Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2005) J.K. Rowling

Finished.

And grr…

I liked the book up through the last couple chapters. Then it went exactly where I thought it was going to go. And I’m not happy about it.

Also, this had all the feel of a second book in a trilogy–minor points are resolved, but for the most part everything is left hanging, waiting for the final book.

I hate that.

Everything else I have to say is going to contain spoilers, so don’t read on if you haven’t already read the book and don’t want to know important plot points.

BEGIN SPOLIERS:

The second chapter gave me an inkling that I wasn’t going to like where things were going to go in this book. About halfway through I was becoming more and more certain I was going to be really annoyed. And I was.

It didn’t bother me that Dumbledore was going to die. In fact, I quite liked the way that J.K. Rowing made his death meaningless–he was weakened retrieving an already destroyed artifact. However I’m really unhappy that she had Snape–SNAPE–kill Dumbledore. I knew it was going to happen–the second chapter made that pretty clear–however I kept hoping that Harry was going to find a letter from Dumbledore describing how he had conspired with Snape in his own death. That Snape was going to kill Dumbledore to save Malfoy.

But no. No redemption.

I realize, of course, that this could be the major discovery of the last book–that Snape didn’t betray Dumbledore. But for now… I’m not happy. One of the things I really liked about the books was fact that despite Snape’s unpleasant and unsavory past, and despite his unpleasant character and nature, he had been redeemed (so to speak).

I loved the idea of redemption, and the idea that Snape could be unpleasant, and in opposition to Harry, yet still be good. That those working for the wide of good did not all have to be alike–to be united in their cause. I liked the dissent, the difficulty, and the fact that everything was not completely black and white.

I’m still going to hope that she redeems Snape in the next book. That we discover that Dumbledore knew that Snape would have to kill him, to tighten the noose around Voldermont. But I don’t have a LOT of hope.

I’m also not thrilled with Harry quitting school. Ms Rowling, in case you’d forgotten, this is a KIDS book, I thought we were trying to encourage kids to remain in school and finish their education?

I do have good things to say. Up to the last few chapters, I enjoyed the book (I read it in six hours, not even stopping to eat.) I thought she did a good job with the whole teenagers in love thing, and I liked the fact that Ron wasn’t particularly well-behaved in the end of relationship with Lavender. That struck me as very much how things go with teenage boys, and I liked the fact that she didn’t make him more than you would expect a teenage boy to be.

So, I didn’t care for the cliffhanger, I hated the fact that it was Snape who killed Dumbledore, and I’m not thrilled with the fact that Harry is dropping out of school. But it also reads like the next to last book in a series, so perhaps some of the things that bother me will be resolved in the last book.

Michael is currently rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I can’t wait until he finishes it and then reads ‘Half Blood Prince’ so I can find out what he thinks.
Rating: 7/10

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