16 July 2005

HP VI Is Here!


Well, it's waiting for us to pick it up at any rate. In the meantime, I'm scrolling through countless Harry Potter related articles.

I'm excited as the next to find out who dies, who the Halfblood Prince is, and what questions are answered.

Which major character dies? I predict Severus Snape is killed by his old cronies, The Death Eaters. I didn't understand in HP and The Order of the Phoenix how Snape could act as a spy for the Order. Voldemort would know what Snape was up to.

Who is the Halfblood Prince? Well, I'm guessing it's not Harry or Ron as they're both full-blooded wizards. It obviously can't be Hermione as she's a girl and uneligible for the title of Prince, unless Rowling's decided to play with a little gender bending. My guess, unless a new character is introduced: Rubeus Hagrid. He is half giant after all.

As for the questions I hope are answered, they are too many to relay here.

For those of you that may read this and say, "I thought you were and adult, Dude. Grow up; HP's for kids," I respond with a question: "Have you ever read the series?" It's addictive, and not in that raunchy Saturday morning cartoon kind of way either.

Although, HP is as mainstream as they come, it's a laudable series worthy of attention regardless of age. J.K. Rowling is cleverly entertaining. Her books are THE highest selling book in hystory. She has helped children rediscover a love for reading, and only the television corporations suffer a one-week decline in viewership. Rowling weaves world mythologies and introduces difficult issues that people all over the world deal with, kid and adult alike, issues like racism, sexism, and class discrimination.

Read the series!

1 comment:

Southern Oregon Animal Sanctuary said...

What you say about HP series is probably true (I have only read the first book, and frankly was underwhelmed) but I can't get past how the whole premise of HP is so blatantly derivative of Le Guin's much better Earthsea series.

To whit, from an interview with Le Guin in Guardian:

Q: Nicholas Lezard has written 'Rowling can type, but Le Guin can write.' What do you make of this comment in the light of the phenomenal success of the Potter books? I'd like to hear your opinion of JK Rowling's writing style.

UKL: I have no great opinion of it. When so many adult critics were carrying on about the "incredible originality" of the first Harry Potter book, I read it to find out what the fuss was about, and remained somewhat puzzled; it seemed a lively kid's fantasy crossed with a "school novel", good fare for its age group, but stylistically ordinary, imaginatively derivative, and ethically rather mean-spirited.