Saturday, July 16, 2005
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I started the book with a few questions in my mind, and a few bets on the side.
1. Who is the new DADA teacher?
2. Who died?
3. Who is the Half-Blood Prince?
4. What romance is there?
And 4 hours later...
*THE MAIN SPOILERS of the BOOK*
Do not highlight unless you want to really see.
Snape is new DADA teacher.
Dumbledore died - pg 556
Snape killed him.
Malfoy was supposed to do it, being a Death Eater.
The Half-Blood Prince is Severus Snape.
Start of Harry-Ginny Romance
Start of Ron-Hermione Romance
Now I've got that off my chest, like start with the general reviews which has no spoilers in it.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
First published in Great Britain in 2005
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 38 Soho Square, London W1V 5DF
607 pages 30 chapters
Short forms used:
Harry Potter: HP
The Philosopher Stone: PS
The Chamber of Secrets: CoS
The Prisoner of Azkaban: PoA
The Goblet of Fire: GoF
The Order of the Phoenix: OotP
The Half-Blood Prince: HBP
Generally,
The book was slightly better than book 5 I would say. Less boring… tho not much Draco Malfoy featured. Kinda missed the whole ‘dumb ferret’ and ‘potty’ exchange and that sneer. And though it is thinner than OotP, it has more information about Voldermort. Somehow this book seemed more like a filler, a 607 page filler. Its function was to tell the story of Tom Riddle and to get some romance started. The kids are 16… high time to get some love going on. But then I have to tell myself, this is a children’s fantasy book. It seemed inappropriate, I never remembered reading all these jealousy and betrayal in love in Enid Blyton’s or other children books.
There is information overload. It's like a history lesson of Lord Voldermort.I wish I had learnt history that way, sigh. Not much of the main story moved in this book, other than finding out how Voldermort survived attacks from Harry and the method to kill Voldermort is finally clear. The book kinda become the welcome mat for the final book of the series.
I’m not sure how you other readers think, but I find the first few books of the series so much better than the books that came out after the movie and the series became famous. I could still remember how Huay Theing lended me Philosopher Stone a year before it became famous. It was in 1999, two years after it was published. I was hooked and finished reading till PoA and waited eagerly for GoF which I got on Christmas 2000. Bet no one knew who the hell was Harry Potter until 2001 when the movie was finally made. Then everything seemed to be going downhill since then.
The two new books that was published after the movie was different from the first 4. Maybe because now you have to conform to the movie, and the movie changes everything, from how I imagined the characters to be and my perspective of the book. Sigh… I think its true for all books that had been turned into movies LoTR included.
I digress… the two new books seemed to lack the magic of Harry Potter. Not much spells were used. There were fewer descriptions that should accompany fantasy books, and the atmosphere is just not right. War is coming, and yet Harry is still taking it easy, chasing after nonsensical things (tho he was right to do it). Hogwarts seemed like a sanctuary for the ignorant and oblivious. Maybe it’s what Rowling wanted. At least the teachers have a sense of urgency and fear for the Dark Lord.
Hogwarts is a School of Magic… but somehow in this book, not many classes were described. Very brief classes on DADA, charms were so-so, so was transfiguration. The only class with detailed description is the private class for Harry by Dumbledore. I can just see fanfics erupting with this class in session, haha. OWLs results came back. Expected for Hermy, but not expected for Harry. I always thought he was not a really good student, but he seemed to be getting a lot of Exceeded Expectations. Hmm…
And the humor, very basic humor. I had more time laughing at the strange relationships and strange turns of events than at the actual humor itself. But of the comic relief is by Ginny Weasley and her brother, not many funny teachers around, just one irritating fella.
But I think I delved too deeply (or too shallowly for that matter) into the book. For kids and fans, this book is a good read and was worth looking forward too. I had fun reading the book, driven by the need to know who the hell is the Half-Blood Prince and eager to see how Hermione handle Ron, haha. But as I said, this book is more like an opener for the 7th book, and now everyone will be wanting the 7th book, to get this series over and done with.
For finer details, with Major Major Spoilers. Don't see anything? Because it's hidden for the sake of those people who doesn't want their story spoiled. Highlight for sections that you WANT to read, or just Ctrl+A to read everything.
WARNING!!! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!!!
Characters
I feel like the characters seemed very out-of-character in this book.
Hermione is supposedly a very smart girl (she is NOT supposed to be pretty ie Emma Watson. READ the book!) but somehow in HBP, she kinda flopped. Check out how she handled Boggins, she acted like a five year old who can’t lie. And I know she CAN lie… she did it a lot of times. Too much Emma has been forced into our brains, the author’s included. Now everyone thinks that Hermione is pretty and sassy, beauty and the brains… including the author. Lemme remind you, Hermione has buck-teeth (which was reduced in GoF) and her hair is a disaster. I don’t think the hair ever got better. Hmm…
And how she flirted with guys to get back at Ron. I never knew she would stoop so low to asking the worst guy in the book.
The biggest surprise would be of course Harry Potter himself. Gone was the moody, angsty young brat, the new Harry seemed so totally different from OotP. The old Harry’s back… the playful, dumb Potter. And the way his romance spun around him, it made him like some guy lusting over a kid… not love, but lust. “The beast within purred…” “A monster erupted into life…”
Another character worth talking about would be of course Ron Weasley. He discovered girls in this book… and it only happened after a fight with his sister in pg 268. Ron found her snogging with Dean Thomas, got pissed and this led to the fight where Ginny accused him for not ‘knowing’ girls. And the next thing you know, 13 pgs later, he was “wrapped so closely around Lavender Brown it was hard to tell who hands were whose”. Kinda fast awakening.
And of course there is Ginerva Weasley, who has changed so much from CoS. I was expecting that since OotP. You know how weak and vulnerable she was back then in CoS. She was barely mentioned in PoA and GoF. And then all of a sudden in OotP, she was this wild red hair who flirts and curses like all her brothers. Kinda sudden, don’t you think? She was like being forced down our throat that she has somehow grown up from GoF to OotP. In HBP, she is just a 15 year old, but somehow I had an impression she is as old as Harry. Especially when she fought with Ron. Damn hilarious. Tho Ginny don’t get mentioned a lot, she is somewhat like my pet character, no thanks to Kanishah and her weird obsession with Draco-Ginny relationships. But the Ginny in HBP do act a lot like the Ginnys in all the fanfiction I read, tho it was uncounted for.
And don’t forget Draco Malfoy. Not much Malfoy was in this book. No direct confrontations between him and Harry after their first meeting in Diagon Alley and in the train. And then came the ending of the book… but Harry was hidden under the invisible cloak, while Malfoy battled it out with Dumbledore.
I told you about the Draco-Ginny obsession and these Dracos are usually very regretful of what they are doing, and they claim that all these insulting MudBloods and stuff are just an act to put the Dark Lord off. Kinda believable until OotP where he just like became too unbearable and past the point of no return. I gave up on Draco-being-good obsession since then.
Then come HBP. He became a Death Eater. Quite young if you ask me. But then he actually showed a side I thought I would never see but wanted. The weaker side of him, the side which goes “I’ve got to do it, He’ll kill me. He’ll kill my family” (pg 552). It’s kinda like portraying him as the person I was initially obsessed with - the “I did not want to do it, but I have no choice” one… but the build-up to this… from the first book till now… well was not really good. It was kinda sudden too when you find him with “tears streaming down his pale face into the grimy sink…” in pg 488.
The main antagonist was quite well-done actually. You don’t really know which side is he on until the very last moment. He has been walking the tightrope thru all 5 books, and in this book, he fell to one side or the other. And then I still am confused, but most probably he is on the bad side, haha. Not sure.
The Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The title is may be very misleading at first. Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince. Where is the bloody half-blood Prince? If you do not know who the Half-Blood Prince is, you will think he played such a small role in this book.
HP found a book of Potions in the cupboard of the Potions room, and this book belonged to someone called the Half-Blood Prince. Inside contains many different recipes for potions…big deal. The name Half-Blood Prince is barely significant in the main evil vs good war. And the way the story is weaved, it sounded as significant as Ginny finding her mother’s recipe book. It could have been called something better, like maybe Harry Potter and the Hoxcruxes or HP and the Memories of the Past or some shit like that.
But then the Half-Blood Prince is revealed and he was a pivotal character, and the title was suitable, in a way… Basically, the Prince did something very important, so the book got that title. Which led us to the next question, who is the Half-Blood Prince…
The Half-Blood Prince.
I lost RM5 in this bet of who is the Half-Blood Prince. But no one won the bet, for who would have thought Severus Snape would be so idiotic enuff to call himself the Half-Blood Prince. DUMB!! He wasn’t featured much… but he was important… not as a Half-Blood Prince, but as Snape himself.
Wonder how he got that title? Very dumb reason. Go read and find out. Too lazy to blog it here.
New DADA teacher.
Lost another RM5 here. I betted on Lupin returning, I was wrong. When I read about the new teacher Prof Slughorn, I was like, “suck”… then Prof Slughorn becomes Potion Master, I was like “now what?” Six lines later, Snape became DADA teacher. What?!!! Since when?!!!
Dumbledore is either too trusting or too senile. Sheesh!! It was so obvious that Snape wanted to teach DADA. One would think that he something up his sleeves. Sigh…
New Minister of Magic.
Not much news here. New guy, not worthy of any news. Lionlike mane of thick hair and rather ravaged face… very anti-Voldermort and very eager to hunt him down. But as usual, wants Harry to do things for the Ministry and stuff. Too bad Percy that Jerk wasn’t featured much too.
Dead Character
Can't say much for Dumbledore. When I heard someone died, my heart was like, "Ginny! Ginny! Ginny!" Maybe because then it really would be tragic, won't it? Dumbledore death came by as a surprise for me. I thought he was one of those characters that are not supposed to die... you know, like Harry, Ron and Hermione. Wonder what would happen if one of them really died...Hmmm...
Relationships:
1. Ron & Lavender Brown :
Just to make Hermione jealous, this is just too much. And how Rowling went thru great extend to feature them “thrashing around like a pair of eels all over the place” with Ginny remarking: “Looks like he’s eating her face, doesn’t it?” Kinda a filler too.
2. Lupin & Tonk
Remember Tonk? The pink hair crazy kid from the OotP? Well, in HBP, she was very different from her usual self…and who would have thought it was because she was pining for dear old Remus Lupin. I like Lupin. He sounds cute and nice. He’ll do well for Tonk, but he did not want to becos he thinks he is too old and dangerous for her, being a werewolf and all.
But finally they agreed to be a couple in pg582 (a little late if you ask me), after Bill was bitten by a werewolf and laid dying on the bed. Romance at death bed, it just seemed so inappropriate. And necessary? Nope.
3. Ron & Hermione
This is expected… so not going to remark much except how they tangoed back and forth, trying to make each other jealous. Took up a quite a load of the book. Necessary? Maybe just for fun la. But I have seen many people complaining about Ron & Hermione being together. They see Harry&Hermione, never Ron… Ron don’t deserve Hermy… Hermy should get someone better… bla bla bla. And my theory is: The movie has clouded your imagination.
As I have said Emma is too pretty for Hermione and Rupert is too pathetic for Ron. In the book, Ron isn’t as pathetic as he seemed, he is just plain dumb. And Hermy is not as pretty as Emma, so they actually quite ok together… tho I still don’t get why smart Hermy would choose dumb Ron, or dumb Harry for that matter.
4. Harry & Ginny:
This is totally unexpected!!! I actually lost money on this couple!!! And with all the “She’s my best mate’s sister!” “Ron or Ginny” and all… how typical of Harry. But the hilarious part was the creature within Harry, a large scaly monster erupted into life when they saw Ginny kissing Dean Thomas (pg 268). And all the way, this monster sounded like a lustful beast trying break thru. So damn funny.
And to think they only got together in pg 499, lasted through 104 pages, ended in pg 603 due to ‘noble reasons’.
“I can’t be involved with you anymore. We’ve got to stop seeing each other…bla, bla.” And Ginny was grown up enuff to not to cry… that was good. And to think that Ginny ‘havenot really gave up’ on Harry… so wrong. It’s just the whole Ginny-Harry thing that is wrong I think.
But it kinda sucked a little. It used to be Harry-Ron-and-Hermione. Now it was Harry-Ron-Hermione-and-Ginny. Suddenly the three musketeers had a new musketeer. It was as expected, but still it felt like an intrusion. It has always been either Harry-Hermione or Ron-Hermione… Harry-Ginny seemed so incest-ual.
5. Bill & Fleur
Bill is the Weasley that is working in Gringotts, the cool one, and Fleur is the flirtatious bitch from Beauxbaton in GoF. This couple is a couple that I bet Rowling got off the Net. Everyone knows that Rowling reads fanfictions and stuff on the Net, and Bill & Fleur happened to be a very hot couple online, it does nothing to the story and just another filler at the end of the day.
Sigh... so finally finished uh... One more book to go and the series ends. The last book better be good, the 6th book has such a build up and left us hanging like a roasted goose. Reading this book only lead to more questions and more bets to be made:
Who is R.A.B? (I think I know this)
Will Harry go back to school?
Who will be Head Boy? Head Girl? (I dare to bet Hermione)
Who is the new principal?
When is the 7th book coming out? (I heard from CNN that Rowling will only start writing next year. What the hell?!!)
So in the end of the day, what is there to do after finish reading the book?
Go and find other books to read la... HP is like not only the book on the market. I recommend Steven King's The Dark Tower Series which is way better than HP, way darker too and more humorous.
Maybe if I have time, I will blog about the series... wait... I did, I did... HERE.I'll blog it again when I finally finish the series. Only 2 more books to go. Saving money for it.
Well, it was really impressive from this side, believe me!
- Bart, after accidently shooting down Fei, Elly, Citan, Rico, and Hammer with a "Bart Missle", Xenogears
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