Hello! My name is Chie. I am likely to be the girl you'll see whose eyes would bulge out of their sockets at the sight of a book store and be seized by waves of epileptic shock whenever there is a book bargain. I'll probably be the one pushing you out of my way to get through the book bargain bins and tediously combing through the pile. (I forget my manners when it comes to books). I am tone deaf and have two left feet. But I would endure the embarrassment of a performance in exchange for books (terms and conditions apply). I have created this blog in order to find kindred souls. Those who would gladly share the same passion for books and reading because although reading is solitary task most of the time, it's no fun having no one to ramble to after..
Synopsis: It is the middle of summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursley's house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-on-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can't quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursley's of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time? Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of muggles and magic start to intertwine.
Review: It should have been called Harry Potter and You-Know-Who because the primary plot gives Harry - and the readers - a glimpse into Voldemort's back story. Dumbledore schedules private lessons in which he uses the Pensieve to show Harry from key moments in Voldemort's life.
In the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling combines intimidating and pathetic into Voldemort, as if Sauron and Saruman were a single character. It's tricky because those two character traits works against each other. Before The Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort was successful at managing his reputation that few wizards even dared to speak his name aloud. Only a handful of wizards realised that in his youth Voldemort was Tom Riddle, and only Dumbledore seems to have pieced together his back story. We only saw Voldemort a few times, and whenever he appeared somebody usually died. In the The Goblet of Fire he demonstrate his casual disregard for life by telling Peter Pettigrew to "Kill the spare" (Cedric Diggory)
After The Half-Blood Prince, readers learn that Tom Riddle's hatred of muggles all comes down to daddy issues. Riddle's mother tricked his muggle father into loving her, only to leave her when the spell wore off. Riddle's mother died after childbirth, leaving young Tom in an orphanage. The book strips away the cool, cruel image that Voldemort created for himself and reveals him to be deeply insecure and emotional. With the veil of mystery lifted, Voldemort becomes less scary and more pathetic. In fact, if the young Tom Riddle weren't such a creep, I suspect many readers would have felt bad for him.
But readers don't get feel sympathetic for Voldemort because the back story never actually "humanizes" the character. Voldemort was inherently evil, and nothing in his back story changes my assessment. There's no tragedy about Tom Riddle, no sense of missed opportunities, no possibility of redemption. We never get the sense that Voldemort had good in him, or that he might have turned from evil had his mum and dad loved him. When Dumbledore first met Tom in the orphanage, he already bullies other kids and steals from them.
Ultimately, The Half-Blood Prince manages to leave Voldemort's evilness intact even after removing some of the mystery; it's just a different type of evil. It's a good balance that makes Voldemort just enough of a threat for Deathly Hallows. Voldemort is still scary, but he's also a loser. Unfortunately, Voldemort is still a very one-dimensional character, inherently evil. I think it might have been more interesting had Rowling given him a few positive virtues. That said, even if Voldemort doesn't rank amongst my favourite villains, I give Rowling alot of credit for exploring different facets of evil.
Up to this point, the Harry Potter series had primarily presented Voldemort as an ominous threat. Other wizards so fear him that they dare not speak his name. For the first time, The Half-Blood Prince shows Voldemort as an actual character. However, this doesn't necessarily humanize him. On the contrary, it demonstrates a different facet of Voldemort's inhumane evil.
Synopsis: It is the middle of summer, but there is an unseasonal mist pressing against the windowpanes. Harry Potter is waiting nervously in his bedroom at the Dursley's house in Privet Drive for a visit from Professor Dumbledore himself. One of the last times he saw the Headmaster was in a fierce one-on-one duel with Lord Voldemort, and Harry can't quite believe that Professor Dumbledore will actually appear at the Dursley's of all places. Why is the Professor coming to visit him now? What is it that cannot wait until Harry returns to Hogwarts in a few weeks' time? Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts has already got off to an unusual start, as the worlds of muggles and magic start to intertwine.
Review: It should have been called Harry Potter and You-Know-Who because the primary plot gives Harry - and the readers - a glimpse into Voldemort's back story. Dumbledore schedules private lessons in which he uses the Pensieve to show Harry from key moments in Voldemort's life.
In the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling combines intimidating and pathetic into Voldemort, as if Sauron and Saruman were a single character. It's tricky because those two character traits works against each other. Before The Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort was successful at managing his reputation that few wizards even dared to speak his name aloud. Only a handful of wizards realised that in his youth Voldemort was Tom Riddle, and only Dumbledore seems to have pieced together his back story. We only saw Voldemort a few times, and whenever he appeared somebody usually died. In the The Goblet of Fire he demonstrate his casual disregard for life by telling Peter Pettigrew to "Kill the spare" (Cedric Diggory)
After The Half-Blood Prince, readers learn that Tom Riddle's hatred of muggles all comes down to daddy issues. Riddle's mother tricked his muggle father into loving her, only to leave her when the spell wore off. Riddle's mother died after childbirth, leaving young Tom in an orphanage. The book strips away the cool, cruel image that Voldemort created for himself and reveals him to be deeply insecure and emotional. With the veil of mystery lifted, Voldemort becomes less scary and more pathetic. In fact, if the young Tom Riddle weren't such a creep, I suspect many readers would have felt bad for him.
But readers don't get feel sympathetic for Voldemort because the back story never actually "humanizes" the character. Voldemort was inherently evil, and nothing in his back story changes my assessment. There's no tragedy about Tom Riddle, no sense of missed opportunities, no possibility of redemption. We never get the sense that Voldemort had good in him, or that he might have turned from evil had his mum and dad loved him. When Dumbledore first met Tom in the orphanage, he already bullies other kids and steals from them.
Ultimately, The Half-Blood Prince manages to leave Voldemort's evilness intact even after removing some of the mystery; it's just a different type of evil. It's a good balance that makes Voldemort just enough of a threat for Deathly Hallows. Voldemort is still scary, but he's also a loser. Unfortunately, Voldemort is still a very one-dimensional character, inherently evil. I think it might have been more interesting had Rowling given him a few positive virtues. That said, even if Voldemort doesn't rank amongst my favourite villains, I give Rowling alot of credit for exploring different facets of evil.
Up to this point, the Harry Potter series had primarily presented Voldemort as an ominous threat. Other wizards so fear him that they dare not speak his name. For the first time, The Half-Blood Prince shows Voldemort as an actual character. However, this doesn't necessarily humanize him. On the contrary, it demonstrates a different facet of Voldemort's inhumane evil.
