Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (EXPECT SPOILERS HERE!!!)

I won't say anything in my first post here, but I just finished reading the new book and enjoyed it. Anyone else read it yet?

I'm almost done!! jkaldjsakf;ajs soooo gooooood!!

I have read it and I also enjoyed it.

*sniff sniff* two characters died. but overall enjoyed immensely reading the book. I am going back to read book One through Six.

Holy. Crap.

That's all I really have to say about that. Oh, and also, who the heck is that initials person at the end????

Gah, how long 'til the seventh book comes out??

OK, I refuse to read any posts until I read it, but I can't wait! My sister is reading our copy as we speak, and then my two bros., but I hope to start reading it on Thursday! (when I get back from a business trip...)

I'm thinking R. A. B. is Regulus A. Black.

I liked the book but I wasn't wild about it like Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix. I thought the plot was thin compared to the previous 3 books, and Slugworth is certainly no Umbridge, Moody, Lupin, or Lockhart. Mainly, I was expecting a setup to book 7, but I was hoping for another intense self-contained frenetic plot-driven story. I will admit that I have had the big death figured out since, oh, about book 3, so that came as no surprise to me. And since that really is what the entire book is centered around, I can totally see if others loved it more than I.

On the other hand, you go, Snape! Wow. That was wonderful. Horrible, but wonderful. And I think, amazingly enough, that even at the end, he was acting on Dumbledore's orders, and that he still is. If that is the case, that is some DEEP cover.

I'm not completely convinced that all is as it appeared regarding the major death. I can see where this death makes sense for the set up to the 7th book, but on the other hand I can also see this as some kind of red herring that would also set the necessary events in motion. However, the circumstances leading up to the death were very good... I was on the edge of my seat! Oh, and personally, I'm hoping that there's still a chance for redemption for Voldemort's "unwilling" young assassin. I've always had a soft spot for that character, and would like to see them end the series on the side of good, however unlikely that may be.

The one thing I liked about this book is that it was a bit more streamlined than past books, so that there wasn't a lot of "unnecessary" subplots. Things just moved along better.

I agree: Slugworth was a fairly mediocre character after the previous new teachers. Even wacky Professor Trelawny is more interesting than he is.

On the subject of romance, I am not completely thrilled with the direction of Harry's lovelife. Not who I would have chosen, but who knows what will happen in Book 7... student relationships seem to heat up and cool down fairly quickly at Hogwarts

I've read better.

I know it was a setup book for the seventh, but jeez, i kept waiting and waiting for something to happen. Everyone knew it would, and it did, but still...

As for the big one being undone by a change of circumstances of something....I doubt it. She doesn't have a comic book soap opera slant to her writing. Its all Byronic tragedy.

Regulus Black? Isn't that Sirus's brother? I don't remember who but I remember the name.

I don't know about Snape. That is way depp cover and I don't know that If I were Harry i would be able to trust Snape ever again...

As if Harry trusted Snape before!! Pshaw...

And, yes, Regulus Black is Sirius's brother. The one that was a Death Eater killed as he tried to escape Voldermort (or something).

Good supposition on the Regulus Black. Since Harry now owns No. 12 Grimmauld Lane, I'll be willing to bet the horcrux is located within.

I really enjoyed the book and am sorry that it went so quickly. It would be great if I could train myself to read more slowly.

If Snape is still under Dumbledore's orders, it would be fairly implausible to think that anyone would ever go along with him again. He could be but, wow, that would be something else.

I'm floored. I loved it. I just finished two minutes ago. And now I feel lost. So much so say about it...but now I'm tired

Um, wouldn't Harry be an accidental Horcrux?

I mean, some of the powers were transferred, right? So would he have a small portion of his soul as well? Neat hiding place if you think about it.

Yeah, i know he was supposed to die...supposedly.

I mean, there was no reason the AK curse shouldn't have killed him, even with the "love" thing going on. Lots of people that are loved die all the time.

So, as long as his greatest enemy, Harry is alive, he can't really die.

Just a thought anyway.

Some thoughts (but not nearly all of them):

- Above all, what I liked about this one is that I really like the man that Harry is becoming. "Dumbledores' Man, through and through", choosing to sit with Neville and Luna on the way to Hogwarts, when he convinced Slughorn to give the memory...I really like Harry.

- I've always wanted Harry to be with Ginny, so I'm very pleased with this development. And I'm sure it's not really over--after all, Harry's power over Voldemort comes from his ability to love.

- We all knew how this one would end and who would die, since Harry couldn't really grow unless that happened, but I thought it was executed well, in that we saw Harry's relationship with that person really grow in this one. That was a nice touch.

As for Snape, I can't help but have suspicions that he was acting under Dumbledore's orders either, but I'm not sure. If not though, I want Harry to brutally kill him

Personally, I'm still hoping that Harry will end up with Luna Lovegood. I don't know why, but she seems to be the one best suited to be with him. I dunno. Maybe I just have a thing for oddball characters, but I think they would be good together

Finished reading it yesterday.


So what will be the last title? Harry Potter and the Death Eaters? Or is that too gruesome for a children's book?

Figured out Ginny & Harry and Ron & Hermoine a couple of books ago.

I think I want the death to be a red herring, but I also don't want it to be a red herring.

Regarding Snape. He had been my favorite character. The bad man redeeming himself but still an unlikable sort.

I also think that Harry is one of the Horcrux

I'm guessing that we haven't seen the last of that curtain that Sirius fell through in Order of the Phoenix. I'm guessing that Harry will communicate with those that have passed before the end of the seventh book.

I don't think that Harry is a Horcrux. I think that Voldemort had already done the soul splitting thing before facing Harry. I think that there was just a transfer of power and knowledge to Harry when the Avada Kadava (sp?) curse backfired.

Still can't shake off the eerie feeling that the next book Seven will see the Dumbledor being alive by simply switching the body/soul/mind or something magical stuff him and Snape....that Snape is actually the one who sacrificed his life for Dumbledore and the curse still lives on that the teacher who teaches the Dark Arts of the Defense would be leaving the position every year. I wonder why Dumbledore accompanying Harry Potter to find the Horcrux, instead of Snape? It would make sense that Snape would be the one to teach Harry how to defense against the evil magicks. Hmmm...maybe I can be wrong.

If he actually used the AK curse. After all, who was there to witness it? Harry doesn't remember it, now does he?

No one else there. And while we have always been told it was the AK curse, was it?

I don't know. Usually, in a mystery, there are set indicators, some positive, some negative, some off hand that lend to the answer. This isn't really a mystery so much as an unfolding story.

My thoughts, anyway.

I thought about the Harry Horcrux bit too hmm...

I thought Luna and Neville were gonna make some magic together...

The whole 'we're not taken magical creatures classes anymore' bit was kinda mean to Hagrid.

Did Aragog die for any particular reason?

I think he was old and dying in the third book, wasn't he? Don't remember, honestly.

I wonder if the Aragog death was just another way of showing that no one was really safe anymore. Hagrid said something like he felt for the first time like he might be in danger entering the forest because Aragog wasn't there to protect him from the spiders.

Of course, too, it was just another background character who could die without greatly impacting the main story, kinda like Amelia Bones.

Yeah, I read the Aragog not being there to protect Hagrid anymore as an allegory for Dumbledore and Harry. Well done too, in that it gave a great scene b/t Harry, Hagrid and Slughorn.

"She gave her life, and yet, you won't give me a memory". Wow. I felt chills.