“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” by J. K. Rowling

We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on.
Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J. K. Rowling)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Book Review

Reviewed March 8, 2006
Rating: 3 stars

I hate writing reviews for Harry Potter books. It has nothing to do with the size or the popularity; it’s that I always have a hard time defining my exact feelings after I’ve closed the book. For the last three books, however, the feeling has grown discernable enough that I can give it a name: disappointment. The last three books have been decidedly disappointing.

I must confess that I wasn’t particularly attuned to the latest installment in the Potter series. Sure, I got the e-mails from Amazon telling me to pre-order my copy; sure, I heard the pre-release gossip on the internet; sure, for a few days after the book came out I didn’t dare read my daily blogs for fear I’d stumble across a spoiler, not having a copy of my own just yet. But I finally got my own copy, more out of a sense of duty than actual anticipation, and so I settled down to read.

Oddly enough, the reading experience seemed flat and uninteresting, more of a chore than a pleasure. I don’t think this has so much to do with any problems in Rowling’s writing as it does with the gossip about a shocking character death; much like the last book, I felt that I was gritting my teeth and plowing methodically through the prose without much pleasure at all, just so I could find out who kicked the bucket. I’m not one to complain about the size of a book, but 650+ pages did seem daunting, and much of it seemed to be filler; I was often tempted to skip the duller passages and flip on towards the end. After all, someone important dies—how can they expect me to wait 600 pages to find out who croaks?

Much like my once-beloved Amelia Peabody series, the Harry Potter series has begun to suffer from a distinct case of encyclopedia-itis: so many names, spells, and places have been mentioned in the past six books that one needs a chart just to keep everyone and everything straight. Give Rowling props, though: she doesn’t waste the first fifty pages providing introductions for the new readers; everyone is expected to know certain things, and to remember where it all left off. (Speaking of introductions, I personally felt that the first chapter was a fairly good way to start things off; no, the Prime Minister didn’t feature at all in the rest of the story, but it’s quite a funny thought to picture this poor befuddled man trying to make sense of these strange people and occurences. Also, the turning of the Prime Minister’s teacup into a gerbil made me laugh out loud—as my mother remarked, “That is so much better than Jesus!”

In the last two installments, I was highly irritated by Harry’s ditherings with regard to Cho Chang—teenage romance is not, and never will be, a subject that grabs my attention. With the Cho issue apparently settled in the fifth book, I was looking forward to a relatively romance-free year, with maybe a slight flavoring of Hermione/Ron and a faint insinuation of Harry/Ginny to keep things lively. No such luck, of course—Hermione/Ron gave way to Ron/other, and Harry/Ginny... well, that would be spoiling, but I will just say that the hookups and breakups were tedious and uninteresting, and took up a good third of the book.

All in all, this book faithfully followed the formula Rowling has preferred for her last three books: take 500+ pages, add romantic angst, and end with a character death. By this time, of course, we’ve all become used to the Beloved Character + Dramatic Death = Shock!!! formula, so it came as much less of a shock this time around. I get the distinct impression that Rowling has forgotten how to write a good, deathless dramatic ending, and so must always one-up her last book by knocking off a character even more important than the last one to die.

What made the first few Potter books so fun was that they were childish, almost innocent; sure, there were dark and scary flavorings to keep things spicy, but you always knew the important people were going to turn out all right in the end. I never thought I’d say this, but… bring back the happy endings, Rowling. I’ve actually learned to miss them.