it's very carefully spoiler free.

I finished Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince today. A bit late, I'll admit, but hey, I was busy. I don't really have a strong offensive comment on it. I liked some parts of it a lot, although the snogging parts/90210 drama kind of bored me, but the in-depth stuff that was added in was really interesting. I mean, we knew Tom was hot and fascinating (because he was hot), and now we have all the proof we need. I liked Dumbledore in this. I even liked Snape, probably because they made him a little cooler and less focus on the grease. I even like the new professor, probably because he wasn't as horrible as Umbridge. Book 6 was definitely not the miserable experience that book 5 was, and I guess it's just a generally good preceding-the-apocalypse book. Lots of sex and gore. Nods.

I'm kind of surprised at the way the story's going. I mean, it just seems like it's delving more and more into the fanfiction world, except it's canon, so it's real. This is most likely because fanfiction has covered every single plot scenario alive (including the Ron x Giant Squid) so anything that even touches upon it is a bit disappointing. It's a stupid feeling to have, I know. I'll get over it. All in all, Rowling didn't exactly blow me away (like she did in 4 & 5), but she in no way disappointed me. It's left me a bit numb. Admittedly enough, I felt the death in this episode a bit more palpably (isn't that a great word? It just feels like what it means.) than in book 5, but this is probably because she spent an extra 30 pages on it opposed to the pathetically inadequate two sentences in OoTP.

I liked book 5 better. There really isn't a reason for that. I mean, 5 was really a miserable experience. Getting through it was so hard I had to stop at intervals just because the frustration threatened to make me stop completely. Not to mention that everything was so grim and ugly and nothing got better, not even in the end. And Harry was a complete dolt in it, and painfully adolescent. I just wanted to hit him repeatedly with something blunt throughout the entire thing. Like a mace. Except the 'I will not tell lies' parts. I wanted to die at that part for him.

6 wasn't like that. 6 definitely had bright parts, and it started out in such an interesting way it was hard to think it was NOT going to get really good. Harry stopped being ANGRY CAPS-LOCK BOY and started turning into a little bit of an asshole slash apathetic slash but oh no I must avenge my parents/sirius/everybody in the world kind of person; i.e. a hero. And the ending was surprisingly promising, even if the loose ends seemed like a cop out that I don't think book 7 will tie up in a satisfying manner.

I still liked book 5 more though. Probably because it was so draining. 6 wasn't really, except for the Tom and Dumbledore parts, and even then it was okay. I think it's because 5 just never gave you a break, whereas the teen drama in 6 was a break in itself. That, and you had this funny feeling that you knew exactly how everything was going to turn out in the end anyway, since, well, this is a book and they're teenagers and we are all smart people who have gone through high school.

Oh, and the new ships. Wow. Okay. I don't know. Eh. Well. It could be worse. The monster metaphor was horrible, by the way. And it's totally sending out the wrong message to the little children reading this. I went back to loving the adults in the Potter world though, which is a good thing... I guess. And the fleshing out of certain 2-d characters was a pleasant surprise as always (like in book 5), but I don't think things are going to turn out the way I wished they would, which is good, since if it did I would be disappointed in the end. At this point, I just hope Harry survives. He really might not, the way it's going. Ah, well. In another couple years, the last book will be out, and that'll be that. I will be so sad when that happens.

On another note, I finally got Coldplay's album that everyone and their mom is moaning about. And I had this really intricate dream yesterday. It was so cool. I wish I remembered it.