Harry Potter and
the Half Blood Prince
Oh my, talk about
scathing reviews. People thought Order of the Phoenix was a downer,
but they mostly hated this one. They called it fan fiction and a
teenage romance novel. I can't help but laugh at how people freaked
out about this one. I also can't explain how, but I was aware at the
time that this sixth book was just the first "half" of the
entire end of the story. That book six was more of a long preamble
to book seven. So much of what went on in this book seemed like
obvious misdirection. And it's not a slight against Rowling's writing
abilities. I think it's just because I was an adult reading the
series who is a thinker as opposed to a feeler that I wasn't as
emotionally taken in as others were. I was just as interested as
solving the story as I was in enjoying it. While everyone else was
caught up in the hysteria, I was suspicious. Yes, there was
definitely something wrong with this book. There were a lot of things
that were a little too wrong with the book (deliberately wrong) that,
once I realized it, made it intriguing and the perfect set up for the
finale. There are many examples. First and probably overlooked by
many was the fact that the beginning of the book switched POVs. For
the entirety of the series, with the exception of a brief moment at
the beginning of Goblet of Fire, the books had been written in the
limited third person. The only person whose thoughts and feelings the
reader was allowed to see was Harry's. If something wasn't happening
directly to Harry or within his presence, we didn't get to know about
it until the thing was related to him by another character. The first
two chapters of Half Blood Prince take place completely independently
of Harry and his view of the events. Incidentally, I loved the
chapter regarding the two Prime Ministers. There's not a lot of new
concepts introduced in this book, but the way the Minister of Magic
communicates with the muggle Prime Minister another satisfying piece
of world building. And the muggle PM will always be cast in my mind
as Tony Blair, since he was PM of England at the time. The second
primary example is the ending. This is the only book to end in a
cliffhanger. In my other reviews I took note of the fact that each of
the books in a long series had its own story with a definite, solid
ending. Not this time. There were a bunch of loose ends dangling all
over the final chapters of this book. Nothing was resolved and that
was done on purpose. Voldemort was in the process of penetrating the
Ministry but not much else is said on the subject. Harry got an in
depth look at Voldemort's past and none of it comes into play. In
fact when the attempt is made to validate this part of the story, it
ends with no sense of closure. The school was left in chaos and
Harry's destiny no longer lay there, but what he would do was not
discussed or even planned carefully at this point. Dumbledore died so
he wasn't there to explain anything in the end. The only explanation
you get is how his death was pulled off. So, it seems like the book
had no purpose at all. Next was the fact that Harry's instincts had
lost some credibility with his friends after the sad results of the
last book, which is a valid consequence, don't get me wrong. His
obsessive behavior continued in this book, this time concerning
Malfoy, but it seemed like an obvious feint to me... I knew he
couldn't be wrong twice in a row and he wasn't, although it took an
unexpected twist at the end. But, Snape killing Dumbledore was a red
flag too, however I admit, it was probably just a red flag for me
personally. Yes, the funeral was very sad and all of that, but I
couldn't feel the horrified shock that so many others were feeling at
this twist because Rowling had done too good of a job making me trust
Dumbledore's judgment. Also, it honestly appeared to me that Snape
was continuing to "teach" Harry even as he was fleeing the
castle; a curious observation which I don't think many other people
picked up on. I couldn't have guessed exactly what was up with this
turn of events, but it all seemed very fishy to me. After all,
Dumbledore had made him the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,
which meant he knew that Snape wouldn't be at the school after this
year. So Snape's betrayal left me more skeptical than outraged.
But even though
my ability as an experienced reader caused me to not trust what I was
reading and even to guess certain things (like the fact that Harry's
instincts were right this time and I also guessed immediately who
R.A.B. was) I can't call this a predictable book or disappointing in
any way. Snape's appointment to the cursed teaching position was a
surprise and it was a surprise that I loved, by the way. She slipped
in Slughorn as the Potions Master so smoothly, I found myself turning
the pages back to see how easily I had been fooled. Slughorn is also
a good representative of the fact that not all Slytherin kids turn
out evil; he showcases a different direction that their ambitious
natures can take them. Yes, Slytherin Phineas Nigellus was a former
headmaster of the school, but his snarky attitude isn't something we
easily associate with good people. We get to learn about different
magic potions in a more lighthearted atmosphere than there was under
the leadership of Snape, and the moment where Harry convinces
Slughorn to give him the his memory of a conversation he'd had with
teenage Riddle was one of the best chapters of the entire series in
my opinion. The complete about-face that Dumbledore made in suddenly
spending a lot of quality time with Harry as opposed to ignoring him
throughout the last book was wonderful, as was learning of
Voldemort's past. All of this along with the mysterious "half-blood
Prince" of the old potions book and the strange attacks within
the story made it just as interesting as all of the others even
though the pacing was a little slower. The double climax of finding
the fake horcrux and Dumbledore's death made up for the slight
shortage of intense moments. And, of course, that double climax held
the real purpose of all the seemingly random meanderings of the
story. Dumbledore had to be eliminated from the equation before Harry
could defeat Voldemort. Had he remained alive, Harry would've had
his protection for years and Voldemort’s desmise would've been
endlessly delayed. The fact that his death seemed to be in vain added
motivation and urgency to the cause. And it took the entirety of a
book to pull off this murder to explore the concept of the horcruxes.
The different kind of magic, the dangers involved in retrieving
them, and their part in the destruction of Voldemort are what lays
the groundwork for the transition of the story's primary setting away
from the school grounds in the next book.
So, the angle of
the various teenage romances filled the spaces in between critical
plot points. I wasn't put off by this, like other people were. After
all, these are sixteen-year-old kids and what sixteen-year-old isn't
in love? It was their last "normal" year so they were
behaving as normal teenagers do, only more responsibly if you get
right down to it. Normal to the point of taking apparition tests the
way regular teens take driving tests... just another layer in the big
picture that makes the story so real. But all of the silliness of the
girls and the swaggering of the boys is as true to life as anything
else. Rowling has since indicated that she thinks it would've made
more sense for Harry to end up with Hermione instead of Ginny, but I
think the Harry/Ginny pairing was the right thing to do. Rowling's
instincts were right and she shouldn't doubt them. Harry is a hero
and it's psychologically valid there would need to be a certain
element of hero-worship from his love, which Ginny always had for him
even though she grew to be his equal. He would never have had that
with Hermione who always looked at him as an equal and often bossed
and mothered him as she did Ron who, having grown up with a
domineering mother (in a good way), needed someone like Hermione as a
mate. The only thing I would've changed is that she should've started
developing Ginny's character a little sooner in, say, the fourth book
because I can see how she and Harry's relationship can seem kind of
sudden and "out of the blue." And perhaps that's why people
didn't respond as favorably to this part of the story. I think they
also didn't like the other love stories as well... Bill and Fleur;
Lupin and Tonks... but love and being in love would be a big part of
the outcome of the story and those who were patient enough to sit
through the slush would understand in the end.
Half-Blood Prince
isn't the best book of the series and it's not meant to be and I
think looking too critically at it is a bit unfair. This book was a
vehicle for setting the stage for Deathly Hallows. It officially sets
Harry on the course that he couldn't realistically have started at a
younger age and takes away the protection and wisdom of Dumbledore so
that he will truly become the hero of the story, relying on his own
talents and instincts with help from his equals, not his superiors.
And there was enough cool stuff in it with the trip to the cave to
retrieve the locket, the confrontation between Harry and Scrimgeour,
and the breech of Hogwarts at the end to validate its place in the
series.
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