Don’t read the following entry if you don’t want to ruin the latest Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince.
First of all, I`d like to say that JK Rowling overused the word incredulous.
We start off with JK’s attempts at humour at the Dursley residence. The whole cups to the head was too much.
Next we learn of Severus’ (Snape) apparent return to the Death Eaters and that Draco Malfoy is ordained by Voldemorte to act out on a dangerous mission. Said mission is likely to result in the death of Draco Malfoy but by the end of the book, no. Snape makes an unbreakable bond with Draco’s mother to protect Draco at all costs. Failure to do so would result in Snape’s death.
Reading in to the book you’ll start to come up with your own theories. One of them that remains surely prevalent in all of you is that Snape is not actually carrying out Voldemorte’s bidding but instead working as a double agent for the Order of the Phoenix. This poses a conundrum as Snape himself performs the “Avada Kadaver” curse that kills Dumbledore. I personally hope that Snape is indeed evil but as JK enjoys her morales, Snape is likely going to fight for The Order by the end of book seven.
Snape is the halfblood prince. I kind of picked this up early on in the book and I’m not too sure on how I came to that but I also assumed that Voldemorte (Tom Marvalo Riddle) could be a likely candidate. Both of them were “half-bloods” meaning they had one “muggle” or “non-magic” parent. I like how JK plays around with the idea of racism in her books.
We learn that Voldemorte has also split his soul into seven parts. These pieces were stored in “horcruxes”. One of the pieces is in Voldemorte as he used it to revive himself, one was in his (Tom Riddle’s) diary, one was in Marvalo’s ring, one was in the Slytherin locket, one is in the Raven Claw cup, yeah I’ve forgotten them. But Harry and Dumby go after the locket which wasn’t actually the real locket. Apparently an R.A.B. took it and disposed of it as he noted in his note in the locket. It is mentioned that horcruxes can also be made from animals! I have a feeling that Harry Potter is a horcux himself for Voldemorte, that would explain a lot. Remember they could share thoughts and feelings at one point?
R.A.B. is most likely Regulus Alphard Black which is Sirius’ brother who as James has pointed out is a deat eater (ex-deat eater?).
So since Sirius Black (Harry’s godfather) died in the previous book, Order of the Phoenix, Harry has inherited Grimwald place. I may have just mispelled that or got it wrong all together. This meaning he’s also gained posession of Kreacher the annoying bastard of a house elf. I’m hoping Harry’s inheritance actually has something to do with book seven as JK didn’t even write the house into the book.
Lot’s of cursing (verbal and magical) in this book which kind of surprised me.
Trewlaney also seems to have disappeared by the end of the novel. She’s not mentioned at Dumbledore’s funeral and she had warned Harry of “the lightning striking the tower” but Harry inadvertently stopped her from telling Dumbledore her warning. This may have resulted in his death actually.
So Malfoy let death eaters into the castle and tried his best to kill Dumbledore but couldn’t. Damn you JK. She’s trying to show that there’s good in everyone. I swear, if she makes book seven’s ending all lovey dovey, I will personally go down to London and urinate on her front porch.
I also kept finding smut hidden throughout the novel. I posted some of it before on this blog. Anyway, she actually used the verb ejaculate which is going to be 100% misconstrued in context. I don’t quite remember who was doing said verb but it was near the end of the book. Apparently they were merely spewing out dialogue.
I sill think Harry is an annoying prat. I also found his accusations at the start to be annoying also and I don’t care whether he was right or not. I also can’t believe that he’d get away with all of the crap he’s done. He bloody cursed someone and virtually cut Draco open with said curse.
On a site note, Draco Malfoy is a whiner and a mamma’s boy.
Sure JK has developed well rounded characters but they’re not exactly the most likable. Neville’s still an idiot and Luna is a fantastic Quidditch commentator.
SLUGHORN was annoying. PRATTLE, PRATTLE. Now if he’s not a boy hungry pedophile then Michael Jackson isn’t either. Okay, maybe he’s not. I just didn’t like him.
It was funny to see that all these underaged kids were also allowed to drink mead.
The book had its moments but I was somewhat disappointed.
Overall, 9.4 out of 10.
ETA: I’ll add more later, maybe.
Dammit, now I have to wait another 2 or 3 years for the next and final Potter novel.