I went down to the Book Store early Saturday morn, to pick up a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And have ever since been curled up in my sofa with loads of potato chips, cola and an occasional pizza. Talk about heavenly bliss!
Click for more only at your own risk (spoilers ahead).
The book is a definite page turner – its not every sunny weekend that I am convinced to spend at home. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum – but I am just dying to pen down a few thoughts. So here are some random thoughts:
I almost thought the half blood prince would be Voldemort himself, given that he was half blood himself. Well, you know who it turned out to be. That was quite a surprise. Now that I think about, I should have known.
I love the way Snape’s character has developed. I was always suspicious of Snape, right from the first book. But after the last two chapters, despite all obvious events pointing to the contrary, I think Dumbledore may not have been all that wrong in trusting Snape. Guess that will have to be the mystery we will keep guessing for a long time.
Its a pity he-who-dies died. I guess, I sort of expected it. I had a bet with another Potter reader (fan is too strong a word, though Srijith thinks that if Harry Potter could wake me up early on a weekend, I must be a die hard fan) at office about who would be the significant figure who would die in this book – sadly, I was right. *sob sob*
Overall, I liked this book slightly less than the previous two. Its a pity that Voldemort does not really appear in the entire book- though the insights into his past are very intriguing. The second half of the book is gripping, but the first couple of hundred pages didn’t have anything dark or dangerous, yet. Teenage crushes and infatuations seem such a waste of time, when more exciting things could happen in those same pages.
I love the concept of the Horcrux – guess that means we will have a lot more Potter books till all of them are retrieved and destroyed. Felix Felicis is really cool too – wouldn’t mind having some of that myself.
The next books should be really interesting – with Hogwarts no longer providing the background setting, I think they will be darker and more dangerous, and have a slightly different flavour. But I will definitely miss the school atmosphere and innocence.
Well put surya. i agree with most of it. but it was far better than book 5. As for the romances – they had the foundation of some very strong adult relationships. there was little one could describe as juvenile, really. Really excited about the next book though. the horcrux hunting should be one hell of a ride. Death (or worse) to Severus!
Havnt read the book yet. Though managed to go through the plot via the spoilers on wikipedia (after book 5 I needed to know the story before I read the book, give the fact that book 5 could be summarized in 1 line “Black died”.).
Seems like a good story. Could have left the romantic mush out though. That makes it sound more like a soap opera (for someone who has not read the book, I sure am opinionated).
Anyway, I hope to get my hands on the book soon and will join the conversation then with a little more info.
BTW: The realtime automatic preview of comments is a pretty cool feature on this blog.
Hi Paul,
Yup, the horcrux hunting should be really exciting..teenage or adult, I thought the romance part of it was a bit of a drag.oh well, guess it could have been worse. Am no Snape fan either – but what if he turns out to be on the good side after all that? maybe he had to kill D only because of the unbreakable vow..dunno, maybe I am just being naive.
Nay, its hardly a soap opera. Theres enough action and excitement to make up for the occasional romance.
Thank you! Its WP plugin.
You have been tagged with the Book meme at GWBE‘s.
Tell us what books you like!
Hey GWBE,
Thanks for the tag! My list is here