Thooughts on Half-Blood Prince

[lls_mutant]

Okay. Finished.

Overall? I really liked a lot of this.

I loved the politics. I loved Tom Riddle's backstory. The Horcruxes work for me. Loved the stupidity of kids dating. ("Won-Won" cwacked me up.) LOVED Phlegm. LOVED Neville's grandmother having failed her O.W.L. in Charms. Luna's Quidditch commentary cracked me up. Great humor. And ADORED chapter 2.

What I hated: not too much. I could have done with some toned-down emphasis on shipping. Not so much the kids (I work with high-school kids, and they were definitely acting like them!), but the adults. Pince/Filch, for crying out loud???

And of course, Remus/Tonks. But let me tell you why....

First of all, this in no way invalidates Remus/Sirius in my mind. Sirius IS dead, and I've accepted that one from his first fall through the draperies. Remus needs to move on, and I'm okay with that part now. What bugged me was Tonks's pathetic drooping into lovelorness. Oh. My. God. That was AWFUL. She was constantly depressed for MONTHS, and even when I've been depressed about a relationship, I've had ups and downs. What happened to the smart-ass, Moody-sassing, kick-butt Tonks of OotP? If Remus had gone for THAT Tonks, I could understand. But the message here? Sulk and shake the guy by his robes and he'll fall in love with you!

Of course, my angst brain immediately kicked in with Remus being a jerk and sleeping with her a few times for comfort, Tonks taking it as more than it was and falling in love, and Remus finally coming around that maybe he should give this a shot.

I do take Tonks/Remus as canon now, because if I let myself believe it's not I'm really set up for a disappointment. But I can promise you there will not be any R/T fics from me. She's not the same character I've been picturing in my head like this.

Other things I wasn't so fond of: Snape shouting he was the Half-Blood Prince, Harry's obsession with Draco, and... shoot. There was something else. I'm forgetting. And I wanted to shake Dumbledore, but so did everyone else so I'm not going to argue there.

Things I would have liked: Um, that Godric's Hollow trip? More about the Founders? But that I might get in Book 7.

Two additional thoughts:

I really rushed on Chapter 9 of Accidentally In Love, because I wanted to get it in before HBP and I knew people were looking forward to it. Two people pointed out that it showed- the text was expository in many places and I skipped over some things were a little more time spent would have been good. I agree with this assessment, especially since I went back and reread chapter 9. However, I think JKR made the same mistake I did. A lot of this felt very expository and rushed, and like she's feeling a little overwhelmed with the number of characters and the world she's created. I totally understand that, but I definitely felt it in this one.

And two: as far as Accidentally In Love goes, um, I don't believe this, but I got off scott-free. Almost every last thing I've written can still be taken as canon-compliant. I don't believe it. (And you KNOW Damien- Mr. Auror and All-time-sensitivity- certainly would have pissed off Greyback!) I need to come up with some Patroni for the rest of the crew (anyone have suggestions? I know Lily's, but that's it), but everything I've written is still valid- including Regulus. I need to make some changes to how I was going to write Regulus's death, but that doesn't bug me at all. I can't believe it.

Anyway, it will take time for everything to sink in, but overall, I enjoyed it. And while Remus/Tonks annoyed me, it's not enough to tick me off totally.

Thoughts? Comments? Vents?