Yeah, so I finished reading the book, and I wanted to put my thoughts up somewhere. I case you didn’t catch this from the link that led you to this post, this is FILLED WITH SPOILERS!!! In other words, DON’T READ THIS IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON BUT HAVE NOT YET READ THE BOOK!!!
Ok, with that out of the way, here we go. I think this was my least favorite book of the series so far. But let me clarify. I’m not saying it was a bad book. I’m not even saying it was an average book. It was quite good. But not as good as the rest. Why? Well…a couple things.
Firstly, sub-plots. I have three complaints with the subplots in this book. Either (1) They ended abnormally abruptly and strangly, (2) They never really got finished, and (3) They were completely irrelavent to the main plot. I’ll give you an example of each.
1). Ended abnormally abruptly and strangly. The blossoming romance between Harry and Ginny. The whole entire book is building you up to the point where they’re finally going to come together, and then it happens and it’s cool and you like it. Then, in the very last couple of pages, they break up out of the blue. There’s no forshadowing, and the whole thing takes place within just a couple paragraphs. And they’re together for such a short time, you don’t really even get to see them interact – you just hear a third person overview of their relationship. This was my least favorite thing in the book. Booo.
2.) Never really got finished, left hanging. Ron and Hermione. Once again, the whole book is building this up. Maybe even more so than Harry and Ginny. But then at the end of the book it’s like Rowling let it slip her mind. Maybe (and probably) she is planning to finish it in the next book, but she should have resolved it somehow here (they decide together that they’re going to wait or something). I might add that I think the whole entire book is left hanging. With a series like this, you want end the book with the right mix of resolution and uncertainty. Problems must be resolved, but uncertainty still looms (although far off) in the future. In this book it’s like she just wanted to get done so she could say “Phew, I can finally just start the last book now.” It’s almost like six and seven should be one book or something. This book is completely different from the others in that there was no resolution or happiness in the end whatsoever (Unless you count the very last sentence. Which I don’t.)
3.) Irrelavant. Ok, this really bugged me. My second least favorite thing besides the Ginny/Harry deal. It was a very good twist to make Snape the Half-Blood Prince, but why did it matter?? They spent so much on the potions book and the Half-Blood Prince and his anonymity, but when they found out, it didn’t really…do anything. You were thinking that once they found out it was going to be a breakthrough somewhere, but it wasn’t. You could take the potions book out of the book completely and it’d still work fine. So what if Snape wrote in a Potions book? So what if he’s the Half-Blood Prince? The only thing that was really revolutionary about Snape in this book is that he was in fact a traitor. The potions book thing didn’t matter.
Now as for the main plot, I was disappointed as well. Not that the story line was bad, but the book just seemed to lack those “Ohhh wow, I should have seen that coming!” moments that the other books have (like when you figure out it was Quirrel and not Snape who was the bad guy in book one, and like when you figure out why they get hit with pebbles when they’re standing in Hagrid’s house in book three, and why Hermione thought she saw something in the trees, etc.) Harry knew what was going on the whole entire book. He figured it out step by step. There were no plot twists at all. The only remote thing that kept the book interesting at all is that everyone was very slow (stupid and abnormally slow) to believe him.
And finally, (and I already sort of talked about this) the ending. Dumbledore dying doesn’t make me dislike the book. It’s a good platform for the next one, even though it is sad. But even laying that aside, the ending is still really dark and depressing. Thoughts of the school closing next year, Harry not returning to Hogwarts even if it is open (I don’t like that idea…Hogwarts as a school setting is what has made the whole thing so cool and interesting – lots of peers to get to know and hang out with, etc.), Harry and Ginny not being together, people dying, you know. The other books end with the school being saved, or Gryffindor winning the house cup, or at least SOMETHING happy. This one just says that Harry is glad to know he has one more happy day with Ron and Hermione. Well woo woo.
Anyway, this all makes it sound like I hated the book. I didn’t. I just liked the others better!! I welcome your comments!!
I agree on most of that. But it was my favorite book so far. Well, it’s a tie between 6th and 4th.
I still have mixed feelings about the book. Part of me wants to hate it, since it almost made me cry, but part of me wants it to be one of my very favorites, up there with Azkaban. I agree with you on most of that, too, though. I have a feeling the next book is going to be very sad…
I for one was absolutely shocked that Dumbledore didn’t work his way out of being killed. He always seemed untouchable, but maybe Rowling was trying to get the point across that he wasn’t.
I liked this book only better than the 2nd.
But I think that when Ron and Hermione were consoling each other at the funeral, it was like a tiny bit of a resolution; but still not enough of one.
Well, at least now, Harry could talk to the portrait of Dumbledore if he was at the school.
Ansen,
I just finished it. I have to say, I disagree but understand your assessment of the book. ;)
If you want to see my disagreements, they’ll probably be on my blog sometime this weekend.