J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and Half-Blood Prince
Bloomsbury, 2005
Bad story told well
(Or, the ramblings of a jealous author-to-be!)
An unconvincing plot, irrelevant fillers, stilted conversations, a couple of hundred pages too many. And yet J.K. Rowling enthrals as usual. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (henceforth HBP) is perhaps the weakest link in this series even though Rowling's lucid narration will take most readers effortlessly through the 600-odd pages.
It's official—Lord Voldemort is back. And he is more evil than ever. The Dark Mark is more and more frequently seen, and Death Eaters are proliferating. Not even the Muggle world is spared, as a number of unexplained incidents has everyone on tenterhooks. Even the Dementors have been won over by the Dark Lord and the unnatural mist that hangs over the land is a result of their breeding (ugh! the mind boggles!).
Harry is whisked away from another cheerless summer at the Dursleys by none other than Dumbledore and ends up at the Weasleys'. Though it gives him a much-improved summer holiday than usual, things are tense in the wizarding world. Not even Hogwarts has been spared, and extra precautions are the order of the day everywhere. Whereas Harry had earlier been discredited with having made false claims about Voldemort's return, he is now vindicated. In fact, he is now the Chosen One, something that irks quite a few people. This sixth year at Hogwarts also sees the boy wizard as Quidditch captain, though there is thankfully very little Quidditch in the book.
It is now obvious that Harry and Voldemort will have to face off, and it is unlikely that both will survive. With that in mind, Dumbledore decides to give Harry 'Voldemort lessons'. Meanwhile, there is all the usual stuff—as NEWT students, Harry and his classmates are working harder than usual; Snape is as hostile as ever and forever deducting points from Gryffindor; Ron and Hermione continue to spat, even though there is a spark of something else between them.
Knowing that a major character is going to die overshadows the plot. Which is perhaps a good thing because the plot is full of holes. This is a book that is to be enjoyed for Rowling's narrative skill and nothing else. Earlier reviewers have said that HBP was written to tie up loose ends and set the stage for the final volume, and that seems to be true. Though at the moment 'grand finale' points to a fizzle rather than a bang unless Rowling can pull a Prisoner of Azkaban-type brilliance from under her hat.
In HBP Harry, I rather imagine, fancies himself as a sort of Lone Ranger. Without giving anything away, it would be safe to say that the book ended as I had anticipated—with Mr Potter stopping just short of walking into the sunset, all "the world is screwed but I'll fix it"; his two staunch allies, Ron and Hermione, refusing to let him go it alone. The fine line between brave young people and Hindi-film dialogue is dangerously blurred in HBP.
The one character who, frankly, got on my nerves since Order of the Phoenix was Dumbledore. His mysterious disappearances, though, were much preferable than his lofty speeches and forced presence in this one. Inviting Harry to 'pursue that flighty temptress, adventure' (sorry, I didn't note down the page number) was about the limit! He also comes across as rather conceited, and makes more than one reference to his superior intelligence. Harry is told when he and Dumbledore are close to cracking one of Voldemort's secrets:
Voldemort would have been reasonably confident that none but a very great wizard would have been able to find [the item].
(p.527)
To be blunt, there is just no chemistry between Harry and Dumbledore. If JKR thought she is doing some father-sonly bonding, it went badly wrong somewhere. Dumbledore tends to lecture too much, and his forays into other people's memories through the Pensieve with Harry were the most boring parts of the book.
Rowling is surprisingly inept at handling teenage—or for that matter, adult—romance. When you have adolescents as the central characters, hormones are bound to run riot. But for all her ability to tell a dazzling tale, Rowling stutters here. There is none of Meg Cabot's forthrightness or Judy Blume's innocence (in her books for younger readers, I mean!). Even Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's extremely graphic descriptions (making her Alice books veritable step-by-step sex education manuals for the early teens!) are preferable. Perhaps, given that this is fantasy, JKR should take a few lessons from Tamora Pierce. Pierce in her Protector of the Small Quartet, handles Keladry and her friends' teenage 'troubles' with sensitivity and increasing complexity as they grow older. It starts with a secret crush on a friend, and makes its way up to a frenzied encounter in a tent between a sixteen-year-old Keladry and a fellow-squire!
Getting back to HBP, 'snog' is used about a dozen times in the book, mostly on pages 267 to 269! It is a term one would expect Jacqueline Wilson's Tracy Beakers to use rather than nearly grown-up men and women! The romance is stilted and uncomfortable. Harry's sudden discovery of his feelings for Ginny are unconvincing. Perhaps the book would have been better served by the romance left out of it altogether. It got especially silly when, after the climax, with everyone is taking stock of who's got how many limbs left—no joking matter, as there are some seriously wicked injuries, including a werewolf-infected mauling—we have various people declaring their love for each other!
Yes, there are a few shocks and surprises in the book. Snape and Malfoy being a couple. Neville Longbottom unfortunately barely gets a mention. Snape's dislike of Potter and his sarcasm towards him is getting a bit predictable and boring. The Dursleys came in for their customary useless guest appearances. There were the usual new spells and incantations introduced, as well as some awful Dark creatures. Surprisingly, there is no Voldemort in the book!
And finally, the title of the book has little bearing on the plot. The discovery of the identity of the Half-Blood Prince is irrelevant in the end, and consists of a chance opportunity for him/her to exchange a few sentences with Harry a few pages from the end. And a word of warning: read books one to five before you pick this one up.
There are sparks of brilliance on every page in HBP; sadly, none to do with the plot. Hopefully, for the last volume, the publishers will be able to keep a rein on JKR and help her tell a much tighter tale.
RATING: 6/10
Readers' comments:
Marie says:
The Ginny/Harry plotline was annoying to say the least. Not to mention Ron's love life. In fact, if there was no romance in HP at all, I would be just fine with that.
Harry's behavior in the book made me want to hit him. For the majority of the story he is stubborn about his ideas about Malfoy/Snape (nothing new). It got old, and when there was never a "I told you so" speech, I was disappointed. Most teenagers live to give those.
Tonks' plotline could have been left out. Fleur is just...stupid. For whatever reason I like JKR's male characters more than the female ones.
Laura says:
I thought it was pretty good. :P I thought the bits with Harry and Dumbledore in the Pensieve were the most interesting bits. [And] I was devasted when [...] died. Though I agree 'snogged' was overused a lot. People don't use that any more.
Kaitlin says:
At one point when I was reading I actually grew a little bored and thought of how much better the end of the book must be. I've never had this experience with JKR's previous books.
The various romances going on were not believable or necessary to the plot as it was. JKR's metaphorical description of Harry's 'monster inside' was not written to the best of her ability. More than once I found it slightly confusing that it was suddenly mentioned within the narrative.
Snape, whom I usually enjoy reading about, fell flat in this book. He seemed more a caricature than a character. JKR still managed to make a mostly interesting read, however. The part about the death at the end had some shining moments.
It can't be easy when trying to tie all the strings together in preparation for the final book of a series. I'll be looking foward to a conclusion.
Endee says:
I think you are somewhat harsh in your review about the book. Rowling is certainly a fantastic storyteller and that is what you look for when you pick up a book—to spend a few hours lost in another world. Yes, the romances were rather clumsily handled and there are a lot of loose ends which leave you frustrated. I enjoyed reading about Snape and Malfoy.... Voldemort was sorely missed as I feel he is one of the main characters in the book. The 'death' also was quite unnecessary.
All said and done I enjoyed the book thoroughly but I hope Rowling does more research before she writes the last of the series. We want all the mysteries solved before we say goodbye to Harry Potter!
Carla says:
I thought it was good, although Prisoner of Azkaban remains my firm favourite of the series... The death made me cry, and I missed an encounter with Voldemort. Fleur and Bill made me laugh, rather than annoying me, as they act exactly like a couple I know!
I agree that the title of the book hasn't got much to do with the plot... and I think that's a shame because it could have been worked in much better.
But I still loved it, and am now in the process of re-reading the entire series... and will be eagerly awaiting the final instalment!
Nimish says:
The series has been floundering badly after book three. And things would have been a lot better if La Rowling kept her mouth shut. Did she have to roam about, announcing that she has bumped off one of the main characters in the book? It is also amusing to see the wheels come off her plot—the well-organised Ministry of Magic in book one is a shambles by book six. Her idea of romance seems to be that most people tend to go out with people in order to spite those they truly love—wierd! And frankly, even Quidditch sucks—I know Gryffindor will win somehow. There are far too many holes in the plot and character development seems to have gone haywire (shades of Robert Jordan in the Wheel of Time series). Yup, she's a great narrator. But right now, she's like an excellent tailor trying to make garments out of lousy fabric.
Swapna says:
Well, quite frankly I thought it was at least better than The Order of the Phoenix—I honestly do not have a single recollection of that one!
And yes two disappointments:
- Ew! Ginny?!!!?!!!
- After all that fuss on HBP, what the hell did [he/she] do to affect the plot?
Am only hoping that somehow she will pull off the earlier magic and manage to make this and the previous book count in the grand finale. It's either a book she had to write because she has to write seven books, or because she had to set up the finale.
Shikha says:
To put it in a nutshell, HBP was a disappointing read. The problem is that, as other books go, it is great—but by the standards J.K. Rowling set in the first four books, it's a letdown. Harry seems a lot more subdued, Ron's rapidly losing his sense of humour (and taste—Lavender Brown, for heaven's sake) and the plot runs out of steam after a while. Oh, and one more thing—I really missed Fred and George—somehow Hogwart's not the same without them.
Alpana says:
I thought HBP was extremely mediocre and the only reason it was a bestseller was because of the hype. Had this been JK Rowling's first book, Harry Potter would have never been the phenmenon he is today. And, yes, even my hands were itching to slap Potter. The whole Ginny/Harry romance angle was ridiculous and not convincing at all. In fact, the book was a waste of my time and especially money.
Proteeti says:
I didn't think it was bad at all, actually—in fact I think it's the best after Prisoner of Azkaban. The quiet storyline was actually a blessed relief after the madness of Order of the Phoenix. And I was most upset when [...] died, though I have to say the whole book was leading up to it, so it wasn't much of a surprise, unlike Sirius' death. I do agree with you on the subject of the romances, though.... And yes, what did the famous half-blood prince have to do with the book?
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