We have reached the end of the road. We have journeyed through truth, learned about the past, had boulders change our paths forever, embraced the drama of the teenage years, we’ve experienced losses and found ways to grow from them, and seen love as an action spurs our heroes on their paths. Now, we watch it all come together as the forces of good battle to resist the forces of fear and hate. Before even embarking on this review, I have written over 11,000 words […]
Love is the Engine Which Drives Our Heroes
I’ve been sitting on this review for several days, trying to let the experience of rereading The Half-Blood Prince settle in my mind so I could look at it from a larger angle. The plot of the story is crucial; it shows how the war could so easily fall to the side of Voldemort, and sets up the game plan for defeating him. But it isn’t the only crucial aspect of the narrative, this is also a story of being on the cusp of adulthood, […]
Emotions, Loss, Growth, Resistance
I have been waiting expectantly for book five in the Harry Potter series ever since I embarked on this re-read. I’ve alluded to this story’s previous place as my favorite in the series. I don’t know any more if that’s true. But I’m also not comfortable naming another one my favorite (it is a competition between this and Prisoner of Azkaban, if you’re wondering). Taking a step back from the experience of reading it, I can say that the transitional nature of this story – we […]
Sometimes the Drama Just Finds You
The great re-read continues. I feel that I owe this story an apology. I have long stated that its movie counterpart was my least favorite in the series (yes, even more so than all of that camping in movie 7), and had let that color my memory of the actual book. Friends – I do not remotely hate this book! I might even love it. I’ve been debating with myself for days whether this 4.5 rounds up or down. In my review of Career of […]