Categories
Books Media

The Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

One word:

Interesting.

I’ll not spoil anything for those of you still working your way through it. But in a week or so, I wanna hear what everyone thought, and where you think the story is heading. This one went in all the directions I expected (except one) and I’m interested in what she’s doing with certain characters, and how the whole thing might wrap up.

My verdict: I loved it, but I like all the books. It’s not my favorite of the bunch, but it certainly had its surprising moments, as well as its warm fuzzy ones. Damn spoilers….hurry up, every one, so I can talk about it!

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

4 replies on “The Half-Blood Prince”

Finished it! I thought it was very much the penultimate book in the series — Lots of exposition getting us ready for the last book. I liked it, but will refrain from further comment for the moment.

Yup, finished it in one day, but didn’t want to stop reading. I agree, very…interesting is a good word. I’m concerned that she’s saving too much for the last book though – I don’t see how, with everything she set up, it could be finished satisfactorily in less than 1,000 pages.

I guessed who died. I did not, however, guess who the Half-Blood Prince was. That was very well hidden.

I read it overnight, too. 🙂 She’s a genius at the chapter ending cliffhanger that pulls you straight into the next one. If I ever try the novel thing, I’ll have to remember that.

She handled the huge amounts of exposition surprisingly well, too. Her conceit of making it memory exploration with Dumbledore really kept it interesting.

As for where it’s going, she’s left herself set up very well for an ending/coming of age finishing novel. It’s fitting that he faces the final conflict without his parent-figures, since he’ll officially be adult next book.

Which was the direction you didn’t expect? Or the thing you expected that didn’t happen?

-S

After reading HBP I must say that the series is, for sure, no longer a childrens book series. Actually it hasn’t been since book 2!
I cried through the last three chapters of HBP and then felt stupid about crying over a fictional character’s death. But I have come to regard the characters in Rowling’s fantasy world as family! (OK I gotta get a life) but I was more devastated over the conclusion of HBP than I have been over a fictional death in any other novel I’ve read in my entire life (I’m 56)
I guess it had to have happened (I won’t reveal exactly what) but for Harry (alone) to defeat the evil Voltmort, which has always been his destiny, and of course he will defeat him in the last book, the events in book 6 had to have taken place exactly as Rowling wrote them. Harry will rise to the occasion and become the greatest living wizard ever known and he will destroy Voltmort and the death eaters. He will also create a new realm in which Rowling can continue to write about the fantasy world of witches and wizards in 20th century England beyond Harry’s last year at Hogwarts (If there is a 7th year).
I also found it interesting that she chose to metamorph the conditions in her fantasy world with the conditions in July 2005 London. (or Prophesied them) A London so filled with paranoia over the 56 deaths in the tubes that they are oblivious to and accepting of the cold blooded murder of an innocent man because of police suspicion of terrorist involvement. Frankly I fear the ministry of magic more than Voltmort! And so should you!

Leave a Reply to Trish Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *