book knowing that Snape was, in fact, evil, and perhaps, you should have followed your own advice and not played that phone conversation!!! I am not dumb: I know that in this enlightened era where our biggest fear is the f*** word or accidentally seeing someone's breast on TV, that there are plenty of delays and that listener calls are recorded in advance. So why did they play it? ARGH!!!
But now the ending was thoroughly ruined for me.
Nonetheless, I found HBP a disapppointment after the earlier books.
The first two chapters dragged interminably for me. Harry Potter didn't even come into the story until Chapter 3, and while--being a writer--I appreciate the difficulty that serial stories present, I was so dulled that I actually thought, "If this doesn't get better, I'm abandoning it altogether." Yes, I know that Rowlings had to put the readers into context, to catch them up with happenings in the world and remind them of what had happened in previous books, but it all struck me as rather forced and graceless.
In Chapter Three, I started to get into it more because Harry entered the scene, and he is the reason we read the book, right?
But it dragged in the middle for me too:
1) Way too much snogging. Way too much teenaged drama. Yes, I understand that the characters are at *that* magical age, but I love fantasy novels for their ability to take me away from the real world. I have always delighted in the world that Rowlings creates. I love hearing her descriptions of things and events unique to the wizarding world. I love the detail she goes into about the students' classes and the kinds of magic that they use. I love trips into Diagon Alley.
If I wanted to read about girls and boys making out and getting jealous and huffing off in tears, no offense, but I would pick up a Sweet Valley High and forget about Quidditch, Defense of the Dark Arts, and Potions. Whlie I appreciate that character romance is necessary in most novels--and I am not unwelcoming to the idea in HP--I felt as though the teeny-bop drama was overshadowing the other conflicts. If Hermione stormed away from Ron one more time...if I had to hear "Won Won" or imagine teenaged characters wrapped around each other in the Common Room.... The other conflicts strike me as underdeveloped, given the attention that is given this. Considering Harry's affinity for Defense of the Dark Arts and the fact that Snape teaches the class in this book, I feel that this conflict was wholly underdeveloped.
2) Slughorn never strikes me as real as the other professors and the other characters, which is odd, because he seems like he should be the most complex. Nonetheless, he seems like he should be central to the book--after all, he told Voldemort about Horcruxes--but he strikes me as being a very shallow character. I never liked the guy, and I feel like I should have. He was too transparent. His obvious favoritism of certain students should have been more subtle, in my opinion. Given the subtlety with which other characters are developed and presented, Slughorn struck me as a wholly unlikeable Character in a Can™.
3) I hate to say it, but I found the trips into the Pensieve to learn about Voldemort's past to be rather bland. Voldemort's history is so cookie-cutter: abandoned by his parents, grew up in orphanage, exceptionally gifted and irrevocably evil. Evil characters do nothing for me. I wanted to see some conflict in Voldemort, some reason for becoming evil. (Versus just being an orphan. I know people who have been through this country's excuse for a foster care system, and they are not evil. I believe it innate, and Voldemort just needed an excuse.) Snape has always been a sympathetic character to me because of the way that Rowlings showed the hands reversed, with James Potter & Co. as the tormentors and Snape as the sympathetic one. But Voldemort is disappointingly one-dimensional, and I believe that a character who forms the crux of a story should never be that.
4) And that brings me to Snape. Well, Snape's role in the story was ruined for me, but I must admit to being disappointed. Why? Because all of the "good" characters have now turned out good, and all of the "evil" characters have turned out evil. Given Snape's history, I have always empathized with him. Despite his torment of Harry, I found it hard to hate the guy. I really didn't want all of his "good" deeds to be in service of a foul end.
I realize that my gripes mostly pertain to how I would do the story differently. This is a downside of being a writer, I guess, that it is hard to enjoy a story without analyzing it like an author at the same time. But I never felt like I wanted to change the earlier books.
All in all, I think this book took on too much. It was bulging with conflicts, and none of them (save the damned Ron/Lavender bit) got the attention they deserved. Here is a run-down:
1) The Pensieve and Voldemort's past
2) The Horcrux dilemma
3) Dumbledore's hand
4) Avoiding Slughorn
5) Harry's suspicions about Snape and Malfoy
6) The Room of Requirement
7) Harry's feelings for Ginny
8) Ron/Lavender and Hermione's jealousy
9) Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
10) Hagrid's anger that they missed his class
11) Hagrid's dying/dead spider
12) Harry is Quidditch captain
13) Classes, studying, and the usual rigmarole--did anyone notice that in this hardest year, less attention than ever was devoted to talking about the students' classes?
14) The Bill/Fleur marriage
15) Tonks' depression/changed Patronus, etc.
16) The Death Eater's influence on the community
17) Scrimgeour's request of Harry
18) The necklace/poisoned mead
I realize that a lot of these conflicts tie in together, but there are so many threads going on that none are consistently pursued to completion. Perhaps that is part of the point--to show how much distraction there is in a world gone mad and in Harry's life--but then there are small, distracting conflicts that accomplish no real purpose but seem to be in there merely to continue including plotlines with a certain character or theme. Like Hagrid. Like Quidditch.
I feel like, coming away from this book, that I have no new enlightenments about the world Rowlings has so exquisitely created.
I could go on for hours more, but I'm not going to. I did like the book--parts of it were downright funny and wonderfully enjoyable--but it was too peppered with dull bits to really *love* like I loved the others, particularly the last two. I thought Dumbledore's funeral was handled well. The bit about the song of the Phoenix was perfectly done. And the line about Harry's fear of the funeral because he didn't know what he'd see or experience was so poignant and true--it was only ten years ago that I went to my first funeral, my uncle Wodie's, at the age of fourteen--that it made me want to cry for him.
As it was, I didn't cry, but that was mostly probably due to that obnoxious kid and the stupid radio morning show.
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HBP
Date: 2005-09-09 09:10 pm (UTC)Re: HBP
Date: 2005-09-10 03:17 pm (UTC)I was thinking about whether or not she would continue it after the series finishes, with a new series, perhaps. I guess that largely hinges on how she ends the next book: whether there is any significant evil left in the world for him to fight. Voldemort has a lot of followers, so it is certainly possible, I think, to follow Harry's adventures beyond that point.
Of course, then, it is harder to make it a children's book, as it is about adults at that point. I'm not sure if I'd want her to continue or not; I'd have to see my feelings at the end of the next book.
I highly recommend, btw, the third, fourth, and fifth books. That was the point that I really began to get into the series. The second book, especially, didn't captivate me. I liked this one, but I didn't *love* it like I loved its three predecessors.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-09 09:28 pm (UTC)And I really liked the Remus/Tonks thing too!
And I felt sorry for Draco.
*speculation* I actually think that since Harry's not going back to Hogwarts, neither will Ron or Hermione (far stretch, but she's come a long way) or Ginny.
I also think that Sirius' brother is still alive. Somehow.
I also think that Fawkes might show up again. Maybe becoming Harry's Phoenix.
This is all pure speculation, of course. I'm looking forward to book seven! And movie four... :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 03:24 pm (UTC)Yes, actually, I liked these two romances too. I agree that a good book deserves good romance :) It was the Ron/Lavender bit and the *constant* harping on the conflict between Ron and Hermione (which paled a bit, I thought, in comparison to the book's other, lesser-developed conflicts).
And Lupin/Tonks--I loved the bit by Bill's bed, where she goes off on him sort of and then they end up together. Perhaps, being older, the older characters fascinate me as much as the teenies.
And I felt sorry for Draco.
Yes! I realized, yesterday, after making this post, that I had complained about the black-and-white nature of the characters without considering Draco. I am *so* glad that she did that. For as much as I dislike what she did with Snape, I appreciate what she did with Draco's character. I am really interested to see what happens to him in the next book.
*speculation*
I could totally see all the things you listed happening, especially that Ron and Hermione are not going back to Hogwarts. They seemed pretty set on that at the end of this book, and I think it would tarnish their characters to have them do otherwise.
I also liked the book, just not as much as some of the earlier ones. Of course, that is the good writer's curse, that when she outdoes herself time and again, sooner or later, someone is bound to feel disappointed :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-09 10:49 pm (UTC)There were definitely some parts, as with the necklace and all, that had so little detail it was almost confusing. I remember reading one part where it was basically one moment, Katie's writhing in the snow and the next, she's been at St. Mungo's for weeks. And I was like "what the crap?? Where did it say she went to St Mungo's?" It did seem something of a let down after Order of the Phoenix.
I'm also wondering how in the world Harry's gonna manage to defeat Voldemort and the Dath Eaters if he can't cast even disarming charms against them. He seems like he has too much to learn before the final conflict can be resolved.
Hopefully the 7th book will be awesome.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 04:38 pm (UTC)I remember the bit where it said Katie went to St. Mungo's, but I agree that it didn't get enough attention. Before, if a student was hurt or killed at the school, that was the focus, but I found myself forgetting that such a conflict was even going on until it would surface at random moments.
It seemed to me that there were too many peripheral conflicts that really didn't need to be there. The whole business about avoiding Slughorn's parties, or about taking Luna as a date, or about Hagrid being miffed that they dropped his class...I think what she was trying to do is involve each character in a conflict of sorts, but when you are trying to keep a book at a length that is suitable for young readers, that becomes dangerous.
I am living proof of how quickly a huge cast of characters each trying to be a real person and involved in conflicts can spiral out of control :) I feel bad for her in that regard, because I sympathize, but think that things could have been handled differently.
I didn't even think of the bit about disarming charms. You are completely correct.
I, too, am holding out hope for Book 7.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:48 pm (UTC)Agreed. It was almost like an aside. "By the way, Katie got cursed and Ron got poisoned. Just to let you know."
It seemed to me that there were too many peripheral conflicts that really didn't need to be there.
Yeah, I especially agree with you on Hagrid's being miffed. That got way too much attention, when it could've been about a paragraph. A lot of conflicts needed to be explained more for them to have meaning. Like with Slughorn's parties, the conflict itself wasn't so bad except I never felt like it a) impacted the story except to add a bit more stress in Harry's life and b) I never quite understood why exactly Harry was so averse to the parties.
I didn't even think of the bit about disarming charms. You are completely correct.
Another thing on that is, have they learned any charms or other useful weapons since first year Defense Against the Dark Arts?? It doesn't seem like they've learned much that's new in the past five years.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 05:06 pm (UTC)I was surprised by the lack of attention DatDA got in this book. After all, Snape is teaching it, and it is Harry's best subject. Yet, that conflict *never* surfaced. If Snape could make Harry's life hell in Potions, just imagine what he could do in DatDA, knowing that this is Potter's forte and most important for him, given the prophesy and all.
I can't believe that all the attention Snape's mistreatment of Harry got in the earlier books--when it was more an annoyance, not anything that mattered much, compared to now--that it wasn't given more attention.
Especially given the conflicts that *did* get extended attention.... Grrr....
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 05:38 pm (UTC)That's a really good point, too, that I hadn't really thought of! It's too true that in the past Snape was just an annoyance. But instead we got to hear about Harry's inner conflict over Ginny. I was really disappointed in the Harry/Ginny relationship. It felt almost like a mediocre fanfic.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 06:28 pm (UTC)LOL! I wasn't bugged too much by Harry/Ginny, but the whole Ron/Lavender/Hermione bit was giving me hives.
Yes, see, this Dark Lord is coming back and people are dying or being unjustly imprisoned every week--it's even happening at the school!--but see, I'd rather have Hermione storm away from Ron in a snit just *one more time.* /snark
The hell with all those other petty conflicts....
Eek, it really doesn't even sound like I liked the book. I swear I did! :D
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 06:56 pm (UTC)Eek, it really doesn't even sound like I liked the book. I swear I did!
No worries! It's because we're writers too!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 07:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 07:47 pm (UTC)Blinking cursor...*twitch*
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-09 10:59 pm (UTC)Despite the horrible circumstances, despite the turning-evil-and-killing-Dumbledore thing, I can't help it: I have faith in him.
It was too much of a cop-out: JK has done the seems-good-but-really-evil thing (or vice versa) in... the first four books for sure (can't recall if there's something like that in OotP). Snape was always characterized as ambiguous, and it's just *too* easy to let him be evil. Too easy. There has to be a reason. There has to be!
*points to icon*
If I'm wrong in Book 7, I'll be terribly disappointed, but I'm holdin' the faith in Snape.
(Yeah, I don't know why either. But I'm just going to go with the gut instinct.)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-10 05:00 pm (UTC)I just read your post now though, and I agree with your theory about RAB. Interesting stuff. I've only read each book once (bad nerd...gonna reread them all once the last one's out), so I was wholly clueless as to who RAB could be.
Through this all, I really thought that Snape would turn out to be a good character. The revelation that Harry would have to have to learn to empathize with and trust Snape would have been (I think) an excellent characterization point.
But, of course, my problem is that I prefer inner-conflicts to the out-and-out stuff, and a lot of this story was centered on the out-and-out stuff. I loved the ending; the funeral was beautiful and I even misted a bit (despite knowing that it was going to happen). I am so mad that I didn't think about the phoenix song being an expression of every person's emotions myself. That would have been perfect for Macalaure! :)
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-11 05:29 pm (UTC)I am not big into the HP fandom. I enjoy the books but have only read each once and have never written a fanfic outside of Silmarillion.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-12 11:25 am (UTC)The meta, on the other hand, can be very interesting. It seems that becuase JKR was so late sending Goblet of Fire to her publishers they only really had time to copy-edit, but they made one editorial change that was incorrect. After that she was so famous that they didn't dare to change anything, including significant continuity errors.
I have read the earlier books twice - once to my nephew and again last year. I'll probably re-read the later ones before the films of them come out. I find the morality that JKR presents in the books rather disturbing - for instance, if the good guys do something it's OK, but if the bad guys do the same thing it's wrong simply because they are intrinsically evil. I'm still reading the series as I hope that JKR is going to deal with that in some way before the end. If she doesn't I'll be disappointed, but not surprised. Even my nephew, who was aged 7 at the time, managed to understand that pre-emptively beating someone up is wrong whether you are a 'good person' or not. Perhaps someone should explain it to Bush & Blair. Oops, that got a bit political - sorry!
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-12 01:09 pm (UTC)I haven't paid enough attention to HP to have noticed many of the things you pointed out except to have flinched when Hermione decked Malfoy in the nose right before Buckbeak's "execution." So I suppose I have noticed but just never thought about it.
I was a bit disappointed that Harry saw how awfully James & Co. treated Snape but still didn't manage to find any empathy for the man. That he has started to feel empathy for Malfoy in this last book was surprising to me, but not unwelcome.
That is interesting about the editing. I would like to hope that, even if I am ever a famous author, I will want to accept criticism to better my work.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-12 02:31 pm (UTC)I think that the difficulty for many famous authors is that they stop believing that their work can be improved.