HBP Reconsidered

I admit it: I rushed into reviewing the book last month. Caught in the throes of utter fangirl euphoria over new canon, I was of course inclined to be gushy gushy gushy - and I was. Allow me a second chance; this time, hopefully, my review will be an actual review, well-considered and properly analytical.

The Writing

... is superb. For the first time after PoA, JKR's prose is polished until it's shiny, twisted into interesting little shapes and edited until not a word is wasted.

I also think "Spinners End" is one of the best chapters we've had so far (oh, how I wish she'd chucked "The Other Minister" in the bin, where it belongs, and run with this as the first chapter). It's right up there with "The Riddle House" and "Owl Post" (first chapter of PoA) and "The Boy Who Lived".

Boy, Have They Grown!

The best thing about HBP was its handling of the main characters. Harry and Draco and even Ginny truly came of age: how much did you love Harry's interactions with Rufus Scrimgeour? I am astounded by how far he has come - from a kid who was awed speechless by the presence of OMG-the-Minister-for-Magic! - to this, where in the Minister's presence, he stands up for himself, for his beliefs, and for Dumbledore. It was such a neat reversal - Harry is now in a more powerful position than Dumbledore, and his noble streak got a chance to shine when he used that power in defence of Stan Shunpike and Dumbledore himself.

We got to see Dumbledore, too, to our heart's content (even if his behaviour was off-kilter sometimes - just why did he reprimand the Dursleys at that moment? Why did he ask their permission to let Harry return once more? Did he think they'd suddenly throw Harry out after his 6th year? If so, why?)... And even the Wizarding World seems less the shiny toyland it was in Book 1, and more like Alfonso Cuaron's vision of a lived-in, chaotic, almost tattered, very realistic place.

I was less thrilled about Ron and Hermione and the rest. For one thing, they hardly get any "screen time", and when they do, they're not doing any growing - contrary to what JKR thinks. They only figure in the Quidditch and Romance subplots, anyway, so the only new information about Ron and Hermione from this book was a side of their character I didn't know existed - that Hermione would rather try to make Ron jealous to get him to notice her than tell him straight that she likes him (which isn't technically new), and that Ron is capable of greater heights of immaturity than I suspected.

I was very disappointed that we saw so little of Neville and Seamus and Luna and Colin Creevey and all the rest, especially after what seemed like a wonderful start in Harry widening his circle of acquaintance in OotP. In HBP, it shrinks right back to Ron and Hermione... with a little Ginny added in sometimes. It was such a waste of a fine setup.

The Weakest Link

Breaks my heart, it does, to say this.

But this installment is undoubtedly the weakest book in the series so far. The plot holes are just too huge: just what was Voldemort doing the whole year? Why is he squandering one of his two (or three, if you count Snape) Death Eaters by assigning him a menial role in Snape's house? (And if you think he's spying for Voldemort - do you think Wormtail can outwit Snape? Is Voldemort dumb enough to think he can?)

So many of the plot threads that have been introduced in the past were left untouched, to be dealt with in the next book, presumably. Why, oh why, could some questions not have been resolved in this book, if, indeed, Book 6 and Book 7 are like two halves of the same book? Leaving all questions of importance out makes the whole book seem contrived, a mere vessel to allow Harry to go through his sixth year - and kill off the guy with the long grey (er, white) beard.

Where was Dumbledore's Army, at the very least in Harry's thoughts? Flighty though teenagers may be, the DA meant something important to Harry. Speaking of which, Sirius really did pull a whopping disappearing act, didn't he? It's all well and good for Harry to show inner strength and recover easily from not having Sirius around any more... but the fact is, Sirius wasn't around much in the last two books either, but Harry thought about him all the time.

Why was Percy's character never developed past the OotP stage? Why were the twins so... absent from everything? That's hardly like them. Why, if Dumbledore's word is good as gold again, is Dolores Umbridge still in the Ministry? ... And if there are good answers to these questions, why aren't we given them? These were huge, enormous characters and themes in the past books. Why have they simply sunk into obscurity?

The Missing X-factor

JKR's strength used to be her characters, and her plot. How beautifully things come together in PS and CoS and especially PoA! Even Book 4 and 5 have their internal consistency when it comes to things that matter. Things happen in those books, things that could not have taken place at any other time, or in any other circumstances. The events led from one to another with a certain inevitability, while simultaneously managing to be surprising in innovative ways.

But the whole of book 6 - all that happened here - could so easily have happened ay any other time, in almost any other book. The HBP subplot, the Draco subplot, Dumbledore's death, the romances, Rufus Scrimgeour - all of these could easily have been woven into OotP. Sure, that would make OotP a lot longer than it already is... but "the book is too long" is no reason to split it into two, especially if what you're saving for the second book has neither thematic unity nor a consistency of plot.

It is a very big deal that we don't know what Voldemort is up to all year. It's also a big deal that we don't know what the Order is up to, either. We know what some members are doing - but do we see the results of any of their actions?

The same questions apply to the Snape issue. What has he been doing? If he is loyal to Dumbledore, what concrete information has he passed on to the Order? If he is loyal to Voldemort, what useful information has Snape given him? Since we don't see any results of Snape's actions, the question of his loyalties becomes almost an arbitrary one. JKR could go either way, and we wouldn't be able to question or confirm the rightness of it based on the information we have now. And that's a bad thing: when a betrayal - or a supposed betrayal - of this magnitude takes place, there has to be a set-up. The outcome of our dilemma has to be surprising, but ultimately inevitable, given what we have been told so far about this character.

Now, I believe that Snape is a good guy, simply because neither his students nor Harry have ever come to any harm (not counting 'psychological abuse', because JKR clearly doesn't see it as such) when he's around. He's also protected Harry and the others many times, saving their lives - after the Shrieking Shack in PoA, and his warning to the Order in OotP about Harry's intentions to go to the Department of Mysteries come to mind.

But the thing is, JKR has forced us to veer away from such logic before: In OotP, why didn't Dumbledore just send a message to Harry through, say, Sirius, to not believe fully in his visions, because they could be planted? In GoF, why didn't Crouch!Moody just turn Harry's quill into a portkey instead of going through the whole Triwizard hoopla?

So the Snape question becomes completely arbitrary - and that's plain bad writing, bad plotting.

It's this missing X-factor, the internal consistency of a complex plot that was JKR's strength, that drags this book down to the position of "least favourite HP book" in my list.

But you know what? JKR has created such a wonderful story, such amazing characters and such an inviting world that she's earned my indulgence. The fangirl in me still celebrates this book, and gushes endlessly about it.



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Dumbledore's man through and through.