Finished reading Harry Potter 6? (Reviews/Thoughts/SPOILERS)

[SofaKing381222]

After posting on the other thread, I saw that someone wanted a thread to talk with others who had finished, so that we can talk freely giving away whatever spoilers we want, so here. DISCUSS AWAY!

[Disneykid]

This isn't so much a review as it is a random collection of thoughts (I just finished the book two hours ago, so it's still sinking in):

This has got to be THE most downer of the Harry Potter books thus far, especially the last four chapters. That's not to say it wasn't hilarious at points ("U-No-Poo!"), but this is still way more somber than the previous five, even if Harry is no longer in ORDER OF THE PHOENIX CAPS MODE. Chapter two (with Bella and Narcissa meeting with Snape) felt alarmingly fanfictionish, but I mean that in a good way. I'm so used to fanfiction starring those three (and Luicius) that it was surreal seeing them all interact with each other in cannon without Harry present. The first two chapters of this book seem to be the only ones in Potter-lore where Harry's not present at all (baby!Harry appeared at the end of Sorcerer's Stone's chapter one, and Goblet of Fire's chapter one threw Harry in at the last sentence since it was a vision he had). I can't believe the rumors of Dumbledore dying and Lupin and Tonks together were true. I've never seen book rumors actually come true before. I need to lay off the internet more. I *was* shocked, though, at Snape being evil. I, like Harry and everyone else, believed in Dumbledore's confidence. I figured Snape's conversation with Bellatrix and Narcissa in chapter two was an act, as well as his seemingly helping Malfoy. Judging by how intimidated she made Malfoy in this book, I think Jo is going to have him redeemed in the final one (Malfoy crying hysterically is one bizarre vision). I still can't believe Jo killed off Dumbledore in this. I didn't doubt she would, but I figured she'd save it for the last book. How the heck is Harry going to find the other horcruxes, now? Dumbledore seemingly was the only non-Voldie person who knew about it, but now we've got this mysterious R.A.B. person thrown into the mix. Yay for Harry and Ginny! I've always fully supported this ship, but what's Harry pulling a Peter Parker for? Ginny better seriously cling on to him, because they belong together. I think this may be my favorite of the books; I'm not sure, yet. I do, know, though, that I felt more emotional reading this book than I have with the others (Sirius' death was too vague for me to feel anything, and I'm *STILL* waiting for a proper explanation of that veil). This is going to be possibly the hardest book to adapt to film because of all the expository information. There's actually very little "day in the life of Harry" stuff in this novel. Here's hoping they're careful about how to adapt it. Oh, and Lupin is WAY too old for Tonks.

[SofaKing381222]

I was also surprised by many of things in this book. I personally never heard of Lupin and Tonks getting together but it’s cool to have that in this book since it seems that a lot of the books is about relationships. I HIGHLY suspected that JK would kill off Dumbledore in this book, but you know that there was always a chance that he'd make it. He was my top choice of who J.K. was going to kill off. I was actually very surprised that she didn't kill off more than one major character. I liked seeing Fleur again, and we all knew she was coming back, but I never would have guessed she'd marry Bill! The next book is going to be more exciting now that Dumbledore is out of the picture, because that was the only thing keeping Hogwarts as being as safe as it was. I'm curious about Hogwarts fate in the novels if Harry already stated he’s not going back. That'll be interesting, but I hope Harry doesn’t only travel with Ron and Hermione. I'd like to see the whole DA going. I was truly disappointed that the DA had almost no part in this book, since it was one of my most favorite things of Book 5. Who is R.A.B? And why don’t we know more about that dang veil? Over all, I really liked this book. It's not all action-y like Book IV but it is more like V with more dialogue and discovering the past, and I really liked that about these books. It is different from the first 4, but nice to have a little of everything. Basically, I LOVED it! I don’t yet know how I would rate HBP with the others in the series but it will be near the top, if not at top.

P.S. I noticed once, that when the new Potions master, Slughorn , mentions "Ron" (since he never gets the name right) he calls him Rupert. Rupert Grint plays Ron in the movies! LoL! Wish I could find the page!

EDIT 2: On p. 485! Bottom half "Had a house-elf taste every bottle after what happened to your poor friend Rupert"...... I found it funny

[Fee-Hee-Hee-Eny]

!!! I never noticed the "Rupert" part. Thanks, SofaKing381222!

Anyway, I really liked this book and was surprised to see Dumbledore go. So, does this mean McGonagall is the new Headmistress? Who will take over her position as Head of Gryffindor? And will Slughorn stay and become Head of Slytherin?

Personally, I think Hagrid should be new Head of Gryffindor, and if Slughorn doesn't stay, then Professor Trelawney should be Head of Slytherin. I can only imagine....

But will Harry, Ron, and Hermione return to Hogwarts for his seventh year? I mean, hasn't Harry already firmly stated that he will not be returning? I think he will, last minute decision, return.

[Jake Lipson]

Wow. I finished it this afternoon, and it was not only a really outstanding book as usual -- the best of the series so far -- but it's just one shocking revelation after another, and the mysteries are really starting to come together nicely. Of course, there's still much left for book seven, as there should be, but it's great to have everything beginning to slowly come together for us, and it shows just how well Jo had this whole thing planned out.

Snape's betrayal should be a shock to everyone who reads the book, I think, because we all sort of got in the mood of thinking that while he was definately a jerk towards Harry, we could trust him; the fact that Dumbledore did validated it. I do wonder why he was finally given the Defense post; as he said, Dumbledore thought it would cause a relapse, so why did he suddenly change his mind? Was it because no one else was available or willing for the seemly cursed post? Even though he trusted him, I do think he had to have known he was taking a risk giving him THAT particular job -- I wonder why, after having presisted against it SO long, he finally gave in?
Snape being the Half-Blood Prince was also a suprise, and I thought, as others did, that the HBP would play a bigger role in the story at large; however, when you really do think about it, Snape IS a bigger force and presence in this book than almost any book previously, so the title fits. It's a way for Jo to get that across without calling it "Harry Potter and Severeus Snape," because that would have been very dull and given a bit much away if she'd done it like that. The HBP aspect itself wasn't huge, but minor though it was, it was highly significant, and the man who IS the HBP was significant. So I think it's a good title; if nothing else it gave us all something great to speculate over in the year leading up to the release (the HBP's identity) and it's not the first time she's been vague in the connection of the title to the book. The actulal Goblet of Fire, for example, does very little in the book for which it is named, though it is quite significant. Then again, Goblet's title was leaked as "Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament" for a while before GoF; my guess is that that was the real title, or close to it, considering the Triwizard Tournament, and changed because we were too close. But anyway, due to Snape's revolutionary importance to the book, even though most of it isn't under the HBP guise, I don't have too much of a quealm with the title.
Besides, what could have been better? I'm just making stuff up off the top of my head as I go here; "Harry Potter and the Horcruxes of Evil" might've worked, but that'dve given away too much about those, since they don't really come into play until late(ish) in the book. Because the plot cannot stand on its own without the other books as much as the other five can -- ie, Sorcerer's Stone was about the Stone; CoS was about the CoS; PoA was about Sirius; GoF was about the Triwizard Tournament; and etc., whereas it's very much more difficult to pin down one single plotline as being "the most important one" in this book, I'm guessing it was rather difficult to name at first. So, long story short, I'm okay with HBP.

As for Hogwarts -- I don't think it matters much anymore. They SHOULD reopen the school and try to proceed as normal as possible because it's playing right into Voldemort's hands if they allow him to continue to disrtupt them -- and Dumbledore would have wanted it to stay open unless the students are in mortal peril. But as a couple people in the end of HBP said, now that Dumbledore is gone, Hogwarts is just as safe as anywhere else; without Dumbledore, without the only one Voldemort ever feared, no place is beyond his reach and all are equeal now. So, until it Voldemort's grip is so tight that he has risen to complete power and overthrown the (idiotic) Ministry, which I'm sure he wants to do, they should keep Hogwarts going as long as possible, if only so as to not give him the satisfaction of knowing he's disrupted it. Still, as I said, I don't think it much matters, because Harry has said that he does not intend to return; with a couple exceptions (the first two chapters of HBP are the most recent examples), we have seen the entire series from Hary's point of view and WITH him. In the books up until now, since he has been at Hogwarts and not been much active outside in the wider Wizarding community, the only news we the reader have gotten from the outside (barring again the extremely rare non-Harry-POV sections) that we have gotten are what little info managed to trickle inside Hogwarts to the trio or others. As Harry is no longer going to be at Hogwarts from the looks of it, I'm guessing that the opposite will be true for book seven. We will follow Harry around the Wizarding world as he searches for those of Voldemort's Horcruxes that have not yet been located by Dumbledore; these will not be inside Hogwarts, they will be outside in the world. We will be outside Hogwarts with him on the search; as such, Hogwarts news is likely to be limited to the very few people that he may run into in the course of his searches from Hogwarts, if they even keep the place open. Incidentally, this writes out half the characters, as the only ones that Harry is likely to meet in his journeys to find the Horcruxes are Death Eaters; possibly Ministry officials; other innocents who happen to be around their locations; and possibly the occasional Order member, if they are still operating witth Dumbledore gone. I wouldn't rule out a return appearance from Fawkes, either. Book seven is going to be a very different book from the others, quite markedly; the only major characters who I expect to be focal points of it are, obviously, Harry, and Ron and Hermione since they said they were going with him.

Oh, and to whoever said the whole DA should go -- you honestly don't expect the whole DA to be rounded up by Harry to go, seemingly, anywhere around the world to locate Voldemort's Horcruxes? If he's going to have any hope of success in his mission to find and destroy them, he's going to have to do it quietly, almost undercover, and if he were to do that with the 28 members of the DA, it'd atract a lot of attention and probably get them all killed fast. Plus, while I think they all (save Marietta and Zacharias Smith) liked Harry as a friend and teacher, I don't think they all have the boundless loyalty of Ron and Hermione, and wouldn't all be willing to risk their lives to help him out in this particular messy situation. Besides, he had severe reservations about taking Ginny, Luna and Nevelle with him to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius in OOTP, so why would he even ask the *WHOLE* D.A. to come with him on this? I'm quite suprised Ginny didn't go with him, though; she has shown herself to be quite forceful, especially in OOTP and HBP, and uniquely able to understand his connections with Voldemort, due in particurar to her experiences with Riddle's diary in CoS. I would have liked for her to have come too, though I expect it's going to be quite hard enough for Mrs. Weasley to handle Ron leaving school to hunt Voldemort wiith Harry (particurarly considering her Boggart, as revealed in OOTP), and Ginny too would probably be way too much on her -- especially since she already seems to have lost Percy. I do hope, however, that if/when the dust settles and Harry has vanquished Voldemort and the Death Eaters, he will come back to Ginny and can find her waiting for him. She's loved him ever since the beginning, and if I were her, I'd understand, as she obviously does, and wait. We'll see what happens, though; especially with the security of both Hogwarts and Dumbledore gone, it's going to be a whole lot harder for Harry to stay alive and evade Voldemort AGAIN. Nothing is for sure now that we've come down to the final book, especially with it taking such a different slant than the others have.

But I can't wait.

[alienkattuk]

I never ever read any Harry Potter book.

I much preferred to watch the movies.

[PublicEnemy#1]

I never ever read any Harry Potter book.

I much preferred to watch the movies.

While I liked all the films, all three of the books are far more better.

I haven't finished the book yet... (I'm currently on chapter 13... I know, I know, I'm not a very fast reader) I'll probably finish it by tomorrow.

[ichabod]

Well, as i said in the other thread, i think this is the thinnest and the weakest of the six, and in all honesty I feel it's entire existence was to bridge between 5 and 7.

Who thinks it would have been better if the events at the end of th book happened at the start of book 7?

Harry starts at the Dursley's in book 7 and is taken away by Dumbledore to search for the Horcrux and then dies at the beginning of book 7. Then that would have meant book 6 could have been devoted to a more intersting plot.

As i also previously said in the other thread. I like the fact that Snape was the half blood prince and that does fit, however i felt the way it was revealed was crap and in all honesty it just didn't really go anywhere.

I feel that after the first couple of chapters, most of it was dead material, up to the climax. I mean I was so disappointed that Ron and Hermione fell, out and I was thinking OK we've had this before, it's just like GoF where Harry as trying to get them to make up.

I feel that the entire contents of HBP could have been condensed into less chapters, then a real more interesting plot could have followed through, I think of HBP as a series of subplots, being forced into being the main plot.

I was disappointed that Narcissa and Bellatrix played no furtherpart, and I'm disappointed that Snape's vow to help Malfoy wasn't utilised enough during the course of the book.

I am still not sure about Snape, whether he is good or evil I mean. And I know you probably think"But Snape killed Dumbledore" he has to be bad.
Well Dumbledore had a pleading tone in his voice with Snape, now I personally don't feel that Dumbledore was the kind of person to beg for his life. So maybe Dumbledore and Snape had a prior arrangement that should Snape ever be put in such a position, he would kill Dumbledore in order not to give himself away? After all what could Snape have done, If he had saved Dumbledore he would have revealed his allegiance to the Dumbledore right in front of the other deatheaters, also Snape would not have been able to overpower a group of deatheaters by himself, who knows but I think Snape still has an important part to play in book 7.

Also I was annoyed at the fact that not as much was played upon the fact that Madam Rosmerta was under the Imperius curse, and also you would have thought that if the Dark Mark was cast over the school the entire village of Hogwarts would be a frenzy of frightened people, but no. Also the fact that one minute Dumbledore could not stand and was to weak to do anything and the next he just seemed to spring back to life annoyed me. It happened in the cave as the Inferi attacked and also in the Hogsmeade high street.

Anyway, on a different note, does anyone think that R.A.B could be Sirius' brother Regulus?

[SofaKing381222]

Anyway, on a different note, does anyone think that R.A.B could be Sirius' brother Regulus?

I read that on one of the forums I was on. It is possible, but nobody knows for sure what his middle name is, someone had the theory that his uncles name started with an "A", and that he could have gotten his middle name from his uncle and that is entirely possible, but we'll not know for sure until Book VII

Ok, all of the DA is ridiculous, but maybe the trully loyal ones to harry (Luna, Ginny, and Neville) and they dont need to stay together, they can always split up.

[yankees]

I picked The Book Up Friday Nite and I Read it till around 2am..

I was out all day saturday so I didnt read that day

Yesterday I read about 150 pages so now Im on page 200

After u reach page 50 the book gets very addictin and u cant put it down.

Sofar this is my 2nd favorite book in the series.
________
YAMAHA XZ 550 HISTORY

[Jake Lipson]

Dumbledore's death in and of itself is such a shocking climax I think it sustained it. The battle in order to GET to Dumbledore is pretty big, especially considering that it's happening on Hogwarts turf, and then to have Snape just walk in there and...well...ah, wow. The climax works for me.

[Disneykid]

I guess I was just expecting more of a fight after all that happened at the end of Order of the Phoenix. Once Harry and Dumbledore arrive at Hogwarts, Dumby dies, Harry chases Snape and fails, Hagrid's hut catches on fire and...that's it. The rest of the battle is merely told to us by participants later on as opposed to us actually seeing what went on, hence why I think that when the movie adaptation arrives, it will probably show us more of the battle and possibly make Harry participate more than just chase Snape around.

[Alan]

Its very sad to know that Dumbledore dies

[alienkattuk]

Its very sad to know that Dumbledore dies

I am curious... what did Dumbledore die from?

did someone kill him?

[Disneykid]

Its very sad to know that Dumbledore dies

I am curious... what did Dumbledore die from?

did someone kill him?

You can always, you know, pick up the book and find out.

[Paka]

Okay, I'm bumping this thread for those who want to discuss HBP freely, without fear of spoiling others. So even though I haven't entirely finished the book, I've already seen one thing I'd like to comment on...

Oh, and Lupin is WAY too old for Tonks.

Well, Kelvin, if you check the Almighty HP Lexicon, which is so thorough that even Rowling herself has consulted it on occasion (;)), you can see that Lupin was born circa 1959-1960, whilst Tonks has been calculated to have been born circa 1973. So the age difference between them is, at most, 14 years. What's so wrong about that, I'd like to know? C'est l'amour!

Besides, I say Lupin deserves someone after all these years of pain, prejudice, and isolation. I certainly can relate to their situation.

[lord-of-sith]

Well, I really liked the book, Jo Rowling is a genius at storytelling because there was not a moment where I couldn't understand what someone ment or imagine what an invironment looked like. I was a little angry that Dumbledore died (even madder that Snape Killed him, I liked Snape, OOPS! Sorry, I let it out) But that's great storytelling! Now, if Harry Triumphs, it'll be even more impressive! The Horcuxe thing was a nice little twist. But I really liked the book.

[Satoshi]

I got the book early Saturday afternoon and ended up finishing late Sunday afternoon. I had avoided spoilers like a plague leading up to the book's release, so I was basically completely in the dark as to anything that was going to happen in it. Overall I quite enjoyed it (though that's not a big surprise - it is Harry Potter afterall), but I don't really know where I'd place it in comparison to the other books of the series. I loved all of the Harry/Dumbledore stuff, and the scenes leading up to Dumbledore's death (Harry bringing Dumbledore home, the dark mark over Hogwarts, Dumbledore/Malfoy) are probably my favorite parts of the book.

I thought the plot involving the Horcruxes was quite interesting, and for me it felt like the dominating plotline - certainly moreso than that of the Half-Blood Prince. I know that when you look back, Snape really did seem to be a strong focal-point in the book; however, compared to that of the Horcruxes, I don't think his part seemed that important. I do, however, think that it will seem much more important when we get to book seven. I may be holding on to lost hope, but I can't help but believe that there was more to Dumbledore's death and Snape's betrayal than meets the eye. No, I don't think that Dumbledore is still alive, but I do think that there are several factors which we don't know of that will come into play in book seven.

There were a couple of things that I thought seemed kind of odd and unwarranted, but I suppose I can't say that until I see what parts they may play in book seven. First off were the respective roles of Lupin and Tonks, and the revelation about their relationship at the end. With Sirius' death at the end of OOTP, I always hoped that Harry and Lupin would be able to build up a good relationship again like they had in POA, but it didn't happen. Tonks had a gloomy disposition throughout the whole book, and as such I had hoped that this would lead up to either some sort of (important) revelation or at least a nice, emotional scene with Harry where they discuss Sirius. Instead all we get is this out-of-nowhere (in my opinion) unimportant revelation that she's in love with Lupin, and vice-versa. Was there really much point in that? The second thing I have to complain about is Bill and Fleur's relationship. To me it basically went like this: They're going to get married, ya da da, then Bill gets his face messed up by a werewolf, ya da da, and they're going to get married anyways - The End. I mean, I think it would've worked a lot better if that stuff had happened to people that we actually care about. I mean, Bill's only shown up a couple times over the course of the series (and never to do anything important I might add) and then Fleur was in one book as Harry's competition in the Triwizard tournament. Now they're getting married and so on...what's the big deal?

Anyways I know it may be hard to tell after seeing me complain like that, but I did really like the book. My having so few complaints goes to show that, lol. And I'm quite intrigued (though maybe a little scared) to find out what's going to happen in book seven. Oh well, I've got a whole two years to think about all of that.

[ZOOMBOOM0688]

I hope BOOK 7 is the thickest but not full of things we don't need to make it thick (I don't know if that made sense ) Also I think BOOK 7 will be really different if JKR doesn't put hogwarts in it or with harry in it. I don't think harry will go to hogwarts because then who will be the "bad guys" or the people who are mean like Draco and snape. If harry doesn't go back to Hogwarts will the book still say YEAR 7 ??....

[Prince Phillip]

I think this was the BEST book to date! Toatally awesome, and I loved how every single preceeding book was refferenced.

I do not believe Snape is truely evil, and I think there is a chance Dumbledore is still alive. I just think it needed to look as though Snape had killed Dumbledore. 1. so that Snape could keep up his act as a death eater, and 2. so that Harry, thinking Dumbledore, his last protecter, was dead, could finally become the wizard that he needs to be in order to defeat Voldemort. But ofcoarse that's just my take... More to come later...