HP Book 6 - Spoiler Alert!

I know I'm up way too late to be writing this post (esp. since I have a long day tomorrow - I have to wake up early tomorrow to have breakfast with 2 dear, dear friends of mine who came in from out of town, then go to church, then attend a wedding, and finally pack to leave early the next morning for Kansas to see my in-laws!)

...but I just finished reading "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and I felt compelled to write my little rant about it.


My first (and really, only) thought as I read this book was that it would be too, too easy to make Snape a bad guy. Actually, I secretly hoped that Snape would find some tricky way to get out of the unbreakable vow.... but I was wrong...

Actually, I was hopping mad when I finished the book. I kept thinking, "Stupid Rowling! How could she make Snape a bad guy!" (OK, so my thoughts aren't really so profound, but it was about 3 in the morning when I finished the book...)

However, I have calmed down a bit after reading my flist entries about others' thoughts on the book - I sincerely hope you all are right about Snape agreeing to kill Dumbledore to avoid having Draco become a killer... I really, really hope that Snape turns out to be good, or at least inadvertently helps the good side in the end... I don't know why I feel so strongly about this - I think it's because Snape was being picked on because he wasn't cool, and I have a soft spot for those who are bullied... Plus, I think it's much more intriguing to have a character who is ultimately on the good side, but isn't necessarily someone you'd like to be friends with (or would probably hate).

Also, did anyone else feel like Snape was being amazingly childish when he got upset at being called a coward? Is this really his weak point? I think Rowling could've found a better, less immature way to push his buttons. I kept having flashbacks (OK, I know that's not the right word), to Marty McFly in "Back to the Future" (maybe in Part 2? I don't remember which movie exactly at this point) doing incredibly stupid things because people called him "yellow"... :P

Wow, in the previous books I was never this interested in Snape. However, my current preoccupation with what side he's on pretty much pushed out any other thoughts I had about this book. Frankly, I knew/dreaded that Dumbledore was going to die (though I was a bit worried about Hagrid), and we all know that Harry is going to defeat Voldemort in Book 7 (Or else children would to be really, really unhappy... and I'd to torch Rowling's house... OK, I won't do that, but I would be very upset...) - So, I guess I can read Book 7 just to see how Harry does it, and if Rowling decides to redeem Snape in the end (I really hope so.)

Also, in complete agreement with rilina - The romances suck. So predictable. So boring.


Off to bed...



Wait, now that I'm awake - I had 2 more things to add about Book 7:
1. Are they really going to close down Hogwarts? How can they do that? Doesn't Harry have to graduate somehow? I'm going to miss all the school references...
2. If they do keep Hogwarts open, I really hope they have Prof. McGonagall be the Headmaster. However, if Delores Umbridge ever becomes Headmaster at any period of the book, I'll scream!