Blood is the Recurrent Theme
Written: Jul 21 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The most emotion-filled in the series. Will make an excellent screenplay.
Cons: One of the largest and longest in the series. Requires Kleenex to finish.
The Bottom Line: Buy it. Love it. Cry over it. And join the millions of fans waiting for the next book... and for the movies to catch up!
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| The_Director's Full Review: J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Pr... |
Blood opens passageways, binds characters to their past (good as well as bad), disfigures others, and brings mortality home to Hogwarts. Blood ties in the form of family relations are both strengthened and strained. And the youthful emergence of love interests surround our main characters and get our blood racing.
This story is one of the most complete, well considered, and finely detailed accounts of Harry's life we have yet encountered. Rowling has achieved some of the most skilled storytelling I have read since CS Lewis penned the "Chronicles of Narnia" so long ago.
There will be spoilers in this review. Fair warning. You've had a week to read the book for yourself... get over it!
This story is by far the most emotional in the series. It is, in some ways, the most disappointing... but only in our expectations for some of the characters, certainly not in the storyline itself. It is, in some ways, the most realistically reminiscent (and for that reason, most humanizing for Harry, Ron, and Hermione) of high-school love-interest emotions. It also is as close to a cliff-hanger as you can get in a series where every story has a definitive timeline and end point at the end of a school year.
Like Lucas's "The Empire Strikes Back", this is a book you desperately want to read. You enjoy every moment, every image. You are moved to empathy with the main characters moreso than ever before. And at the end you feel so very concerned that the next installment can not arrive soon enough to wipe away all the bitter feelings you are left to simmer in until that glorious day when the wand-toting Jedi will once again rise from the ashes of despair and kick some dark-side tail.
I was thrilled to return once again to Hogwarts. Enchanted to be in the midst of Harry and his pals as they once again set out on their magical adventures. I was never prepared for Severus to betray all my, and Dumbeldore's, faith in his conversion and conscience. Seems that Rowling, like Snape, is an accomplished Occlumens. So complete was her deception, no doubt that many readers will be blindsided by the events in Half-Blood Prince. I often wonder where the sorting hat might have placed the author?
With revelations of his beginnings in more recent books, I had actually begun to feel a bit of compassion for Snape. He was, after all, a product of his childhood. The one that didn't fit in at school. The one that the jocks all played pranks on and made fun of, including James Potter. I could relate, and therefore I felt sorry for him. It had become deceptively easy to believe that he had a good heart down deep in that dark exterior. But make no mistake; in this book Snape steps into the role of Voldemort in order to provide us with an antagonist.
In fact, with the conspicuous absence of Voldemort in this installment, we are left with a curious question. Could Voldemort have bewitched Snape into turning back to his dark roots? Could Snape have been acting against his will by the end of the book?
My theory holds that: Since there are several mentions (and instances) of "turn them into mindless minions to do my evil deeds" curses in this story, it is reasonable to believe that Voldemort may have hedged his bet with Snape and used the scene at the beginning of the book to work more powerful magic than we were led to believe. Magic that I, for one, thought Snape would be able to somehow shield and protect himself against. After all, he is the preeminent expert on the dark arts at Hogwarts. Snape may have been the recipient of more from Bellatrix than just a little promissory magic. He may have actually received one of the Horcruxes we later hear about. He may have become a fractional portion of the Dark Lord himself. We have already seen as far back as the first book that Voldemort can easily possess and use his followers. Only time, and the next book, will tell.
The Half-Blood Prince has my full-blooded approval and endorsement. The only drawback in this novel is it's length... because there are going to be family members tapping their fingers on the table waiting for their turn at it.
I recommend two "must have" items for the completion of this book: Bookmarks (so others in the house don't have to wait), and Kleenex.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
The_Director
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Member: A. Clayton Vandiver, Jr.
Location: Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 13 members
About Me:
Director, Writer, Producer, Videographer, Editor, Voice and Camera Talent, 3D Animator and P.R. Consultant.
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