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Jul. 16th, 2005 03:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI have finished The Book. I am now going to discuss The Book in detail, so people who do not want to know what happens in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had better NOT hit the damn cut, okay?
Overall, this book is a hell of a lot tighter and more seamless than either book 4 or book 5. I don't know that she has an editor, but something has come together because this is really a more gripping read than either of those. It's got a better focus and tons more juicy details and, well, realistic teenaged snogging, if it comes to that, in this book, so Yay!
There's an annoying typo (site for sight) on page 10 of my copy and a couple of other errors that the proofreaders missed... oh, and Bill Weasley's straight, more's the pity for fangirls everywhere. He's hooking up with that Delacour girl and they're to be married.
I went BooYAH out loud twice in the first forty pages, as Rowling threw down serious grist for the mill. The first was when she admitted that the Minister of Magic (Fudge, to start with, later the new guy) TALKS TO THE PM!! How cool is that?!?
Second was when Bellatrix and Narcissa go to Snape's house to make him promise to watch over Draco and, if Draco does not succeed at the task set for him, to himself perform the task. Snape so swears and Snape so does, in a really quite delicious bit of action at the end of the book. Hooray! I didn't think she'd do it, but she did. Good on yer, Rowling! Also that scene takes time to answer a number of fannish questions by having Bellatrix question Snape's loyalty. Yowza!
Things I was not expecting: Remus gets a girlfriend. George and Fred are wildly successful in business. The following sentence, which I SWEAR I have read in fanfic more than once: Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. (For real and no lie. Page 409 in the US edition of the book, top half of the page. I about bust a gut on that one. Also, Harry hooks up with Ginny but later breaks it off with her because of the whole I Have To Kill The Dark Lord thing. Fucking destiny gets in the way all the damn time, doesn't it?
Things I was kind of expecting: Harry inherits Grimmauld Place and Kreacher. Rowling kills Dumbledore -- this I only expected because, I, er, read spoilers regarding the making of book on character deaths in England along about May, 2005. Actually, she has Snape kill Dumbledore, as that's what Draco is supposed to be doing (It's one of those good any way you slice it tasks for Voldemort -- if Draco succeeds, he wins. If Draco fails, he can kill him and thereby punish ham-handed Lucius for fucking up that business at the Ministry.) and he can't/won't manage it when faced with a 100% incapacitated Dumbledore. I was impressed with that, as it leaves Snape very fuzzy and arguable for the wait between books. (I'm still cheering for him to be a good guy, if a somewhat unpleasant good guy -- what better way to solidify his position with Voldemort than by killing Dumbledore? That is about as good as you can get for proof positive of loyalty to the dark side and it'd go far to make him look devoted to the Dark Lord and his promises of Unlimited Power! (Sorry. Palpatine moment, there.) Also, he'll have doubting Bellatrix converted to True Believer, because she's going to HAVE to note his willingness to enter into the damn oath with Narcissa at the beginning AND the fact that he had good followthrough on that play. I also want Draco to turn state's evidence but it'd mean he'd have to quit with his family and I'm not sure that's possible no matter what legions of fanficcers would like to believe.) Hooray for between-book arguing.
Interestingly, as we can see from the beginning of the book, Narcissa appears to actually care for Draco, which is nice. Also interestingly, this is the first time we see much of how Draco feels about the whole business of working for the Dark Lord. He appears to be showing a considerable amount of strain over his task because he's in the bathroom bawling with Moaning Myrtle about how miserable the whole thing is and about how he's in a no-win situation from hell. If this isn't writing made for fanficication, I don't know what is. I loved it. Lots. I believe we may be heading towards at least partial Draco-redemption, but, y'know, I want to believe...
Also, Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. I've considered Snape for the role since we got the damn title and I decided I was right when Rowling (about two hundred pages in) tells us that the Half-Blood Prince's book is a potions text with, y'know, SURPRISINGLY useful handwritten instructions in the margins on how to make better potions. Raise your hand for a beating if you missed that more than a page ro so after the instructions about crushing them beans with the flat of the dagger instead of cutting them. I'm surprised, though, that it's not more widely know that he's half-muggle (or half-something, anyway) because he's a Slytherin and they're practically obsessed with breeding... but then, nobody really notices Voldemort's muggle parent either... it must be willful blindness or something.
And while Harry doesn't appear to care who R. A. B. is at the end of the book, I think most of us with two or three neurons firing can parse that fairly easily as Regulus A. Black, can we not?
Anyway. I give it two thumbs up and a solid BooYAH for readability.
Thoughts? Post 'em if you've got 'em.
Overall, this book is a hell of a lot tighter and more seamless than either book 4 or book 5. I don't know that she has an editor, but something has come together because this is really a more gripping read than either of those. It's got a better focus and tons more juicy details and, well, realistic teenaged snogging, if it comes to that, in this book, so Yay!
There's an annoying typo (site for sight) on page 10 of my copy and a couple of other errors that the proofreaders missed... oh, and Bill Weasley's straight, more's the pity for fangirls everywhere. He's hooking up with that Delacour girl and they're to be married.
I went BooYAH out loud twice in the first forty pages, as Rowling threw down serious grist for the mill. The first was when she admitted that the Minister of Magic (Fudge, to start with, later the new guy) TALKS TO THE PM!! How cool is that?!?
Second was when Bellatrix and Narcissa go to Snape's house to make him promise to watch over Draco and, if Draco does not succeed at the task set for him, to himself perform the task. Snape so swears and Snape so does, in a really quite delicious bit of action at the end of the book. Hooray! I didn't think she'd do it, but she did. Good on yer, Rowling! Also that scene takes time to answer a number of fannish questions by having Bellatrix question Snape's loyalty. Yowza!
Things I was not expecting: Remus gets a girlfriend. George and Fred are wildly successful in business. The following sentence, which I SWEAR I have read in fanfic more than once: Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. (For real and no lie. Page 409 in the US edition of the book, top half of the page. I about bust a gut on that one. Also, Harry hooks up with Ginny but later breaks it off with her because of the whole I Have To Kill The Dark Lord thing. Fucking destiny gets in the way all the damn time, doesn't it?
Things I was kind of expecting: Harry inherits Grimmauld Place and Kreacher. Rowling kills Dumbledore -- this I only expected because, I, er, read spoilers regarding the making of book on character deaths in England along about May, 2005. Actually, she has Snape kill Dumbledore, as that's what Draco is supposed to be doing (It's one of those good any way you slice it tasks for Voldemort -- if Draco succeeds, he wins. If Draco fails, he can kill him and thereby punish ham-handed Lucius for fucking up that business at the Ministry.) and he can't/won't manage it when faced with a 100% incapacitated Dumbledore. I was impressed with that, as it leaves Snape very fuzzy and arguable for the wait between books. (I'm still cheering for him to be a good guy, if a somewhat unpleasant good guy -- what better way to solidify his position with Voldemort than by killing Dumbledore? That is about as good as you can get for proof positive of loyalty to the dark side and it'd go far to make him look devoted to the Dark Lord and his promises of Unlimited Power! (Sorry. Palpatine moment, there.) Also, he'll have doubting Bellatrix converted to True Believer, because she's going to HAVE to note his willingness to enter into the damn oath with Narcissa at the beginning AND the fact that he had good followthrough on that play. I also want Draco to turn state's evidence but it'd mean he'd have to quit with his family and I'm not sure that's possible no matter what legions of fanficcers would like to believe.) Hooray for between-book arguing.
Interestingly, as we can see from the beginning of the book, Narcissa appears to actually care for Draco, which is nice. Also interestingly, this is the first time we see much of how Draco feels about the whole business of working for the Dark Lord. He appears to be showing a considerable amount of strain over his task because he's in the bathroom bawling with Moaning Myrtle about how miserable the whole thing is and about how he's in a no-win situation from hell. If this isn't writing made for fanficication, I don't know what is. I loved it. Lots. I believe we may be heading towards at least partial Draco-redemption, but, y'know, I want to believe...
Also, Snape is the Half-Blood Prince. I've considered Snape for the role since we got the damn title and I decided I was right when Rowling (about two hundred pages in) tells us that the Half-Blood Prince's book is a potions text with, y'know, SURPRISINGLY useful handwritten instructions in the margins on how to make better potions. Raise your hand for a beating if you missed that more than a page ro so after the instructions about crushing them beans with the flat of the dagger instead of cutting them. I'm surprised, though, that it's not more widely know that he's half-muggle (or half-something, anyway) because he's a Slytherin and they're practically obsessed with breeding... but then, nobody really notices Voldemort's muggle parent either... it must be willful blindness or something.
And while Harry doesn't appear to care who R. A. B. is at the end of the book, I think most of us with two or three neurons firing can parse that fairly easily as Regulus A. Black, can we not?
Anyway. I give it two thumbs up and a solid BooYAH for readability.
Thoughts? Post 'em if you've got 'em.
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Date: 2005-07-18 12:26 am (UTC)Agree with your thoughts on Snape. The argument between Dumbledore and Snape was (although maybe I'm wrong and this is revealed later - I've not finished the book yet) likely (in my version of the stories, anyway, which may differ from JKR's version) Dumbledore convincing Snape that Snape must kill Dumbledore as part of the plan to gain Voldemort's trust and thus defeat Voldemort - that kind of sacrifice sounds to me like the kind of thing D. would do.
I've always, always thought Snape was essentially good, although often misguided - eg, his harshness on HP does seem to come from good intentions, although heavily informed by his feelings for JP. To have the story ending with the one person that Harry hates actually turn out to be evil would be a terribly weak ending I feel - as weak as The Usual Suspects, where the fabulous twist that everybody gets surprised by is that the wonderful storyteller is *actually* a wonderful storyteller... *yawn*