timepiececlock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timepiececlock) wrote2005-07-22 10:51 pm
timepiececlock) wrote2005-07-22 10:51 pm
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Half Blood Prince, ending. UNSPOILERY review.
UNSPOILERY review:
Well, the prose once again failed to live up to the plot. I actually caught three typos this time, and I'm dead certain they weren't British-to-American spelling differences or anything like that. Just something the editor obviously missed.
But who am I kidding? I don't read the Harry Potter books for their prose anyway.
I read them for the epic adventure they've become. I think in this book most of all we've gotten to see how far and wide and deep JKR's imagination goes. There's a lot more continuity shown in this book that ties the previous books together-- more than I'd given her credit for before, actually. I am impressed.
Dude... this book is like a kick in the pants. Gone are the comfortable conventions of HP books past. Onto the new and scary world of wizarding adults. If the last book deviated from the typical plot format a little, this one deviated even more. A lot of things here broke the patterns established by previous books... although, in some ways, those patterns that did break only reinforced and reestablished the rest.
To the important questions:
Did it suck?
No. It was actually pretty cool for the most part.
Nothing sucked? You loved every word?
No. I could have happily skipped over most of the quiddich stuff, which seemed even more incidental and plot-devicey in this book than in the previous ones. If I were making a movie of book 6, the quiddich parts wouldn't even come up except in off-screen references.
Did you cry?
No. But I spent the last 80 pages or so snapping at my parents to leave me alone and not talk to me, refusing to stop to do the housecleaning, and trying to prevent myself from squealing or shrieking out loud. Afterward I immediately ran out to the garage to talk to my dad, which mostly involved me saying several vague, nonsensical things that tried to impress upon him how "GUH!" the ending left me without actually TELLING him anything about it.
Did you laugh?
No. But then I rarely laugh for books. If I do, it's probably something written by Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett or David Sedaris.
How does it compare to the other books?
I'd put it in there with my favorite book, number 3, PoA. It's possibly even better than PoA because it's got so much built up from previous books that pays off here. This easily could have ended the entire series and been a set-up for another 4 book series.
I can't really answer this question honestly though, because it's been so long since I read books 1-4. I remember thinking PoA was the best, but my memory of it's comparative quality might have been tarnished by time passing.
Do you finally get some answers about the big picture and the dark lord?
Yes. You get more answers (or at least answers that are more useful to practical action) than you do in any previous books.
Does anyone finall get together?
As the book jacket says, people "fall in and out of love." Actually, the shippy and anti-shippy hijinks and moments made most of the more amusing parts of the book, and was a nice counterbalance to the heavier stuff.
Is it heavy?
To lift? Not particularly. To read? Yeah. It's exciting, especially toward the end.
Are the good guys still good and ass-kicky? Are the bad guys appropriately evil?
You'll just have to wait and see.
Is it darker than the other books?
Yes. About the difference between GoF and OotP... take that same level of darkness another step, and you'll get HBP. It seems much darker compared to the earlier books, but compared to OotP it's a steady progression. We've reached firmly into PG13 movies, here.
Well, the prose once again failed to live up to the plot. I actually caught three typos this time, and I'm dead certain they weren't British-to-American spelling differences or anything like that. Just something the editor obviously missed.
But who am I kidding? I don't read the Harry Potter books for their prose anyway.
I read them for the epic adventure they've become. I think in this book most of all we've gotten to see how far and wide and deep JKR's imagination goes. There's a lot more continuity shown in this book that ties the previous books together-- more than I'd given her credit for before, actually. I am impressed.
Dude... this book is like a kick in the pants. Gone are the comfortable conventions of HP books past. Onto the new and scary world of wizarding adults. If the last book deviated from the typical plot format a little, this one deviated even more. A lot of things here broke the patterns established by previous books... although, in some ways, those patterns that did break only reinforced and reestablished the rest.
To the important questions:
Did it suck?
No. It was actually pretty cool for the most part.
Nothing sucked? You loved every word?
No. I could have happily skipped over most of the quiddich stuff, which seemed even more incidental and plot-devicey in this book than in the previous ones. If I were making a movie of book 6, the quiddich parts wouldn't even come up except in off-screen references.
Did you cry?
No. But I spent the last 80 pages or so snapping at my parents to leave me alone and not talk to me, refusing to stop to do the housecleaning, and trying to prevent myself from squealing or shrieking out loud. Afterward I immediately ran out to the garage to talk to my dad, which mostly involved me saying several vague, nonsensical things that tried to impress upon him how "GUH!" the ending left me without actually TELLING him anything about it.
Did you laugh?
No. But then I rarely laugh for books. If I do, it's probably something written by Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett or David Sedaris.
How does it compare to the other books?
I'd put it in there with my favorite book, number 3, PoA. It's possibly even better than PoA because it's got so much built up from previous books that pays off here. This easily could have ended the entire series and been a set-up for another 4 book series.
I can't really answer this question honestly though, because it's been so long since I read books 1-4. I remember thinking PoA was the best, but my memory of it's comparative quality might have been tarnished by time passing.
Do you finally get some answers about the big picture and the dark lord?
Yes. You get more answers (or at least answers that are more useful to practical action) than you do in any previous books.
Does anyone finall get together?
As the book jacket says, people "fall in and out of love." Actually, the shippy and anti-shippy hijinks and moments made most of the more amusing parts of the book, and was a nice counterbalance to the heavier stuff.
Is it heavy?
To lift? Not particularly. To read? Yeah. It's exciting, especially toward the end.
Are the good guys still good and ass-kicky? Are the bad guys appropriately evil?
You'll just have to wait and see.
Is it darker than the other books?
Yes. About the difference between GoF and OotP... take that same level of darkness another step, and you'll get HBP. It seems much darker compared to the earlier books, but compared to OotP it's a steady progression. We've reached firmly into PG13 movies, here.
A spoilery review/commentary will follow later.
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