Well, before I could start the new Harry Potter I needed to finish my book about Egypt. The Egyptologist, by Arthur Phillips, is told from three different narrative perspectives (one predominant, two more minor) and what with the intertwining storylines and changing POVs, I knew I’d be totally lost if I put it aside and came back to it later. On that note, I quite enjoyed The Egyptologist. It’s not much of a mystery; while there’s a putative mystery there, it’s pretty obvious what’s happened even if you’re not the type who puts effort into solving the mystery before Poirot does (so to speak). Still, his concept and his writing are entertaining enough that one wants to read on about the 'how' and 'why' things happened, whether or not the 'what' has been intuited already.

It’s a very funny book in many subtle ways; people are satires of caricatures of stereotypes, but it works wonderfully. As the book progresses, the humour gets darker, and Phillips has crafted one of the most grotesque, awful and simultaneously hilarious endings in my experience of fiction. However, there are times that Ralph’s portions of the narrative drag unutterably, especially once you’ve gotten the point about Ralph’s pharoh and his relevance to Ralph. Reading as he goes on and on and on and on cataloging wall tablet after pillar after wall tablet after pillar in numbing detail, both in describing the hieroglyphics and in reproducing the text, was enough to make me want to throw the book across the room at least twice. But it was something I picked up because it looked interesting, bought because what I read on the back jacket sounding promising, and having gone into it with no expectations, it was an enjoyable diversion and a successful purchase: worth the money, worth the time. If you’ll pardon the cliche, this was a great example of “a truly ripping yarn”!

So, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Hmmm...I started it Sunday afternoon around two and finished last evening before bed. I seem fairly rare in that I like the books, I find them enjoyable, and that’s about all. Mostly, other people seem to be ardent, a-little-too-enthusiastic fans or intense detractors. I’m...not ambivalent, exactly, because I enjoy the books and have long planned to read them all, but I’m hardly a Potterphile. That having been said (er... written), I’m not sure WHAT to think of this installment.

First of all, it almost seems like it wasn't even written by the same person who wrote Prisoner of Azkaban. Understand that I’m not accusing JK of using a ghostwriter, that’s not what I mean, but I wonder where her ‘voice’ has gone. The narrative moves clumsily. One example: every time Dumbledore feels the need to impart information to Harry, he leaves the school, obtains a memory (which we don’t read about in detail, we’re just told that’s what’s going on), and schedules a time to show it to Harry in the Pensieve. I grant you that chapter upon chapter of Dumbledore reciting background exposition wouldn’t be that exciting but this ends up being very choppy and seems contrived. It reminds me of shows where the characters act mysterious, act furtive, won't talk now but will schedule a meeting later and you KNOW they’re gonna die before they tell Jim Rockford the crucial piece of information he needs to know, and you want to scream at them, “Use the telephone! This is the 21st century! Just tell Jim you know the guy ran off with his tennis instructor already!”

Another odd note is struck with this weird romance which suddenly crops up between two adult (not main) characters; we’re given to understand that it’s been brewing for a while, but that much is told in 2 or 3 sudden, jarring sentences during The Big Heartfelt Confessional with large audience - which takes place in the hospital ward at Hogwarts while loved ones are lying about gravely injured. If you can't tell from my description, yeah, it’s laughable/painful, not touching or romantic. At best, it’s a WTF? moment. The romances among the Hogwarts students are awkward, but I put that down to intentional, as aren’t teenage romances supposed to be awkward? But I have to say the way characters from older books pop up seems arbitrary and false, like, “Oh, I need a female character! I’ll check my NPC database - yeah, let’s use her.”

I read in a ‘net review that HP&THBP reads like a bad fanfic instead of the real thing; I think that’s a bit harsh but the author’s point is well taken. I mean, I can see where he got that comparison, even if it's an extreme one.

Don’t even get me started on the title, which has got to be the weakest pun EVAH. You’d think a person brilliant enough to invent the idea of Quidditch could do better. I mean, it’s obvious from the concept of Harry, the wizard universe, etc. that JK hardly lacks imagination, but...well, then what’s going on here? She’s reusing a plot device from book two (used book with writing by unknown author), a plot device from...er, book most of them (no one believes Harry). The scenes with the Dursleys, at The Burrow, interaction between Harry and Draco, Harry and Snape are things we’ve read before, more than once - the obligatory Snape detention interferes with Harry’s plans, hope I didn’t give anything away there. I thought the demise of Sirius in book five smacked of another fantasy book I read, involving a powerful wizard father-figure fighting alongside his comrades and falling into darkness during a magical battle and everyone thinks he’s dead but there’s no body, he just plummeted out of sight so he might, just might, be back for a return engagement (does this sound familiar to any of you? What WAS the name of that book?) and this time, I think JK’s borrowed a bit from Mr. George Lucas. I don’t want to disclose spoilers, but The Big Shocking Death in Half-Blood Prince bears a mighty strong resemblance to a death I saw already on the big screen. Not to mention a number of folk losing hands - Wormtail lost one in book four but he has himself a nice silvery replacement now, Draco is carrying around an extra hand (which means someone somewhere be missin' one), and someone else seems to be corpsifying from the hand up...look, nothing says "Lucas" like an arm hitting the floor, that's all I'm sayin'.

On a more positive note, there is plenty of action toward the end. Luna's commentary on the Quidditch match is hilarious. Talking of Quidditch, I like the way she details how Harry, now Captain, has to deal with team infighting, trying to avoid nepotism, knowing that his choices will make some people unhappy and likely to fling nasty accusations no matter what he decides - I think that's particularly valuable for the younger readers - she imparts some good lessons, this among them, without beating the reader over the head with it. She does go back and explain some things that I had flagged as serious plot holes, for which I’m grateful. She does leave me hungering for the promised denouement of Book Seven. She does craft scenes so that several different interpretations are possible and open to a variety of potential resolutions. Bottom line: will I be in line at midnight for Book Seven? Bet your sweet hippogriff I will!