Of Love, Death, Cowardice and Loyalty: A Closer Look at the Half-Blood Prince

I should have posted this on the review section, but I think this post contains a lot of opinion and personal thoughts rather than actual analyses of the whole book so... (does it matter, anyway?) Maybe it's one-sided, I know, anyway, I just want to spill out my thoughts about this awesome book from J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Lately I was like, here I am on our house, with this book on my lap, reading it for the Nth time, I'm not really sure. All I know is that it's my favorite so far, or should I say my favorite among all the HP books with Deathly Hallows being closely second. This post is timely too, because as we all know, three months from now the movie will come out. Whoa! Yey! Uh, enough for the lousy intro, let's dig deeper and Apparate through the pages and so here it goes..

Rowling's style of writing matures as she writes, and so the same applies with her (also ours) beloved characters. It is so apparent that Harry, Ron and Hermione has matured in many ways. Almost everyone. Even Ginny. I personally believe that this is the phase where Ginny's character has finally blossomed. She's more comfortable with herself, she's brave, she's more confident now and I just loved it whenever she's retaliating. I like the way she makes Ron shut up with her straightforward retorts, and how subtle she answered Hermione back on one part which surprised Harry and Ron, including me. :)

Harry, he's more of a man now and not just the orphan boy we knew back when he's eleven. Over are the days when Harry's so irritating, he's so moody just like any teenager would be. (the OotP days.) His temper's still there, though, but the seriousness of the situation between him and Voldemort, little by little, is now sinking in onto him. Thanks to the ever brilliant, Professor Dumbledore. He's willing to learn the past and is definitely aware of the prophecy that he is expected to accomplish. He still thinks a lot, but his judgment and decisions are better now. Harry being Dumbledore's man, through and through is just admirable.

In this book, there is also a heightened level of insecurities. The O.W.L's results. The help that Harry's getting from the Half-Blood Prince-- Hermione's having a hard time getting over these. Add the love angle and boom! Hermione learns that life is not just about learning everything and topping classes. She needs someone to share her triumphs with. Obviously with Ron. Yay! She's not into admitting it now, though, but it is so indubitable that her feelings for Ron goes deeper than friendship. She's got jealous, hurt and comical in the process. Ron feels the same way. (and not admitting it, too! Yay! This couple's driving us all maaad! They're so meant to be!) Then Lavender Brown enters and then the next scenes are not suitable for very young audiences, parental guidance is advised. :D Lol Just kidding. It's just so entertaining how this side events contribute to the beauty of the book as a whole. Back to Ron, the Quidditch scenes seem to be another shining moment for him, which is good because Ron's a great guy too and he deserves the attention.

Other interesting stuff in the book:

The Weasley twins, as always, is so lovable.

Slughorn reminds me of the awful fact that some people are judgmental. But he's a great Potions teacher, I must admit that.

The ever loving and caring to monsters and his friends, Hagrid.

The evil-ish Malfoy, with his softer side.

Luna's Loser's Lurgy. (nice Alliterations.)

Of course, the Half-Blood Prince of which I think everybody already knew now that he's Severus Snape. You'll just have to love or hate this man. (Well, I love him!) Which side does he really belong? The good or bad? Is he really a coward just like what Harry has said?

He is so noble, that's all. You'll just have to admire his genius work and his never-ending loyalty.

The end of the book is sad and somewhat tragic, but there's a challenge, there is hope and there's Book 7 to answer all the pending questions in our minds.

Overall, J.K. Rowling never fails to amaze us. The way she transports us to a universe she knew everything about making it seems so real. Though there's magic, it still seems so human -- how the character behaves, the moral lesson and themes, EVERYTHING. Action, Drama, Romance, Friendship and all the things in general, what more could you ask for? I know, I may sound as if praising her a lot but she deserves it, doesn't she? We should be thankful that she introduced the HP universe to us. With all the problems that we have in this present times, good thing we have Harry with us, who showed us that LOVE is still the most powerful thing in the world that will defeat all its bad counterpart; That friendship can still last even through troubled times and that friends will always stick with you no matter what; Which teaches us the value of a family, learning, trusting people and most of all, loyalty. That even in the lowest point of our lives, we get entertained, forget the hassles for a while and gain new hope to continue living, solve problems and live to tell the tale of the Boy Who Lived, the Chosen One and the Boy That Will Forever Be Loved.

That's about it for now. Notice that I didn't include a lot of spoilers and as what I have said earlier, this post is soo April-ish, full of personal views about the characters and ideas so... I recommend you to read HBP, or better, read the whole HP series for your own good. You'll never regret it, promise!

Nox!