Month: July 2007

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Rowling, J.K.: (06) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (re-read)

Over the weekend, I finished my pre-book-7 re-read with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, or, as I found myself thinking of it, Harry Potter and the Belated Infodump. It looks a little worse on a re-read, now that I’m past the relief that it’s not another Order of the Phoenix, and I continue to have concerns about whether the conclusion will be satisfying.

This principally stems from my feeling that the books are weakest when it comes to the mythic, and I can’t see how the ending can be other than mythic. Since the first book, there’s been a theme about the power of love, which could in theory work, but here, well, I can’t even write the phrase without rolling my eyes. There was no improvement on that front in this book—but I did find a small ray of hope in the direction taken with regard to fate and prophecy and predestination.

Here I’m obligated to note that I’m still worried that the broad critiques of Wizarding society will get lost in the plot to come. The opening of this book was interesting in that regard, as the first return to an omniscient viewpoint since book one. (Yes, there’s the fourth book’s opening, but that gets fudged as a dream. (Rowling’s never been very concerned about strict POV limitations—consider the Pensieve scenes.)) Unfortunately, the return to school muffles the urgency in that wider view, a tension that’s been recurring throughout the series, and one of the reasons that I was really pleased by the ending of this book.

(The opening of this book is also interesting for chapter 2, the wisdom of which seems likely to be debated hotly for years.)

But this made me realize, on this re-read, just how much plot is to come in the last book, even by the narrowest expectations. I’ve criticized prior books for dragging the plot out to fit the school year. This time I’m worried about the reverse, that there’ll be too much to fit easily and things will be slighted. (A book that’s nothing more than Harry Potter and the Quest for the Plot Tokens [*] will not satisfy.) Especially since this book shows signs of doing just that: there are a couple of matters that should have continued to be problems, but are very clumsily dropped—so clumsily, in fact, that I’m now more inclined to believe that some things have been set up from the start, because of the contrast. And I particularly worry about plot holes in quick-wrap-this-up situations.

(One that I’m oddly afraid of is that Rowling can’t count. For very spoilery reasons why, see this old LJ post.)

Two other notes: the “Half-Blood Prince” subplot in this book still feels kind of forced, for all that I can infer a couple of reasons for it to be there. And everything adolescently-hormonal in this book is awful, and I say that as someone who was not bothered by the portrayal of Harry and Cho.

On the whole, as I said two years ago, I am more excited about the series than I had been after this book and the possibilities its ending opens up. The re-read has helped me get a better handle on my hopes, expectations, and fears. While I don’t have it in me to get too emotionally invested after Stephen King ripped out my heart and stomped on it, I am looking forward to the last book.

[*] I find myself wanting to do parody titles for all the books, now, but nothing’s leaping to mind for the first three. The others are:

4. Harry Potter and the Idiot Plot
5. Harry Potter and the TEENAGE ANGST
6. Harry Potter and the Belated Infodump
7. Harry Potter and the Quest for the Plot Tokens

Suggestions?

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2007 Hugo Award Nominees: Novella

In the Hugo Nominees for Best Novella, I find myself voting for the same author, but this time not by default. As before, my tentative ranking and one-line comments are below, with spoilery commentary behind the cut.

  1. Robert Reed, “A Billion Eves” (online at Asimov’s): a good concept well-executed.
  2. Robert Charles Wilson, “Julian: A Christmas Story” (online as 500KB PDF): a good concept for a prologue well-executed.
  3. William Shunn, “Inclination” (online at Asimov’s): neither this nor the next were surprising, but this one is slightly better in the ancillary details.
  4. Paul Melko, “The Walls of the Universe” (online at Asimov’s): see above.
  5. Michael Swanwick, “Lord Weary’s Empire” (online at Asimov’s): an evocative beginning, an incomprehensible middle, and a terrible end.

Continue reading “2007 Hugo Award Nominees: Novella”

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Bull, Emma: Territory

I see that Emma Bull’s first solo novel in years, Territory, is out. I read an ARC months ago, the kind gift of friends. However, for reasons that will become clear shortly, I wanted to re-read it before writing it up, and I don’t have time now. Normally I’d just wait, but there’s a very important thing people need to know about Territory before they read it. So, as a public service, here it is:

There will be a sequel.

I read the book without knowing that, and I assure you that it was a deeply peculiar experience. Don’t have that happen to you! It’s a very good book and it would be a bad distraction to get to the end and say, “What, is that it?” It’s not.

Territory is a secret history of Tombstone, Arizona, starting in 1881. There’s the Earps and Doc Holliday and John Ringo and Ike Clanton, but there’s also Mildred Benjamin, a widow who works for a newspaper, and Jesse Fox, who keeps being pushed to acknowledge his magic by his friend Chow Lung, a physician from China. Much happens (she says, in the airy manner of someone who read the book months ago), and an arc is concluded satisfactorily without cliffhangers. But, as I said, a sequel is forthcoming.

If you like Emma Bull’s prior books, I see no reason why you shouldn’t like this one. And if you’re interested in Tombstone and don’t object to secret histories, it’s certainly worth a look. I only wish I had time to re-read it now to give it the more thorough and detailed review it deserves.

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Rowling, J.K.: (05) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (re-read)

Alas, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is not any more enjoyable on a re-read than it was the first time around. And I have to disagree with my prior self: the pre-Hogwarts section is objectively long but doesn’t feel nearly as slow as the Hogwarts section proper, probably because it’s more varied and eventful. (There is also less CAPSLOCK HARRY than I remembered, but what there is, is still too much.)

I’m not sure that I fully realized that this book runs on an idiot plot on a different level than the prior one, but it made me want to shake all the characters silly—even sillier—until they agreed to talk to each other, already! I can’t nitpick any closer than that, because I was skimming as I’d given myself permission to.

Well, it’s done, and now I’ve only one left before my memory-refreshing project is complete.

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