I just finished reading the wildly awaited Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling.
I'm at a loss for words. Well, OK. Not enough to be unable to write this huge-ish review.
Trying to cast my mind a few hours back, when I had not reached the gripping (to put it mildly) climax, I seem to remember the book being somewhat dragged and, well, pointless. Let me elaborate.
The books starts a few weeks after the last one left off. After revealing some very vital elements revealed right there (which I shall obviously keep mum about), we switch over to our 16 year hero HP, waiting in apprehension for the surprise visit from Albus Dumbledore.
The books pitches into it's main course of action following Harry as he persuades a potential teacher to take up a post, moves into the Burrow and developes the beginning of what is to be an obsession: a deep suspicion of Draco Malfoy.
Back in school, Harry is drawn by a mysterious book filled with useful and somewhat sinister annotations. Will this be his undoing? Harry and Dumbledore get together like never before in an effort to try to understand Lord Voldemort and the secret of his purported immortality.
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That was the gist , laid out in as vague a manner as possible (I believe).
Now: the details at your own risk:
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I got back from the bookshop at dawn, obscenely excited and a little sad considering that 24 hours later, only one more thick tome would lie before the end of a phase of my life - an era's end.
The book took off to quite a good start with the dark, foreboding insinuations and somewhat disturbing occurences. The swing to the domestic scene at the Burrow, where the outbreak of the offensive is taking its toll, and the prospect of the bonds of holy matrimony of a family member does nothing to ease the dismay of the others...
Meanwhile, a new teacher, smug and politicking, stakes his claim on the rising stars of the school, spinning his web of contacts and favours around them, to tide him through bad times. Or, atleast, trying to.
The book turns into a bit of a drag in the middle, after the essential discoveries are made (Half Blood Prince's book, murder attempts by an unknown person intended for an unknown victim, strange behaviour from certain characters presumably behind said murder attempts, etc)
There's a sad re-introduction of the sop and schmaltz with crushes and heartbreaks littering the breadth of this part of the book, where I seriously began to doubt that JKR hadn't lost it and was just getting by on the hype. I was mistaken, though.
I still have deep reservations about the bulk of the book. Most of it seems to be some silly dilly-dallying till the climax.
Many elements have been grossly neglected. We never get the feel of the tension of an ongoing war anywhere in the book. The awesome scenes of terror and excitement sustained throughout the 4th book are missing.
For most of it's part the book seems utterly to lack direction, something that defined the previous books (The Tournament in the 4th, and the Legilimency in the 5th for instance).
We are routinely taken into somewhat pointless and drawn out flashbacks that yield apparently priceless nuggets of information (or so Dumbledore claims; all this happens with the use of the pensieve of course.). We explore the early beginnings of Lord Voldemort in much deeper detail from which Harry and Dumbledore find out what is to be done (much later in the book, ofcourse).
We are also treated to the routine Quidditch matches, though JKR thankfully does not describe them in detail, even plotting events such that we don't see some of the major matches. This is a bit of a relief (yes, yes, Quidditch is nice and all. Just that the theme was too repetitive and monotonous to have gone into detail about for the sixth consecutive time)
The crux of the story is the secret of Lord Voldemort and his Immortality, which is to be deduced from all the memories HP and D wade through. After cracking it, they have to set out on the quest to destroy (partially. Or to be literal 3/7ths) Lord V, which is the climax. (Confounding? Then READ!)
And which is the most breathtakingly awfully intensely shocking ones of all the books as yet. The pages slipped past in a haze as the pace of the book suddenly shot up.
The suspense over the identity of The Half Blood Prince, as well as the orchestrated attacks on Hogwartians (!), the conflict between Harry and EveryOneElse debating the side Snape and Draco belong to, along with the most vital of them all: the secret of the destruction of Lord V adding up in a dizzying cocktail - one of the most awesome and breathtaking finales of em all.
The ending just completely shocked me. I was numb and giddy (OK. I'm a bit of a hyper-fan, SO?) for several moments after I dropped the heavy covers shut... For hardcore HP fans, this book just tops it all. The suspense and the terrible terrible picture at the end of the book has created (for me, atleast) a massive momentum which will carry into the release of the next book.
This is even better (or worse, in a way) than the ending of the 4th book, which was so climatic to the course of the series. Much more eventful and important than the ending of the 5th book (I was left curiously untouched by the death of Sirius).
The famed killing in this one, though, really really REALLY makes the book what it is. Without it, the book would have been a pffft - loser. I can understand why JKR cried while writing it (you'll know too...).
Rather than risking hinting the ending out to readers, I'll end here, with the statement that The Legacy of The Harry Potter series continues. I was convinced JK Rowling would have lost the magic (ha!) touch after drowning in all the riches we've contributed to (885 bucks man! And it's so much more thinner than #5!) before the release (and even sometimes during the course of the book). Not so, she remains as strong as ever.
The writing seems dispassionate adn even affected in parts as I have already pointed out, but nothing devastatingly bad.
For crazed fans who've read the book: she's already written the ending of the 7th book and kept it in a neat little folder in her house in Great Britain (as discerned from an informative BBC docu). So go on, make your career in Housebreaking...
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azyraphale
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OK, PS: Apparently there are some dumb freaks out there (as I found out to my great astonishment today) who think nothing of picking up and reading this 6th instalment despite never have seen the previous books. Don't bother guys. unlike the first 4 books (and like the 5th one) the story starts off without preamble and there is no introduction of characters and main events to give you any clue of what's going on. For all you may infer, Harry could be a little house elf and Voldemort the Queen of Egypt...
PPS: If anyone can fathom who may be having the initials R.A.B in the book, PLEASE TELL! It's vital for the carrying forward of the story in the next book! And steel yourself while getting towards the end, especially the emotional types. No effort is spared in jerking that odd tear out of us...
and finally
PPPS: Sorry for posting such a very rambling review. All I can say in defence is that I'm still reeling! (finished about half an hour ago)...
