Wednesday, July 20, 2005
I'm a little ticked off with J.K. Rowlings right now, for being so all-fire secretive about her book as if it were a matter of national security or something. So I'm retaliating the only way I can. This blog entry will review her latest book and give everything away. Those of you who wish to honor Ms. Rowling's wishes can read something else for today and rejoin us tomorrow when I will be discussing actual news. Those of you who were waiting for the movie may as well read this entry. The way it's going the sixth movie won't be out for some three or four years yet.
"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is a very good b0ok. The fact that I started it Monday night and finished Tuesday afternoon despite having to take a seven hour break for work and an eight hour break for sleep proves that. While it doesn't have the humor and lighthearted situations worked in that the previous five books had, it is a much more dramatic and epic book in which Voldemort, for a change, does not appear once except as a memory. It was kind of a relief to me. Harry falls in love with Ron's younger sister but at the end walks away from the relationship because as "the Chosen One" fated to bring down Voldemort, he believed she would be in more danger if it became known she was important to him. It's becoming a standard ploy in hero-stories but it's still quite effective and interesting that greatness means walking alone in many ways. Nevertheless, Rowling does not make Harry completely alone--in the closing scenes when Harry decides to leave Hogwarts and track down the Dark Lord who has killed so many close to him, Ron and Hermione will not be left behind but vow to be at his side wherever he goes. Other than this, the sixth book ends with Harry more alone than ever: Severus Snape was a traitor and in a dramatic break from the Order of the Phoenix, Snape proves Harry right and Dumbledore wrong when he officially joins Voldemort's side and cements it by killing a weakened Dumbledore. With all his family and his protecters now dead, Harry realizes he has to stop Voldemort before he goes any further. Book 7 will undoubtedly center around Harry's quest to find and destroy the "horcruxes"--six objects into which Voldemort has infused a little of his soul and without which he will be a mortal man again. He and Dumbledore spend a good portion of this book trying to find out what they are.
In short, it's a good book, with many good messages about loyalty, friendship and the sacrifice good people must make when evil is rampaging. Although I personally disliked the implicit message that Harry always knew better than Dumbledore, which comes when Snape confirms Harry's belief and not Dumbledore's, the book overall is well-written and worth reading. I think I've covered everything you're not supposed to know. Oh yes...one more thing: "the Half-Blood Prince" is Snape.
"Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" is a very good b0ok. The fact that I started it Monday night and finished Tuesday afternoon despite having to take a seven hour break for work and an eight hour break for sleep proves that. While it doesn't have the humor and lighthearted situations worked in that the previous five books had, it is a much more dramatic and epic book in which Voldemort, for a change, does not appear once except as a memory. It was kind of a relief to me. Harry falls in love with Ron's younger sister but at the end walks away from the relationship because as "the Chosen One" fated to bring down Voldemort, he believed she would be in more danger if it became known she was important to him. It's becoming a standard ploy in hero-stories but it's still quite effective and interesting that greatness means walking alone in many ways. Nevertheless, Rowling does not make Harry completely alone--in the closing scenes when Harry decides to leave Hogwarts and track down the Dark Lord who has killed so many close to him, Ron and Hermione will not be left behind but vow to be at his side wherever he goes. Other than this, the sixth book ends with Harry more alone than ever: Severus Snape was a traitor and in a dramatic break from the Order of the Phoenix, Snape proves Harry right and Dumbledore wrong when he officially joins Voldemort's side and cements it by killing a weakened Dumbledore. With all his family and his protecters now dead, Harry realizes he has to stop Voldemort before he goes any further. Book 7 will undoubtedly center around Harry's quest to find and destroy the "horcruxes"--six objects into which Voldemort has infused a little of his soul and without which he will be a mortal man again. He and Dumbledore spend a good portion of this book trying to find out what they are.
In short, it's a good book, with many good messages about loyalty, friendship and the sacrifice good people must make when evil is rampaging. Although I personally disliked the implicit message that Harry always knew better than Dumbledore, which comes when Snape confirms Harry's belief and not Dumbledore's, the book overall is well-written and worth reading. I think I've covered everything you're not supposed to know. Oh yes...one more thing: "the Half-Blood Prince" is Snape.
// posted by The Pendragon @ 6:14 AM 
