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Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Sated

I've finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Would it be a spoiler to say that I cried a lot at the end? Mind you, I cried at the end of the last one, too. I know a lot of people bag her, but I think Joanne does a nice job of her characters, and she's also doing a good job of changing her writing style to suit the age-group she's depicting, so the books grow with the characters. Harry, Ron and Hermione are now 16, and it shows.

Now I get a blissful time -- maybe even a year -- between reading the book and ever having to see or hear it again, as we won't be buying the audiobook until (a) it's released, and (b) we can afford it. After hearing the first five books every bloodywaking moment, it's at the moment only something to look forward to in the distant future. I did manage to distract my loved ones from Stephen Fry's dulcet tones for a while, by purchasing the audiobook of Yann Martel's Life of Pi. It won the Booker Prize a few years ago, and is a novel about a young Indian boy shipwrecked on a lifeboat with a full-grown Bengal Tiger. Absolutely brilliant, and kept two adults and an eight-year-old enthralled for days. I've also started getting Bumblebee the audios of Deltora Quest. Anything to keep HP at bay.

Mind you, I also had a look at the trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Looks stunning.

4 comments:

Jellyfish said...

I haven't cried since Four - Cedric Diggory and his parents emerging from the wand utterly undid me, but I think perhaps since then I've changed and become all hardass and bitter. I was psyched up for a bit of a tearfest but - nada. Didn't even really feel that sad.

Yay for the couplings, however, particularly the inter-Order of the Phoenix romantic shenanigans. I heartily approve!

Anonymous said...

At least Rowling, kept away from social commentary and made sure there weren't any teen pregnancy and stolen car subplots - even though the Half-Blood Prince of the title indicated that she might go down that route.

harry said...

If you are a Potter fan and have not read the latest book DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!!! Seriously.
DO NOT VISIT THE URL BELOW IF YOU HAVEN'T YET READ THE LATEST BOOK!
(If you are anti-Harry potter then click the link now!!)

http://angrylittleman.org/2005/07/14/very-special-harry-potter-exclusive/

However, if you (a) have read the book or (b) are not a fan then click the above link. People in catagory (b) will get a lot more out of it than catagory (a) people.

Genius.

Ampersand Duck said...

Evil genius.
You're having way too much fun to go back to work!