Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

(Note: I've attempted to be free of major spoilers here, but I'm not guaranteeing anything. So read at your own risk.)

In lieu of writing a whole review of the new Harry Potter book, I wanted to share some of the ahem finer (??) posts I’ve run across on the Harry Potter Forums (http://www.hpforums.com/) regarding various subjects. Here goes:

With respect to the potion in the cave:

DD is injured, not as strong as before, so maybe that potion made him wrose, if he is better in his body, maybe the effect will not be wrose.

I can’t make any sense of that either. Maybe if they had run spell check??

i think in book 7 it will be explainedi think hte potion makes the body weak

Obviously the potion makes the body weak. Dumbledore couldn’t even stand after drinking it. Also, I hate people that post in theory threads and say things like "Maybe we'll see in the next book" or "We'll just have to wait and see." Thanks for sharing!

With respect to Draco and Snape:

I think i'm really weird because after this book, I like Draco and Snape even MORE! (Please don't kill me) Not at first mind you, i mean seeing/reading (spoiler deleted) really 'hurt' me, but after about two or three hours i was like, 'eh whatever.' What was done was done.

There are lots of freaks out there who think evil is something to be cheered:

Snape and Draco were so wonderfully evil in this book! It totally rocked!

But then there are people like this who give me hope for the future:

Malfoy can kiss my ass. The little bastard. Sorry for language. I found it necessary.

Amen to that.

With respect to the death of our Beloved Character Who Dies:

*sobs violently and uncontrollably*

Indeed. That was actually pretty well-stated.

With respect to the new relationships in the book:

I really didn't want H/G to happen, I'm more of a H/Hr/R shipper. But yeah, I suppose it's okay.

Doesn’t it sort of have to be okay if that’s the way the author wanted it to be??

Draco/Pansy - They deserve each other.

That they do, my friend, that they do.

Tonks/Lupin - Where did this one come from? With this it looks like JKR took a walk on the fanfiction side. I just don't see these two together, he's almost old enough to be her father!

This was posted by someone who hasn’t read any of the other books, I think, or isn’t clear on the ages of the characters or something. Who knows. I can’t make any sense of these people.

Ron/Hermione disturbed me, even though they never hooked up. Ron/Lavender made me want to vomit. I thought I was going to cry when Harry/Ginny began to appear-- and did cry, but not over relationships. Dean/Ginny was unexpected and sort of random... I always knew that Bill and Fleur would get married. As for Tonks and Lupin, I would have laughed out loud if I wasn't sobbing hysterically. And still am, for that matter.

This one was posted by someone I can’t stand and I’ve just put it here to snark on it. She just sounds like a nitwit to me.

On who the Half-Blood Prince is:

i kind of suspected that it was snape when harry used the sectumsempra on malfoy.. it was as if snape almost recognized the curse (i got ta vibe)... i was hoping that i was wrong, i mean, a harry potter book named after SNAPE? urgh... worse than ron and "lav-lav" snogging in public...

This one is nearly intelligent. Too bad they they use the word “ta” in place of “the.”

On favorite chapters:

However my favourite chapter had to be The White Tomb I thought JK did justice to the incredible wizard (spoiler deleted) was. Watching Harry getting lost in his feeling as the funeral preceeded was moving. It brought closure yet left us wanting, questioning and mourning. Hearing Harry tell Ron and Hermione that he would not be coming back to Hogwarts and thier pledge of support for him made me cry yet again. (I laughed and cried way to much for a 37 year old man reading a supposedly childerns book)

Didn’t we all. I mean, me as a 35-year-old woman, but otherwise, it’s similar.

On Felix Felicis:

when everyone thinks it's a wizard or something...dern, a potion!!!

And this:

A LIQUID LUCK, OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDDDD.

Actually, I thought it was some sort of spell. But it was sort of a letdown.

On Horcruxes:

regardless of what the proheciy says if harry dont get them last few horcuxes the whole world is in danger. dont think that voldemort will stop if he gets harry and the ministry out of the way 'cuase i don't think anyone will stop him then. so the pressure is on harry to get in gear track down the horcuxes and destroy them and voldemort everyone is in danger the weight of the world falls on one 16 year old boy.......talk about pressure.

As you can see, some total nitwit posted that one, and apparently they missed the parts in the first five books where Harry has already had the weight of the world on his very thin shoulders. Spelling is clearly not something this person is concerned with, or grammar. You would sort of hope that all this reading of books people are doing would make some of these things rub off on them, but apparently that only worked on me when I was young.

But yeah, great book. Can't wait for the next one!