Throwback Monday: Half-Blood Prince
Jul. 16th, 2018 07:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
author_by_nightI just realized the sixth Harry Potter book was released today. (Partly because that's how nerdy I am, partly because July 16th happened to be a Red Letter day for so many of my fandom friends that I remember it.) So I thought it would be fun to read my entry from 7/16/2005. *Reads* Oh wow, a lot of rambleage about my fic. Okay, I'll just list out here what I said, but leave out the fic rambling. SPOILERS FOR HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, obviously. As well as Deathly Hallows. Spoilers for anything Harry Potter, really.
(My "current" comments are in parentheses.)
Perks:
1. The four ships, because they were cute. And H/G... whether or not it sunk, it was cute while it lasted. The only thing that bugged me was how Ron and Hermione used other people to make one another jealous.
Also, I kind of like Fleur now.
(Yeah, I honestly assumed Harry and Ginny were over, or at least very likely. Not really sure why I did.)
2. The scene with Bellatrix and Narcissa. (I think I meant in the beginning.)
3. Draco being a DE, and yet... he didn't go full-scale either. Rather, I see him as a kid who has been brought up wrongly.
(Now I see Draco as a child of extremists who was over in his head. I think I did at the time as well, I just didn't... articulate it very well.)
4. Dumbledore's comments about Dudley being mistreated needed to be said.
5. The fact that there's a reason the DADA post only lasts a year.
(I don't know now. I think it's a bit silly that the curse had been intact since the 1960s. If Voldie set it towards the end of the first war, that would make a little more sense. People really didn't figure out that the post was cursed in a time frame of 30 years? It was probably one of those things JK Rowling never meant for anyone to think too much about.)
Peeves:
1. The lack of flow. One thing happened after another. (Yeah, having re-read it, I can see that.)
2. Ron and Hermione. (I was glad they became canon, but hated how they were written. I should note that I assumed they were officially canon as of HBP - there's a scene towards the end where they were on the grass in one another's arms after the funeral, which I took to mean it was official. I was so confused in DH when they weren't together.)
3. The brief way Sirius's innocence was mentioned.
(So let me give a bit of context. I was in the Marauder fandom, and in the Marauder fandom, each Marauder was worthy of bells and whistles. I probably anticipated an 100-page treatise on Sirius's innocence, what he meant to every person who ever knew him, some backstory, some more backstory, and a drawing of him wearing a leather jacket at the end of it. What we got is actually far more realistic, although I do see where my 2005 self was coming from in that we probably could've had a little more exposition on that front. Something in between a long treatise or epic poem in his honor and a throwaway mention. However, I also remember thinking Sirius wasn't really mentioned at all, when actually, he's constantly brought up throughout the book. Again, there just wasn't any Marauder worship involved.)
Things I'm iffy about:
1. Snape being a DE after all. It would've been nice if Dumbledore had been right. (...oh, you sweet summer child. Especially as most fans DID work out the truth. Even people I knew who'd never read a fanfic in their life and only read each book once were like "yeah, Snape and Dumbledore had a deal.")
2. Tonks's cheering up after getting with Remus. I hope Tonks's mopeyness was also because Sirius had just died, and not because she'd been dumped. (This is probably headcanon, but I've kinda reconciled since that it was a bit of both. Getting dumped right after losing your cousin and another Order member has to be shattering. Also, it wasn't like Remus just dumped Tonks, he dumped her to run after Greyback, and it was because he thought she didn't deserve him. Those are pretty loaded things to put on an ex-girlfriend, on top of everything else.)
3. The lack of... plot. I'm just going to assume HBP was a backdrop.
(I now think that while it was definitely a setup to DH, it did have plot. It just had plot in a different way. I think the romance/Quidditch drama was our last taste of "old school" Harry Potter before we got what we got in HBP, because JKR knew she was about to change the status quo, and I think we needed all of that Voldie backstory, which was actually pretty interesting.)
--
Have my opinions changed? Besides what I said above, not really. I don't think it was a bad book, but it was definitely a transition between OoTP and DH. I do think some things could have been written differently, but I also think there's fandom opinion mixed in there.
The following year, apparently, I made a poll about HBP. Again, huge spoilers.
So, Harry Potter people, what were your reactions when you read the book? Do you remember? Do you still stand by any of them, or do you differ a lot? (ETA: Even if you didn't read the book when it was first released.)
(My "current" comments are in parentheses.)
Perks:
1. The four ships, because they were cute. And H/G... whether or not it sunk, it was cute while it lasted. The only thing that bugged me was how Ron and Hermione used other people to make one another jealous.
Also, I kind of like Fleur now.
(Yeah, I honestly assumed Harry and Ginny were over, or at least very likely. Not really sure why I did.)
2. The scene with Bellatrix and Narcissa. (I think I meant in the beginning.)
3. Draco being a DE, and yet... he didn't go full-scale either. Rather, I see him as a kid who has been brought up wrongly.
(Now I see Draco as a child of extremists who was over in his head. I think I did at the time as well, I just didn't... articulate it very well.)
4. Dumbledore's comments about Dudley being mistreated needed to be said.
5. The fact that there's a reason the DADA post only lasts a year.
(I don't know now. I think it's a bit silly that the curse had been intact since the 1960s. If Voldie set it towards the end of the first war, that would make a little more sense. People really didn't figure out that the post was cursed in a time frame of 30 years? It was probably one of those things JK Rowling never meant for anyone to think too much about.)
Peeves:
1. The lack of flow. One thing happened after another. (Yeah, having re-read it, I can see that.)
2. Ron and Hermione. (I was glad they became canon, but hated how they were written. I should note that I assumed they were officially canon as of HBP - there's a scene towards the end where they were on the grass in one another's arms after the funeral, which I took to mean it was official. I was so confused in DH when they weren't together.)
3. The brief way Sirius's innocence was mentioned.
(So let me give a bit of context. I was in the Marauder fandom, and in the Marauder fandom, each Marauder was worthy of bells and whistles. I probably anticipated an 100-page treatise on Sirius's innocence, what he meant to every person who ever knew him, some backstory, some more backstory, and a drawing of him wearing a leather jacket at the end of it. What we got is actually far more realistic, although I do see where my 2005 self was coming from in that we probably could've had a little more exposition on that front. Something in between a long treatise or epic poem in his honor and a throwaway mention. However, I also remember thinking Sirius wasn't really mentioned at all, when actually, he's constantly brought up throughout the book. Again, there just wasn't any Marauder worship involved.)
Things I'm iffy about:
1. Snape being a DE after all. It would've been nice if Dumbledore had been right. (...oh, you sweet summer child. Especially as most fans DID work out the truth. Even people I knew who'd never read a fanfic in their life and only read each book once were like "yeah, Snape and Dumbledore had a deal.")
2. Tonks's cheering up after getting with Remus. I hope Tonks's mopeyness was also because Sirius had just died, and not because she'd been dumped. (This is probably headcanon, but I've kinda reconciled since that it was a bit of both. Getting dumped right after losing your cousin and another Order member has to be shattering. Also, it wasn't like Remus just dumped Tonks, he dumped her to run after Greyback, and it was because he thought she didn't deserve him. Those are pretty loaded things to put on an ex-girlfriend, on top of everything else.)
3. The lack of... plot. I'm just going to assume HBP was a backdrop.
(I now think that while it was definitely a setup to DH, it did have plot. It just had plot in a different way. I think the romance/Quidditch drama was our last taste of "old school" Harry Potter before we got what we got in HBP, because JKR knew she was about to change the status quo, and I think we needed all of that Voldie backstory, which was actually pretty interesting.)
--
Have my opinions changed? Besides what I said above, not really. I don't think it was a bad book, but it was definitely a transition between OoTP and DH. I do think some things could have been written differently, but I also think there's fandom opinion mixed in there.
The following year, apparently, I made a poll about HBP. Again, huge spoilers.
So, Harry Potter people, what were your reactions when you read the book? Do you remember? Do you still stand by any of them, or do you differ a lot? (ETA: Even if you didn't read the book when it was first released.)
no subject
Date: 2018-07-16 05:30 pm (UTC)Would it be okay if I add a link to your post to tonight's edition of the Daily Snitch?
no subject
Date: 2018-07-16 05:55 pm (UTC)It was definitely a crazy but fun experience.
spoilers
Date: 2018-07-17 10:35 pm (UTC)I remember not being impressed at Ginny and Harry for the same reasons I am not impressed now. It is too simple. Too cliche and wrapped up nicely that they end up together. I know it is fantasy but it lacked realism. And while I know she was describing a teen romance her language was kind of cringe. There is that dragon again!
I found the horcrux stuff fascinating and loved that intro. I loved all the stuff we knew had been pushed back to book 6 or merely hinted at finally appearing but there was still a feeling that it lacked...something.
Slughorn irritated me from the start but in a good way. He was clearly meant to do that. It was interesting to see that through his club there had not always been SUCH a vitriol based house rivalry. Students had been able to co-exist outside of class.
I hated Dumbledore for making Harry get the memory and for not training him in combat. I'm 90% sure most of that was the long time I spent between the books reading epic fanfics where the trio plotted a war.
I was sure Draco was a death eater but at the time I was pretty convinced he wanted to be until the end of the book. I just felt it was unlikely Voldemort wanted him doing anything relevant or took him in any way seriously. I'm pretty sure I was convinced the Black sisters faked concern to Snape at the start to trick him into a vow so that they could out him as a spy. Terrible theory looking back. Snape would not fall for that for a start.
I clocked RAB immediately and remember being kind of irked when it turned out I was right. Too simple.
I remember being fascinated at what Dumbles could possibly have experienced with the potions to end up in the state he did. I also remember thinking Harry was toast against Tom if he ended up in so much of a state himself trying to help.
Snape killing Dumbledore was not shocking to me. To me it fit his character arc and him being good or bad would still have fit? I very much finished HBP like '...ok....when is the next one cause? What'. It is not one I have often felt the need to re-read. Most of my re-reads these days are just sections to check details in fanfic writing or debating plot points.
I hated what they did to Tonks. I hated that she moped like that over Remus. It was like she was a totally different character. I'm still bitter.
Fleur's entire arc was a masterpiece. She is, to this day, one of my favourite characters because of it.