Warning: The following post contains possible spoilers to Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. If you haven’t read the book, and don’t like people telling you what’s in the book, it’s advisable for you not to read this post. You’ve been warned.
Harry Potter fans all around the world eagerly awaited 16 July to come round, and I’m not that different. Actually, I wanted to be the first standing in front of Kinokuniya when they opened the door but common sense finally prevailed. "What’s the use of pre-ordering then?" So, I finally laid my hands on Potter 6 around 4 o’clock and got myself the Scholastic cover. Firstly, I wanted to change it with the Bloomsbury one because I think it’s better and my Potter 5 was also in Bloomsbury. However, finally I decided on the Scholastic after some grumbling from the wife.
The hype surrounding the book launch here was not about the story in the newest installment but centered more on which bookstore offered cheaper price for the pre-order. While passing some major bookstores on my way to Kinokuniya, I was quite disappointed to find that they’re able to sell the book at Rp. 180,000 even though it’s only a two-day offer. It meant that I paid Rp. 40,000 more than I should and it also meant that no more pre-ordering Harry Potter for me. I’d just wait and see for the lowest price.
I was only able to start reading around 10 PM after watching Fantastic Four and some delicious Korean dinner at Bee Bim Bab. In Potter 5, the first pages directly gripped your attention and wouldn’t let you go so you felt like you must finished the whole book in one reading or died from curiosity. But in Potter 6, the story went quite slow and going back & forth to the previous events in Potter 5 that were rather confusing if you hadn’t read Potter 5 or just simply forgot what happened then.
After that, the story started to lead somewhere and bit by bit, Rowling told us what she wanted Harry to do in this 6th book together with Dumbledore. Basically, they were trying to figure out Voldemort’s past in order to find out his weaknesses. They managed to find that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was smarter than ever and in order to keep himself immortal, Voldemort allegedly divided his souls in 7 Horcruxes that were secretly hidden and Dumbledore assumed if they managed to find and destroyed them, it’d be much easier to confront Voldemort.
Their quest to find the Horcruxes was weaved between Harry finally got a girl (no, it’s not Cho Chang nor Hermione), detention, Quidditch, Ron & Hermione bickering, Draco Malfoy (who started to get meaningful part), and excessive use of the Pensieve. The pains of growing up got a bigger portion here and sometimes it felt like a page out of Mary-Kate & Ashley novels which were quite annoying. You can skip the puppy love part aside and fast forward to the climax where Dumbledore was finally killed by someone who had his trust all these years.
Personally, it’s quite disappointing to see Dumbledore’s demise this way because ever since Snape’s character appeared in the series, it’s easy to guess that one day he’ll turn bad. Heck, it only took half of the book for us to finally find out where Severus really stood. No surprises here, even though you’d probably wish a different outcome when you arrived at the said event.
The good thing about Potter 6 is that it’s less violent than Potter 5 and truly become a good read for teenagers & children because there are lots of things from Harry & Friends that they can relate their lives with. But don’t let what I said about the book kept you from reading it. You’d miss a portion of your life if you miss the whole series. It’d be like missing your prom dance, or not experiencing your first kiss in high school.
The big questions that linger to be answered in 2-year time would be:
- The fate of Hogwarts without Dumbledore
- Will Harry finish his last year at Hogwarts?
- Harry’s continuing quest to find the Horcruxes
- Will we finally see a closure between Ron & Hermione?
- Harry’s love life
- Will Voldemort finally return physically?
Those are quite a lot of questions to be answered in one book, considering Rowling promised that the series will end in Book 7. I wish the next book will be thicker than the last one. So, when it’s finally published we can savour every page as it’s the last. But then, 2 years is such a long time to wait. Oh, the agony!
United cruised to a 3-0 win over Beijing Hyundai in their second match of the Asia Tour. This time, a brace from Scholesy and a header from Park Ji-Sung settled the matter. I was thoroughly pleased with Park’s performance, he linked up quite well with Ruud & Wazza in a Scholeseque position. All he needs is just more practice with the strikers and he should be alright. 
