Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Title : Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Author: As if she needs introduction anyway! Hehe..

Ok.. I've been putting off making my review for this book for the longest time.. Yes Farah, I guess you must wonder why are we lagging behind here, especially for THE book of the year. Well, I have my reasons which I must say, seems SO obvious from my say in the chatter box.

I (and I'm not alone here) have been anticipating the coming of THE book for so long. C'mon la all of you, look deep down inside yourself and tell me that you didn't already start waiting for this book right after you turned the last page of The Order of The Phoenix? Heheh.. jangan tipu la.. I have the all-seeing eye here ;-p

I mean, Baizurah talked non-stop about Harry Potter and she kept giving me these pop-quiz questions, asking me to give her the exact moment a dialogue was said in the previous 5 books and though I was sooooooo busy at that time, she helped put me in the mood.

On THE day itself, I was all jittering, couldn't stop myself from wanting the time to fly quickly so I could finally have THE book in my hands. Baizurah was no help as she called me at 10.00am just to gloat over her 'victory' of picking up her copy first ;-p heheh.. Sangat jeles tau, Sentot! My feelings didn't get any better when she told me about the door gifts she received when getting her copy. Then I had to endure another 5 hours of tuition before FINALLY getting the chance to read my book.

Ok.. ok.. enough about the 'adventure' in getting the book. Let's go to my review, which in one word says : DISAPPOINTING!!!

Whhoooaww.. I can feel the glares of most of you here! Cam daggers going through me, but well, this IS my review kan? Haha.. Baizurah mesti tak puas hati ni hehe..

I mean, when I first started reading it, I found myself amazed at how matured Harry is, no longer feeling sorry for himself anymore.. ok, maybe a bit la but he DID change kan. And when he went back to the Burrow with Dumbledore, I was feeling,"Waaa.. baiknye Dumbledore! Macam Tok (father tak leh la kan since Dumbledore taught Harry's father before him) Harry plak" Though here, most of us noticed the differance in Dumbledore.. especially the obvious one where there was s'thing wrong with his hand kan.

As the story progressed, I found myself sinking deeper into the book but still, I had this nagging feeling at the pit of my stomach. When I came to the 3rd quarter of the book (I can hear Baizurah saying, "Asyik ulang ayat yg same je.. 3 quarter.. 3 quarter" Hehe..), I suddenly realized, "What??!!?? No nothing here??"

Lets face it, the only thing that seemed related to the previous books are their normal classes which sadly are mentioned very 'seldom'ly (ade ke perkataan seldomly?). Their classes have always been the source of the magical feelings we get when we read the books. Ok la, maybe one of the sources la but still, everyone agrees how they liked to read about the classes in Hogwarts kan? Especially now diorang dah complete their O.W.L.s so their lessons this year should be waaaaaaaay more interesting.. err, even if they HAD to drop Hagrid's subject! Haha, couldn't fit it in their schedule konon heheh..

Even Quidditch has lost its place in THIS book and this is quite disappointing considering that Harry HAS become the Captain of the Gryffindor team. I mean, Quidditch IS Harry's passion, right? And most of us have grown so used to knowing Harry would once again be the star in Quidditch tapi just look at that, just a few paragraphs of Quidditch here! But thank God there's the attraction of Dumbledore's 'private lessons' with Harry (Yup, we agree on THIS, Sentot!)

Another thing, (Baizurah says: Harry dah besaq la, Ayu.. biaq la dia bercinta!) is about the love affairs in this book. There seems to be endless stories about kissing in this book. I mean, since when did this book revolve around kissing? Memang la in the second book, Ginny DID mention she saw Percy and Penelope kissing, but THIS is outrageous! With Ginny and Ron quarelling about 'snogging', I mean, whats happening here? I know, maybe Rowling wants to appeal to the teenagers but still, it seemed out of place here.. a little bit could be okay, but not half of the book la!

Ok, maybe I'm a bit protective of Harry here haha.. perasan la cam kakak dia plak! I mean, kalau betul Ginny REALLY liked Harry, why talk about her and Dean yang 'like glue stuck to each other'? Then there's this somehow sickening description of Ron and Lavender sounding like a suction cup.. call me old fashioned then!

Though I still enjoy Ron and Hermione's bickering and their 'who-says-I-liked-you' attitude around each other, it didn't feel THAT appealing when too much outside affairs were thrown in.

Dumbledore's death DID move me a bit.. ok, a lot coz I was starting to feel more affectionate towards him and maybe most of you feel the same way too but still I couldn't help agreeing on some views that say, it should be more dramatic. Sirius's and Cedric's death seemed more interesting to some of us. I didn't quite realize this until it was pointed out to me but yes, maybe I DO agree.. a bit la sebab still sedih gak Dumbledore mati.

And about Snape.. I have always trusted him since Dumbledore trusted him too.. turns out, he's a true Slytherin! Sangat marah!!! Heheh.. over plak.. But then, do all of you sympathize with Malfoy here? I dunno, tiba² kesian pulak kat dia in this book though I've hated him before.. tgk la time Myrtle told Harry that Malfoy's been crying in the toilet for a while, saying that he's being bullied (by Voldemort la, sape lagi kan?)

Then there's this seemingly rushing-into-the-ending thing that I can't quite understand. All the while, I always liked reading the book from the start right through the end but this time it feels like I'm driving this car idly and only at the last minute, when going downhill, do I realize I don't have brakes.. soooooo.. Gosh, I don't have the word to describe it!

Maybe its just me BUT I've gotten the same comments from fellow fans here..

And to make matters worse, I don't have the feeling of, "Cepat² la next book dia kluar! Tak sabar ni!" like I felt when reading the previous book. I feel as if I waited 2 years for nothing here sob.. sob..

I mean, there MIGHT be no Hogwarts! There's definitely no more Dumbledore though I'm secretly hoping that he'd come back, as a ghost pun tak pe lah! And it DOES seem like there'd be no more FUN in it since Harry is adamant to go search for Voldemort! Waaaaaaaaa, why aah? Why??

Well, I hope I'm wrong.. really² hope I'm wrong! *Crossing my fingers here* I guess even the greatest writers have their ups and down and for Rowling's sake, I hope it'll be more UP than ever in the next and supposedly final book in this series.

There are lots more I want to know, unanswered questions, I mean

1. Why did Petunia recognize Dumbledore's voice in the Howler he sent to her a few books ago?
2. Does she have relations to the magical world too?
3. To what extent are the powers of Voldemort towards Harry, since he supposedly tranfered some of his powers to Hary when he wanted to kill him, remember?
4. How come Dumbledore could trust Snape so much? What did he do to REALLY deserve his second chance? I mean, takkan la you guys believe the story yang Dumbledore trusted him sebab dia dah insaf?
5. Why did Voldemort say that Snape is 'my servant who would never return to me' in the forth book, but it still turned out that dia tu belot?

Banyak lagi questions, but I've got this writers block here now..

Well, I guess thats it from me now.. till then, keep your fingers crossed for the final installment of Harry Potter.. cheerio!