ciroccoj | HBP post, Turn Eyes Away (Reply)

OK, here's my obligatory Half-Blood Prince post, with spoilers up to chapter 15.

(Around lunchtime)

Up to page 80. Love it so far. Still no spoilers I can see.

Also: a little confused about the head-change. As in, seeing things from the point of view of people other than Harry. AFAIK, Rowling never does out-of-Harry past the first chapter. And even when the first chapter's out-of-Harry, Harry often gets to see what happened, somehow, as a memory or dream. But this one had a chapter from somebody totally different, then another from the POV of Bellatrix Lestrange, Narcissa Malfoy (nickname Cissy - hah!) and Snape.

Not happy about the ominous Draco stuff that seems about to happen, because somebody's gonna die and I hope it's not him. Although better him than Hermione or Ron.

Also love the style and pace so far - stuff is happening, which didn't seem to happen in OoP. Don't get me wrong, I loved OoP, but when you got down to it not much actually happened in that one until about halfway through.

Oh and a Slytherin! As DADA prof! Ha! Later Edit: Yeah, OK, so he's not DADA. Still a fun character. And I like the surprise of Snape actually getting the DADA post. Do wonder if he'll survive the year, though.

Re. Snape possibly really being a baddie, Oh Great Shock Out Of Nowhere: oh please. Though this sentence doesn't make sense, my first thought was, 'That's so obvious either way'. Which means I won't really be surprised if he's really a good guy or a bad guy.

Just don't kill off Draco, 'kay?
(Around bedtime)

Now about halfway through and having a great time. It's funny - it seems like she's both let the characters grow up a lot more and gone back to a more simple writing style, or... no, that's not it... I have no idea how to describe it except that it feels like I'm reading a book meant for kids. Which OoP wasn't, to my mind. Here the characters are dating and talking about careers after Hogwarts and getting their own places and all sorts of grown-up stuff, but it seems less heavy than OoP.

And I just LOL'd at Harry's reaction to finding Ginny kissing Dean. Particularly trying to convince himself it's only natural that he'd feel older-brother protective towards her, and would "... want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her... no... he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling..."

I do think, though, that if the stunning revelation is that the Half-Blood Prince is Voldemort... well, it's a good thing the book is highly entertaining, 'cause that's not much of a mystery.

Oh, and also: please don't kill off Draco. I'm hoping that the fact that Harry suspects him the way they all suspected Snape in the first book (and the second, and... well, whatever) means that he's not actually a Death Eater. Although it would be pretty cool if he was. Unless it got him killed.

What am I saying, that would be cool too, but gosh, the fanfic hearts that would break. Although I guess there's not a lot of characters that could get killed off right now without somebody being upset.

Just in case anybody wants to comment on any of the above: please remember I haven't finished the book. Have not gone past chapter 15. So if your comment is, Oh, don't worry, she doesn't kill of Draco, she kills off Ron and Dumbledore and Hagrid:

Please, please, please don't.