the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Well, I finished it last night. Nice book! Now, it doesn't break new ground in fantasy fiction, but it does break new ground in the Wizarding universe. The one thing I'm really impressed about is that Rowling manages to make the kids believably age from book to book.

SPOILER ALERT! (highlight to read)
So people are apparently upset that Dumbledore died. I don't know how they can be?! It's absolutely classic. Before the apprentice can achieve his or her full power, the mentor/teacher must be done away with. It takes the whole series further into the realm of classic myth.

And, now that Dumbledore is gone there's no one to tell Harry to trust Snape. Harry's hatred of Snape will grow unchecked, even take him to the edge of evil. So, when the climax of the final book comes, I predict Harry will need to take a leap of faith and trust Snape in order to destroy Voldemort once and for all. But (asks the reader), haven't we just received PROOF that Snape was a bad guy all along? No. The Unbreakable Promise that Snape made early in the book FORCED him to kill Dumbledore. Here's how I see it.

1. Snape is undercover with the Death Eaters.

2. In order to maintain his cover, he has to agree to an Unbreakable Promise to protect Malfoy. Since he likes Malfoy anyway, and wants to protect him by separating him from the Death Eaters, its an easy decision.

3. When poisoned Dumbledore arrives, Snape races to the rooftop to save him with his potion skills...

4. only to find that Malfoy is in danger of being killed as the Order gets closer to the roof.

5. Snape knows the other Death Eaters won't let Malfoy leave until Dumbledore is dead. There isn't time to fight the rooftop Death Eaters before the Order arrives and attacks Malfoy. Since Dumbledore appears to ALREADY be dying (from the poison).

6. The spell Snape is under allows him few options. Since Dumbledore is already dying and obviously in pain, Snape finishes him off and flees safely(ish ) with Malfoy. Unbreakable Promise - not broken. Downside: he just killed his boss, and now the good guys want to kill him.

Harry will have to realize this in the last book, while destroying Voldemort and finding out why Dumbledore really trusted Snape.

Also, I think it sucks that Harry broke things off with Ginny. Shouldn't that be Ginny's decision? Seems to me like Ginny is a talented chick and could be a useful ally. Breaking up to protect the girl is so 1950s!

What do you think?