Wayfarers of Veeshan

Apart from me, who all is reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince?

MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

Finished it last night. Not as many tears shed as with book #5, but that's because, I'm sorry to say, I found it a tad predictable. The surprise death in #5 caught me off guard. The things that should've caused tears in book 6 did not.

All in all...I found it a tad predictable in terms of the overarching series of events that are going on. And the details I found a tad cumbersome (far far far too much teenage angst).

I have been dying for a forum to say this, and so I'm gonna say it here and now...(and feel free to disagree...I can't seem to get ANYONE who's read the stories to agree with me on what I'm about to say...)

It is my personal feeling that JKR wrote herself into a corner. She wrote an interesting, stand alone little CHILDREN'S story (something that hundreds of writers do every year without becoming successful). Her story just happened to sell like wildfire. So she wrote book #2....using the same basic recipe as book #1. Then, realizing she had a true phenomenon on her her hands, she wrote #3 with a tweek on the same basic recipe.

Then, she realized she was in too deep. She had, from day 1, written herself into a corner. She made her villain a mass murderer. She had to come to grips with this fact (and, as the story grew, had to continually ignore how logically ridiculous the "two seperate worlds, muggle vs wizard" setting was becoming). Illogic aside, she had to get away from her basic "boy defeats bad guy through luck and skill" recipe that had served her well for 3 books. She had a mass murderer to deal with...something that could be veiled and hinted at if one were to stick to one or maybe two stories. But suddenly the clamour for 7 books is there, and she's found herself writing ADULT novels.

I do not feel she is being truthful when she says she's had this all worked out in her head since the beginning. I honestly feel she gave it ONE shot...writing ONE book, and when it became clear that she'd have to write all 7, she probably, secretly, wishes that she hadn't begun the series as a children's book because by doing so, with the villain as a mass murderer, she had NO CHOICE but to end the series as adult books.

Aaaanyway, just my opinion. My 7 year old is dying for permission to read book #1. After my finishing book #6, I'm really quite torn. JKR has put the hooks into kids worldwide, and as a parent, I'm quite unhappy to think of my kids having to transition from the simple little tale that is book 1 and into pouring through the emotional turmoil and generally adult circumstances that have existed from the end of book 4 through into book 6.

I wish she'd come clean and just admit that she had no choice but to change the nature of books from Children's fiction to Adult fiction, rather than continuing to state that she's had the story in her head all along. The first book just does NOT have the feel of an introduction to a long 7 book adult story.

/em gets off soap box

Drex

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Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

I think your viewpoint is interesting. I don't have an opinion on whether she's had it all plotted out from the beginning.

Too, I didn't read it with the idea that I would have to decide if it were appropriate for a young person to read it.

I have not quite finished it yet, but I have enjoyed every single minute I've spent on it, and I will be sorry when it's done.