tealin | Upon Completion of Half-Blood Prince

Done! DONE! At long last I can wander around the internet without fear of running into spoilers! And because I am utterly soulless, I already have two ideas for gag sketches.

More later, but for the moment, a couple of things:
1. Once it picked up a plot, it got really good! Imagine that.
2. I figured out who the H.B.P. was about fifteen pages before it was revealed. HAH! Last minute deductions are grand.

11:00 pm

So. My thoughts. As best as I can collect them.

Now that I have finished the book, I feel comfortable in saying that our dear Ms Rowling seems to be back on track. The last two have been kind of ... wandering ... and this one started out the same way (with better pacing and writing, in my opinion) but once it picked up a plotline and events of the story fell into step with it, it was really enjoyable to read. It moved along, I got swept up in what was happening, I was concerned for the characters ... good stuff. Unfortunately, this happened about 2/3 of the way through the book. But at least it happened somewhere. Yay, plot! Never underestimate the power of plot. Not only was there a nice throughline, as opposed to the very episodic nature of the first part of the book, but there was a nice build in tension to a climax and there was a denouement! Plot structure! Plot structure and character, reuntited at last! Goblet had character but little in the way of structure, and Phoenix had structure (though with a fundamental flaw, which I may go into if prompted) but curiously half-hearted characters – but Prince (or at least the last bit of it) had both. The developments regarding the search for the Horcruxes leave me very optimistic that the last book will have a unifying throughline right from the beginning – instead of dawdling in soap opera territory, there will be a purpose to the story right from the beginning. Thank goodness.

Aha, now onto the sticky subject of romance. Okay, I appreciate the previous comments about how it is an accurate reflection of adolescent life, but ... it just seemed ... kind of pointless, half the time. I mean, food, sleep, acne, growing pains, and going to the bathroom are realistic concerns as well, but they aren't given attention. One of the rules about subplots is that they ought to contribute to the main plot in some way, but most of the romances were distractiing tangents. And at that point in the book, there wasn't a main plot, it was just a tangled mess of unrelated subplots, which was not very captivating. On top of this, none of the romances seemed convincing. All of a sudden Harry's in love with Ginny – where'd that come from? We never find out why he likes her, we just know he likes her because the narration tells us so, and there isn't even any lead-up to it.¹ When they do get together, there's no chemistry. I just ... don't believe them. Their time together is only alluded to, and for something that ought to be so important to Harry, this seems short shrift. Hermione and Ron were probably the most realistic 'couple' with their bickering and reluctance to acknowedge their attraction to one another (though I'm grateful that, through this, JKR made mention of how romance has the potential to ruin a friendship ... too few people realise this until it's too late). Some of the other ones seemed slapped together, though ... Filch and Mme Pince? Puh-leez. Lupin and Tonks just sort of dropped into the plot out of the blue.² It's like JKR is going through her character list, finding the loose ends, and tying them together so they don't inconveniently flap around.³ I did like Fleur's arc, though. Who'd have thought she had integrity like that? That was one last-minute thing I did believe, oddly enough ... the reconciliation between her and Mrs Weasley was rather sudden but there was something more believeable about it than any of the other spontaneous flips.

Speaking of romance: I do really really hope that the events in this book will pour some cold water on the rabid Snape fan set. There will always be the core group that goes for the evil people in some sort of rebellious snook-cocking gesture, but really, folks, can you still love him after that? I would like to think there'll be a defection from the Malfoy camp as well, but it's more likely his fanciers will just take pity on the poor manipulated victimised boy who's being coerced into evil ways.

Um, yeah, R.A.B.? Does anyone not know who this is? Or could it be a red herring? Ms Rowling is not as cruel as Mr Snicket so I suspect she'd be honest about this one, but you never know.

Stan Shunpike is still in jail! Somebody get him out before he goes for the cannonballs! (Funny, this is one thing the movies have done for me... I never cared about him before. Mad. I am mad, I tell you! Good thing the third movie came out before this book, eh? Tra-la! Goodness, what did my sister put in that frappucchino...?)

I may add to this as recollections resurface. But that's it for now.

¹Does anyone else see anything Freudian in this?

²It appears Tonks is the only unmarried female in the series with taste, good judgement, and observational skills. I am speaking entirely impartially, of course. Oh yes.

³As a perpetually loose-end-by-choice who spent my teenage years railing against a society that viewed singlehood as a state of being as desirable as insanity or incarceration, I resent this.

12:02 AM
I am with Gabby on this one: Bring on the THUD! Yeah!

THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS, DEAR LIZA, DEAR LIZA; THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS, DEAR LIZA, SPOILERS!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I am almost positive that it is Sirius' deceased Death Eater brother, and I have a feeling that the horcrux he stole is hidden in the locket Harry couldn't open, back when they were cleaning all the evil clutter out of Grimmauld Place.

Wow, somebody's got a memory. I do hope Mundungus Fletcher isn't wrapped up in this ....

Haha, but that would be too simple! Now, knowing JKR as well as we think we do, it would be most liek her to have Harry go back to Grimauld Place for the locket, then find that it wasn't there. He would remember that Mundungus had stripped the palce, THEN two days later Dung would turn up dead. That just seems so like her. But, I think theres significance to Dumbledores portrait being on the wall. All the other portraits can talk and stuf liek before, so most likely, Harry will still be able to communicate with Dumbledore! And what about the Dumbledore chocolate frog card in first year...hrm...or am I reading TOO much into this?

I have to reply to this on a sudden spur. I think the Chocolate Frog thing is cheap. The people who make Chocolate Frogs are buisnesspeople, therefore they don't want to spend money. And Colin Creevey said you have to make some kind of potion to make the pictures move. The buisnesspeople probably put a cheap version of the potion on the cards to make them able to move, but not strong enough to talk. And I'm positive Harry will still be able to talk to Dumbledore. What else are the portraits for? Anyway, that whole rant was rather pointless.

My friend thinks that that locket must be in the case of stuff Mundungus took, otherwise, why would JK have mentioned it? It's an interesting theory; I like it.

Cheers! Kibeth.

YES!! Order of the Phoenix, p108 uk version. It's pretty certain that Regulus got it somehow. But, he wasn't all that good a wizard, how did he find out about Voldemort's horcruxes? Hmmm. Well, all the same, it could have been another Black couldn't it? So if the locket in Sirius's drawing room was a horcrux, either Mundungus, one of his customers, Kreacher or the dustbin has it. I'm hoping on Kreacher, he'd have to give it back. Maybe if the stuff was thrown out, it was sold or detroyed? In which case Harry's job is done for him.
_________
Rainbowchild

Call me crazy, but I just had a theory. Ravenclaws are known for outstanding intelligence. Voldemorts last Horcrux has to be something from Ravenclaws, cause Gryffindors only heirloom was the sword in Dumbledores office, that Riddle never knew off. On page 446 this conversation happens: "Why?" said Harry at once, looking up into Dumbledore's face. "Why did he come back? Did you ever find out?" "I have ideas," said Dumbledore. "But no more than that." "What ideas, sir?" "I shall tell you, Harry, when you have retrieved that memory from Professor Slughorn," said Dumbledore. "When you have that last piece of the jigsaw, everything will, I hope, be clear...to both of us." Now, it would make very much sense if Dumbledore had been in Ravenclaw during his time at Hogwarts, and maybe, he was a descendent of Ravenclaws, which would explain his great powers and love for Hogwarts. What if DUMBLEDORE is the object of Ravenclaws. If he's the other Horcrux, and he didnt stop Draco cause he knew he'd have to die in order to be rid of the horcrux. It seems so Voldemortish to do that. On another note, Miss Hepzibah SMITH was a descendent of Hufflepuffs. Who else do we know with the last name SMITH who's in Hufflepuff? ZACHARIUS SMITH. Could voldemort have turned the cup into aq horcrux, then returned it to the Smiths? Could Zacharius's family have the cup?

Dumledore was a Griffindor student, I read it in the j.k. rowling website ( as far as I remember,but I might be wrong)

Upon Completion of Half-Blood Prince

A Horcrux

no subject

Mundungus involved?

chocolate frogs

no subject

Re: A Horcrux

Re: A Horcrux

Re: A Horcrux