BOOK REVIEW Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince pt. 1 (early access)

Expanding on my previous comment, after you finish the book, I suggest watching Movieflames youtube analysis video on why the HBP movie is the second-worst adaptation of the eight movies because he highlights the filmmakers' failure perfectly and it's not readily apparent, unlike GOF where the problems are extremely obvious.

Josh Z

Obsessed is exactly right! Dumbledore even calls Harry out on his fixation with Snape and Malfoy a couple times coming up. (Those are always really interesting passages to re-read, knowing what Dumbledore knows that Harry doesn't.) And as for the HBP, I absolutely agree with James about how it fleshes out Snape's character in this behind-the-scenes way. It's so cool. As a grad student in a scientific field, I absolutely love thinking about what research and innovation entails in the magical world, and it raises my appreciation for Snape tenfold. He's functioning at such a high level, even as a teen! He's clearly a great researcher, and the best researchers are curious, inventive, deliberate, thorough, and disciplined. Although skeptical, they're not cynical; many could actually be described quite well as romantics. They are often isolated and engaged in very solitary work, though not necessarily by choice. Viewing Snape through the lens of the researcher behind the HBP book just expands his character in such a detailed way (And tbh Snape's teaching and ego is incredibly reflective of an eminent research faculty member forced to lecture by university admin... not saying it's right, just saying it's hella real lol)

The hero complex thing, it never crossed my mind, but now that you mention it. It would be quite the ironic, because doing things just so that they're done ( and here I refer to The Ministry arresting innocent people just because they didn't want it to look like they weren't doing anything) and Harry actually condemns that attitude in his mind. So him to be blaming someone (Draco, Snape) just because he needs a scape goat it is a really ironic and interesting point of view.

Demy Nee

Yeah I agree

I actually think the films show us Severus Snape in a more unbiased way, simply because, in the books from a written narrative, we are stuck in Harry's headspace and inner monologue. In the films we see Severus as he is from our own perspective, which is why a lot of people prefer film-Snape to book-Snape. I actually like book-Snape as equally as film-Snape, but it's interesting to keep that in mind since Harry is really not the best judge in character LOL

Michelle Linardis

I like the movie in art direction and for what it is, but the book is significantly better IMO. So much left on the cutting room floor.

Kevin

It's true, if there was no hormonal urges in a school filled with teens it wouldn't be very grounded 😅

Trav Gorin

I find the romance scenes in these books painfully relatable haha. Harry's awkwardness with Cho on their date and not knowing what to say is very familiar, and the jealousy he feels when he sees Dean and Ginny make out is also very familiar. I also understand Ron's outburst when he sees Ginny and Dean because he is less experienced and will react to it differently than more experienced people. The romance in these books are done so well because they aren't overly cheesy, and if something romantic does occur between characters it feels earned and real. Also keep in mind that these are hormonal 16 year olds, and romantic stuff is going to happen whether you want it to or not lol

Anne

Looking forward to watching this when I get home. So glad y’all are loving the books

Oh this was definitely deliberately done by Rowling! I also love the scene where Harry praises the HBP for teaching him about the bezoar and Hermione points out that if Harry were paying attention in Snapes very first class he would already know about it. Lol

Trav Gorin

Strange - my comment seems to have disappeared. Let me reproduce the gist of it. The thing with Harry this book, and his fixation with HBP book, trying to catch "bad guys" are all ways he is coping with Sirius' death. In the beginning of this book, he associates Sirius with comfort of letters - and it's especially interesting that he gets attached to a book and wishes that the HBP was his father. That itself is telling. As for his intensity with Snape, I think Harry's narration acknowledges last book that it feels good to blame Snape, because ultimately Harry blames himself for Sirius's death and placing a bit of blame on someone who hates him (and Sirius) feels like a coping mechanism. In this book, we see that Harry is actively repressing his grief and rage surrounding Sirius' death - he avoids talking about him, but it manifests in obsessive behaviour like this. The biggest indication of how much repression Harry is doing to be able to do everyday life is his reaction to Mundungus stealing from Sirius. He lifts Mundungus with one hand and chokes him until he turns blue - Tonks had to literally magically get Harry off Mundungus. That's how Harry really feels. That intensity is getting channeled into other fixations - into things that were already part of his character.

I think reading this book already knowing Snape is the half-blood is pretty cool too. It’s almost like a proud sibling feeling realizing that he was just already brilliant but also sad because you realize that other kids weren’t understanding and that’s what helped lead/push him down the path he took

jay luna

One of my favorite things in this book is how harry praises the HBP and looks up to him and defends him about everything, however he is the opposite with Snape, he looks down. finds him guilty with no evidence, and picks at everything he does. I find it a fascinating relationship rereading it knowing that part. There is also parts where he compliments the book while dissing Snape at the same time.

Zach Winters

And this is only in context to what you guys are up to series, not even fully taking into account what the rest of the book material covers as well

jay luna

Dumbledore vs. Slughorn. And I’m coming as someone that loves Dumbledore as a character. Slughorn is so obvious about his superficial interest that all any student has to do is ask another student, and they would understand the type of person he is. Does that make his intentions and actions okay? No, lol, but at least they are known and relatively easy to avoid if you chose to. Dumbledore plots behind the backs of those he’s close to for years (with arguably the best intentions), with no one being the wiser until he intends them to know. And this is a frequent thing he has done in the past and throughout the series already. Even with the best intentions, does that make his actions okay? I genuinely feel like that’s for everyone to decide for themself and can totally see why many people have different answers.

jay luna

I actually love the movie and the book... I read the books first and I still loved the movie. I regretted that they didn't include all the memories about voldemort that were incredibly important for the set up for the finale. I think that Harry’s obsession with Snape being evil is him trying to blame someone besides himself for Sirius’s death. He blames himself because he fell for voldemort’s visions and when he told Snape about it (as the only member of the order left at hogwarts) and he didn’t know that snape checked and made sure sirius was fine and also the antagonism of sirius from snape about being useless etc. There is no concrete evidence for his draco and snape accusations at this point. I was wondering what you thought about the opening harry scene when dumbledore picks him up at the dursley’s and how dumbledore put them in their place etc. it’s one of my fav scenes they left out of the movie. Love your reviews as always.

Melanie P

Also the idea of Dumbledore being 'evil' that you say people have. I think it's either been highly exaggerated to you guys, or it's been taken out of context. Dumbledore isn't evil. Lol. What the movies kinda hinted at but failed to show was that Dumbledore isn't all good. The books do a much better job at it. And honestly, most of that information isn't revealed until Deathly Hallows. But it's not something that you would make you think he was evil. More so as in Dumbledore has a questionable past, and can be single minded as to the greater good, no matter the cost.

Trav Gorin

Hey guys, Ninetails hit the nail on the head about Harry needing to be actively looking for the bad guy. Remember, he's been forced to do that since the first book, and now that everyone knows Voldemort is back and Harry knows he's The Chosen One, there's more pressure on Harry to live up to that title. But, besides Snape and Malfoy, there's nothing really happening that Harry can focus that attention on. (It's seriously gotta be one of the quietest years at Hogwarts in Harry's time! Lol) About the romance thing, they are all 15/16 and it's more to do with character development aswell as a nod to typical teenage hormones. But guys, I can't believe you didn't talk about the awesome scene with Dumbledore vs the Dursleys! Or about the house of Gaunt. Or about the original Tom Riddle. Or about Merope's story line. Lol So many things come together with those back stories. Still looking forward to the next review.

Trav Gorin

The dislike of the 6th movie is not because of the content compared to the book perssay. It's more the overall focus of the movie is entirely wrong, they spend entirely too much time on the romantic relationships and do a bad job of representing them on top of it when it should have been about Voldemort and the half blood prince. There is definitely bad changes in the later half of the movie compared to the book, which you see when you finish the book.

Josh Z