Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (SPOILER THREAD)

Okay, I'm finished. I HATE being right. I've known in my gut for a long time that Dumbledore had to die in this book. It just had to happen for Harry to come into his own--and, from the ending of the book, it's clear that's what he's going to do. The NY Times put it well when the review talked of Harry being much more Henry V than Hal, much more King Arthur than Wart. He has gone past the angst of book five, thank God. He is becoming a man.

God, what a load of dating! And I loved it, too. It made me all warm and fuzzy inside. It rather kills things for the poor H/Hr shippers, unless they want to hold out for book seven. But I've always thought R/Hr has been incredibly clear for a while now. I thoroughly enjoyed the H/G we got in this book, although I'm still unsure what will happen with them come book seven. Tonks/Lupin I was ECSTATIC about; the excellent fanfiction "Blood on the Moon" had converted me to the ship a couple of years ago.

I was absolutely fascinated and, dare I say, IMPRESSED with the memories of Tom Riddle. He truly is a brilliant, terrible, POWERFUL man. Out of all of the memories, I think the most unsettling was when Dumbledore visited him at the orphanage as a boy. Even at 11, his future power was clear. Very interesting.

I KNOW there has to be more coming with Snape. I just know we're going to have to see more of his history and motivations before this is all over. I will say that, while I KNEW Dumbledore was going to die, I never expected Snape to be the one to kill him.

I just finished, so everything's a bit jumbled in my head. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts as I calm down.

Harry gon die.

I haven't read any of the books. Go me.

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My inner Ron/Hermione fangirl is having a blast right now.
But I guess I'll have to put away my Luna/Harry fangirl for now, since Harry is clearly with Ginny.

But, lord, what a load of snogging in this one!

Anyway. Wow. Riddle's memories. How he wanted power and to be above the rest...

And Snape! The Half-Blood Prince! I never guessed! I thought it would be Neville or Peter Pettigrew.

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Sally- hee hee, thanks!

By the by, please note my avatar- me dressed up as Pansy Parkinson when I volunteered for my library's book release party.

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Part-way through the book I started to suspect Snape as being the Half-Blood Prince, as he was so good at Potions and had that nasty streak to him (plus he was such a focus of the book...even though he wasn't too heavily mentioned, he always was at the back of my head through the read...always just out of focus, so he had to play some larger part in the end).

I wonder if Snape loved Lily or something. I dunno, but if that moment (when Voldemort killed the Potters) was what turned him back to 'good' (if he ever was, which I have to believe Dumbledore on at some level) then there had to be some stronger tie to the Potters. Or something else.

But I loved the book and I was definitly crying my ass off for about 30 min after I finished it (at which point I promptly fell asleep). Can't wait for the next one! (in like 3 years)

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I cried a lot. Phew. Two things I never thought would've happened - Dumbledore showing fear and Dumbledore dying. It was a shock, to say the least. And when Myrtle mentioned someone in the bathroom crying, right away I knew it was Draco. I feel bad for him.

Lupin + Tonks!!! Yes Yes Yes! I haven't read fanfic on this, I just came out of OotP a couple of years ago convinced that they would make such a great couple! Woohoo! I hope we get more of them in Book 7.

My first thought, early in the book, was that Snape would be the casualty, after Narcissa made him take the Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco. We always knew that Dumbledore was most likely a goner by either the climax of Book 6 or early in Book 7, though, and the farther it went, the more likely it seemed for this one. I really really didn't expect Snape to turn out evil, though. She has really set up a lot of pins to knock down in Book 7: Who has the real locket, what/where are the other Horcruxes, then Harry vs. Snape (and presumably Draco, although we may see him switch sides - and yes, I guessed, too, that Draco was the one Myrtle had been talking to), then Harry vs. Voldy, and I still think we've got to have a Remus vs. Peter showdown before this is all done. It seems like we're going to lose touch with an awful lot of characters, though, if there's no Hogwarts in the last book - but we'll have to wait and see about that, I suppose.

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Awww, this was so sad I cried so much! I want Dumbledore back!

But yay for the Ron/Hermione thing even though they never properly got together, we all know it's gonna happen and I think it's cute.

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Oh, I just remembered- I loved that whole thing with Mrs. Weasley trying to fix Bill up with Tonks. Buuut. LUPIN/TONKS 4EVAH.

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great book!!! i disliked how it was so predictable though.the only thing that wasn't predictable, to me at least, was Snape being the Half-Blood Prince (like said). i was so upset when dumbledore died.

overall-great job by J.K. Rowling.

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I can't believe Snape killed Dumbledore!!!!! I cried about 5 times while I was reading that. And I really, really hate Snape now!!

I loved all Ron/Hermione, Ginny/Harry, and especially Tonks/Lupin!

I haven't read the book yet, but I loved Dumbledore!

I felt Chapter Two gave away far too much. By the end of it, I felt I could guess that Draco was sent to kill Dumbly and Snape's Unbreakable Vow was to do it for him. Snape as the half-blood prince, I felt, was kinda obvious--if you take another look at Chapter Two, he lives in a muggle neighborhood. That tipped me off the most, although I admit, I came into the book with the theory that Snape would be it.

I'm interested to see if Snape and Dumbledore planned it all, but I doubt it. I remember an interview with Rowling once... she said "Snape was a terrible person" and she couldn't understand why anybody liked him. I'm figuring he's going to stay evil, although I find that a tad disappointing--he was practically the only gray area in the entire series. I prefer gray areas to clear-cut blacks and whites.

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Updated On: 7/17/05 at 02:36 PM