“The thing about growing up with Fred and George," said Ginny thoughtfully, "is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.”
Rating: 4/5
Trigger Warnings: death, blood, gore
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, this review will contain spoilers so it’s up to you if you continue…
It’s getting difficult to multitask whilst listening to these audiobooks; things are getting emotional and I can’t pretend like everything’s okay when I’m listening to them. Is it me or is the film a little...lighter than the book? I’ve always enjoyed the Half-blood Prince as a film because I feel you see a lot of Harry and his friends just being teenagers and living at Hogwarts. There’s dark things happening outside of school and Harry learns a lot about his role in everything, but I remember the film being more lighthearted than the book was.
Still, they do feel like teenagers in this book. I think a major part of that was the introduction of romantic inclinations. Strangely enough, neither Ron and Hermione or Ginny and Harry struck me as the satisfying completion of something which was a long time coming; they were sprung on us in the penultimate book as if Rowling felt they needed to happen before Deathly Hallows. She wasn’t wrong, but certainly Harry’s feelings for Ginny come from nowhere. Admittedly, it’s mostly from Harry’s point of view so his ignorance of how Ron and Hermione may feel for each other is understandable, but nonetheless it sneaks up very suddenly. The development of their relationship, with jealousy and frustration is really well done; Ron is very in character with his ignorance and desire to push away anything too complicated, and whilst Hermione’s expression of romantic feelings is somewhat new, her absolute passion and commitment definitely shows through in this emotional side of her.
Whilst Harry’s romantic inclination toward Ginny remains very sudden, Ginny herself is a wonderful character. Considering she is a secondary character, he development is so well-rounded through the last three books. Her friendship with Hermione is so heartwarming, and Hermione’s explanation that she advised Ginny to find something outside of Harry so she could learn to relax around him is actually explanation enough for me as to how she became her own person. In the beginning her entire definition consisted of ‘Ron’s sister, has a major crush on Harry’. We don’t see her for a while and when she comes back she’s a quidditch player, she’s feisty, she’s who I believe she must have been around her brothers all along - she doesn’t take anything from anyone. I’ve never really liked film Ginny because her definition revolves around Harry. Book Ginny has so much more to her and I’m really starting to like her.
On the other hand, I used to love Draco. Like, love him. I felt so bad for him because I felt he was forced into this action he didn’t want to do. That remains, I don’t believe he would have killed Dumbledore had it been left to him. However, he is a prick. I know he is just as emotional in the book as he ever was, but I really think Tom Felton brought something to the role which isn’t in the book. From the beginning Draco has been an awful person and whilst he may be reluctant to murder his headmaster, he’s just as racist as ever. When Harry hits him with sectumsempra, I used to believe it was something dramatic for both boys, but now I realise that it’s a turning point for Harry. Whilst Draco follows through, though somewhat reluctantly, with the task Voldemort gave him, Harry becomes haunted by almost killing Draco. Harry matures so much in Half-blood Prince, whilst Draco seems to have become trapped in his role. He’s certainly more fleshed out in this book than the others, but he is still a pawn - both to Voldemort and to Rowling.
As always, it’s the thoughtfulness with which Rowling fills her world that amazes me. Characters like Fenrir, the Carrows, and even Bellatrix have so much less of a role than I thought they did, but even their small parts tell us so much. Likewise, the memories about Voldemort’s family reveal much of his motivation and give us more and more clues in this mystery. They relatively short sections - in fact Half-blood Prince is a relatively short book for us to learn so much. But it’s this background, this set up, that makes readers so invested. Voldemort might have always been inclined to the dark side, but seeing his family and the potential motivation makes him more valid as a villain; instead of being the bad guy for the sake of it, we feel for him (both sympathy and hatred) instead of just blindly supporting Harry as the hero of the narrative.
The last point I want to make is about the turn to warfare. As a young teenager reading these, my focus was inevitably on the heroes of the story, on the teenagers and the mystery they are solving. I might not be that much older, but the unavoidable evidence of war is much more obvious to me now. Namely in Lupin, who infiltrates a group of barbaric werewolves. He was always a little haggard looking, but the way he talks and what he tells Harry breaks my heart. This is a man who has lost his closest friends and is now facing a war for the second time in his life. In fact, for almost all the adults this is the second time they have done this - it’s been less than 20 years and they have to go through it again. Molly Weasley’s constant worry, Arthur’s more serious attitude, the simple presence of people like Mad-eye and Kingsley emphasise that this might read like an adventure, but it is set in a war. Rowling’s found a really good balance between the two, but I still know I’ll be in tears for much of Deathly Hallows.
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