BOOK REVIEW: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (early access)

since you guys are huge snape fans i'm really looking forward to you getting the full snape flashback. its SO much better than in the movie. edit: literally decided to read it after commenting this and started crying lol. and i don't even like snape like that.

I'm doing my best to read and respond to them all, but Tht's why we are doing some planned Q & A livestreams for HP lovers

I was just reading through the comments... some really interesting points made in them. I chuckled when i realized that all the comments (including my own) are novels. I guess it’s hard to express opinions and thoughts about such things without the length. I love that it’s so civil in the comments and insightful! You guys are doing a great job with these.

Melanie P

Thank you for appreciating the GinnyxHarry relationship! It's so well done and I hate the way the movies made Ginny an uninteresting side character who Harry occasionally shares an awkward kiss with. I think I enjoy this book so much because of the way the "dumb teenage" relationship drama is juxtaposed with the actual deep feelings between GinnyxHarry and RonxHermione. It's just so well done. Can't wait to hear what you guys think of the last book! I think it's my favourite of the seven! :)

Julia

It's not that the movies were missing crucial information, It's that the medium didn't allow for the translation of various bits of lore and worldbuilding that add a lot more nuance to the final book. Reading the books all the way through leaves you with more fleshed out characters, a more detailed world, and a plot that progresses a little more smoothly. Also, I'll leave my Snape rant (positive) for the Deathly Hallows.

Argo2Unitard

See, and this is all in the spirit of healthy debate, but I think if you admit everything you do above, I feel like u have to see it as a redemption arc. I mean his final act was for Harry and Dumbledore

That's true, that's really cool if I think of it that way

Yeah it's so amazingly done. Better than anything I've read before

I'm so glad you appreciate the Ginny/Harry dynamic not everyone gets their relationship and I think it's one of my favorite portrayals of a healthy relationship in YA novels. They mesh so good together and they're not over the top like so many teen romances.

I second that. Or perhaps a discussion around some picked comments from the reviews so far.

Trav Gorin

I think the Harry/Hermione ship comes from some of the movie only fans TBH. They always portrayed them as closer than Hermione and Ron in the films. And they basically cut 90% of Ginny from the films aswell. I will always ship book Harry and Ginny, but I think film wise, a Harry and Luna relationship would've been fun lol

Trav Gorin

Totally agree with you on Snape and Dumbledore. And yes, I remember reading Half-Blood Prince the next day after release (I locked myself in my bedroom and read the whole book all day) and it did completely shake my world. I'd always loved Snape and it was so heartbreaking! Oh and I LOVE Harry and Ginny, I never understood the Harry & Hermione ship.

Jenny MacRunnel

Guys can we get s Q and.A before DH?

JANJ

Hi guys! Love you are doing this book reviews!! Interesting fact I learned not long ago: the actress playing Lunna Lovegood wanted to give up her salary to shoot Dumbledore's funeral, but they told her it wasn't enough. Regarding the backstory of Voldemort, I liked it because it gives a logic sense to the horrocruxes identity and location. In my opinion, in the movies they find the horrocruxes a little randomly without even knowing how they look like, whereas in the book you already know at this point how many are there and where Voldemort got them. Excited to see the last one!! Have a nice week :)

Like you, I can see why they cut some of the Riddle memories from the movies (if you include more than the orphanage memory you have to include pretty much all of them, and i guess that might be considered too disruptive to the current-day Harry-centric plot by the filmmakers), but like you both mentioned, I do feel like it gives book Voldemort a different feel! Voldemort in the movies is cartoonishly evil. There aren't many moments where we get to see his brilliant, charming, and manipulative side, so I was left wondering who the hell would choose to follow this caricature of a villain. In the book, though, you get a more complete picture; you get his thirst for power and status, his devotion to magical knowledge and his attraction to wizarding history, his careful flattery, his force of personality that allows him to grow a following while still in school, and his quiet, composed persona that he puts on even while performing shockingly ruthless and callous acts (e.g. his whole family's murder by the time he was 16!). He's just so much more convincing, and much more frightening, in the books, and much of that comes from his the memories we get in HBP.

I always love a good level-headed Snape discussion. Harry Potter fans tend to feel SO strongly about this, and I think so many people skew to the extremes (Snape is evil vs. Snape is a hero) which takes away all the nuance his character is based on - he is a morally gray character, and that's the point. He does some horrible and abusive things as a teacher that are inexcusable, but also does some major self-sacrificing for the cause that quite literally help Harry win the war. When I say Snape is my favorite character it isn't because I actually like him - he's my favorite because he makes me think the most about right/wrong, good/evil, guilt/atonement, etc. While I don't think his devotion to Lily is obsession, I do think it is unhealthy (you get more backstory in the last book) but you can't deny that his role was absolutely pivotal and it was rooted in his love for Lily and loyalty to Dumbledore. I never read his story as a "redemption" as some people do, I ultimately think he was an abused kid who became an abuser but also undeniably did some really good things.

Joelle Schutt

THANK YOU for what you said about Severus Snape, wholeheartedly – Unfortunately, many people ignore his sacrifices and choose to focus on the times when he picked on a few people and said a few mean things and lose sight of the bigger picture with a lack of perspective. And yes, he gave up the entire reputation that he meticulously built as a defected Death Eater-turned-Order member and tarnish his name by reinforcing his position with the Death Eaters again due to Dumbledores’ grand plan. That takes a tonne of courage, and knowing he spent that school year completely alone, fully aware that he would soon have to take Dumbledore’s life and have everyone turn against him and see him as the enemy – Just think of how lonely and isolated he must have felt, with that looming on his conscious. He knew that time would come, and no one but Dumbledore knew. He is Hogwarts’ silent guardian, and he protected the lives of students and allies and cared more about those lives than protecting their feelings in times of war because there were more important things. (He’s kind of like the wizarding Batman! ) And in the end, he chose to continue with this despite his own protests. He continued, even when his own life appeared bleak and without a positive resolution. And it makes me mad when people say that he only did ‘one good thing’. No, he did MANY good things over MANY years and made a huge difference, and most of those good things had absolutely nothing to do with Lily. He may have defected when Lily’s life was in danger, but sometimes it takes that one person to change and see the error of your ways and put you on a better path. Remember, he was only a true/dedicated Death Eater for about 2 years before he changed sides by choice. And people forget that which is a huge part of his character. It wasn’t the fact that he loved Lily, which drove him to make better choices, but it’s what he did with that love that drove him to work for Dumbledore to try and set things right, as best as he could within his power. Actions, not words – Exactly! I’ve always said this everyone time I get attacked because it is our choices that define us in the end and the actions we make, not just the things we say. Yeah, Severus called Lily a Mudblood out of public humiliation and duress, but he actively tried to save her life after his mistake with the Prophecy, by approaching his Master’s enemy. That takes a serious set of balls, especially knowing that Dumbledore could have killed him, and Voldemort if he ever found out. Being nice/friendly does not equate to good (Tom Riddle) and saying a few mean things does not equate to being evil (Severus Snape). (And I’m sorry if the fandom can be hostile towards you with your opinions, unfortunately, that can’t be helped. ) Loving your reviews, and the lengthy discussions – You guys are amazing!

Michelle Linardis

Hey guys, so I think the main reason behind people not liking the Tom Riddle back story not being included in the movie is the fact that it answers his motivations. Like why does he hate muggles so much? His father was a muggle and abandoned his mother. So he literally rejects that part of himself. Even changing his name because of it. Why does he despise love? Because it ruined his mother an made her weak. Why does he want to create horcruxes in the first place? Because his mother died in child birth leaving him alone, and interestingly, first thinks that she must have been a muggle, because anyone who knows magic wouldn't allow themselves to succumb to death. So now does he not only have a fear of death, he's also motivated to overcome death to be the greatest wizard. It's also interesting to see how he came across the ring, the necklace and tracked down the cup. Also, to Ninetail's point of Voldemort not really wanting to be there for the students when he requests the teaching position, he's right. Voldemort just wants access to Hogwarts. Indoctrinating the students would have just been like a side mission for him. And James, I think you're spot on when you said that knowing the end of Snapes journey allows you to see the flaws in Harry's thinking of Snape more obviously. As for Ginny and Harry, can totally ship the book relationship! The films are more than a little sketchy in building their romance. Lol.

Trav Gorin

That's true. I do kinda like that parallels of Dumbledore and Voldemort. I hadn't thought of that before honestly

No just actually combed lol

Thank you for the great Snape discussion guys - I agree. Killing Dumbledore at the expense of his reputation, turning people who he is actually loyal to against him is one of the most selfless things that is done in the series. And I think while his love for Lily inspired him to come out of Death Eater days, it's the loyalty to Dumbledore that makes the character carve a path to his atonement. Snape is Dumbledore's man through and through - just like Harry. I love Harry and Snape's confrontation in the books - it's so intense, with Harry calling him a coward right after Snape did what is possibly the bravest thing he has done, and Snape losing control. The movies whitewashed this scene and took away the intensity. And yes, in the movies, Harry was simply under the tower, doing nothing. Which is a terrible characterisation moment on part of filmmakers - Harry will never not do nothing. It's why Dumbledore had to immobilise him. As for why Harry doesn't take Dumbledore and Lupin's words at face value - it's actually because of Harry's upbringing at Dursleys. Harry finds it hard to trust adults in general - it's why the books are centered around Harry solving the mystery, as opposed to trusting an adult to handle it. We see this in him when he saves Gabrielle at Triwizard tournament too - he just didn't believe anyone else would save her, so he did. I think Harry, from a very young age, has it ingrained in him that he has to do things himself because no adult will rescue him, thanks to Dursleys. And that is what I think is coming in play with regard to his relationship with Dumbledore and Lupin, both of whom, while great, have been distant with him. Lupin drops off the radar in Goblet of Fire and comes back in OOTP as part of the job. While he and Harry share a great relationship, it is Sirius who is consistently going out of the way to remind Harry to call on him, to be near him, to live in a cave and eat rats just to ensure Harry can contact him quickly. No adult has shown this level of devotion to Harry, so I feel Harry's love and regard for Sirius is complete earned and understandable. On top of all of that, Harry relates immensely to Sirius because they are both very similar people. When it comes to Snape, I think it's Harry's authority issues coming into play, along with some unfair displacement of blame of Sirius' death (because Harry ultimately blames himself) and of course, Snape's own behaviour with Harry, which Harry isn't going to take kindly to.

The conversation about dumbledore being manipulative... we have a negative connotation for that word but it’s not always bad. Dumbledore is the strongest good wizard alive (before the end of this book at least) and he is a great occlumens so he can keep secrets from bad people. Many other wizards are not occlumens and are susceptible to having their minds invaded by voldemort or other death eaters. So he’s not sharing information with people that don’t need to know that information to do their part. It is about trust on the part of those following dumbledore’s orders but it’s not that he doesn’t trust in return. He’s keeping the focus on himself to draw voldemort’s attention away from others. He also didn’t want voldemort to know what or how much he knew about him so he wouldn’t go and screw with his horcruxes. You are right about a general not telling everything to the entire army. It’s completely logical to not put all your battle plans out there for the enemy to strategize against. I always thought it was a good move not to let everyone in on his secrets. I never had an issue with that.

Melanie P

So glad James appreciated Harry and Ginny. I say all the time that the fact that JKR was able to cultivate that relationship, and others, through characterisation as opposed to dedicated romantic scenes is something she does not get enough credit for. I hear people say JKR was bad at writing romance, but she never wrote romance. Any relationships were developed by focusing on characterisation between two people, and that imo takes more skill as a writer than shoving people into a romantic scene.

Josh Z

To help the snape is good and in love and not a stalker, you have to remember even though it’s shown in book 7 snape and lily were childhood friends growing up, and then went separate ways. So it wasn’t a I see that girl I love her deal. It was his childhood friend in a world where he was abused finding lily the first person to care about him

Zach Winters

I completely agree with your assessment of Snape’s character. He can be a dick and heroic at the same time. There was no funeral in the movie. Same with the battle sequence. The lack of memories in the movies forced the producers/writers to warp the final book because of the information harry got from those memories. So the memories not being included really bothered me in the movie. In the beginning of the book when they are in potions for the first time, they have the love potion simmering and harry think it smells like something floral that he recognized from the burrow.... aka ginny. There are tiny hints of their building romance throughout. Tom Riddle is a sociopath so all of his relationships and connections are manufactured. I always thought that there was a stronger resemblance between dumbledore and voldemort. Both are super powerful and ambitious (in different ways), both keep secrets and explore magic other wizards don’t even know exist but voldemort is evil and dumbledore is good.

Melanie P

James looking sharp! New haircut?

Zach Winters