sigelphoenix

Finished the book today.



I liked it better than Order of the Phoenix. That book was fun, a good read; this one gave me the kind of excitement I felt reading the first three books. Why? Perhaps, as people have said, Rowling seems to have gotten a more thorough editor, and Half-Blood Prince was (relatively) slimmer. It was also less dark than OotP -- sure, a bad load of shit went down, but the difference here is Harry himself. He was much stronger, more resolute, less whiny fifteen year-old.

(Rowling seems to have transferred her obsessive love from the caps lock key to the semicolon. I am okay with that.)

I felt fairly certain that Snape was still good, even by the end, and I've been able to sort out why. First of all, Rowling made it hugely 'obvious' that he was evil, and I've learned never to believe her. (Of course, that led me to second-guess my second-guessing, but ...) Unbreakable Vow aside, I tend not to put much stock in something that she reveals in the second chapter. XD Also, Dumbledore is strong enough to offer Draco mercy, but only pleads with Snape. If he truly believed that Snape was evil, he would have used his last breath to offer Snape forgiveness.

Dumbledore wanted Snape to kill him, but not just for the hell of it. He wouldn't have died just to keep Snape's cover from being blown. I've seen some people put forth the idea that the potion was killing him, and he was begging Snape to end it. Snape, who very pointedly did not take time to taunt or torment Dumbledore, remained purposefully ambiguous: he runs away but doesn't attack Harry, he is described as feeling hatred, but never *at* someone in particular. All of that, and the fact that *everyone* finally agrees with Harry that Snape is evil, means that he is *not*. :P

Dumbledore's death affected me a lot more than Sirius'. Admittedly, Sirius' death was written strangely. But this -- I knew it, I expected it, because it's the right time in the plot for the hero's mentor to die. But I really didn't see it coming in quite the way it did; I had been convinced it would happen in the cave. That scene with the potion, by the way, was harrowing. Dumbledore becomes embarassingly feeble; Harry is so much at a loss that he's reduced to lying to Dumbledore to try to comfort him, while giving him more poison/potion -- it's the kind of small-scale terror that makes you notice each bead of sweat dripping down a frightened person's forehead, instead of things jumping out and going boom. Really well done.

Lupin/Tonks? I always liked the idea, when I heard of it in fandom. I fear that fangirls will now be able to project on to Tonks as the younger woman who wins over Lupin, though. :P Tonks wasting away over her unrequited love (or was she? I keep thinking there must be more to that) was odd, but their final scene (her shaking him by the robes) was cute. As was Bill and Fleur's. When Fleur said she was beautiful enough for the both of them, I admit I got a little teary -- it was sweet, and yet still colored by Fleur's arrogance. Funny and sad and hopeful, in the same way Harry felt during Dumbledore's funeral. Just right.

The other pairings, though ... I've always been neutral about Harry/Ginny. I expected it, especially after OotP, but I never saw anything that pushed me over either way. I was sort of hoping that, you know, seeing it happen in the books would do that. But Harry just says that he's happy, without letting me see why; they could be wonderful, caring partners, or sickeningly sweet children together, but I don't know. And then he goes and pulls a Spider-Man in the end ('OMG my luv will only hurt u') and I find myself, still, not caring either way.

Draco has personality. Go figure.

There were great little lines that I loved -- Lupin's "furry little problem," etc. I wish there were more of Lupin, though. And Neville. And Luna. And McGonagall.

And finally, I'm being seduced by the theories being generated in malachan's journal.

EDIT: From sanj: "What surprises me is that there are people who seem to think this has suddenly de-queered Remus and Tonks. Hello? She's a metamorphmagus. Somewhere in the end of HBP, Remus is lying in bed thinking, "all around me the world has gone to shit, and yet here I am happily in bed with a genderqueer auror half my age who has just fucked me with her ten-inch prick."

XD XD XD