TheAngel

Alright everyone, in honor of the release on July 21st of the last Harry Potter book. The book for the month of June will be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I personally know that I will be attempting to read all 6 books before the 7th one comes out, as I do every time a new book comes out, so I should probably get going. Please feel free to talk not only about the 6th book, but what you think might happen in the 7th. Since the 6th book has been out for so long I'm not going to ask you to put spoiler warnings in your posts. So those that haven't read the 6th Harry Potter, you should probably leave unless you want to be spoiled.
So have fun everyone, and start discussing.

baileycat

Awesome. I was going re-read that anyway to prepare myself for Deathly Hallows.

HBP was the best.

~Unfaithful~

It was, it was so long, but it went by really fast.

TheAngel

I got it two days after I got back from Ireland and it was the day of a friend's wedding so I didn't get the chance to read at all that day. Two of my friends, however, that were at the wedding, had been able to do so. It made it so hard because they were trying to drop little hints and were in general making fun of me the entire time. I went home that night, started it then and there, and it took me about two days tops to finish it. I just started the first one last night and am about half way through. I should finish it by tonight.

Soz

I'm currently listening to the audiobooks and I hope to finish HPB by the end of June or so.

Stars_And_Sunsets

I just started re-reading it this afternoon. This is only my second time .
I actually like it a lot more than OOtP, but the ending makes me not want to read it too much . I was crying so much by the time I finished it.
Can't wait for the next one, though.

TheAngel

I was just shocked. I don't really cry in books but I just remember rereading the last part over and over going..."What, he can't die! That's not supposed to happen!"

hibiscuss

I know I was shocked too. I couldn't believe it. I still think there was more to the whole Snape issue. I don't believe he's the monster Harry thinks he is.

goodnightboy

The audiobook! Who's reading it, Stephen Fry or Jim somebody (I forgot his name)?

HBP, well, I was just absolutely stunned. It was more of a shock than Sirius dying, because now what's going to happen? How's the Order going to function, how will Harry fight Voldemort? Okay, the history of Voldemort was preparing Harry, but it's scary. If Dumbledore was the one man Voldemort feared, and now that he's dead... what's going to happen?

And who on earth is RAB? Yeah I don't think Snape is the monster he seems to be... for all you know, maybe Dumbledore dying was all in the plan. JK Rowling's people are never so one-sided, I think Snape's going to have a huge role to play in the last book.

I must say, though, that the book was somehow less dark than the fifth one, probably because I hated Dolores Umbridge like no one else I've ever hated in the Harry Potter universe. But still.

What do you think will happen in the 7th book?

WildAtHeart

lol i'm the exact same way! I hate her more than any other character in the series

goodnightboy

Because she was truly vicious. You know, when I was reading about Harry having to use his blood to write, I had to stop and put the book away for a while... it was so horrible. I was contemplating giving up on the book right there and then. But I returned to it. It doesn't get any better (reading that part of the book).

Has anyone realised that the Harry Potter books have become more for adults and less for kids? Ever since the start of book 5.

TheAngel

I don't think just for adults. While the content has gotten darker the language and sexual content hasn't increased, both of which are very popular in adult literature. I think as Harry Potter has grown up the books have grown up with him, which I think is great because I was 12 when I first started reading them and they've grown up, more or less, with me. I really like that because it does make me feel closer to the characters. I can relate, in some ways, to things they're going through.

Soz

The Jim Dale ones, they are the only ones the library has.

I'm right there with you on Umbridge and I'm not looking forward to listening to book five because of her. But it might be fun to rant about her with my SO, who's listening with me (this is his first time reading the Harry Potter books).

LittleMilkJug

I agree. This, above everything is THE thing I want to find out about . He is a wonderful character because he is not totally evil, but not a 'nice guy' either. I must admit that I put his story well above the Harry/Voldemort fight that will happen in DH. Can't wait

goodnightboy

Angel You've got a good point there, but I'm just wondering how young kids will deal with the viciousness in OOTP.... I had a hard time reading it.

'Harry/Voldemort fight' sounds rather Matrix Revolutions-like... you know, the dark and stormy night, the showdown blah blah

Snape is one of JK Rowling's best characters, I truly do think so. He's so complex - he started out as the archtype of the forbidding remote teacher but the chapter Snape's Worst Memory (as well as the whole of Book 5, with his work in the Order) made us think he was good, or at least had good intentions. But then Book 6 everything changed. I don't believe he's truly evil and that he was betraying Dumbledore the entire time (or maybe I don't want to). But I'll say this again: he's going to be a huge part in HBP.

Plus, I wonder if Dumbledore's death is part of a larger plan at work, that he planned it all along.