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| Tuesday, July 3, 2007 09:33 AM |
| Pondering Potter |
 by Fëanor |
Last night I couldn't sleep (yep, still sick), so I stayed up and finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, number six in the series, which I've been re-reading in preparation for the impending release of the final book. I thought about re-reading the entire series up to this point, but it would have taken a long time, and anyway I don't really want to read #5 too close to the release of the movie, because I never enjoy a movie adaptation of a book as much if I see it right after reading the book.
It had been a while since I'd read #6, and the last time I read it at a pretty breakneck pace because, well, I wanted to know what happened next. (Also, if I remember correctly, Poppy was waiting for me to finish so she could read it.) So reading it this time, most of the surprises still worked on me (except, of course, the really big one), and even though I ended up reading it pretty quickly again, I feel like I picked up more details.
Reading the book again also helped me remember what a fantastic storyteller J. K. Rowling really is. I mean, this thing is a blast. Great sense of humor, wonderful characters, totally engaging plot, incredibly imaginative fantasy - it's just excellent. It's good to see Harry and his friends growing up, too. They still do their share of dunderheaded things, but in this book Harry is sort of more in control, more confident, more likely to figure out what's going on and have something clever to say about it.
But he knows so little compared to Dumbledore! And there's so much he has to do in the next book! He has to find and destroy four Horcruxes, and then find and destroy Voldemort himself, while perhaps also tracking down this R.A.B. character. He's got his work cut out for him. It'll also be interesting to see how Rowling handles a story that's not set in the rigid structure all the previous books have been in - the school year at Hogwarts, with its classes and its trips and its Quidditch games. After having read this book again, though, I'm pretty confident she can pull it off; she really is a masterful writer.
One thing that continues to bug me is Harry's dumping of Ginny at the end of #6. It's the old story: the hero cannot afford real romantic love in his life, and must leave his partner behind when heading off on his adventure, for fear that she will be in danger. But it's also a stupid story that I never really liked. I mean, c'mon; it's not like Ginny is a wilting flower or anything. She's a tough witch, only a year behind Harry, with plenty of courage and abilities. Why not take her along? After all, as Dumbledore was constantly saying, it's Harry's friends and his ability to love that are his strengths and his main weapons against Voldemort.
But maybe that's a point that Rowling will make in the next book. We'll see. |
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