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RAB. Oh come on. Regulus A. Black. Duh. I bet the A stands for Aedelbert.

In all, perhaps this is the most tightly-woven of any of the books yet. Lots of tedious kiddy-romance, of course, and the redux of year three's Harry-in-the-middle-of-a-freezout was dull and predictable, but I think this book shows JKR at her best, particularly in the realm of world-building and also politically speaking. By which I mean to say that the question of just how this war is fought has always puzzled me, but I begin to see it now.

She fell apart in the end; we didn't need a rehash of the battle in the tower any more than we needed the tedious length of the battle in the Ministry in book five, but that's all right, it was easily skimmed.

So, thoughts I have on:

Lupin: Not enough of him, though it's nice to have a status report on his health and a little more history as regards his bite. *momentarily sad look at several fics on the subject, now obsolete*

Lupin/Tonks: Glee! GLEE. I am a closet R/T shipper despite being best known for Remus/Sirius, and this makes me GLEEFUL. Especially since I see no reason R/T and R/S can't be reconciled; certainly, if you want to spin the R/S angle, you have only to look at his reluctance in the hospital ward, and allow that he is desperate enough for someone to love him that he would give in to her in the end. I, for one, don't care; I like the Remus/Tonks ship and hope we'll get more in book seven. I think we will, to judge by the way the only actual romantic traces are backloaded onto the end of the book. I do hope that most of Tonks' depression was not, as Merope's was, some sort of "witch's lament" over an unrequited love. That would be rather pathetic. I don't mind unrequited love; Remus spends a decade waiting for Sirius in SH, but neither he did, nor she ought, to let it affect their health and mental well-being to such a degree. One does get tired of all the female HP characters being little more than romantic keystones.

Snape: Oh for christ's sake. On the one hand I feel it is a masterstroke of JKR's to make us believe he was falsely suspected for five books and then spring on us that OMG he really is evil; one feels very stupid for having bought the evidence of the first five books. On the other hand, I don't believe it's true, and it's not because I particularly like him, since I don't. But I think his killing of Dumbledore in place of Draco and his blocking, rather than returning, Harry's curses is very telling.

The Half-Blood Prince: But how frightfully and wonderfully ironic! How amusing is it that Snape's written word should have such wonderful effect when his active efforts never could. Hermione seemed to consider Harry's use of it to be cheating, but it's no different from reading the Clif's notes after you've read the book; he still had to brew the potions and in obeying the Prince's recipes he still learned something. True it was an unfair advantage over the other students, but the point of education is not to outperform someone else; education does not automatically equal competition, whatever Hermione may think. The point of education is to learn, and Harry was learning both efficiently and effectively. It's telling that the one time he is at a loss and the Prince is no help, nobody else knows what's going on either. Harry hasn't been given a cheat; he's been given an opportunity.

Snupin: Tsk, tsk. Indifference is the worst; as Archie Goodwin and Peter Wimsey have both observed (and they ought to know), hating someone means being on the high road to loving them. "Icily regular, splendidly null"; Remus' indifference to Snape, aside from mild gratitude, does seem to buzzkill a bit. If, you know, Snape's potential complete evilness didn't do it for you.

Neville: Also not enough Neville in this book. I've grown unusually fond of the little screwup.

Best image of the book: "You don't care whether I live or die, but you do care that I help you convince everyone you're winning the war against Voldemort. I haven't forgotten, Minister...."

He raised his right fist. There, shining white on the back of his cold hand, were the scars which Dolores Umbridge had forced him to carve into his own flesh: I must not tell lies.

Best digital-version typo: "Death Eaters" mistranscribed as "Death Kilters". KILTS OF DOOOOOM!

Kiddieships: What did I tell you? Poor Hermione/Harry shippers. I do feel for them. I don't feel for Draco/Harry shippers because you all know, or ought to, that it's so far out of the realm of canon that nothing IN canon could affect it. Still, it'll be interesting to see the battle lines get drawn. I shall encourage indiscriminantly, as it matters not a whit to me.

Urge to shake Dumbledore over his "not now later I'll tell you after someone dies" mentality: On the rise. It's not that I hate that he won't tell Harry something; it's that I hate that it's such an obvious ploy by JKR when she can't think of a good excuse because she wants the story told later in the book.

Tom Riddle's psychology: Fascinating. A boy who believed a witch-mother would not die and abandon him, seeking immortality though he allows no one close enough to care -- in a more than self-interested way -- if he died.....

Thoughts, miscellaneous:

* Side-Along Apparition answers some questions I've had, but creates a new one: Why didn't Lily? Perhaps you can't Apparate from within Fidelius-protected houses?

* A lot of the conversations in this book took an almost Shavian turn, which is pleasing. I may not like Dumbledore, but he has his wits about him, no doubt. Harry does seem to be growing nicely into his adulthood, as well. Particularly as regards his tricksybastardness during the first Quidditch match.

* Either Dumbledore is a Parselmouth or has had someone in to translate the Pensieve memories in which Parseltongue is used; I was assuming he would ask Harry what was actually said, since much of it ought to have been unclear to him.

* Nice to have an answer to some of the why-Ginny questions in CoS. That will help Laocoon's Children enormously, actually.

* "Vinegar" into wine. Muh-huh. Five'll get you ten the first draft read "water" and got excised by a horrified editor.

* Thank god for the trimmed-down Quidditch scenes. I don't think JKR likes long, drawn-out Quidditch games any more than I do.

What it means personally: Well, in terms of roleplays, Julian Knightley is now more canonically attuned than ever; there's now a historical precedent for high-up Aurors being placed as Minister of Magic, which gives him motivation to join the Aurors' bureaucratic arm, something the bookish lad might not have done on his own. As a matter of fact, the Dungeons folk on the whole seem to have come out rather well, really. Milliways Sirius remains unaffected, though I suppose we'll have to consider what to do about Peter Wimsey and Remus.

I shall have to go put labels on much of my fanfic, marking it Pre-HBP, but I don't think I'll actually take anything down. Perhaps I may rewrite some. The Children, which has a long history of being rewritten to tune into canon, may need some work, but Snape was never a completely integral part of it. Cartographer's Craft will have to be reexamined, but I was going to work on that anyway and Harry being another year older is a GOOD thing.

Commentary post-hack: Cartographer's Craft came out the best of all of these, certainly.

LC is mostly intact, thank goodness. I'll have to change a few names throughout and rework the family tree, but that won't matter so much; it's just a case of rewriting chapter fourteen. Parts of it are now, in fact, confirmed as canon. Snape's moral ambiguity will be difficult to work around, but as I won't be facing that in a serious way until I hit book six, I can cope for now, and the Remus/Tonks will pose no problem by then. In fact, it will be fascinating to see how LC Remus reacts to dreams of canon. A major sticking point may be the concept of Harry's drive for vengeance being his greatest weapon, since with two relatively well-adjusted parental figures he may not feel so strongly about it, but that can be worked around too. And of course Harry's a bit of a creepy bugger in this book, so his Slytherin tendencies grow clearer all the time.

I'm still digesting Dumbledore's death. Probably won't comment too much on that, to be honest. I expected it.

All in all, decent. Yes, decent. More later, maybe; right now, dinner calls.