When the song you hear whilst reading the sixth book in an on-going series is ‘Gethsemane’ from ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ then you know something is wrong.
Then I was inspired
Now I’m sad and tired
Listen surely I’ve exceeded
Expectations
The book is overwritten; massively so. It feels like a book that has been produced to set up the final text in the series. I’m disappointed in ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.’ It is a competent book; the character development (in parts) is believeable (to the point that the teenagers really are aggravating) and the strands from earlier stories are beginning to be drawn towards their inevitable conclusion. It isn’t startlingly good, however, and Rowling can write well. Very well; this is why the books work in both the adult and children’s market.
Why then am I scared
To finish what I started
What you started
I didn’t start it
I’m more than willing to take some of the blame for this; the market created a want for J. K. Rowling to produce bigger books and she has provided her fans with exactly what they wanted. In return we’ve provided her with fame and wealth and, I suspect quite sadly, no real need to write.
Pity really. Still, what wouldn’t I give to be in her position…
(Answers on a postcard)