Mischief managed!

It took me a while, but I finally did surface from the post-Half Blood Prince hangover! This is not strictly a review. There are numerous reviews available on the net, by now. Countless theories being discussed, J K Rowling's interviews, the works. These are just some thoughts and questions.

The name of the book is kind of a misnomer, considering the previous titles. Take Prisoner of Azkaban, for instance. The story revolves around the convict from Azkaban. Chamber of Secrets climaxes within the Chamber. Goblet of Fire, though the phrase doesn't figure many times in the book, it is still a representation of the Triwizard tournament which forms the crux if the book. Why, even the Philosopher's stone gets its due towards the end of the very first book of the series.

Then why do I think The Half Blood Prince is not that important to the whole plot? If you take the identity of the Half Blood Price, then of course, yes, it is an important character, a character we can recognize as someone very crucial to the whole big picture. But beyond that, the book does not entirely revolve around it. After completing 3/4ths of the book, you don't get a feeling that your life (or for that matter Harry's life) depends on knowing the identity of the HBP.

Instead, what comes across first and foremost is how much Harry has grown by the time he is in his 6th year at Hogwarts. And I don't only mean physically and emotionally. Take, for example, his level headed discussion with the Minister of Magic (no less!), his insistence on always doing right thing, no matter how tempted he is to do otherwise (remember the Quiddich try outs?)

Not that Harry isn't a normal kid. He doesn't mind using somebody else's notes to get higher marks in Potions, much to the chagrin of his best buddy Hermione. (How I wish I had someone to help me out with Chemistry in school!).

Some of things in the book were oddly reminiscent of the previous stories. Prof Slughorn somehow reminded me of Prof Lockheart. A whole lot of new stuff - Disastrous Love potions, Luna Lovegood's Quiddich commentary, Harry's moral conscience (to snog or not to snog I_am_not_going_to_say_who), Ron's emotional outbursts, the hell_hath_no_fury_than_Hermione_scorned bit made for a particularly delightful read.

But the most Rowling-like part of the book was the way it ended. On the face of it, lots of things have happened. An important character is dead, Harry discovers who HBP is, and is one step closer towards his final battle with You_Know_Who. But is everything exactly as it seems? Rowling also leaves Harry with a very cryptic note written by a hitherto unheard of character, which should keep us waiting for the next book. Two years more to go?