"Why Half-Blood Prince Is the Best Harry Potter Novel"

"Why Half-Blood Prince Is the Best Harry Potter Novel" in Who Killed Albus Dumbledore? What Really Happened in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
by John Granger
Essay. pp. 9–43.

Normally, I hold reviews until I can read the entire book. But let's be honest. I've only read two essays in this book, and I'm not going to read anymore in the remaining 1 day 8 hours and 8 minutes before the Moment of Happiness. Part of the reason I am certain that I will read no more in this book is that I'm enjoying Parrotfish much more. Oh, and the book is rather boring, which really shouldn't be the case with a book about Harry Potter. The main problem, as I see it, is that the book is written by all of your academics who are trying to write for a lay audience, and it just doesn't work. Instead, they just come across as condescending and incapable of speaking like a real, normal person.

Perhaps you question why I even bother to post any review at all, considering my feelings on the book. I only do so because this particular essay gives one of the more interesting hypotheses about Dumbledore's death that I've heard. Basically, it's this: Dumbledore is already dead before the text of Half-Blood even begins.

I know you're thinking this is rather improbable considering how many appearances Dumbledore actually makes in the book. But his logic and speculation is intriguing. Basically, it comes down to this. Snape knows how to stopper death. Dumbledore has an injury that refuses to heal. So Dumbledore is living on borrowed time. (Especially since we don't know how stoppering death really works.) This would explain his urgency in getting Harry up to speed on everything he knows. I think it would also explain his apparent recklessness at trying to get everything taken care of.

Anyway, the book seems to be rather blah, but perhaps there are some interesting theories here and there in it.