Sunday, July 18, 2010

Summer at Hogwarts - Half Blood Prince


Hello fellow Hogwartsians! According to our syllabus we've just finished Half Blood Prince and that puts us in the final weeks of us semester, and our fight against He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name.
I know I went on and on about how much I love Goblet of Fire, but nothing compares with how much I love Half Blood Prince. Everything about HBP entrances me. We've got the history we've been craving, hormones at an all time high and we're at threat level midnight. 
HBP is where I really start liking Hermione as a character and see her as more than their brainy sidekick. I love how hurt she is by Ron and Lavender, and how oblivious Ron is to the entire situation he created. Of course I also love "the monster inside Harry" that comes out around Ginny. It's corny but cute. 
It's safe to say that my favorite parts of Prince are the lessons with Dumbledore. For me these lessons are like a safe version of adventure. We don't have to worry about Harry or Dumbledore when we are in these memories and can push the immediate threats from our mind as we learn more about the boy who was Tom Riddle. I'm fascinated with the Hogwarts founders and while we don't see much of them here, we do get to see  further down the line of Slytherin. 
Lastly I really love the inside world of the Malfoys. As far as Evil characters go, Lucious has always been my favorite. He doesn't make much of an appearance here but we see what his downfall has done to his family. Bellatrix and Narcissa are closer than one would have originally thought and, perhaps the biggest surprise is that Cissy is willing to defy Voldemorts orders to help her son. 
For my Order recap I wrote about the memories I associated with the first time I read it, for Half Blood Prince it is all about the aftermath - Is Snape good or evil? -  Have we really been given enough information on the Horcruxes - Who's going to die? My friends and I spent the years between the two releases having heated discussion about each of these questions.

Those are just some of the reasons I love Half Blood Prince. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the 6th installment in the Harry Potter series! 



2 comments:

Natalie~Coffee and a Book Chick said...

I truly feel that the books seem to get better, more intricate in the later novels -- I loved Half Blood Prince as well! I'm quite a Potter addict, so I'm pretty excited about visiting Universal's Harry Potter theme park, which I've heard is brilliant and a lot of fun -- I'm only 2 hours away in Florida, so I have to go!

Rebecca Chapman said...

I loved this book too! I actually took a day off work when it was released and queued up outside a local book shop to buy it. Then spent the day reading it. So good. I really liked this one because it finally felt like where were getting somewhere. Not that the others were slow or anything. But this is where the real story really starts to come out