HBP thoughts three months later.
Sep. 29th, 2005 07:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanuensis1What will my reaction be to Half-Blood Prince after the last book?
I still feel like the series peaked at OotP for me. Every volume has felt better than the last except for this last one--I'm still wigged that anyone, Rowling included, believes that Snape's motives are ambiguous, justifying leaving Harry in suspense at the conclusion of this book. I found Harry and Dumbledore's pensieve jaunts puzzlingly expository, and was waiting--am still waiting--to find out what was going on during those. Tom Riddle's history could have been related in two pages; what the heck happened in those pensieve jaunts that made them so crucial? I want there to have been more motivation on Dumbledore's part than exposition, or the idea that Harry had to see those moments for himself to gain understanding of Voldemort and of himself. It's not enough.
I loved the main plot of the book, the main plot being the Half-Blood Prince. Did I know who it was? Hell, no. The concept that "Prince" was a last name never crossed my mind--even when Hermione brought it up I couldn't see how that fit in. I didn't get it until I saw the chapter title "Flight of the Prince."
But I still believed that Slughorn gave him that book deliberately. Bah.
Will the last book draw it all back together for me? Will those unanswered questions finally fall into place? Or will I be happier admitting that HBP was the weak moment in the series for me and let it be?
I still feel like the series peaked at OotP for me. Every volume has felt better than the last except for this last one--I'm still wigged that anyone, Rowling included, believes that Snape's motives are ambiguous, justifying leaving Harry in suspense at the conclusion of this book. I found Harry and Dumbledore's pensieve jaunts puzzlingly expository, and was waiting--am still waiting--to find out what was going on during those. Tom Riddle's history could have been related in two pages; what the heck happened in those pensieve jaunts that made them so crucial? I want there to have been more motivation on Dumbledore's part than exposition, or the idea that Harry had to see those moments for himself to gain understanding of Voldemort and of himself. It's not enough.
I loved the main plot of the book, the main plot being the Half-Blood Prince. Did I know who it was? Hell, no. The concept that "Prince" was a last name never crossed my mind--even when Hermione brought it up I couldn't see how that fit in. I didn't get it until I saw the chapter title "Flight of the Prince."
But I still believed that Slughorn gave him that book deliberately. Bah.
Will the last book draw it all back together for me? Will those unanswered questions finally fall into place? Or will I be happier admitting that HBP was the weak moment in the series for me and let it be?
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true!
Date: 2005-09-30 06:37 am (UTC)Very much so. It's also strange that I can see a vast improvement in a fanfic writer's style over a year or so (hello xylodemon and topaz_eyes), but Ms. Rowling's style (although decent, not great) hasn't changed for the better, you know? To me the best book was PoA because no word or action was wasted, and I didn't find myself rolling my eyes at anything. Whereas, in HBP, when I should have actually been devastated by Dumbledore's death, and begging my partner to hold me while the wind was whipping around my thin tent on the isle of Skye - my reaction was much different. I rolled my eyes at various key scenes that should have intrigued me.
I guessed Snape as the HBP because well... it's something that a jumped up halfblood would do. Delusions of gradeur and all that.