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.