The Half-Blood Prince and Shut the Phuk Up!
Today I received, in my hot little hands, the sixth installment of one of my favorite (read: my favorite) book series: the Harry Potter series. They are J.K. Rowling's wonderful masterpieces of children's (read: human) literature. Just holding this book brings back memories for me. I began reading them to mock them, actually. As is my custom, I often times in my life get involved with the hot popular culture items (i.e. Boy Band music, Survivor, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers [that's right], YuGiOh!) so that I can have a better understanding of why they're so popular... and so I can make fun of not only the item, but the people who are so head-over-heals about them. But, like with most of those listed above, I only found my own fanaticism with a closer examination of the Harry Potter books. The seed of mocking began to grow into a tree of pure admiration for the skill and craftsmanship with which these stories were written. I borrowed the first book from my sister and finished The Sorcerer's Stone in about two and a half days--which was at the time a record for me reading anything. I then borrowed and subsequently devoured Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban (which might be my favorite because I love how tightly everything seems to fit in the end... and I love time travel). Often times I would be about a hundred pages from the end of the book--dead tired--and then read something that kept me reading until the very end. I lost at least two nights of sleep finishing those first three books. I then bought book four, The Goblet of Fire, for myself in hardcover to take with me on my trip to New York (this was when the choir sang at Carnegie). Within a span of a month, I had read all the Harry Potter books which were available at the time and was completely hooked. Each story a self-contained masterpiece... yet, each story obviously part of a larger picture. I feel like it should be obvious that Rowling knew the entire story before she started writing any of the books... which works out well if you can do it, but causes some books to seem forced with the jackhammer of plot (thank you Mr. King). When the Order of the Phoenix came out, it seemed to be the first book which was not self-contained... and I think it will, therefore, stick out in fans' mind as a "weird one." But we reached a point in the bigger picture in Book 5 which called for it to be a more continued plot. Harry is inundating himself into wizard life... no longer does he have long summer vacations completely devoid of wizard culture. Allowing Harry, in the first few books, to be separate from the fantasy world of wizardry let Rowling push a kind of reset button with the next book. At the end of one she would say "Harry went back home" and the beginning of the next she would start with "It was time for Harry to go back to school." But, by Harry growing up and inserting himself more into the culture, Book 5 was going to be more of a continuation book than any previous volume. Additionally, if you think of the over-arching plot to all the books, Book 5 had to be the "Heroes fall, as Evil rises" edition. I fully expect Book 6 to show us a build in Voldemort's power so that all might seem lost (but Rowling will subtly show Harry's power growing as well). I also expect Rowling to stop beating around the proverbial bush and have someone start dating someone else. Additionally, it's time for someone major to die, I feel. My pick all along has been Ron... but I fear that in either this volume or Book 7, Rowling is going to have to kill off Dumbledore. I don't want to say it, but you know it has to happen. And Dumbledore doesn't necessarily have to be killed, he could die from old age or something, in a Yoda kind of way. All of this is speculation, of course... and she needn't do anything I say. It's my hope that she allows the story to tell itself enough that she wouldn't have to kill off anyone (else), and she could have all the heroes win like in Star Wars (Harrison Ford wanted Han Solo to have to sacrifice himself in Episode 6, but Lucas would have none of it. As a result, all the good guys survive!).
Additionally (and kind of besides the point), Book 5 is almost 900 pages, and I feared (at the rate she was going) that Book 7 would be 3,000 pages. It's good to see that Rowling shaved a few pages off Book 6 (it's about 650). And, this may have nothing to do with anything, but I really like holding the book in my hands. I love it's weight... I love it's smell... I love the sound of turning crisp, new pages or the thuds of beating your fingers on the thick, heavy book... and (even though I'm not supposed to) I love the cover.
To make a long story short (too late), I'm about to dive into Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And if anyone says anything about it before I'm done reading, I will honest-to-God end you. Thank you and happy reading!