Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince ~~~SPOILERS~~~

Okay, whenever anyone has finished and wants to discuss, dive in.

JKR once said that "Readers like to be tricked, but not conned." I'm feeling TOTALLY CONNED right now.

About one line was devoted to Harry dealing with Sirius's death and his grief. Right... he just lost the closest thing to a parent to him and he talked himself out of that grief in two weeks.

Hermione has no lasting effects from the curse that hit her in OOTP? Oh, wait, yes she does. She's undergone a complete personality transformation. Who was that girl with the bushy brown hair?

Thoughts leave the deepest scars according to OOTP, but the only problem Ron seems to have is which skirt to chase. I could see him getting involved with Luna who had a huge crush on him, but Lavendar?

Most of all....WTF is up with Supper Ginny Sue? Where/when/how did Harry start to notice her? Are we really supposed to buy this Ginny thing? She's the ultimate Mary Sue.... everyone likes her, she's smart, she's funny, she's pretty.... she's fake. This has got to be some kind of set up. There's too much talk of love potions.

The idea of horcruxes is really cool. The inferi, I could live without. But aside from that, when it comes to the dialogue and the intereaction among the kids, I felt like I was reading REALLY BAD fan fiction. The big death was what had to happen, I know and it was moving. I'm a little surprised at the twist over who killed Dumbledore though.

The ending was as weak as the Ginny plot. This book did not follow up the first 5 well.

In some ways I feel like she's paying too much attention to the phenomenon she's created. I don't really recall Ron having a thing for Rosmerta except in the movie, yet he does in this book. JKR said shrunken heads didn't exist in her world, but lo and behold they were mentioned here. And, while it was cute, it was also distrating to have Slughorn refer to Ron as Rupert.

WEAK boook! I hope this is some kind of elaborate set up to really disarm us for the 7th book.

Becky

I don't know if I am suprised over who killed Dumbledore.
I hate that Dumbledore was killed. But it was dealt with well.

I thought chapter 2 was one of the most interesting in the book.

This whole love thing just kinda happened and its weird. Very weird.

And the ending just sucked

Becky, are you telling me you read that whole book already?? Jesus!

Ryan

You probably just read slow lol

WTF? Dumbledore dies??

Now I personally thought that its probably the best in the series so far. Right from the opening chapter which is such an incredible sidestep from how they normally open, and then a wonderfully eye-opening second chapter, I think it is magnificent. Sacrifcing action for some actual information and backstory.

I must admit, I have a rather embarrasingly girlish weakness for romance stories, so the bits in this book really appealed to me. Ginny has (for some reason that I cannot fathom) long been one of my favourite characters, and personally I love the idea of her and Harry.

Becky, no offence, but I think possibly you may have forgotten what it's like to be 16? The average teen is really quite self-absorbed, and so I'd say that tragedies don't hit as hard as they should. And furthermore, pages and pages of 'Angry Harry' a la OOTP is definetly not what I would have wanted, or lengthy reminisces about Sirius - we know all that Harry knew about him, there is no need to go over it I feel. And yes, also at 16, girls like boys and boys like girls and very little else seems important :P So I'd say that its actually quite an accurate portrayal, and certainly much more appealing than the violent mood swings that characterised the last book IMO.

The ending .... well, was a bit of an 'Empire Strikes Back' ending, wasn't it really? Not really an ending, just making sure everything is in place for the big finale. I didn't really expect anything any different. Dumbeldore's death was hardhitting IMO, I found myself wishing it weren't true ... pretty impressive for a fictitious character! And I loved the fact that we were never quie sure about Snape to the end. And in fact, we still don't know exactly why Dumbledore trusted him. Add that to the new RAB mystery, and I'd say it was quite a strong ending.

And finally, a very very rough paraphrasing from either Book 3 or 4, I forget which, but I suspect its number 3: "I'll get the Butterbeers, shall I?" said Ron, turning scarlet

Hey, maybe Ginny Sue became a horcrux when she was possessed and she'll have to die.

Seriously though... do you think Harry himself might be a horcrux. Nagini would demonstrate that a living thing can be one. Harry's parents were murdered. He has that connection to Voldemort and some of his traits. Hmmm....

Will......Not.......Read...........Spoilers....... ..

Just got the book today. Can't wait to read it.

It's not as good as the first 4, but beter than the last one. OOTP was auful, it was waayy to long for what it revealed- it was just Harry is angry, Harry is angry over and over.

Personally i agree with Becky Harry got over his grief far to quickly even if he is a self absorbed teen, and whats up with that thing with Ginny!- he's never even taken much notice of her before!

I wasn't too surprised that Dumbledore died, but i did theink they would save his death for the last book since he was the only one Voldemort was scared of.