Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling, 2005)

It was the summer of 2002 and I was staying with a college friend at her aunt's house in Leiden, a small town halfway between the Hague and Amsterdam. One morning everyone left early to go into town to run errands and I was left with nothing to do. Scanning the bookshelves I saw this book lying there that everyone had been talking about, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It looked like something that would be an easy read, it was a kids book after all. By the time I was ready to leave to fly back home a few days later I was already two-thirds through and was so enthralled I bought my own copy at the airport so I could read the rest on my way home. Thus was born my love for the Harry Potter series.

Soon the film version of the book came out and I eagerly went to see it, only to be let down as the movie, while good, simply could not do the book justice. Sure it went through the major plot points and got the fantasy and whimsical elements down fairly well, but the film lacked the nuances of the various characters personalities, their motivations, Harry's inner thoughts, and the all-too-important "just one more page" feeling the book invoked. This became a personal tradition of mine, read the book soon before the film was to be released and then compare the two. Honestly it hasn't been much fun, because the films have always disappointed me. They lack the depth and imagination of the books, and because they are constrained by time they leave what I consider vital motivations behind (such as in Chamber of Secrets - the film completely discards Ginny's motivations).

I've yet to see the new film, but I did just finish reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the penultimate book in the series, and I have to say, it was hands down the best book in the series yet, and is overall the best book I've read in quite some time. The book has a rather subtle plot - while there are several mysteries the characters are trying to figure out over the course of the book, none of them ever seemed to jump to the forefront. Instead the story was more of a character study, delving into the main characters' wants, desires, and even love lives. Without giving too much away, J.K. Rowling reels the reader in with segments that explore just who Lord Voldemort is and how he came to be. It was also fascinating how seamlessly she brought in events from the previous books and gave them startlingly new relevance. Before I knew it I was nearly done with book, and there hadn't been nary a fight or action segment.

Unfortunately the ending had already been spoiled for me, there is a rather now-famous death scene that had been spoiled by friends/the internet/TV - pretty much everybody. But that didn't matter because it was the scene before that which really grabbed me. I won't say too much, but the part with the cave and the lake and all that ensues in that scene was the most frightening thing I've possibly ever read. I mean, I literally had to put the book down because I was actually dreading having to read the next paragraph. I can't possibly imagine they'll be able to pull off this scene adequately in the film, but I'm intrigued to see if they can. From start to finish that was hands down the best chapter of the whole series.

Then there's the end, which, as I said before, I already knew about, and was also fantastic, but probably not as fantastic as I wanted it to be. The book certainly ends with a very somber tone, but I know it's all a setup for the final installment, which I'll read next year before the next film hits theaters, which I hear they've split into two separate parts. I'm excited to see them try to pull it off.